Bangladesh on Sunday termed as ‘surprising’ Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's comments questioning the state of origin of her country's Muslim Rohingya community.
‘Historic evidence shows that people of Rohingya ethnicity have been living in the Rakhine state of Myanmar for centuries, whereas Bangladesh came into existence only in 1971,’ a foreign office statement said.
Dhaka's reaction came three days after Suu Kyi, in New Delhi, said there were quarrels about if the Rohingyas were ‘true citizens under law’ or came over to Myanmar as migrants later from Bangladesh.
‘Bangladesh will say all these people have come from Burma (Myanmar) and the Burmese say all these people have come over from Bangladesh,’ Suu Kyi had told the media, visibly disappointing Dhaka.
‘The (foreign) ministry wishes to express surprise at such comments since these are clearly at variance from the position of the Myanmar Government and the action taken by them to resolve the issue over the last several years,’ said the statement issued by the foreign office.
The foreign office recalled that since Bangladesh's emergence as an independent state on December 16, 1971, there had been occasional influxes of ‘Myanmar nationals of Rohingya ethnicity’ from Myanmar to Bangladesh ‘due to internal situations in their homeland’.
‘Historic evidence shows that people of Rohingya ethnicity have been living in the Rakhine state of Myanmar for centuries, whereas Bangladesh came into existence only in 1971,’ a foreign office statement said.
Dhaka's reaction came three days after Suu Kyi, in New Delhi, said there were quarrels about if the Rohingyas were ‘true citizens under law’ or came over to Myanmar as migrants later from Bangladesh.
‘Bangladesh will say all these people have come from Burma (Myanmar) and the Burmese say all these people have come over from Bangladesh,’ Suu Kyi had told the media, visibly disappointing Dhaka.
‘The (foreign) ministry wishes to express surprise at such comments since these are clearly at variance from the position of the Myanmar Government and the action taken by them to resolve the issue over the last several years,’ said the statement issued by the foreign office.
The foreign office recalled that since Bangladesh's emergence as an independent state on December 16, 1971, there had been occasional influxes of ‘Myanmar nationals of Rohingya ethnicity’ from Myanmar to Bangladesh ‘due to internal situations in their homeland’.