Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque has briefed diplomats about undocumented Myanmar nationals residing in Bangladesh.
“We have a national strategy on undocumented Myanmar nationals and we briefed them about the progress on their documentation,” Foreign Secretary M Shahidul Haque told the Dhaka Tribune.
“We also highlighted the issue of trafficking in the meeting as, due to the undocumented Myanmar nationals, Bangladeshis have been victimised,” he said.
Another Foreign Ministry official, seeking anonymity, said the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics made a presentation on the listing of undocumented Myanmar nationals in the country.
The census will be conducted in six districts, including Cox’s Bazar, Bandarban, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Khagrachhari, Patuakhali and Chittagong.
The diplomats inquired about the census questionnaire, when and how it would be conducted, its objective, and other issues, said one more Foreign Ministry official. “We told them that we need to know the exact number of undocumented Myanmar nationals so that we can formulate our next course of action,” he said.
Diplomats from Western countries, Indonesia and Malaysia attended the meeting.
According to different estimates, there are about 300,000 to 500,000 undocumented Myanmar nationals in Bangladesh, causing serious social, security and environmental problems for the country. `
