Rohingya return: Dhaka provides fresh list to Myanmar

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - Bangladesh on Monday handed over a fresh list of 25,000 Rohingya Muslims -- currently living in refugee camps in the country's southeast -- to Myanmar authorities in order to facilitate the repatriation process, local media reported.

The list provided by Dhaka verifies their place of origin despite little hope that the Myanmar government will take the refugees back, UNB news agency reported.

Bangladesh acting Foreign Secretary Kamrul Ahsan gave the list in a meeting with a Myanmar delegation led by its Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Myint Thu.

The visiting team tried to convince the displaced Rohingya to return to Myanmar as "foreign nationals" and not citizens, Daily Star newspaper reported.

Rohingya leaders have repeatedly turned down this offer as they demand citizenship and guarantee of a dignified life upon return to Myanmar, from where they fled genocide.

Repatriation of Rohingya was agreed by Bangladesh and Myanmar late November 2017 but the process was repeatedly postponed due to lack of security and safety in the region.

Bangladesh previously handed over another list of 30,000 Rohingya for verification for repatriation, without any significant result disclosed yet by either parties.

Last November, the first scheduled Rohingya repatriation was halted as Rohingya refugees expressed unwillingness to return to their homeland, calling it “unsafe” for return.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, have fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, pushing the number of persecuted people in Bangladesh above 1.2 million.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).

More than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others were beaten, said the OIDA report, titled "Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience".

Some 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down and 113,000 others vandalized, it added.