Information and Broadcasting Minister and Awami League Joint General Secretary Dr Hasan Mahmud today said the only solution of the Rohingya issue falls on the return of displaced Myanmar nationals with full civil rights and dignity to their home of origin.
"The Rohingya issue is a humanitarian problem and it is needed to be solved. But, the pressure that needs to be applied on Myanmar from the international community is not being noticed. The role of China is much important here. We also discussed with India. They are also trying to convince Myanmar. I hope it will be solved," he said.
The minister was addressing a seminar titled `Genocide and Justice: Bangladesh Response to Rohingya Crisis` organised by Centre For Genocide Studies (CGS) of Dhaka University (DU) at Senate Bhaban here.
DU Vice Chancellor Dr Md Akhtaruzzaman inaugurated the seminar.
Dr Hasan said the government is trying to resolve the Rohingya issue through strong diplomatic efforts. "We don`t want to solve the issue through war. BNP might have a different solution as they think of different ways, not in diplomatic way. But we are always trying to solve it," he continued.
As a result, he said, the Myanmar authorities have repeatedly talked to take back the Rohingya, though they didn`t keep their commitment. The diplomatic efforts are continuing and a few days ago the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that there has been a major progress in taking back the Rohingyas, he said.
The information minister said the Rohingya refugee camps in the country have become a haven for militant and fundamentalists and a great opportunity for `recruitment` of fanatics and terrorist groups has been created from there.
So, law and order situation will deteriorate there, if it is not resolved soon. "It will pose a threat not only to our country, but to the entire region," he added.
After the seminar the information minister replied queries of reporters.
He said BNP didn`t solve the problem when they were in power. They failed to repatriate Rohingyas who came here during 1991 and 1976-77, he added.
Replying to another query over BRICS issue, he said BNP have visited the foreigners continuously, but now there tone has been changed as the foreigners refused the party.
Dr Hasan said they invited the prime minister to join the BRICS. More than 40 countries have applied to join the BRICS and from those countries six countries got membership. The rest of the countries will also get membership in phases, he added.
Liberation War Museum Trustee Mafidul Haque presented the keynote paper in the seminar with CGS director Professor Sheikh Hafizur Rahman in the chair.
National Human Rights Commission chairman Dr Kamal Uddin Ahmed addressed the seminar as a special guest while DU Law Department Professor Dr Jamila A Chowdhury gave the welcome address.
DU Social Faculty Dean Professor Dr Zia Rahman, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee in Bangladesh Johannes Van Der Klaauw, Security Analyst (retd.) Air Commodore Ishfaq Elahi Chowdhury, Ecologist Asif Munir and BRAC University Center for Peace and Justice director Dr M Sanjeeb Hossain, among others, addressed the seminar.
