Anirban Bhaumik, DH News Service, New Delhi, Sep 16 2017, 1:13 IST
India on Friday delivered 54 tonnes of rice, pulses, biscuits and other essentials to Bangladesh for distribution among the refugees coming from Myanmar. AP/PTI
Prodded by Dhaka, New Delhi has asked Nay Pyi Daw to check violence against Rohingyas but will tread cautiously on exodus of people of the community from Myanmar to Bangladesh.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj spoke to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina over phone. Hasina's Deputy Press Secretary Nazrul Islam quoted Swaraj telling Bangladesh Prime Minister that India had been asked Myanmar tostrop atrocities against Rohingyas. New Delhi did not make public the details of the conversation between the two. Neither did it confirm or deny what media in Bangladesh reported quoting Islam's statement about Swaraj's call to Hasina.
Sources in New Delhi, however, told the DH that India would extend all possible assistance to Hasina's Government to provide food and other essentials to nearly 400,000 Rohingyas, who had taken refuge in Bangladesh after escaping violence in Myanmar since the last week of August.
India on Friday delivered 54 tonnes of rice, pulses, biscuits and other essentials to Bangladesh for distribution among the refugees coming from Myanmar. This was the second tranche of India's humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh in the wake of the exodus of Rohingyas from Myanmar. The first consignment of 70 tonnes of relief materials was delivered at Chittagong Airport of Bangladesh on Thursday.
Sources familiar with New Delhi's relations with Dhaka said that India would support Hasina Government in providing food and shelter to the Rohingyas to make it sure that radicals in Bangladesh did not get an opportunity to use the issue against her Awami League.
Hasina, who has been leading the Awami League Government in Dhaka since 2009, had been strongly dealing with the religious fundamentalists in Bangladesh. She will seek a third consecutive term in office of the Prime Minitser in the next general elections to be held in Bangladesh in December 2018.
New Delhi, however, is still keen to tread cautiously on exodus of people from Myanmar to Bangladesh, as the issue has security implications for India, particularly in view of the reports about Rohingya militants operating in Myanmar having links with international terror networks.
Sources in New Delhi said that India would also continue to carefully avoid embarrassing Aung San Suu Kyi's Government in Nay Pyi Daw.
The international community heaped scorn on the Nobel Peace laureate icon for the struggle for democracy in Myanmar, particularly after the violence started against Rohingyas in Rakhine State of her country.
New Delhi will no way create a situation that might prompt Suu Kyi's Government in Myanmar move into a closer ties with China.
Beijing already made it clear that it was on the same page with Nay Pyi Daw on the issue of crackdown against militants in Rakhine, stating that it was an internal matter of Myanmar.
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Nay Pyi Daw earlier this month, New Delhi was careful to avert putting Suu Kyi and her Government in embarrassment. Modi did say that India shared with Myanmar its concerns over extremist violence in Rakhine.
He, however, did not refer to violence against Rohingyas, which started during a crackdown by Myanmar's Army in the aftermath of attacks by militants on security posts on August 25.
New Delhi broke its silence on the issue only after Dhaka's envoy to New Delhi, Syed Muazzem Ali, met Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar on September 9. Ali conveyed to Jaishankar that the influx of such a large number of refugees from Myanmar had put strain on the economy of Bangladesh. It prompted New Delhi to call upon Myanmar Government to deal the situation “with restraint and maturity”.