Dr Mahathir: Treat Rohingyas as Myanmar nationals or give them their own state

The Rohingyas should be treated as Myanmar nationals or be given a chance to form their own state, said Malaysian PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He made the remark in an interview in Turkey, reports The Malaysian Insight.

Treat Rohingya as Myanmar nationals or give them their own state, says Dr Mahathir https://t.co/JzTRRrxa0e

— TheMalaysianInsight (@msianinsight) July 27, 2019

Re: #Rohingya

But now of course, they should either be treated as nationals, or they should be given their territory to form their own state. — Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed ⁦@chedetofficial⁩ https://t.co/fK34ToyE2H

— Ro Nay San Lwin (@nslwin) July 26, 2019

Dr Mahathir further said even though Malaysia generally does not wish to interfere with the internal affairs of other countries, it does so in this case due to the genocide of the Rohingyas in Myanmar.

The UN estimates the Rohingya refugee crisis as one of the world's worst humanitarian and refugee crises. 

Currently, Bangladesh hosts more than 1 million Rohingya refugees with a majority of them entering the country since August 25, 2017.

According to the bilateral agreement signed by Bangladesh and Myanmar in Naypyitaw on November 23, 2017, the Rohingya repatriation should have begun by January 22, 2018 and completed within two years.  

Though a year and a half has already been passed, there has not yet been any remarkable progress regarding the repatriation of the Rohingyas back to Myanmar. 

However, on March 1, Bangladesh announced that it would no longer accept Rohingya refugees, reported by BBC News.