AMN / NEW YORK
Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has issued a new call for Myanmar to take back the some 420,000 Rohingyas who have fled violence in the Buddhist-dominated country.
Ms Hasina, speaking to Bangladeshi activists in New York where she is attending the UN General Assembly, also called for greater international pressure on Myanmar over the new crisis which has unfolded in the past three weeks.
The Prime Minister said, Bangladesh is making diplomatic efforts to persuade Myanmar to take back the refugees. However she said, the Myanmar government is not responding to the calls.
Myanmar’s de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said in a speech hours earlier that her country would take back verified refugees. Myanmar considers the Rohingya illegal migrants from Bangladesh and refuses them citizenship, even though many have lived there for decades.
At a meeting of Islamic nations on the sidelines of the UN assembly, Ms Hasina said, Yangon was spearheading a state-sponsored propaganda campaign to call the Rohingya ‘Bengalis, adding that they must be given Myanmar citizenship.