Rohingya repatriation has not begun yet because of the lack of cordiality on the Myanmar government’s part, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has said.
"Not a single Rohingya could be repatriated in the last three and a half years as Myanmar brought up one issue after the other," he told reporters in Rangamati on Monday, after inaugurating Bangabandhu Adventure Festival marking the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya men, women and children fled to Bangladesh from their homeland in Myanmar's Rakhine state after the military launched a brutal offensive targeting the mainly Muslim ethnic minority.
Bangladesh and Myanmar held several rounds of talks for the discussions could not be advanced due to election and Covid-19 outbreak.
Foreign Minister Momen said a repatriation talk with Myanmar was scheduled for January 19 at the mediation of China.
Bangabandhu Adventure Festival
Foreign Minister Momen inaugurated the festival by releasing balloons and pigeons. Before that, he paid floral tributes to Bangabandhu's sculpture.
The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Development Board and Bangladesh Adventure Foundation jointly organized the festival.
Presided over by Development Board Chairman and Adventure Foundation President Naba Bikram Kishore Tripura, the program was attended by parliamentarian Dipankar Talukder, Rangamati Region Commander Brig Gen Md Iftekharul Islam, and Rangamati Deputy Commissioner AKM Mamunur Rashid, among others.
The adventure festival includes mountain scaling, river cruise, kayaking, hiking, trail run, team building, trekking, and tree trail.
The festival will run from January 11 to January 15. Participants from three CHT districts – Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban – will take part in this festival.
