A senior general of the Bangladesh Army will accompany a close aide of National Security Adviser (NSA) Khalilur Rahman to New York as part of a larger contingent that will chalk out a blueprint for the repatriation of over 1.6 million Rohingya refugees to Myanmar.
Information accessed by Northeast News shows that the Bangladesh Army’s 10th Infantry Division General Officer Commanding Major General Mohammad Asadullah Minhazul Alam will fly to Dubai on an Emirates Airline flight along with Mohammad Shah Alom Khokon, Director General, Office of the National Security Adviser and High Representative on the Rohingya Issue, on September 25.
Both Maj Gen Minhazul Alam and Khokon will then take a connecting flight to New York, where the crucial meeting on Rohingya repatriation will be held between September 27 and October 1.
The meeting between the Bangladeshi officials, including Khalilur Rahman, and UN officials on Rohingya repatriation will be held on September 30, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session. This “high-level conference” will specifically focus on the “situation of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar”, documents accessed by Northeast News show.
A September 15 note of the Armed Forces Division under Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus’ office says that the Bangladesh Army senior officers had earlier proposed to the Foreign Ministry that Maj Gen Minhazul Alam be involved in the New York meeting. Subsequently, the Bangladesh Army headquarters approved Maj Gen Minhazul Alam’s travel to New York.
The Bangladesh NSA will travel separately to New York for the meeting on Rohingya repatriation. The New York meeting will take place in the backdrop of an international conference on the condition of the Rohingya refugees held at Cox’s Bazar.
This meeting formalised decisions on recognising the Arakan Rohingya National Council (ARNC) as a key component in politically consolidating the refugees living in camps around Cox’s Bazar, even as there are reports that armed Rohingya groups continue to undergo weapons training in remote parts of coastal Bangladesh.
The Rohingya repatriation issue was initially formulated within the framework of a humanitarian response after Khalilur Rahman was appointed as NSA. While the “humanitarian corridor” issue – as proposed by Khalilur Rahman – was framed as a means to repatriate the Rohingya to the Buthidaung and Maungdaw areas of Arakan, it later assumed controversial proportions when Bangladeshi officials, including the NSA, suggested that it could be used to send in “humanitarian aid” to Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
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It took no time for Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman to shoot down the “humanitarian corridor” proposal, but that did not come in Khalilur Rahman’s way to continue to persist with the vexed Rohingya repatriation issue. Backed by the US State Department and other American officials based in Doha, Qatar, Khalilur Rahman engaged Myanmar diplomats in Dhaka and with ASEAN officials.
