Shawdesh Desk:

Myanmar has dismissed calls to establish a ‘safe zone’ for its minority Muslim Rohingya community urging Bangladesh to carry out the repatriation of sheltered Rohingyas in accordance with a bilateral agreement.

Kyaw Tint Swe, Myanmar’s Union Minister for the Office of the State Counsellor, said repatriations would be carried out in line with a November 2017 agreement with Bangladesh.

Addressing the UN General Assembly on Saturday, Kyaw Tint Swe, said, “Issues between neighbours can and must be resolved bilaterally in an amicable and friendly manner.”

He said the proposition of establishing a ‘safe zone’ is “neither warranted nor workable.”

However, despite attempts to repatriate the Rohingyas, no-one returned to their homeland citing Myanmar’s failure to create conditions conducive to their “voluntary, safe and dignified” return.

Bangladesh is currently hosting more than 1.1 million Rohingyas. Over 700,000 Rohingyas sought shelter in Cox’s Bazar following August 2017 military crackdown in the Rakhine State that the UN termed “ethnic cleansing”.

Swe said displaced people who had been living in Rakhine state “have a different legal status.”

Those who qualify for citizenship will be issued with citizenship cards. The rest will receive National Verification Cards which he likened to the “green card” issued to immigrants in the United States.

Swe also said Government efforts to bring peace and stability to Rakhine state “predate the violent attacks by the ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) terrorist group in 2016 and 2017 that triggered off the current humanitarian crisis.”