Bangladesh is sheltering the Rohingya fleeing military persecution in their homeland, the Rakhine state in neighbouring Myanmar, because it suffered through similar atrocities less than 50 years ago, said Sajeeb Wazed Joy.
In an opinion piece published on Tokyo-based online news magazine The Diplomat, Joy, the information and communication technology adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as well as her son, said though Bangladesh was dealing with the worst refugee crisis in its 46 years of existence, it was “proud to bear the bulk of the cost” of helping the Rohingya refugees currently residing in Bangladesh.
“Bangladesh understands the plight of the Rohingyas too well,” he wrote. “When Bengalis desperately needed assistance a half century ago, India responded by taking in millions of refugees. Bangladesh is eager to extend the same helping hand to the Rohingyas.”
The article was published on Monday.
In the latest episode of Rohingya exodus, UNHCR estimates that a staggering 480,000 Rohingya have crossed over to Bangladesh in just a month, seeking refuge from the violent crackdown launched by Myanmar security forces in retaliation to a series of insurgent attacks on the border police outposts and an army base in Rakhine on August 25.
International leaders, organisations and human rights groups have condemned the state-sanctioned persecution of the Rohingya, an ethnic minority in Rakhine, while the UN refugee agency has called what is happening in Rakhine a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.
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In his article, Joy mentioned the Bangladeshi people's own experience of genocide and being forced to flee their own land.
During the nine-month-long Liberation War in 1971, the Pakistani army and its Bangali collaborators systematically killed three million people in then East Pakistan in one of the worst genocides in recorded history, he said.
“The Pakistani military and [its] supporting Islamist militias raped 250,000 women and girls,” he added. “They displaced 40 million others, 10 million of whom took refuge in India.”
He drew comparison between the state oppression that Bangalis endured five decades ago in East Pakistan and the oppression that the Rohingya suffer today in Rakhine.
“Before Bangladesh achieved independence, Pakistan treated residents of East Pakistan – the area that is now Bangladesh – as second-class citizens. Their actions were cruel and calculated. For example, the government intentionally delayed aid to the Bengali people after a 1970 cyclone that killed 500,000 Bengalis. The Pakistan government even suspended parliament rather than seat a prime minister from East Pakistan,” he wrote.
The Rohingya are being subjected to similar brutal treatment, which is driving them out of their homeland.
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“Even before the most recent exodus began in August, 400,000 Rohingyas had already immigrated to Bangladesh,” Joy said. “This number grows by the day as Myanmar’s military continues to drive Rohingyas out of their homes. “As a result, Bangladesh has had to buttress its efforts to protect the Rohingya. In addition to the two existing refugee camps in the southern city of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh has made an additional 2,000 acres of land available.”
The Bangladesh government has also started issuing identification cards to the Rohingya and providing them the means to fulfil their basic needs, including childhood immunisation, he added.
“Bangladesh is not asking for international assistance for the Rohingyas. We can bear that burden alone. It is no longer a poor country. But Bangladesh and the Rohingya need the U.S. and India to use their substantial authority to pressure Myanmar to stop driving the Rohingya out. Aung Sang [sic] Suu Kyi’s government and the military junta must be compelled to act,” Joy wrote.
“So far, Myanmar has ignored pleas to end the violence and to allow Rohingyas to live as full citizens in their home country. In the meantime, Bangladesh is proudly willing and able to help them as refugees,” he concluded.
Friday, June 05, 2026
