About three thousand Rohingyas have so far been killed in the Rakhine state of Myanmar in the hands of its government security forces since August 25, Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said while holding two back-to-back briefings yesterday for foreign diplomats stationed in Dhaka. Quoting the foreign minister, Vatican Ambassador to Dhaka George Kocherry revealed this information while talking to reporters after the briefings at the state guest house Padma yesterday. “The international community is trying to help the Rohingyas,” he said.

But, while speaking to reporters after the briefings, Foreign Minister Ali would not mention the number of Rohingyas killed by the Myanmar security forces since August 25.

Replying to a question, foreign minister ruled out any possibility of engaging in war with Myanmar.     “We won’t get into war because war is not a solution to the Rohingya crisis, and war will never be the solution to this problem,” he said.

“Cumulatively with the other countries we will raise the issue in the upcoming General Assembly of United Nations,” he added.

United States Chargé d'Affaires Joel R Reifman told reporters that Washington wants the implementation of the recommendations of the Annan Commission headed by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Ambassadors/ high commissioners/ CDAs a.i. from diplomatic missions of Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Turkey, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Norway, Netherlands, USA, UK, and EU and representatives from UN resident coordinator, UNHCR, WFP, UNICEF, IOM, ICRC were present at the first briefing while the second briefing was attended by ambassadors/ high commissioners/ CDAs a.i. from diplomatic missions of Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

Following the briefings, Foreign Minister Ali told reporters that the international community is describing the killing of large number Rohingyas in Rakhine state by the Myanmar security force as ‘genocide’.

Asked if Bangladesh also considers this as genocide, he said, “Like the international community we are also saying so.” Myanmar will have to resolve the ongoing Rohingya crisis as it was created by them and Bangladesh is ready to assist its neighbour in this regard, said the minister.

He also added that Bangladesh is engaged with Myanmar bilaterally with regard to the protracted problem troubling the relationship for decades.

“We have not created the problem. It is a problem created by Myanmar. So, they will have to resolve the problem,” said the foreign minister.

“And, we’re ready to help them in this aspect,” he added

Ali also informed that the bilateral discussions with Myanmar with regard to Rohingya crisis are on.

The international community is full of praise for Bangladesh for hosting huge number of Rohingyas despite many constraints of its own, he said, adding that the international community has assured of assisting Bangladesh both politically and in terms of humanitarian way to deal with the crisis.

Besides, Ali said that the international community laid emphasis on the implementation of the recommendations of the Annan Commission.

The foreign minister also referred to many historical references proving that Rohingyas are indeed the citizens of Myanmar.

Meanwhile, while briefing the diplomats about the current situation regarding the influx of Rohingyas, Ali informed that around 300,000 Rohingyas have already entered Bangladesh in last two weeks, according to a foreign ministry press release.

He also mentioned that Bangladesh has already been hosting 400,000 Rohingyas for 03 decades and currently the total number of Myanmar nationals living in Bangladesh has reached over 7 lakh.

This is creating huge challenge for Bangladesh in terms of providing shelter as well as other humanitarian assistances to them, he added.

The foreign minister highlighted that Bangladesh has always preferred bilateral solution to this long standing problem and was successful in repatriating 236,599 Rohingyas to their homeland through a bilateral agreement in 1992. He mentioned that the 1992 Agreement recognised Rohingyas as ‘members of Myanmar society’.

Ali also highlighted Bangladesh’s efforts to address the security concerns of Myanmar, particularly by proposing MOUs in 2014 on Border Liaison Office and Security Dialogue. Bangladesh has also proposed joint inspection, coordinated patrolling of border; and ‘joint operation’ along the border.

Unfortunately, he said, Myanmar has not responded to these proposals. Rather, they have been running a malicious propaganda terming the Rohingyas as ‘illegal migrants from Bangladesh’ and the attackers to their BGP posts as ‘Bengali terrorists’.

The foreign minister referred to the recently published report of the Kofi Annan Commission and urged the international community to pursue the Myanmar government for immediate and unconditional implementation of the recommendations of this report in its entirety for permanent solution to this crisis.

He also requested the international community to help Bangladesh with urgent humanitarian assistances to address the current crisis, support for transportation of the Rohingyas to Bhashan Char, as well as to provide political support to ensure sustainable return of all Myanmar nationals to their homes in Myanmar.

Thanking the government for the briefing, the diplomats highly praised the government of Bangladesh for hosting the Rohingyas for all these years and also giving shelter to the Myanmar nationals who are fleeing violence in the Rakhine State.

They also stressed on the protection of civilians and urged to stop disproportionate use of force during the ongoing military operation in Rakhine.

The foreign minister will brief the diplomats of some other Asian countries today.