B’desh hopes to resolve Rohingya crisis permanently, hails good relationship with India

Bangladesh is optimistic about solving the Rohingya crisis permanently.

New Delhi, Jan 19: The Rohingya crisis has hit Bangladesh hard as the country is trying to provide food, shelter and medical aid to millions of refugees.

Since August last year, 655,000 Rohingya refugees from neighbouring Myanmar have taken shelter in Bangladesh after violence broke out in the Rakhine state.

Bangladesh has always maintained that the country has given shelter to the refugees on a humanitarian basis, but can't take the burden of millions of refugees forever with its own shoestring budget.

According to reports, Myanmar has agreed to take back Rohingya refugees currently staying in Bangladesh because of international pressure. However, the process of repatriation of Rohingyas from Bangaldesh to Myanmar is yet to start.

"We hope to see the problem resolved permanently with sustainable return of Rohingyas to Myanmar. Bangladesh and Myanmar recently discussed, finalised text of physical arrangement which will facilitate return of Rohingyas to Myanmar," said Bangladesh foreign minister Mahmud Ali on the last day of Raisina Dialogue hosted at New Delhi on Thursday.

"The influx of Rohingya from Myanmar to Bangladesh has soured our relations (with Myanmar) in the recent times. However, we remain steadfast in our foreign policy objective and continued our bilateral engagements with Myanmar," Ali added.

The minister praised about the good relationship shared between India and Bangladesh.

"As Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in Dhaka, 'Paas Paas Saath Saath (We are together as neighbours)', in the last four decades, since Bangladesh's independence, our ties with India have flourished in depth and dimension. Today, we are enjoying the best of relations," he smiled.

The three-day Raisina Dialogue got over on Thursday in Delhi.

"The Raisina Dialogue is a multilateral conference committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community. Every year, global leaders in policy, business, the media and the civil society are hosted in New Delhi to discuss cooperation on a wide range of pertinent international policy matters," reads a statement by Observer Research Foundation, the organisation that hosts the annual event.

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