Dhaka, Jan 22 (IANS) The Bangladesh authorities on Monday said they would not initiate the repatriation of Rohingyas within the stipulated period agreed with Myanmar two months ago, on the grounds that preparations for the refugees’ return have not yet been completed.

Both the countries signed an agreement on November 23 to start the repatriation of the more than 688,000 Rohingyas who have arrived in Bangladesh since last August within two months.

Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Shahidul Haque said that the process would not begin on Tuesday as it had been agreed, Efe news reported.

Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner, Abul Kalam, said that there was still much work to be done before the process could begin.

“We are busy in preparation. Initially, we have to build some physical infrastructure, a transit camp and we have to prepare the list based on family and village. These works are in progress,” Kalam said.

He said that Myanmar would be informed once those preparations were complete and that the process would only begin once the Myanmar authorities had verified the information.

“Myanmar also has a lot of things to do to ensure a safe repatriation,” he added.

Kalam, a member of the Joint Working Group in charge of the process, did not specify a time frame for the start of the repatriation.

On Sunday, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry said that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees would be involved to ensure that the process is voluntary.

The UNHCR spokesperson in Cox’s Bazar, the eastern Bangladeshi district where the Rohingya refugee camps are located, said he had no knowledge of when the process would begin.

The current crisis erupted on August 25 following an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group that led to a violent response by the Myanmar Army in the state of Rakhine, where it is calculated that around 1 million Rohingyas lived.

Members of the mostly Muslim minority community are not recognised by Myanmar’s authorities, who consider them Bengali migrants, and refuse to grant them citizenship.

The UN and various human rights organisations have said there is clear evidence of rights abuses in Myanmar with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights calling the Army’s operations “ethnic cleansing” and saying there were indications of “genocide”.

Rohingya leaders drew up a list last week of minimum demands they said needed to be met before the refugees would agree to return. These include holding the military accountable for alleged killings, looting and rape, and releasing “innocent Rohingya” detained in counter-insurgency operations.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) reported in a statement released in December that at least 6,700 Rohingyas, including 730 children, had been killed in Myanmar in the first month of the crisis.

–IANS
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