PM Modi, Sheikh Hasina to discuss Rohingya stalemate

Sandeep Dikshit

DHAKA/COX’S BAZAR, JUNE 29

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina are likely to discuss the issue of over a million displaced refuges from Myanmar who have been described as a ticking time bomb.

“I am sure when the PMs meet (in early September), Sheikh Hasina will also raise the issue of how India can help us in this repatriation effort,” Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Masud bin Momen told a group of visiting journalists from India. Hasina, on her way to the UNGA in New York, will arrive in India on PM Modi’s invitation .

About 12 lakh refugees of the Rohingya community from Myanmar living in the inhospitable hills of Cox’s Bazar, a river’s breadth away from Myanmar are now restless after five years of being in a state of limbo. It was the Myanmar army’s crackdown that drove them largely into Bangladesh, besides 40,000 into India and a few thousands to nearby ASEAN group of countries. The concern is that with international disbursements decreasing as donor agencies and countries deal with emerging global emergencies, Rohingya youth can become susceptible to radicalisation.

Rabbit tunnels under camp fences enabled them to interact with the outside world. The youth is already being misused for drug smuggling and human trafficking and security agencies were surprised when they came upon Rohingyas settled in J&K.