PM seeks UK's help to repatriate Rohingyas to Myanmar

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday called upon the United Kingdom (UK) to help repatriate the forcibly displaced Rohingyas to their motherland Myanmar.

“Use your good office to repatriate Rohingyas to their country,” she said when UK Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific Anne-Marie Trevelyan paid a courtesy call on the Prime Minister at her official Ganabhaban residence in Dhaka.

The Prime Minister said the Rohingyas have become a burden for Bangladesh and their numbers have been increasing day by day.

PM’s Speech Writer M Nazrul Islam briefed newsmen after the meeting.

As Trevelyan raised the issues of education, training and employment for Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar camps, Sheikh Hasina said the camps are overcrowded and it is impossible to ensure those facilities in those camps.

She, however, said her government has built houses with all the facilities in Bhasanchar Island for the Rohingyas.

“The facilities in Bhasanchar include accommodation, healthcare services and employment opportunities,” she added.

During the meeting, the Bangladesh premier also called upon Britain to invest in Bangladesh in a larger volume.

She said she has offered Britain a place in the special economic zones being set up across Bangladesh to make direct investment there for mutual benefits.

Bangladesh is likely to sign a SOP (standard operating procedure) with Britain to bring back illegal Bangladeshi migrants in Britain.

“We want none to go abroad illegally and we have announced zero tolerance to this end,” she said.