Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday urged the United Nations to help Bangladesh in relocating Rohingyas to Bhasan Char.
She made the plea while UN Resident Coordinator Gwyn Lewis called on her at her official residence, Ganabhaban.
Prime minister's Speech Writer M Nazrul Islam told reporters that the prime minister mentioned that over one million Myanmar nationals, Rohingyas, are now a burden for Bangladesh.
“Their return to their homeland is uncertain, so I am requesting the UN to help Bangladesh relocate the Rohingyas in Bhasan Char,” she said.
In this regard, she mentioned that the island has been organized and developed to provide better living conditions for the Myanmar nationals.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with UN Resident Coordinator Gwyn Lewis PIDShe said that it has a cyclone shelter, employment opportunities in a limited scale, and education facilities for the children in their mother language.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that the Rohingyas who are living in camps in Ukhiya, Cox's Bazar have already outnumbered the local people.
“They have created problems for the living and livelihoods of the local Bangladeshi people,” she said.
The premier also said that some of the Rohingyas are involved in various types of anti-social activities like human and drug trafficking, internal conflicts, and militant activities.
“In this situation, as their scope to return to their homeland is uncertain, their living standard will be upgraded if they relocate to Bhasan Char where they will get a better environment to live,” she said.
Bangladesh has so far moved about 30,000 Rohingyas to Bhasan Char to ease crowding in the camps in Cox's Bazar.
The Rohingyas, the minority Muslims in Myanmar, fled to neighbouring Bangladesh mostly in 2017 to escape killings, arson, and rape unleashed by the country's military junta.
Diplomatic efforts at safe, voluntary, and sustainable repatriation of the Rohingyas to their homeland have so far failed.
