Bilateral instrument signed for repatriation

The foreign minister will hold a press briefing today on the MoU on Rohingya repatriation. This is our preliminary reaction to what is known so far. A statement of the foreign ministry issued on November 23 said that the first batch of Rohingyas would begin returning to Myanmar in two months' time. There has been a signing of an instrument on the repatriation of more than 620,000 Rohingyas who have been forced to flee to Bangladesh recently. 

A joint working group is to be formed within three weeks from the signing of the instrument and we understand that Myanmar has expressed its willingness to take back its "displaced residents." Echoing what the prime minister has already stated, we expect Myanmar to start taking back its nationals immediately. It is imperative that this is not an open-ended affair and that there should be a specific timeline for repatriation without any preconditions from the Myanmar side. 

What is of import for both Bangladesh and the international community at large is that the Rohingyas do no end up in a ghetto after repatriation and are guaranteed all rights as citizens of that country. There must be guarantees from Myanmar that order will be restored in the Rakhine State and that there will be no repetition of the widespread violence witnessed by the Rohingya people that had forced them to flee in the first place. Such guarantees are mandatory, without which we will simply be putting off another large-scale exodus of Rohingyas into Bangladesh in the future.