Ambassador Hesham Youssef, Assistant Secretary General for Cultural, Family and Humanitarian Affairs of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), yesterday said the OIC will play a strong role in resolving the protracted Rohingya crisis, reports UNB. Youssef, who is leading an OIC delegation here, came up with the remarks after visiting Rohingya camp at Kutupalong. "We've visited Rohingya camps, heard their tales of sufferings and collected information about brutalities inflicted on them by Myanmar army," he said at a press briefing.

The Rohingya issue will be presented at the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers with a greater focus, he said. Pressure should be continued on Myanmar to take back the Rohingyas to their homeland, he said adding that the OIC will work with the UN Security Council and Bangladesh to resolve the issue.

A 53-member high-profile delegation of representatives of the OIC visited Rohingya camps in the morning. They arrived at Cox's Bazar Airport around 8:45 am and went to a hotel at Inani. Later, they visited the Rohingya camps around 11:30 am, said Mohammad Kamal Hossain, deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar district.

The delegation includes Foreign Ministers, State Ministers from 38 countries. They are vising the camps just a day before the beginning of the 45th session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (OIC-CFM) in Dhaka. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to open the two-day event at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the capital today morning. The theme of this year's council is 'Islamic Values for Sustainable Peace, Solidarity and Development'.