While briefing journalists on the tour plan of the Prime Minister’s upcoming visit to China, Foreign Minister Dr A K Abdul Momen on Friday said that Rohingya crisis will be a major issue for discussion during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to China next month. The Foreign Minister has rightly said that if Rohingya refugees continue to stay in Bangladesh it can give rise to ‘pockets of radicalism’ and further destabilize the process of development. Denying China’s support to Myanmar on their stand against the Rohingyas he said China agrees with Bangladesh on the issue of peaceful Rohingya repatriation but they (China) want its solution through bilateral talks.
Though, as the host country Bangladesh finds itself saddled with an enormous economic and social burden, Bangladesh has remained reluctant to voice concerns about Indian, Chinese and Russian policies regarding the Rohingya issue. Myanmar purchases military equipment from both Russia and China. China sells arms and has invested heavily in Myanmar’s natural resources, and India has a growing commercial and investment interest in Myanmar and wants to check-mate Chinese strategic outreach. Trapped in the vortex of such crisis, Bangladesh is forced to act as a mere fiddle in these competing ethno-religious narratives and geopolitical interests.
The international community, which has failed so far to put adequate pressure on the military junta in Myanmar to take their citizens back, should realise the dangerous effect of prolonged internment in camps. Every day that passes increases the vulnerability of the refugees. Bangladesh expects a more vigorous role of the international community in the diplomatic front to make Myanmar take back the Rohingyas.
The military rulers in Myanmar have made every possible effort to thwart repatriation. Bangladesh has done the best it can in spite of its own multifarious constraints, and it is now for the international community to do everything to help a persecuted ethnic minority return to the country they belong. In this regard, China should play prudent role by exerting its influence on Myanmar.