Rohingya Issue: Ethnic Cleansing in Myanmar

Rohingya Issue: Ethnic Cleansing in Myanmar

Habibullah Mizan
Staff Reporter
The New Nation
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Refugee experts, human rights activists and civil society representatives urged the government to solve the Rohingya Refugee problem raising the issue into the international forum.

They also urged the government to review the country’s bilateral relation with Myanmar looking at from human aspect instead of economic one .

They were speaking at a seminar on‘ Rohingya Refugee in Bangladesh: Issue and Concerns’ organised by Neeti Gobeshona Kendro at National Press Club yesterday.

While speaking at the seminar, refugee expert and Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit (RMMRU) Executive Director Prof CR Abrar said there is no refugee law in the country to address the issues properly.

Considering it as our constitutional limitation he said,’ Without enacting proper law, the refugee issues could not be addressed successfully.

He protested the tendency of making refugee community responsible for all criminal activities across the globe.

Referring to the difficulties in solving the Rohingya issue Prof CR Abrar, former chairperson of the International Relations Department of Dhaka University alleged, even if the present military junta’s rule ends and National League for Democracy leader Aung Suu Kyi comes to power, the refugee issue may not be solved immediately. Because it was created long ago.

Prof Abrar, also a human right activist, accused the Burmese rulers of violating the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which reads ‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights’.

Rohingya community is virtually stateless people, he added.

Former Secretary Nurul Islam emphasised on the need for finding the root causes of the problem while Ain O Salish Kendra General Secretary Adv Asaduzzaman voiced in favour of proactive role of government especially for the children in the refugee camps.

Shawkat Mahmud, president, National Press Club moderated the seminar while Mahbubul Haque presented the keynote paper.
Educationist Mohammad Shafiullah, development activist Aminur Rasul, Rohingya refugee leader Dr Ishaq Khan and Mohammad Ali Ahsan, among others, addressed the seminar.