Myanmar authorities have confirmed to Bangladesh that out of a list of 800,000 Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh, they have identified 180,000 Rohingyas eligible for return to Myanmar.
The original list was provided by Bangladesh in six batches during 2018-20, reads a statement from the Chief Adviser’s Press Wing, Muhammad Yunus.
The final verification of another 70,000 Rohingyas is pending additional scrutiny of their photographs and names, the statement noted. This was disclosed to Dr Khalilur Rahman, High Representative to the Chief Adviser of Bangladesh, by U Than Shew, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Myanmar, at a meeting on the sidelines of the sixth BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok on Friday.
This is the first such confirmed list that constitutes a major step toward the longstanding resolution of the Rohingya crisis. The Myanmar authorities also confirmed that the verification of the remaining 550,000 Rohingyas on the original list will be undertaken on an expeditious basis, the statement added.
Currently, around 13 lakh Rohingyas reside in 33 camps across Ukhiya and Teknaf in the Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh, with more than 32,000 newborns added to the population annually. Over 200,000 children have been born in the camps in the past seven years.
