DHAKA, Oct 15, 2019 (BSS) – Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen today said Bangladesh has handed over a fresh list of 50,000 forcibly displaced Rohingyas to the Myanmar authority for verification to repatriate them in Rakhine state, their land of origin.
“We have expedited the process of listing Rohingyas for repatriation,” he told reporters at foreign ministry here.
Earlier today, Director General of South East Asia wing of foreign ministry M Delwar Hossain handed over the fresh list to Myanmar ambassador to Bangladesh U Lwin Oo at the ministry here.
The foreign minister said, apart from today’s list, Bangladesh had earlier handed over names of around 55,000 Rohingyas to the Myanmar authority for verification.
About the recently formed tripartite joint working group comprising Bangladesh, China and Myanmar to expedite the Rohingya repatriation process, he said, the first meeting of the group will be held soon. “The process is ongoing (to arrange the meeting),” he added.
On the sideline of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York last month, Bangladesh, China and Myanmar had agreed to form the tripartite joint working mechanism to observe repatriation efforts, on the ground, of the forcibly displaced Rohingyas to Rakhine.
Currently, Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million forcefully displaced Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar district and most of them arrived here since August 25, 2017 after a military crackdown by Myanmar termed as “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” by the UN.