Dr. AK Abdul Momen, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh accused the country’s second neighbor Myanmar of resorting to blatant lies with reference to the statement of a Myanmar minister who said that Rohingyas are not returning due to non-cooperation from Bangladesh.
The FM said, “You all know Bangladesh is ever ready for these displaced people from Myanmar to go back. It is Myanmar who is not keeping its pledged time. You know we made arrangements with them. The repatriation was supposed to begin in January 2018 and was due to be completed in two years. But that did not happen. Thereafter, it was said that the repatriation will begin in November 2018. That also did not happen. Just a few days back we went to Myanmar to hold the fourth meeting of the joint working group (JWG). We were very hopeful that the process will begin, but we went in vain,”
When asked about what measures are being taken to persuade China, the Foreign Minister stated, “Bangladesh will raise the issue with the utmost importance when the Prime Minister visits China.”
“We will tell China that if there is no peace and discipline here, if there is uncertainty, then your interests will also be affected,” he added.
“China has told us repeatedly that these people of Myanmar should return to Myanmar,” he dictated by expressing his optimism about beginning the repatriation.
“Out of 800 villages, Myanmar conducted a study on only two of those. This study has been conducted in the name of ASEAN and it was stated that the condition in those two villages was very good. Two showcase villages out of 800! Basically, Myanmar did not live up to their promises. Myanmar should have created a conducive environment in the Rakhine state. They did not do anything in this regard,” he said.
“Myanmar has a lot of complaints. They are now on a campaign of misinformation. They are also saying that there are only 0.5 million Rohingyas, while the actual number is 1.1 million,” he mentioned.
“We have told them (diplomats) to go to Myanmar and Rakhine and create more pressure on Myanmar to create a conducive environment. By and large they have agreed,” Dr Momen said.
To a question, the minister said: “We are very lucky that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in its just-concluded summit decided to take the Myanmar issue to the International Court of Justice. The Gambian attorney general is leading the ad-hoc committee and all the OIC members have supported this.”
