A large number of ‘Rohingya’ (forcefully displaced Myanmar nationals) living in Saudi Arabia are finally getting Bangladeshi passports. The Department of Immigration and Passports (DIP) has already started preparations for the related activities. However, before finally handing over the Bangladeshi passports to the expatriate Rohingyas, the concerned parties are talking about further scrutiny of the matter.
When asked about this, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told Jugantar on Monday afternoon, “I don’t know if they are Rohingya.” They went to Saudi Arabia long ago with Bangladeshi passports. Their passports have expired there. Now the Saudi government is pushing to renew passports. One of our team went to Saudi. They are working on this.
According to sources, a large number of Rohingyas have escaped from Bangladesh to Saudi Arabia in various ways. Most of whom are staying in the country illegally without passports. Saudi Arabia has been pressuring Bangladesh to give passports to these illegal Rohingyas for a long time. However, Bangladesh has not taken this issue into account so far. But Dhaka’s position is now ‘flexible’ keeping in mind several other factors including the fear of negative impact on the Saudi labor market.
Those concerned say that on November 13, Saudi Arabia’s deputy interior minister Nasser bin Abdul Aziz Al Dawood visited Bangladesh. At that time, he mentioned that 69,000 Rohingyas staying in the country do not have passports. The Saudi side requested to give them Bangladeshi passports. At that time he reminded about the huge labor market of Saudi Arabia for Bangladesh. He had a meeting with Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan about this. Later, a high-level committee or joint working group was formed to resolve the complications related to the issuance of passports to alleged Bangladeshis or Rohingyas living in Saudi Arabia.
According to sources, the 10th meeting of the committee was held on March 22 in the meeting room of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to the minutes of the meeting, an agreement was signed with Saudi Arabia on November 13 to renew the passports of about 69,000 Rohingyas who are Bangladeshi passport holders living in Saudi Arabia. Since then, the Saudi authorities have been insisting on this matter.
In that meeting, the Ambassador of Bangladesh appointed in Saudi Arabia, the Secretary of the Security Department of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the representative of the Directorate of Passports and the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were present. There, the Secretary of the Security Services Department said that since the joint meeting minutes have been signed regarding the issue of 69,000 passports, the obligation of this passport issue has been created. He wants to know about the technical aspects of identity proof of passport candidates. Besides, the secretary insisted on receiving a list from Saudi Arabia.
The Additional Director General of Passport Department present at the meeting asked about the nationality of the issued passports and the process by which the passports will be issued. He suggested that ‘PM’ or something like that could be mentioned as a secret code in the passport. It is also proposed to store a special registration number and biometrics (fingerprints, eyeballs and facial images) of Rohingyas with handwritten Bangladeshi passports in a national database. So that they can be easily identified as Rohingyas in various places including airports. It is even proposed to mention X or Y series special serial numbers in their passports, with Myanmar or Stateless in the nationality section so that these Rohingyas cannot receive national identity cards later.
