Bangladesh Nationalist Party secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir on Monday said that the decision to form a Joint Working Group between Dhaka and Naypyidaw to take back Myanmar’s Rohingya nationals pointed toward an ‘uncertain’ path.
‘This (Joint Working Group) is totally an uncertain matter. This proves that the government is failing to resolve the Rohingya problem quickly,’ Fakhrul said referring to media reports on the outcome of a meeting between a visiting Myanmar minister and the Bangladesh foreign minister, held earlier on the day.
The meeting between Kyaw Tint Swe, minister of Myanmar’s state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi’s office, and foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali decided to form the joint working group to repatriate several lakhs of Rohingya people who were forcibly displaced by Myanmar security forces and took shelter in Bangladesh.
Addressing a function at Kendriya Kachi Kanchar Mela Auditorium in the capital, Fakhrul urged the government to convene a national convention immediately to create a national unity to face the Rohingya crisis.
He called for forming a team comprising of representatives of all the political parties and sending it to foreign countries to talk about the challenges Bangladesh were facing over the Rohingya influx.
Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha, cultural wing of BNP, organised a photography exhibition and screening of Stop Genocide, a documentary on the Rohingya people who have fled to Bangladesh.
The BNP secretary general lashed out at the government for its failure to convince the international community about the horrible situation that was prevailing in Bangladesh following the huge exodus of Rohingya people from their homeland in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.
Fakhrul said that the government had also failed to convince them about the negative impacts that it would have on the independence, sovereignty, economy, environment and society of Bangladesh.
He blasted the government again for not sending any high level diplomatic team to powerful countries, indicating China, Russia and India.
Fakhrul suggested that the prime minister should visit those countries at the moment or send a high-profile ministerial-level delegation there to resolve the Rohingya crisis.
He lamented that the government had so far ignored BNP’s repeated calls for forging a national unity to face the challenges of the protracted Rohingya crisis. He alleged that the ruling party’s policy was to keep the nation divided.
Fakhrul said that it would be tough for any ‘undemocratic’ and ‘unelected’ government to resolve the problem.
Source: New Age