Chittagong, Bangladesh: Arakanese Rohingyas will be a bigger problem for the region in future…. It requires a long-term solution, said Professor Imtiaz Ahmed of International Relations department from Dhaka University on March 23.

The Arakanese Rohingya situation has become more complex as many refugees, who had been repatriated to their country in the past, had entered Bangladesh again as they did not find any development and change in the attitude of the Burmese authorities, he added.

About 251,000 Arakanese Rohingyas were registered between November 1991 and June 1992 and 237,000 of them went back home. The influx has, however, continued for several years, deepening the crisis.

On the other hand, 200,000 to 400,000 undocumented Burmese people struggle to survive unrecognized and largely unassisted in densely populated Bangladesh where a strong competition over work, living space and resources, including forests, is inevitable at a local level.

Imtiaz said Bangladesh and Burma needed to rebuild relationship on sectors such as trade, commerce and education instead of remaining “hostage to the Arakanese Rohingya crisis.”

He criticized the UNHCR for not taking the return of the Arakanese Rohingyas as a priority issue. “They stopped documenting the Arakanese Rohingyas in 1991 as they [UNHCR] have shifted their focus to Africa and Eastern Europe.”

He said several hundred Arakanese Rohingyas received help in migrating to other countries. “The third-country repatriation is a pulling factor for the Arakanese Rohingyas…. Many procure Bangladesh passports to travel to other countries,” he said.

Professor Akmal Hussain of the same department said it might be possible to resolve the problem involving a third country or countries in the process.

The UNHCR’s senior protection officer Arjun Jain, however, believes the listing of undocumented Burmese entrants would be “one step forward” for their repatriation. “It is necessary to identify who they are? Why and where they have come from,” he told the press yesterday.

When asked whether they (the UNHCR) were asking the Burmese authorities to create atmosphere conducive to permanent repatriation of its citizens, he said, “We are working in Burma and holding discussions with the authorities.

He described Bangladesh’s move to involve China in the process as “encouraging.”

Experts, however, suggested taking a combination of bilateral, regional and international approaches to resolve the issue.

Experts believe the crisis involving the Arakanese Rohingya people was deepening as Burmese citizens have continued illegally crossing the border almost every day and international quarters are asking Bangladesh to identify them.

The EU head of delegation in Bangladesh, Stefan Frowein, on February 20 said the Bangladesh government should make an inventory of the undocumented Rohingyas.

The Arakanese Rohingyas, an ethnic, linguistic and religious minority community in Burma, have a tendency to flee en masse to neighbouring Bangladesh because of the state-sponsored violence in their country.

The Bangladesh authorities consider the Arakanese Rohingyas illegal “economic migrants” as many of them use Bangladesh as a transit point to migrate to countries such as Australia, Europe, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. International quarters, on the other hand, believe they are “political migrants.”