Sushma Swaraj tells Bangladesh PM Hasina: India fully supporting Bangladesh's stance over Rohingya issue

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has affirmed the Indian Government's full support to Bangladesh's stance over the Rohingya issue.

Sheikh Hasina's Deputy Press Secretary Nazrul Islam said that Sushma spoke to the Bangladesh Prime Minister over the phone and conveyed the message to her, The Daily Star reported.

Sushma emphasised that India is trying to build bilateral and multilateral pressure on Myanmar to stop the persecution of Rohingya Muslims as well as to take back the refugees sheltered in Bangladesh.

"The Rohingya problem is not an issue for Bangladesh alone; rather, it has turned into a global matter from a regional one," Sushma told Hasina.

The Rohingya Muslims, who have taken refuge in Cox's Bazar and Teknaf border areas in Bangladesh after they fled the barbarous persecution in Myanmar's Rakhine State, are now suffering due to an absence of food, shelters, medicines, sanitation facilities and clean water.

Yesterday, India sent a consignment of humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh, in response to the humanitarian crisis.

This development came days after Bangladesh briefed India about the problems faced by it due to the influx of refugees from Myanmar following the ethnic violence in the Buddhist-majority nation.

Meanwhile, Hasina said that the entire world is raising its voice against the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and was calling upon the government to take their citizens back.

Prime Minister Hasina will also make a formal proposal at the upcoming 72nd United Nations General Assembly session for an early implementation of recommendations by the Kofi Annan-led Commission.

The Advisory Commission recommended that the Myanmar Government take concrete steps to end the enforced segregation of Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims; ensure full and unfettered humanitarian access throughout the state; tackle Rohingya statelessness and "revisit" the 1982 Citizenship Law; hold perpetrators of human rights violations accountable; and end restrictions on freedom of movement, among other recommendations.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.H. Mahmood Ali said that Prime Minister Hasina would highlight the root cause behind the longstanding humanitarian crisis and place specific proposals for early solution during her address at the general debate on 21 September.

Prime Minister Hasina will also urge the world leaders to play an effective role in stopping the genocide of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. 

-ANI