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Diplomatic efforts needed to win support of China, India

Says Prof Imtiaz at national seminar on Rohingya crisis

Staff Correspondent
Bangladesh has to earn support of regional powers such as China and India through successful diplomatic efforts to end the Rohingya crisis, international relations expert Prof Imtiaz Ahmed said yesterday.
He made the observation while addressing a two-day national seminar titled "The Rohingya Crisis: Future Scenarios" at Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Hall at Dhaka University (DU) in the capital.
"It is imperative that our prime minister visits Beijing and (New] Delhi...,"said Proflmtiaz, a teacher of DU's Department of International Relations that organ-ised the seminar.
Academics, researchers and former ambassadors participated at the programme.
Bangladesh's hope started to wane when the Indian prime minister during his visit to Myanmar last September expressed his concern about the so-called ARSA (Arakan Rohingya
Salvation Army), ignoring the plight of the Rohingyas, Prof Imtiaz said.
"1 guess Delhi also understood over the months that getting into competition with China over Myanmar is not really going to take [them] far” since China and Myanmar enjoy a "historic relationship", he said, adding, "I think Narendra Modi missed the golden opportunity to emerge as a world leader.
The crisis unfolded in August of 2017 when a sudden influx of Rohingyas started to pour into Bangladesh from Myanmar.
Till date, more than 7,00,000 Rohingyas crossed the border to flee persecution by the Myanmar army. They joined another 3,00,000 Rohingyas who had taken shelter in Bangladesh over the past years to save themselves from similar violence in their homeland.
Presenting a keynote paper, Prof Imtiaz, also a visiting professor at Sagesse University in Beirut of Lebanon, said Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit on this side of the world, particu-
larly in Bangladesh, would "really send a strong message".
The unfolding of the crisis makes it otherwise clear that the issue is no longer limited to Myanmar and Bangladesh. Rather, it is an issue that is at the same time international, regional and national, he said.
"It's an issue of being human. How to ensure justice to a population in dire situation, [to] a population that has lost everything, even to dream and live life with dignity," said Prof Imtiaz, who authored several books on the Rohingya issue.
The five challenges he pointed out in drawing a resolution to the crisis are - the anti-Rohingya sentiment in Myanmar; balancing humanitarian gestures and handling the burden of providing shelters to the refugees; regional and national security concerns over sheltering them; the role of India and China; and the role of international community in remaining active as well as taking up the issue of ethnic
cleansing in line with international legal instruments.
Prof Imtiaz also said Bangladesh needs to arrange high level international conferences by bringing together all countries that are sheltering the Rohingyas to determine the type of solution necessary to address the crisis in each of the countries.
There are 40,000 Rohingyas in India and a significant number of them are staying in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan, he said, adding that an interna-
tional conference on the Rohingya crisis will be held at DU on April 2 and 3.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony, UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Mia Seppo said Bangladesh, as the host country, is carrying the biggest burden of the Rohingya crisis.
She said a conference this Friday in Geneva, where a joint response plan will be launched, would provide vital aspects on how to deal with the crisis. She also emphasised on ensuring effective role of the Myanmar government to this end.
Chairing a session titled "Looking Inside Myanmar", former ambassador
Muhammad Zamir said geophysical satellite surveys suggested that the state of Rakhine in Myanmar has a potentially huge reserve of hydrocarbon and oil - which can be considered an essential element to understand the crisis.
DU Vice Chancellor Prof Md Akhtaruzzaman said the seminar is "a timely one" as it will generate a set of recommendations that can be helpful for thegovernmenttodraw future policy.
Prof Sadeka Halim, dean of social sciences faculty at DU, also spoke.
Ten academic papers will be presented in three sessions of the seminar today.