B'Desh seeks India's help for repatriation of Rohingya

Bangladesh on Thursday sought India's assistance to expedite the repatriation of over 900,000 Rohingya refugees to Myanmar.

A K Abdul Momen, new Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and requested him for India's support for early repatriation of the refugees to Myanmar. He also thanked New Delhi for sending humanitarian assistance for the Rohingyas, who fled violence in Rakhine State of Myanmar in August 2017 and took refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated that New Delhi was always with Dhaka and assured India’s cooperation for repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh in the capital of the neighbouring country.

A press release issued by Prime Minister's Office in New Delhi after Modi's meeting with Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, however, did not have any reference to the discussion on the issue of the repatriation of Rohingyas to Myanmar.

Momen's visit to New Delhi was the first high-level engagement between India and Bangladesh after Sheikh Hasina's Awami League had a landslide victory in the recent parliamentary elections in the neighbouring country. Hasina commenced her fourth term in the office of the Prime Minister on January 7 last.