05 June 2018•Update: 06 June 2018
By SM Najmus Sakib
DHAKA, Bangladesh
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has reiterated her call on the international community to pile pressure on Myanmar to take back Rohingya refugees who fled to Bangladesh after facing persecution in their home country.
Hasina made the call on Tuesday during her meeting with President and CEO of International Rescue Committee David Miliband at her office in the parliament in Dhaka.
“The world community should continue to pressurize Myanmar to take back the displaced Rohingya nationals from Bangladesh,” she said, according to the state-run news agency, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS).
Miliband, a British Labour Party politician, said he and his team were in Bangladesh to see the conditions of Rohingya on the ground, the report added.
He appreciated Bangladesh’s gesture of opening its border to Rohingya refugees.
He said the IRC will recruit 100 staff from Bangladesh to back its efforts for the Rohingya.
Hasina and Miliband both said they fear the biggest issue facing the Rohingya will be expected mudslides during the upcoming monsoon.
The premier said the government was preparing a safe place for the refugees in Bhasanchar in Noakhali.
She also said local people were suffering and was getting affected due to the Rohingya influx.
Since Aug. 25, 2017, some 750,000 Rohingya, mostly children women, have fled Myanmar after Myanmar forces began a crackdown on the minority Muslim community, according to Amnesty International.
At least 9,000 Rohingya were killed in Myanmar's Rakhine state from Aug. 25 to Sept. 24, 2017, according to Doctors Without Borders.
In a report published last December, the global humanitarian group said the deaths of 71.7 percent or 6,700 Rohingya were caused by violence. They include 730 children below the age of 5.
The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.
The UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including of infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances committed by security personnel. In a report, UN investigators said such violations may have constituted crimes against humanity.
