India likely to join US, other countries in mobilising resources for Rohingya refugees

With Beijing offering to host a tripartite meeting with Dhaka and Naypyitaw to end the stalemate over the repatriation of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar, India is likely to join the United States and others in mobilising resources for the displaced people.

Though New Delhi has been treading cautiously on the issue of exodus of the Rohingyas from Myanmar to Bangladesh, it may take part in a virtual conference to urge nation, which the United States, United Kingdom, European Union and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will hold on Thursday to urge the nations around the world to enhance financial support for the displaced people.

It was after China moved to take advantage of the issue to spread its tentacles in Bangladesh and Myanmar that the US-led the initiative to generate resources for the Rohingyas.

Beijing’s envoy to Dhaka, Li Jiming, is learnt to have recently conveyed to the Bangladesh Government the proposal to hold a tripartite meeting to end the impasse over the much-awaited repatriation of the refugees to Myanmar. He proposed that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi would host the meeting with his counterparts in Bangladesh and Myanmar governments.

While Bangladesh Foreign Minister A K Abdul Momen agreed to attend the meeting, Dhaka is understood to have conveyed to Beijing that Myanmar’s State Counsellor and de facto ruler, Aung San Suu Kyi, who also holds the office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the government of her country, must attend it, instead of being represented by someone else.

Beijing is currently in touch with Dhaka and Naypyitaw to explore the possibility of the meeting and scheduling it, sources said.

New Delhi, however, is of the view that China’s interest on the Rohingya issue stems from its desire to expand its geopolitical influence in Bangladesh and Myanmar, both neighbouring countries of India.

The conference being held by the US, UK, EU and UNHCR on Thursday is intended to bring the international community together to address the crisis. The UN has appealed for more than $1 billion in aid to meet the humanitarian needs of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh this year, but so far less than half has been contributed. This left a significant funding gap, made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The minority Rohingyas have since long been victims of persecution in the Rakhine State, where Buddhists constitute the majority. They have been denied citizenship and most of them have been stateless, despite living for generations in Myanmar.

Myanmar's armed forces launched the latest military crackdown against the Rohingyas on August 25, 2017, after a militant outfit killed 12 security personnel in Rakhine. With hundreds of them killed and villages burnt down, over 742,000 more Rohingyas, including women and children, fled Myanmar and took refuge in Bangladesh, taking the number of refugees to nearly one million.