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Published on February 28, 2018
Three female Nobel Peace Prize laureates has called Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as a "kind mother" and said Bangladesh now needs more international assistance for rehabilitation of the Rohingyas.
They called the atrocities on the Rohingyas a genocide, saying that the perpetrators must be brought to the book.
"The Myanmar government must be taken to task for committing genocide in the Rakhine state and let the world take a stand against it," the three Nobel laureates -- Shirin Ebadi, Mairead Maguire and Tawakkol Karman -- said this when they paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Ganabhaban on Wednesday morning.
After the meeting, PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters.
The three Nobel laureates said it is a systematic Myanmar government policy of ethnic cleansing and the international community should do something in this regard.
They narrated the stories heard from several Rohingya people who took shelter in Cox's Bazar.
"We're absolutely shocked to hear the atrocities on the Rohingyas ... it's a genocide and how can world remained silent," they said.
They thanked the prime minister and the people of Bangladesh for standing beside the forcibly displaced Myanmar citizens.
The three Nobel laureates said they met 100 women who had been raped in Myanmar before fleeing to Bangladesh and most of the children lost their fathers who were killed.
"It's much more what the media said," they remarked, saying that the international community should act against it.
The prime minister narrated how the exodus of Rohingyas into Bangladesh started in 1977.
She said Bangladesh has given shelter to the Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds. "As many as 10,78,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh after becoming victims of atrocities in Myanmar," she said.
Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh wants to maintain good relations with the neighbours. "We've signed an agreement with Myanmar for repatriation of the Rohingyas," she continued.
The prime minister pointed out that the foreign minister and the home minister visited Myanmar to end the Rohingya crisis.
The premier reiterated her call to the international community to put exert pressure on Myanmar for solving the crisis.
She also described how the influx of Rohingyas is affecting local people and environment in Cox's Bazar.
PM's International Affairs Adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi and PMO Secretary Sajjadul Hassan were present on the occasion.
Photo: Saiful Islam Kallol
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