TIB against taking ADB fund as loan

The Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has urged the government not to take financial assistance from ADB for the Rohingya refugees if it comes as loan.

TIB Executive Director Dr Iftekharuzzaman in a statement yesterday said this regarding the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) proposal to provide financial assistance to the host country to meet various needs of the Rohingyas who have taken shelter in Bangladesh.

Dr Iftekharuzzaman urged the government to continue all-out diplomatic efforts to collect interest-free grants from all international sources including the ADB for the Rohingyas who have fled to Bangladesh to escape ethnic cleansing by the Myanmar military.

It has been known from media reports that the ADB like the World Bank has also proposed to provide financial assistance to Bangladesh to meet the needs of the Rohingya refugees, he said.

But it is not still clear if the financial assistance would be loan or interest-free grants, he added.

"If ADB tries to put a burden of loan on Bangladesh in the name of assistance taking advantage of a humanitarian disaster, it would be very sad, inhuman and unacceptable."

Dr Iftekharuzzaman said the responsibility of one million Rohingya refugees who have entered Bangladesh falling victim to a planned crime against humanity by the Myanmar government and army does not fall on Bangladesh alone but on the international community as well.

If any international agency or donor country including ADB or the WB is interested to provide financial assistance to Bangladesh in this regard, it must be interest-free grants, he observed.

He added the direct and indirect support of the powerful countries for long have encouraged the Myanmar army to take the barbaric path. Failure of the international community in taking effective steps against Myanmar's killing and barbarity in one hand and continued economic support, investment, development, trade and military assistance on the other have created this serious situation, he observed.

He said the possibility of the return of the Rohingyas is becoming slimmer day by day.

The TIB executive director said as a major donor agency of that country the ADB can assert its position so that Myanmar takes back the Rohingyas in the quickest possible time.