On Saturday, Bangladeshi and Foreign diplomats and security experts have identified the “Rohingya crisis” as the most important issue in the Indo-Pacific as well as the subcontinent context.
The dialogue was held at a hotel in Gulshan, Dhaka. Bangladesh Center for Indo Pacific Affairs and Department of International Relations, Jahangirnagar University (JU) hosted the senior level dialogue on “Bangladesh and the Indo-Pacific Collaboration: Priority Issues and Concerns.”
During the dialogue, Ambassador of Japan Iwama Kiminori reminded that Japan is still working with Myanmar to solve Rohingya crisis. He said, “Japan has taken every opportunity to urge Myanmar military strongly to immediately stop violence, release those detained and swiflty restore democratic political system.”
Canadian High Commissioner, Lilly Nicholls urged to take Rohingya issue into global manner. She said, “By sitting with ASEAN colleagues, with India, China and other countries, we can truly discuss the issue in global manner.”
EU Ambassador Charles Whiteley said, “Being a partner in the Rohingya refugee crisis in many ways across the board, around 50 million euros of support last year to the camps and Bhashan Char and also other sources of support and we want to join the continuing efforts to get the right conditions in Myanmar to ensure the voluntery and safe return of the Rohingya.”
UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh Gwyn Lewis also added that, “Political solution is the only way ahead to ensure safe, dignified and voluntery return of the Rohingya refugees and we will continue to work with all our partners to achieving that.”
The Chief guest of the dialogue, Bangladesh State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Md Shahriar Alam said, the “complexity” in dealing with the safety and security of the Rohingyas is one of the most challenging tasks for any trained forces whether Bangladesh police or Armed Police Battalion (APBn).
“So, undermining their ability and sacrifices is actually undermining the challenges that our law enforcement agencies are facing.” The Minister also added, various criminal activities in the Rohingya camps and taking appropriate steps to maintain law and order situation there are beyond their (security forces) acceptable standard mentioning Human Rights Watch (HRW).
“We have been repeatedly reminding the international community that the source of the problem is in Myanmar and the solution lies in Myanmar,” he added.
Foreign Ministry’s Maritime Affairs Unit Secretary Rear Admiral (retd) Khurshed Alam, Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain, Australian High Commissioner Jeremy Bruer, Saudi Ambassador Issa Bin Youssef Al-Dahilan also spoke at the event moderated by BCIPA Executive Director Prof Shahab Enam Khan.
