Bangladesh has given a draft of an agreement to Myanmar to send Rohingya refugees back. On Monday, Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali handed over the draft of the agreement to Myanmar minister Kyaw Tint Saw.
A senior government official said, ‘The government wants to send back all the Rohingyas who have come to Bangladesh so far.’
Since August 25, more than 5 lakh Rohingyas have come to Bangladesh. Earlier, about 90,000 people from last October to July and about three lakh Rohingya from the eighties to September last year were staying in Bangladesh. That means there is 9 lakh Rohingya in Bangladesh.
This is specifically mentioned in our draft of the agreement, he said.
He said, the agreement was based on the agreement made in 1978 and 1992, but its necessary changes have been made.
Significant issues of the agreement are that the surveys carried out on Rohingyas came to Bangladesh before August 2017 will be given to Myanmar.
Bangladesh will also provide information on all registered Rohingya in Nayapara and Kutupalong camps. Myanmar will complete their verification process within one month of receiving this information. Besides, it is proposed to return all registered Rohingyas within one month to the contract.
If the agreement is accepted by both parties, the guidelines for the return of unregistered Rohingyas will be decided within a certain time.
According to the draft of the agreement, Rohingyas will have to show their papers of the permanent address, list of household goods, papers of land or business ownership, school registration proofs etc to prove they were inhabitants Myanmar.
According to the draft of the agreement, the verification process of Myanmar will be completed within 45 days of submitting this document and when the first unregistered batch will be returned to Myanmar then the rest will be returned within three to four months.
Moreover, if there is a problem in identifying a Rohingya, then there will be a joint verification that the draft agreement is mentioned.