“Despite being a poor country, Bangladesh has been providing shelter and other assistance to Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds.”
“There was no crackdown on Rohingyas in Bangladesh, but an international media used such objectionable word,” said the minister when UNHCR Country Representative Craig Sanders met him at his office.
Replying to Sanders' request to register the unregistered Rohingyas, Razzaque said any initiative to register them encourages them to enter Bangladesh, as they think international organisations will help them or resettle them in some developed countries.
There are around 24,000 Rohingya refugees in Kutupalong and Nayapara in Cox's Bazar while estimated four lakh unregistered Rohingyas spread all over the region.
Denied citizenship and persecuted in Myanmar, some two lakh Rohingyas infiltrated the borders of Bangladesh. Many of them were repatriated, but many more later infiltrated.
There were talks several times between Myanmar and Bangladesh on repatriation without any significant development on the issue.
Stating that repatriation of the refugees to their own country is the permanent solution to the problem, Razzaque said they are creating socio-economic burden on Cox's Bazar.
UNHRC has to take an initiative on emergency basis for their repatriation, he added.
The minister said as long as Rohingyas are here, UNHCR has to increase assistance and take effective measures to repatriate them.
Agreeing to the fact that international media's information that Rohingyas in Bangladesh are ill-treated is not right, the UNHCR envoy said Rohingya problem has spread to the Southeast Asian region, including Thailand and Malaysia.
He appreciated the refugee camp management in Cox's Bazar camps and assured the government of increased assistance from UNHCR
