Prolonged repatriation may push Rohingyas to crimes: Hasina

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said that Rohingyas in Bangladesh were getting frustrated due to prolonged uncertainty over repatriation to their homeland Myanmar.

‘Such uncertainty has a great potential risk as it entices many to get involved in criminal activities,’ she told the visiting United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Fillippo Grandi who called on her at her official residence Ganobhaban in Bangladesh capital Dhaka.

PM’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed the reporters after the meeting.

The prime minister said that her government was facilitating informal education following Myanmar’s curriculum and language as well as skill development activities similar to options available in Rakhine state, the home of the Rohingyas.

She said that a deep forest in Ukhia, where most of over 1.1 million forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals live, had been destroyed in a big blow to the environment in this southern part of the country.

‘They are reducing the forest by cutting trees and thus creating great environmental hazards in the area,’ she said.

Hasina said that her government had arranged temporary shelter for the Rohingyas in Bhashan Char Island ensuring all sorts of facilities.

‘Our government has developed Bhashan Char with all amenities to temporary shelter 100,000 Rohingyas,’ she said.

She said that so far 30,000 Rohingyas had been shifted in there.

She also mentioned that each year some 45,000 babies are born in Rohingya camps in Bangladesh.

She appreciated UNHCR’s role in supporting Rohingyas, stateless and displaced people worldwide.

Ambassador-at-large M Ziauddin, PMO senior secretary M Tofazzel Hossain Miah, UNHCR representative in Bangladesh Johannes van der Klaauw were present during the meeting.

News Courtesy:

https://www.newagebd.net/article/171402/prolonged-repatriation-may-push-rohingyas-to-crimes-hasina