Rohingya must return home: Khalilur

National Security Advisor Khalilur Rahman has said the government is working to find a permanent solution to the Rohingya crisis through repatriation.

After briefing diplomats at the Foreign Service Academy on Sunday, he said: “The most important thing is that we want an immediate and permanent solution to this problem, that’s it.”

“No matter how long you keep them with international aid, they have to return home. That’s the real issue,” he added.

At the same time, Khalilur underscored the need for international aid.

“Aid is important because if it decreases, several humanitarian problems arise. It has repercussions on the local population,” he said.

“So we are all making efforts to ensure that aid continues, and we are getting some initiatives from some donor countries.”

He noted that Bangladesh had spent more than $5 billion on the Rohingya over the past eight years.

“How much money was spent before they came? Not a single penny,” he said.

“When the Rohingya return, they’ll find very fertile land back home. There are enough fish in their water. We used to buy grain from them. They have no need in the world. So if we send them back, it will be good for everyone.”

Khalilur pointed to the stakeholder conference held in Cox’s Bazar on Aug 25 as part of preparations for an international conference on the Rohingya scheduled at the United Nations on Sept 30.

He said the initiative came in response to concerns that the Rohingya crisis was “falling” from the international agenda.

Last year, the chief advisor called on all UN member states to convene an international conference during the UN General Assembly, he said.

“And we got an immediate response to that. The UN General Assembly unanimously decided to convene this conference and 106 countries around the world sponsored it. So now there is a lot of international support,” Khalilur said.

“This conference is a great opportunity for the Rohingya and the world community to provide guidance for a permanent and immediate solution to this problem,” he added.

“That is why we want to take the voice of the Rohingya, their words, their hopes and aspirations, their dreams – these are the things we want to take to that conference.”

Since the Rohingya are not UN members, their voices will need to be represented indirectly, Khalilur said.

“Someone has to take their voice. So we are doing that in this kind of process,” he explained.

“We are getting a lot of response from the international community and you will see that from those of you who will participate in the conference,” he said.

“And the message that we will take, the message that the Rohingya will send through this conference, will be a big element of that UN conference next September.”