Ittefaq Report
President Abdul Hamid has urged the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member countries, as well as the whole international community, to ensure the victimised Rohingya people’s safe return to their homeland – Myanmar.
The President made the call while addressing the first OIC Summit on Science and Technology in Kazakh capital Astana on Sunday.
President Hamid made the call underlining the fact that the Rohingya Muslims (as minorities), in a Buddhist-majority Myanmar, are deprived of all rights and face existential threats due to repeated atrocities and displacement.
The first ever two-day summit on Science and Technology of the OIC began on Sunday with an inaugurating session.
Leaders and representatives of member states of OIC have gathered at the Kazakhstan capital of Astana for the two-day summit.
During the inaugurating session, with all those representatives present, Hamid said,”Bangladesh is directly affected by this problem as the Rohingyas are flooding over the border into this country. Bangladesh has given shelter to them only on a humanitarian ground.”
Almost half a million Rohingya Muslims have been living in two registered camps and makeshift settlements in bordering Cox’s Bazar over the last few decades, fleeing persecution and communal violence.
Talking on the main theme of the summit, the President said, “Science, technology and innovation are a key to improving the quality of life and transforming society.”
“Nations with varying level and stages of advancement in technology are competing with each other to keep their technological edge and superiority. Disruptive innovations are leaving some behind and taking some ahead creating another divide in the world,” he added.
To highlight the technological improvement in Bangladesh, President Hamid briefed the present OIC representatives about Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s vision of a technologically advanced Digital Bangladesh.
Describing Bangladesh’s advances in pharmaceuticals, alternative medicines and agricultural innovation as ‘enviable’, the president noted that Bangladesh was on its way to launch a satellite.
“We must continue our collective journey in science and technology until the gravity shifts and the Muslim world stands on the vantage ground of technology leadership in place of mere technology use,” President Hamid concluded.
Aside from the inaugurating session with all the OIC representatives present, President Hamid also talked separately with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Notably, Erdogan has been condemning the massacre done by the Myanmar Army in the Rohingya-majority state of Rakhine.
He expressed his desire to help Bangladesh in resolving the crisis.
Erdogan’s wife, Emine Erdogan, visited Bangladesh to showcase Turkey’s goodwill and to witness the persecuted Rohingya people’s plight.
Source: The Daily Ittefaq
