New Delhi (Mizzima) – Thailand’s Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya will discuss the issue of Rohingya boatpeople during his visit to Burma that will begin on March 23, a Thai official said.
An official at Thailand’s Foreign Ministry told Mizzima on Wednesday that Kasit, during his visit, will discuss with his Burmese counterpart Nyan Win on the issue of Rohingya boatpeople, who have been stranded in Thailand since early this year.
"Rohingya issue is included in the matters to be discussed by the two foreign ministers," said the official.
Kasit’s visit was earlier agreed by both Thailand and Burma during the recent 14th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)'s summit held in Thailand from February 27 to March 1.
The official, who wishes to remain anonymous, said the two foreign ministers will also discuss issues of human and drug trafficking, and other cross border crime activities along the Thai-Burmese border.
"Drug trafficking, crime activities along the border and other substantial issues will be also involved [in the discussion]," he added.
The official told Mizzima that Thailand will first try to address the Rohingya issue through discussions with Burma and Bangladesh and it will later take up the issue at the Bali Process Ministerial Meeting to be held on April 14-15 in Indonesia, under the framework of ASEAN, in which the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will be able to participate.
Leaders of the 10-nations Asean, during the 14th summit, agreed that the issue of Rohingya boatpeople is of regional concerns and agreed to bring it under the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime, that was launched in 2002 with a key objective of providing a framework of regional cooperation.
The issue of Rohingya boatpeople came under the spotlight in recent months after reports emerged in last December and January that several hundreds of Rohingya boatpeople were rescued from the Sea in Thailand, India’s Andaman Islands and Indonesia’s Aceh province.
According to survivors, Thai Navy arrested them and sent them back into the sea on boats with no engines after briefly detaining them in Thai territorial water. However, Thailand had officially denied the allegations.
In recent interviews with Mizzima, authorities in Sabang Island of Indonesia said they had rescued over 400 Rohingya boatpeople from the sea. Similarly, Indian authorities in Andaman Island told Mizzima that they had rescued nearly 200 Rohingya migrants from the Indian territorial water.
Burmese military government says that Burma does not have a Rohingya minority, but it agrees to cooperate with Thailand and accept the boatpeople if they identify themselves as “Bengalis” born in Burma.
