‘No one should provoke conflict in Myanmar’

GBNEWS24DESK//

Two years after the military coup in Myanmar and more than five years after the latest Rohingya exodus to Bangladesh, the scope of restoring normalcy and repatriation of the Rohingyas remain as elusive as ever.

While Myanmar’s military junta has been continuing persecution, extrajudicial killings and gross human-rights violations, confrontation of the global superpowers and regional powers has further complicated the situation for Bangladesh.

These concerns were expressed yesterday at the seminar titled “Restoring Peace in Myanmar: Two Years after the Military Coup” organised by the Center for Peace Studies (CPS) of the South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG), North South University.

Brig Gen (retd) M Sakhawat Hussain said, “The Rohingya crisis is already creating internal security threats. Bangladesh could become a hotspot in the future if the situation turns into a regional conflict involving India, China and the USA.”

“If Bangladesh wants to solve the Rohingya crisis, I think there are other options that we need to explore. Our diplomacy did not work in this regard, and it is not going to work in the next five years,” he added.

Commenting on the Burma Act, recently passed by the US Senate, former foreign secretary and ambassador Shahidul Haque said, “The Burma Act is primarily an attempt to build a crisis in an already existing conflict in Myanmar, which may not be good for Bangladesh at this moment.”

He emphasised that Bangladesh should not encourage or actively participate in creating a battlefield in Myanmar when Rohingyas who belong to that country are already in its territory.

Rohingya community leader Dr Hla Myint said, “We are the most persecuted community in the world. We demand the right to self-determination and we want to reach out to international actors for the interest of the Rohingya people globally and locally.”

Prof Zaw Wai Soe, union minister of Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG), expressed a strong commitment to voluntary, safe and dignified repatriation of the Rohingyas.

Zaw said, “Rohingyas are my people. We will not tolerate any discrimination against them and will work together with all our allies to end the military dictatorship and build a state where basic human rights can be valued and exercised.”

The minister also expressed NUG’s disappointment over the invitation sent to Myanmar’s junta government for the upcoming ASEAN defence minister’s meeting and military drill.