New list of 50,000 Rohingyas handed over to Myanmar
Names of about
1 lakh Rohingyas given to Myanmar so far, with not a single repatriated
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT, Dhaka
The Foreign Ministry has handed over a fresh list of 50,000 Rohingyas to Myanmar, the fourth list so far, for verification to pave the way for their return to the Rakhine state. The latest list was handed over to the Myanmar ambassador yesterday, said Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen. The foreign minister, while taking to journalists at his office yesterday, said the list has been handed over to Myanmar for verification and commencement of repatriation. Not a single Rohingya person has been repatriated by Myanmar till now. Foreign ministry sources said Bangladesh would continue to provide such lists to Myanmar in an effort to get the repatriation process started.
After the influx of Rohingyas in 2017, both Bangladesh and Myanmar governments signed a repatriation agreement on November 23, 2017. Bangladesh and Myanmar on January 16, 2018 even inked a deal on the physical arrangement to start the repatriation, which was supposed to be completed within two years.
With this list, the names of about one lakh Rohongyas have been given to Myanmar for verification before repatriation. Myanmar has verified only over 8,000 Rohingyas till now, but none of these verified persons have returned despite two repatriation attempts over the last two years after the Rohingya influx began on August 25, 2017.
Sources say the process of verification has been slow because of the reluctance on the Rohingya side.
At present, Bangladesh is hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas at Coxs Bazar with financial assistance from foreign countries and other international agencies.
On February 16, 2018, Bangladesh handed over a list of 8,032 Rohingyas (1,673 families) to the Myanmar authorities to commence the first phase of repatriation of the persecuted people, who were displaced from their homeland in Myanmars Rakhine state.
At that time, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal had handed over the list to his Myanmar counterpart, Lt Gen Kyaw Swe. The Myanmar side has cordially accepted the list, he had told reporters. Later, from the list,
Myanmar accepted a total of 5,384 people as Rohingyas and denied that the others belonged to the community.
Again, on October 30, 2018, Bangladesh handed over another list of 22,432 Rohingyas to Myanmar. Myanmar verified 3,450 persons from that list. On July 29, Bangladesh handed over a fresh list of 25,000 Rohingyas belonging to 6,000 families to the head of the visiting Myanmar delegation to facilitate the much-awaited repatriation process. But Myanmar has not verified any of the names yet.
Bangladesh again handed over a list of 50,000 Rohingyas to Myanmar ambassador to Bangladesh Lwin Oo yesterday.
On November 15, 2018, preparations were made to send the first batch of Rohingyas. However, the exercise was halted as the Rohingyas were reluctant to leave, saying they would only return after being ensured a dignified stay back home.
The second repatriation attempt was made on August 22 this year. This attempt too fell through as Myanmar was unable build trust among their people about a safe return by assuring them that a congenial atmosphere had been created for them in Rakhine.
