Foreign ministers of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) members states have begun a two-day annual meeting in Dhaka with the spotlight on the issue of Rohingyas, who fled persecution in Myanmar.
The 45th OIC Council of Minister’s meeting kicked-off on Saturday, when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina attended the inaugural session at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.
“The OIC cannot be silent when the Rohingyas are facing ethnic cleansing. They have been driven out from their lands. I call the OIC to stand by them,” Hasina told the audience at the inaugural session.
She said the OIC as well as the international community have to continue mounting pressure on Myanmar. “So that the Rohingyas can return in line with the deal signed between Bangladesh and Myanmar.”
Bangladesh is now home to more than 1 million Muslim Rohingyas after nearly some 700,000 fled since August last year following a military crackdown in the state of Rakhine.
Fleeing refugees have reported killings, rapes and arson on a large scale.
The United Nations and the US have said that the military operation was aimed at ethnic cleansing while Myanmar maintains that it was a legitimate response to attacks on security forces by Rohingya insurgents.
Bangladesh opened its border to the Rohingyas on a humanitarian ground, PM Hasina said on Saturday. “I had spent the life of a refugee for six years after the 1975 assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. I can understand their (Rohingyas) sufferings.”
Calling the OIC to express its solidarity to the Rohingyas, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said the 57-nation body should pressure Myanmar for their safe return.
“This is the greatest humanitarian crisis since the 1994 Rwanda genocides.”
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, who has been invited as special guest, said the international community should come forward to hold those liable for the crimes against humanity committed in Myanmar.
“This is not only a problem for Bangladesh, but for all of us. It’s still going on and we need to make sure it stops.”
Saudi foreign minister and OIC secretary general as well as Turkish and Senegalese foreign ministers also addressed the Rohingya crisis in their speeches.
Nearly 600 representatives from 57 member states have joined this year’s meeting with the theme ‘Islamic Values for Sustainable Peace, Solidarity and Development’.
Bangladesh is hosting the meeting for the second time after the 14th OIC Council of Minister’s meeting in 1983.
Like every year, the Palestine issue will be discussed, but the Rohingya crisis is expected to dominate the agenda as the members have agreed to pass a resolution.