Chittagong, Bangladesh: Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told parliament on July 2nd that her government is attempting to repatriate registered Rohingya refugees back to Burma.
Sheikh Hasina made the statement in response to a supplementary question from Treasury Bench member Didarul Alam (Chittagong-4) during the prime minister’s question-and-answer session.
The prime minister said that during her visit to Burma, she took up the issue of repatriating Rohingya refugees with President Thein Sein. “During my meeting with Myanmar’s president, I also brought up the matter and he demonstrated a sincere attitude towards resolving this.”
Yet officially registered Rohingya refugees have said, “We will go back to our homeland only if we get our dignity and citizenship rights,” as the pseudo-civilian government of President Thein Sein has been persecuting innocent Rohingyas in Burma. As a result, Rohingya refugees have urged the government of Bangladesh to solve the Rohingya issue in cooperation with the international community.
Sheikh Hasina informed parliament that there are currently 29,000 registered Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, but the total number of Burmese refugees is actually in the hundreds of thousands. The prime minister also said that border guard forces from both countries are working together to stop the illegal entry of Burmese citizens into Bangladesh.
