Although the Rohingyas are strictly a domestic issue of Myanmar, Bangladesh has every reason to feel worried about it. The country, a stone's throw from Teknaf across the Naaf River, has been virtually forced to bear its burden: thousands of homeless people who are living in Myanmar for centuries have started fleeing to the south-eastern Chittagong belt. And the country hosted them considering their plight as a humanitarian disaster.
But sadly, today the issue still remains where it was in the past.
Although Bangladesh is providing all care to the Rohingyas in two make-shift camps, the country faces an uphill task in handling them domestically. Already overpopulated, Bangladesh is faced with serious economic and social consequences as more and more undocumented Rohingyas, having the looks of Bengalees, are still pouring into its territory. The government has quite rightly banned marriages of Rohingyas with Bangladeshis in order to evade yet bigger national catastrophe it might bring in the days to come.
Bangladesh, however, on its part did not mount campaign abroad to force Myanmar to accept Rohingyas as its citizens for reasons best known to the Foreign Ministry mandarins. The Prime Minister as well as top government leaders visited Yangon a number of times but could not still persuade Myanmar successfully to settle the Rohingya issue to stop influx of the latter's nationals.
Viewed against this backdrop, the United States has late stood firmly with Bangladesh in asking Myanmar to recognize Rohingya as its citizens.
US Assistant Secretary of State Anne Richard, who visited Rohingya camps in Bangladesh recently, was of the opinion that Rohingyas deserve Myanmar citizenship to end their statelessness, which she identified as a root cause of their plight and displacement. She quite aptly said the Rohingya population remain stateless as "they are not recognised as a distinct ethnic group in the country's citizenship law". Statelessness is a key reason they flee to neighbouring countries, she said.
Anne Richard sought Bangladesh's partnership in dealing with the Rohingya issue effectively. Even the UNHCR, the UN agency looking after refugee interests, put the number of Rohingyas in Bangladesh at over 200,000 with 30,000 documented refugees living in two government-run camps - the Kutupalong and Nayapara - within two kilometres of the Myanmar border. Government sources, however, say more than 500,000 of them are living outside the camps.
Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque, who worked for 11 years with the International Organisation of Migration, however, has lauded the US role on the issue. He said the US has been extremely vocal and strong in suggesting to the Myanmar government to address effectively the issue of Rohingya refugees. In fact, President Obama was very categorical in saying 'please give (them) the citizenship back.'
Fighting in the Rakhine state between ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya communities since 2012 has already displaced 140,000 people.
It is now time for Bangladesh to accept the US partnership offer in order to ensure Myanmar recognise that many of the Rohingyas do in fact deserve the papers to show they are citizens of Myanmar.
But in dealing with the Rohingya issue, Bangladesh should make it sure that the economic and trade relationship between Bangladesh and Myanmar are not hampered due to the Rohingya crisis. Our trade is about 100 million dollars but we export not more than 3-5 million dollars. It is expected that the bilateral trade between the two countries could be as high as $1 billion in the foreseeable future if the bilateral ties are beefed up.
Bangladesh also should recognise the fact that the UN and the ASEAN could also be the key players in helping settle Rohingya issue in Myanmar. They need to put pressure on Yangon to stop the atrocities. The Myanmar government must restore the citizenship rights of the Rohingyas as it alone could settle the explosive ethnic issue.
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US partnership vital for settling Rohingya issue
Rahman Jahangir | Published: January 30, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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