Staff Reporter : Describing the situation of allowing Rohingyas to enter Bangladesh,Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque on Wednesday said that Bangladesh had no alternative instead of permitting them to in here.
“We had no alternative but to allow Rohingyas enter the country when they fled from atrocities in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.General people in Bangladesh had a lot of emotion when Rohingyas were killed and their houses burnt and when they ran across the border of Bangladesh for life,” the secretary said while addressing a public lecture on Rohingya at Brac auditorium in the capital.
The public lecture under the banner of ‘Justice and accountability for Rohingya’ was organized by the Centre for Peace and Justice (CPJ) of Brac University.
The event was attended by academics, diplomats, representatives from UN and NGOs.
“It was a very difficult decision. We had in mind the consequences at the national level. But we also had to consider international obligations,” Shahidul Haque said.
Some 750,000 Rohingyas fled brutal military crackdown in Myanmar since August 2017 and joined here some 300,000 other Rohingyas who had left previous waves of violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine province.
The foreign secretary said, “Myanmar has failed in all fronts – in creating conducive environment in Rakhine as well as ensuring accountability.”
ICC can hold the individual perpetrators accountable, while the ICJ can hold accountable the state. Also, the USA, Canada and European Union imposed sanctions on some of the top army officials of Myanmar.
“I hope Myanmar will be under serious pressure now. Of course, repatriation is always our priority,” he said.
