Excerpt from unattributed report headlined "No Fresh Listing of Rohingyas: Foreign Secy Says Dhaka Won't Recognise Undocumented Entrants" published by Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star website on 11 April
Bangladesh will not give in to western pressure for recognition to the large number of undocumented Myanmar [Burma] nationals who entered the country illegally as refugees, said Foreign Secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes yesterday.
The foreign secretary made the comment at a press conference at the foreign ministry following the proposal of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for fresh registration of the Myanmar intruders.
Mijarul said the regional coordinator of UNHCR had recently made the proposal to the government.
"We have categorically told them that the proposal is not acceptable," he told reporters.
"We don't want to discuss the issue with UNHCR or others. They are undocumented Myanmar nationals and they must go back to their homeland," the foreign secretary stressed.
The government only recognises 28,000 Rohingyas staying at two UNHCR-administered camps in Cox's Bazar, he said.
More than three lakh illegal Myanmar nationals are staying outside the two camps set up in Nowapara and Kutupalong of Cox's Bazar district [on the south-east]. There are, however, no official statistics for illegal Rohingyas.
Mijarul said the government is very "tolerant and flexible" to thousands of illegal Myanmar nationals who are involved in various economic activities.
The foreign secretary said the government is allowing them to take health services on humanitarian ground.
"We have not dumped them in the concentration camps. But this is not our weakness. Our efforts are on to repatriate them," maintained Mijarul.
He also criticised some international NGOs and media for presenting "untrue" stories about Rohingya refugees.
Some western diplomats and legislators have recently visited Cox's Bazar to see for themselves the poor living conditions of Rohingyas. International pressures are there on the government to give recognition to illegal Myanmar nationals.
UNHCR, with the help of Bangladesh and Myanmar government, registered over 200,000 Rohngyas as refugees. UNHCR helped repatriate most of the refugees. Over 28,000 Rohingyas, however, refused to return to their homeland in Rakhain state.
The local administration in Cox's Bazar said that most of the previously repatriated Rohingyas re-entered Bangladesh because of poverty there.
Maritime Boundary:
On maritime boundary with Myanmar, the foreign secretary said the gap with the neighbour has been reduced substantially on the long- standing issue of demarcating maritime boundary.
He said the 6th Technical Committee meeting held in Myanmar on March 17-18 made some progress as Myanmar side shifted its position recognising Bangladesh's plea for "equity" principle.
Mijarul said Bangladesh completed the seismic survey in the Bay of Bengal and the results are satisfactory. On the basis of the survey results, he said, Bangladesh will submit its claim on its territorial sea in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) by the deadline of July 11, 2011.
Nuclear power plant:
Mijarul said a high-powered delegation led by two advisers of the prime minister -- Dr Toufiq-e-Elahi Chowhdury and Dr Mashiur Rahman - - are now visiting Russia and Poland where they will discuss all possible sources of energy starting from nuclear to solar energy.
He said earlier Bangladesh and Russia signed an MoU for cooperation in using nuclear energy for peaceful purpose.
"Foreign Minister Dipu Moni will visit Moscow soon and hold talks with her Russian counterpart on wide-ranging issues including the nuclear power plant," Mijarul told reporters.
