Shawdesh Desk:

India has reiterated its “supportive” approach towards Bangladesh’s efforts to resolve the Rohingya crisis that poses multidimensional challenges for Bangladesh and beyond.

In a recent letter written to Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen, his Indian counterpart Dr S Jaishankar mentioned that the “safe, speedy, and sustainable” return of displaced persons to Myanmar is in the best interests of all concerned.

“This is also in the best interest of lasting regional security and stability,” said the Indian External Affairs Minister.

Jaishankar also expressed deep admiration for Bangladesh in shouldering the burden of hosting the displaced people from Rakhine State in Myanmar, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Bangladesh is now hosting over 1.1 million Rohingyas who have fled their homeland in Rakhine State after being persecuted by their own country.

Myanmar did not take back a single Rohingya from Bangladesh over the last two years but Myanmar, in its attempts to “mislead” the international community, claimed that a total of 397 displaced people have voluntarily returned from Bangladesh to Myanmar.

Two repatriation attempts were unsuccessful as Myanmar “failed to remove trust deficit” among the Rohingyas and there was “lack of conducive environment” in Rakhine for their return.

On Wednesday, Bangladesh accused Myanmar of remaining engaged in a “persistent campaign” to mislead the international community to avoid its obligations for “sustained repatriation” and reintegration of the Rohingyas.

Dhaka also rejected “baseless accusations, falsification, and misrepresentation of facts” by Nay Pyi Taw, and urged it to stop concocted campaign and concentrate on the fulfillment of its obligations.

“Myanmar must act decisively to address the real causes that are preventing the displaced Rohingya from going back voluntarily,” said the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry.

The ministry said it was a “matter of utter dismay” to witness such tenacious campaign with fabricated information, misrepresentation of facts, unsubstantiated claims and undue accusations on part of Myanmar to mislead the international community.

Bangladesh said Myanmar should seriously consider a comprehensive participation of the international community in creating conducive environment for the return as well as in the monitoring of repatriation and reintegration process.

“Myanmar should also cooperate with the international community to eliminate the culture of impunity for the sake of a durable solution to the protracted problem,” the Foreign Ministry said.