Bangladesh provided shelter to Myanmar Rohingyas on a humanitarian ground but it now wants them to go back, says Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Her remarks came on Thursday during a meeting with newly-appointed Egyptian ambassador Walid Ahmed Shamseldin, reports BSS.
“We have given them shelter on humanitarian ground ... now we want them to go back,” Press Secretary to the PM Ihsanul Karim quoted her as saying.
Hasina told the envoy that Bangladesh is in talks with Myanmar and other stakeholders to resolve the crisis “but Myanmar is not working according to the agreement”, according to Karim, who briefed the media after the meeting.
Bangladesh is now building shelters at the place designated for relocation 100,000 Rohingyas out of the 1.1 million living in timid and squalid camps in Cox’s Bazar, the prime minister told the envoy.
Press Secretary Karim said they also discussed issues of mutual interests when “she said we attach great importance to our relationship with Egypt as it was one of the first Arab countries to recognise Bangladesh after the 1971 Independence”.
“The envoy said he would work for strengthening further the bilateral relations and cooperation between the two countries,” Karim said particularly stressing cultural ties between the two countries.
Shamseldin informed the premier that he already met Bangladesh’s cultural affairs minister Asaduzzaman Noor to discuss ways for strengthening cultural bonds.