Parliament passes resolution urging UN to mount pressure on Myanmar

Bangladesh parliament has passed a motion urging the United Nations and the world community to exert strong pressure on Myanmar to take Rohingyas back from Bangladesh. The resolution was placed unanimously by the MPs on Monday, reports UNB. Speaking at parliament, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said: “Several times, I have requested Myanmar to repatriate the Rohingya as they are their nationals.” She further added that she would raise the issue with the UN General Assembly. “There are about 145 ethnic communities in Myanmar. The Myanmar government had given the Rohingya the same rights as other ethnic communities, but later the Myanmar junta hijacked their rights. I do not understand why the Myanmar government is doing this to the Rohingya,” the prime minister said. “I would like to ask the Myanmar government: What result do they expect after forcing the Rohingya people out of their homeland?” Hasina also asked why Myanmar was not following the recommendations set by the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State led by Kofi Annan, saying since Myanmar had created the problem, they also needed to resolve it. She also urged the authorities concerned to swiftly locate and bring to justice those responsible for the attacks on border outposts on August 25 that led to the renewed violence against the minority Rohingya people in the Buddhist-majority Rakhine state. The prime minister further assured that the Rohingya would not be obstructed from entering Bangladesh. “We are providing food to 160 million people, we can manage food for an additional 700,000,” she said at parliament. However, she was also quick to clarify that she wished for them to return to their homeland. “Myanmar has to consider the Rohingya Myanmar nationals. A Myanmar general called them Bangalis. Of course, they are Bangalis. But there are Bangalis in India, too. The measures we have taken to shelter the Rohingya are temporary. Myanmar must take back their nationals.” Earlier on Monday, Sheikh Hasina had expressed similar sentiments after a meeting with French Ambassador to Bangladesh Sophie Aubert. “We have provided them [Rohingya refugees] shelters on humanitarian ground for now, but we cannot keep them forever,” the premier told reporters as quoted by her press secretary, Ihsanul Karim. She further said the ongoing conflict in the Rakhine state could not be solved through military actions, but through political process. The French ambassador to Bangladesh assured the prime minister that her country was willing to help Bangladesh with the crisis in all possible ways.