Hundreds of thousands of the Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar living in the Kingdom, who had received Bangladeshi passports in 1978-79 to flee Buddhist persecution in the Burmese state of Arkan, have been urged by Dhaka to forgo Bangladeshi passports. Bangladeshi Expatriates’ Welfare Minister Mosharraf Hossain recently said around 500,000 Rohingyas are living in Saudi Arabia with Bangladeshi passports. Dhaka and Islamabad had come forward to rescue the persecuted Rohingyas. “Pakistan gave them passports with a BM (Burmese Muslims) code without having recognized them as Pakistani nationals. But the military ruler (in Bangladesh) issued them passports with Bangladeshi nationality. That was not only a historic mistake, but an offense too,” Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni told Dhaka Tribune. “Passports cannot be issued to any foreign national. We are trying to correct the mistake the then government of the country made,” she said. Moni said Riyadh had requested her to issue a document that would strip the Rohingyas of Bangladeshi nationality but would also contain some basic information necessary for their rehabilitation in the Kingdom as Myanmar Muslims. “We do not want the Rohingya Muslims to suffer, but they must forego Bangladeshi nationality,” Moni said. She believes the Bangladesh Nationalist Party government pursued the policy of promoting the Rohingyas to serve their political interests.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 08:18:10 +0000
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