On Rohingya, Bangladesh asks India to lean on Myanmar

Briefing the media Tuesday on Hasina’s visit, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra did not respond directly to a flurry of questions on whether the Bangladesh side had raised the issue.

“On the Rohingya issue, we all know too well, and the international community has also acknowledged the role that Bangladesh has played in giving refuge to Rohingyas. The international community supports this effort. And India has also done so, including giving economic help. In days to come, whatever other help may be required, Government of India will keep in mind. The Government of India also supports a safe, stable and early return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar from other countries. In this connection, India will always play a constructive role and will have a constructive view,” Kwatra said.

Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina in New Delhi. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)

Bangladesh, which hosts over a million Rohingya refugees, however, has made clear on several occasions that India must use its influence with the Myanmar junta to take them back. Even before the coup in Myanmar, Dhaka had tried without success to get Naypidaw to take the refugees back. In recent weeks, the issue has grown more complex for Bangladesh with a flare-up in the Rakhine state, which borders Bangladesh, and which the Rohingya consider their home.

An informal ceasefire in place in Rakhine since November 2020 between the Myanmar Army and the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic armed organisation of Rakhine Buddhists, has been fraying and, much to Dhaka’s chagrin, the conflict has been spilling over to the Bangladesh side.

The AA has so far kept distance from the armed resistance to the junta by the “people’s defence forces” and ethnic armed organisations in other parts of the country. It has not expressed support for the “national unity government” in exile.

Relations were tense between the AA and the previous Aung San Suu Kyi’s government which had described the outfit as a terrorist group.

Formed in 2009, the AA is fighting for self-determination of the Rakhine Buddhists, who consider themselves to be ethnically different from the majority Bamar Buddhists.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina during the release of a joint statement after their meeting, at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, September 6, 2022. (PTI)

Over the last two months, however, the truce is reported to be breaking down as the Arakan Army attempts to dominate Rakhine state. According to reports from Myanmar, the AA now controls over half of the state, and is trying to establish dominance in crucial border areas. The Myanmar army is responding with aerial bombardment, artillery and mortar shelling.

On at least two of those occasions, the conflict has spilled over into Bangladesh. For the third time in a week, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry summoned the Myanmar envoy to Dhaka last Sunday to express its “deep concern” over the incidents of “mortar shelling, indiscriminate aerial firing in the border areas and air space violations”.

Bangladesh has been asking Delhi to use its good offices with the Myanmar junta to take back the Rohingya refugees who have now been living in a settlement in Cox’s Bazar, now known as the “world’s largest refugee camp”.

However, the conflict in Rakhine state complicates any repatriation effort, especially as the AA is said to be in control of many areas where Rohingya were formerly living. The fresh conflict has also created concerns of new waves of displaced persons crossing the border into Bangladesh.

According to the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Myanmar envoy was told that such activities are of “grave threat” to the safety and security of the peace-loving people, violation of border agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar and contrary to the good neighbourly relationship.

The ambassador was also urged to ensure that no trespassing by newly displaced Myanmar residents takes place from Rakhine. It was also conveyed to him that a safe, secure and conducive environment in the place of their origin in Rakhine is essential for sustainable and voluntary repatriation of the displaced Rohingyas from Bangladesh, according to the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry.

Before her arrival, Sheikh Hasina told the ANI news agency in an interview that “India is a vast country; you can accommodate, but you don’t have much. But in our country. We have 1.1 million Rohingya. We are consulting with the international community and also our neighbouring countries. They should also take some steps so that they can go back home,” she said.

Elections are due next year in Bangladesh, and the Rohingya problem could become an issue for the ruling Awami League as it campaigns for a fourth successive term.