Rohingya crisis may 'destabilise' region: Bangla foreign secy

New Delhi: Though it's a humanitarian issue at the moment but exodus of displaced persons has enough potential to destabilise South Asia. Visiting Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Shadul Haq told a select group of journalists on Friday in Delhi. On Thursday, he met Indian national security advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign secretary S Jaishankar in New Delhi and discussed the going Rohingya issue. He claimed that India and Bangladesh were on the same page on the implementation of Former Secretary Genenara Kofi Anan's recommendation for a permanent solution to the issue. The Rohingya crisis has the potential to "destabilise" the region though it is a humanitarian issue at present, Bangladesh on Friday said, insisting that India is on the same page.

Terming the violence in Rakhine state as "ethnic cleansing", Haque said the international community has been made aware of how Myanmar was "snatching the rights" of the Rohingyas.

"It is not only people's movement but it is also a security issue, a border issue, which has the potential to destabilise the region, not just areas in Myanmar and Bangladesh," he told reporters during a briefing at the Bangladesh High Commission here.

He asserted that Bangladesh's position is clear that the problem has been created in Myanmar and the solution lies there. He said Dhaka wants the refugees to return "as soon as possible". Myanmar had recently proposed to take back over half a million Rohingyas from Bangladesh and the two countries agreed to set up a working group to coordinate the repatriation of the minority Muslims. Haque said a working group has been set up by Bangladesh and Myanmar to hammer out a solution after Dhaka handed over a written proposal suggesting solutions.

"It's a normal way of sending people to their own country through a process. We proposed that we should also involve international bodies in the process because the numbers are large," he said. Asked about India's position that the Rohingyas pose a security threat, Haque said there are possibilities of radicalisation wherever there is large scale movement of people, but Bangladesh has been able to contain the situation so far.