BNP against safe zone for Rohingyas: Moyeen

A safe zone for Rohingyas inside Myanmar may lead to creation of another Palestine, BNP Standing Committee Member Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan said today.

"We do not accept Sheikh Hasina's proposal to create safe zones for Rohingyas placed in the UN General Assembly," Moyeen said in a press briefing at Cox's Bazar.

"If a safe zone is created in Rakhaine state, it will create a situation like that of Palestine," he said.

Veteran BNP leader and a former minister, Moyeen highlighted precedents of repatriating Rohingyas when BNP was in power. "But the Awami League has failed in this respect."

The BNP leader was speaking at the Cox's Bazar BNP office after visiting the refugees. The party's central leader Lutfar Rahman Kajal and district unit President Shahjahan Chowdhury were among those present at the briefing.

According to latest estimates, over 507,000 refugees have entered Bangladesh since late August due to violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state. Bangladesh has offered temporary shelter to them.