Ershad to PM: Only you can provide shelter to Rohingyas

“We are yet to hear anything from the prime minister on Rohingya issue or about sheltering them,” Ershad told a programme in Dhaka on Monday. Thousands of Rohingyas have been trying to cross into Bangladesh since Myanmar began an anti-insurgency operation in October after attacks on border outposts killed several policemen. An estimated 30,000 Rohingyas have been displaced and over 100 people have been killed since, rights activists say. The army denies burning villages, torturing, raping and  Rohingyas. The UNHCR has urged Bangladesh to provide safe passage to the Rohingyas. Dhaka has sought international community's assistance to tackle the crisis. Ershad said: “You [Sheikh Hasina] are the daughter of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and only you can provide shelter to these refugees.” Naypyidaw does not recognise the Rohingya, numbering about a million, as its citizen and dubs them 'Bangali'. There are some 33,000 registerd Rohingyas in two Cox's Bazar camps but Dhaka says thousands more are scattered across the country.