Take coordinated action for Rohingya repatriation

Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud has urged the United Nations organisations and other partners to take coordinated action for the repatriation of about 1.3 million Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds.

He also sought effective steps to resolve the ongoing conflict in Rakhine state and for the betterment of the Rohingya population.

The foreign minister, who is now in the United States on a three-day official visit, made the appeal during four separate meetings at the UN Headquarters in New York on Friday, a foreign ministry's press release said today.

During the meeting with United Nations General Assembly President Dennis Francis, the minister said when about one million people fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar, the people of Cox's Bazar and Chattogram received them with compassion.

"But gradually the Rohingyas are getting employment in different places out of the camps, and the camps have become a haven for various crimes, including human trafficking, drug smuggling, and terrorism. As a result, the locals are having a very difficult time," he added.

During his meeting with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, Hasan said since last February, about 750 members of the Myanmar Border Guard Police and Army have fled to Bangladesh at various times.

"Not only that, the shells of the conflicting groups in Myanmar have also caused casualties in Bangladesh. It is absolutely necessary to prevent the recurrence of these," Hasan said.

In a meeting with Julie Bishop, UN secretary general's special envoy for Myanmar, Hasan Mahmud said the ongoing conflict situation in Myanmar is not a new phenomenon and should not be allowed to be used as an excuse against Rohingya repatriation.