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| Myanmar’s Home Affairs Minister Lt. Gen. Kyaw Swe (L) receives his Bangladeshi counterpart, Asaduzzaman Khan, at the ministry headquarters in Myanmar’s capital, Naypyitaw, October 24. |
Myanmar’s home affairs minister, Lieutenant General Kyaw
Swe, and his Bangladeshi counterpart, Asaduzzaman Khan, signed two agreements
covering security and border cooperation in a meeting in Myanmar’s capital,
Naypyitaw, on Tuesday.
The two sides agreed “to halt the outflow of Myanmar
residents to Bangladesh,” and “to form a joint working group,” said Tin Myint,
the permanent secretary of Myanmar’s home affairs ministry.
The two sides also agreed to “arrange different steps so
that these people can return to their homeland safely and honorably and in
secure conditions,” said Mostafa Kamal Uddin, the secretary of the Bangladeshi
home affairs ministry.
It was not clear what specific steps would be taken to
safely return the persecuted Rohingya to Myanmar, where they have faced death,
torture, and rape by Myanmarese soldiers and Buddhist mobs since late last
year.
There was also no mention of whether the violence against
the Rohingya would stop in Myanmar or whether the refugees would be forcefully
returned.
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| Rohingya Muslim refugees are pictured at a camp in Bangladesh on September 29, 2017. (Photo by AFP) |
The Myanamarese government does not recognize the
Rohingya as citizens, and the military has laid siege to the Muslims in the
western state of Rakhine, claiming that armed Rohingya attacks have triggered
the siege.
But numerous reports and eyewitness accounts say the
military has been targeting civilians.
Also, a report last month revealed that Myanmar was
planting landmines across an area of its border with Bangladesh to prevent the
return of the Muslims.
There was no clear indication that the situation would
change for the better. The Bangladeshi side said that Myanmarese government had
sent a list of suspects who had “fled” to Bangladesh and requested the
authorities there to investigate and send them back to Myanmar.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people took to the streets in
Myanmar’ Rakhine, calling on the government in Myanmar not to return the
refugees.
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| Rohingya Muslim refugees are seen after crossing into Bangladesh from Myanmar on October 24, 2017. (Photo by AFP) |
The Rohingya Muslims started fleeing the western Rakhine
in October 2016, when the government launched the military campaign against
them.
Over 600,000 Muslims have so far fled Myanmar into
neighboring Bangladesh, according to the United Nations (UN).
Source: http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/10/25/539808/Myanmar-Bangladesh-Rohingya-outflow-agreement
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