Outgoing Malaysian High Commissioner in Dhaka Nur Ashikin binti Mohd Taib yesterday made her farewell call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office in the city and called her a 'person of very big heart'. PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters after the meeting. The outgoing Malaysian envoy thanked the Prime Minister for her government's support to her during her tenure in Bangladesh. Appreciating the generosity of the Prime Minister, the Malaysian envoy said Bangladesh provided shelter to a large number of displaced Rohingyas. In this regard, the Prime Minister said it is a pressure on Bangladesh, and Myanmar should create a congenial atmosphere so that these people can go back to their homeland.

Sheikh Hasina also extended her thanks to Malaysia for its support over the Rohingya issue, saying, "You can't keep your eyes closed when such humanitarian disaster takes place," Ihsanul Karim quoted the Prime Minister as saying.

Bangladesh provided Rohingyas shelter on humanitarian grounds, she said.

The Prime Minister said local people of Cox's Bazar are bearing the brunt of giving shelter to Rohingyas as they are losing their cultivable land as well as occupation. "New Rohingya people are coming to Bangladesh from outside, including Saudi Arabia and India." She focused on her government's activities to arrange temporary accommodation for Rohingyas to Bhashan Char Island in Noakhali, saying some 8,000 people are working for constructing shelter homes there.

All the facilities, including pure water, will be available in the island, Hasina said, adding that the government is also constructing multipurpose cyclone shelters in coastal areas.

She said a process is on to develop Cox's Bazar Airport as an international standard one, which will link the East and the West. "The airport will be equipped with all the facilities for filling fuel to aircraft." Recalling the excellent bilateral relations between Bangladesh and Malaysia, the Prime Minister said Malaysia is one of the first countries that recognised Bangladesh after the Liberation War.