Resolve Rohingya crisis, else will become new terror-activity ground: Bangladesh envoy

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 16

Bangladesh on Monday expressed disappointment that Myanmar is yet to take any concrete steps towards the resolution of the Rohingya Crisis or allow a UN fact-finding mission into the country.

Interacting with journalists at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in the capital, High Commissioner Syed Moazzam Ali stressed that Rohingya continue to flee Myanmar, with an additional influx of ten thousand refugees into BangladeshI n the last two days itself. 

“The size and dimension of the influx is so huge that more population perhaps today lives in neighbouring countries, than in Rakhine state,” said the Bangladeshi envoy.

The high commissioner called the Rohingya Crisis a major security concern for the region and hoped that India as a prime mover of BIMSTEC would play a larger responsibility to ensure Myanmar allows its ‘own citizens’ to return with dignity. 

“There is a fire in our neighbourhood and before it engulfs us all we must put it out. Uprooted persons are vulnerable to all kinds of radicalisation and many women and children could be subject to human trafficking. Let us resolve this issue together else they could fall in wrong hands and be exploited,” warned the envoy, adding that “Rohingya could become the new ground for terrorist activity”.

‘Teesta an emotive issue’

Asked about the long-pending Teesta water agreement and its probable fallout, if not signed, in the next elections in Bangladesh, the high commissioner recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assured that the Teesta issue would be resolved during his and Sheikh Hasina’s term.

He underlined, “Water is a highly sensitive issue and has always played a significant role in Bangladesh politics. Water sharing is an emotive issue.” He added that sooner Teesta is resolved, the better it will be for sake of bilateral stability and security.