Myanmarese refugees may become extremists, according to Bangladesh's foreign minister

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

"They are becoming upset because repatriation has not yet begun, and many are becoming involved in illicit activities such as drugs and human trafficking, violence, and other crimes," said AK Abdul Momen.

 

Bangladesh's foreign minister, AK Abdul Momen, warned on Saturday that Myanmar citizens living in Bangladesh as refugees could resort to extremism, as he asked support from India and other nations in the area to repatriate them.

"I'm talking about the massive influx of Myanmar nationals in Bangladesh who have been forcibly displaced from their home country, and Bangladesh is providing them with food and shelter on humanitarian grounds," Momen said during the opening session of the two-day Asian Confluence River Conclave-Natural Allies in Development and Interdependence 3 (NADI-3) in Guwahati.

 

After fleeing Myanmar, around 1.1 million Rohingya refugees now live in improvised camps in the Cox's Bazar region of south-eastern Bangladesh.
The refugees were not referred to as Rohingyas by Momen.
Following the April 2017 violence, 890,000 Rohingya refugees landed in Cox's Bazar, according to the UNHCR.

The discussion was attended by S Jaishankar, the External Affairs Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Chief Minister of Assam, and ambassadors and high commissioners from numerous Southeast Asian countries, including Myanmar.

 

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, armed attacks, violence, and human rights violations forced thousands of Rohingyas to flee Myanmar's Rakhine state and trek days on foot through jungles or cross the Bay of Bengal to reach Bangladesh in August 2017.
Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar is known as the "world's largest and most densely populated refugee camp."

The Rohingya have been dubbed "the world's most persecuted minority" by the United Nations.
The Rohingyas are a Muslim minority who have lived in predominately Buddhist Myanmar for millennia but have been denied citizenship since 1982.

 

"They've been temporarily sheltered in Bangladesh for the past five years and wish to return to their homeland," Momen explained.
"They are becoming upset because repatriation has not yet begun, and many are becoming involved in illicit activities like as drug and human trafficking, violence, and other crimes."