India and Bangladesh on Thursday discussed the security and humanitarian situation arising out of massive influx of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. During the meeting between Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar and his Bangladeshi counterpart, Md Shahidul Haque, the two sides expressed concern about the growing militancy among Rohingyas.
India urged Dhaka to tighten its border security mechanism to prevent any movement of refugees towards the Indian side, sources said, adding that India assured Bangladesh to engage with Myanmar in resolving the crisis.
Besides, India assured providing more humanitarian aid to Dhaka in terms of food, medicines and other necessary items to help it bear the load of nearly 4.6 lakh Rogingya refugees that have entered Bangladesh in the last couple of months. The meeting also served the preparatory base for the upcoming visit of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to Dhaka later this month for the joint consultative commission talks.
Prior to his meeting with Jaishankar, Haque met National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. There too the huge influx of Rohingya refugees and security issues arising out of them were discussed. Since both India and Bangladesh have experienced terrorism-related issues with regard to Rohingyas, it was decided to have a joint mechanism to tackle this. In this regard, there was discussion about exchange of information regarding militancy.
The Bangladesh Government is facing criticism from Opposition parties for allowing such huge numbers of refugees and putting the country’s economy and security under stress, particularly at a time when the country is also recovering from devastating flood. Under such circumstances, Bangladesh has expressed its inability to provide long-term shelter to such a huge number of Rohingyas and wants the matter to be resolved at the earliest.
Given its good relations India shares with Myanmar, Dhaka wants New Delhi to play a larger role in resolving this crisis and work towards convincing the Aung Sang Suu Kyi Government to take back its people. Already there is a growing feeling in Bangladesh that it should engage China in resolving this issue since it has deep economic interest and influence in both countries.