The Saudi government has given a list to Bangladesh to take back 42,000 Rohingyas. Saudi authority claims that the Rohingyas used the airport in Bangladesh to go to the desert kingdom.
But since Rohingyas are not Bangladeshi citizens, the government did not show much interest.
A foreign ministry spokesperson says: “In the past, when Saudi authority gave lists of 200-500 Rohingyas, they were returned if they possessed Bangladesh passports.”
However, at the end of last year, they gave us a list of 42,000 people. Due to economic reasons and current policy, Saudi Arabia wants to take a minimum number of foreigners.
This is the first step of the Saudi government to send back thousands of Rohingyas living in the kingdom.
The spokesperson also said that Saudi Arabia contacted Myanmar too to take back the Rohingyas but the south-east nation refused to do so.
Rohingyas are believed to be the most persecuted nation in the world and faced with prejudice and torture they left their homeland to live in other countries. The most number is in Bangladesh with 1.1 million followed by Saudi Arabia.
It’s believed that when Bangladesh was East Pakistan, around 200,000 Rohingyas went to Saudi Arabia; later, some also went with Bangladesh passport.