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US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo invited him to the meet.
Foreign Minister AH
Mahmood Ali has described the influx of the Rohingyas from Myanmar as “one of
the gravest ethno-religious cleansing of recent times”.
“The perpetrators of
these heinous crimes must be held accountable,” he said, speaking at the
first-ever ‘Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom’ in Washington on
Thursday.
Mahmood Ali said
Bangladesh sheltering and supporting 1.1 million forcibly displaced Myanmar
nationals is the reflection of its truly Samaritan and inclusive nature.
He said the
international community needed to continue sustained pressure on Myanmar to
ensure the safe, sustainable and dignified return of the Myanmar nationals to a
religiously-tolerant and ethnically inclusive Myanmar.
The US Department of
State organised the meeting which was attended by 80 delegations, mostly led by
ministers.
A good number of
members of civil society including religious leaders from different countries
attended the conference.
The opening session
was attended by US Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary Pompeo.
Vice President Pence
said the US is a nation of faith and religious freedom is a top priority of its
foreign policy.
Foreign Minister
Mahmood Ali commended the US government for organising the first-ever ‘Ministerial
to Advance Religious Freedom’.
“We feel that such
conference should also be held at regional level. Bangladesh would be ready to
host such a regional ministerial in Dhaka at a suitable time,” he said.
He mentioned that
the UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and
Belief noted in his report in 2015 that “religious pluralism is deeply rooted
in Bangladesh and the principle of secularism as laid down in the Constitution
provides for a framework which accommodates religious and belief-related
pluralism for everyone without discrimination”.
Ambassador Sam
Brownback, Chair of the conference, praised Bangladesh for hosting such a huge
number of Rohingyas in Bangladesh.
During a reception
held in honour of the delegates attending the ministerial, the US Ambassador to
the UN, Nikki Haley, thanked Bangladesh for generous humanitarian response to
the Rohingya crisis, the Bangladesh embassy in Washington said.
She also thanked
Bangladesh for opening its arms and allowing international organisations to
support the Rohingyas.