Very few of the migrants stranded off the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are Bangladeshis, the state minister for home affairs has said.
State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal described the majority of boatpeople as Rohingyas, at a press conference at the secretariat yesterday.
“Although they speak Bangla, they are not Bangladeshis. Their identities can be ascertained by their physical structure, clothes and language,” he said.
Asaduzzaman said: “The government has decided Border Guard Bangladesh will set up Border Operational Posts in the Chittagong Hill Tracts - around 250kms of border area - to tackle the human trafficking problem.”