Dhaka, Aug 26 (bdnews24.com) -- Food and Disaster Management Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque has turned down a call by an European Commission delegation to remove the ban on three international NGOs, allowing them to work amongst Rohingya refugees at Cox's Bazaar.
The minister told members of the Humanitarian Aid Organisation delegation on Sunday that the Doctors Without Borders, Action Against Hunger and Muslim Aid UK have "passed on wrong information abroad" in the name of work here.
The delegation consisted of Charge D'Affaires of EU Delegation to Bangladesh Andrew Bernard, the commission's Humanitarian Aid wing acting Civil Protection Director Esko Kentrschynskyj and the Dhaka office's Technical Assistant Attaché Olivier Brouant.
They advocated for removing the bar put on the three NGOs by the Bangladesh government during the June bout of illegal migration of Rohingyas from Myanmar after the recent Buddhist and Muslim clash there.
Or else their food and nutritional needs will not be met, they claimed.
The Rohingya migrants were given food and medicine, but were not given refuge by the Bangladeshi government, a move that drew widespread criticism from various international organisations including the European Commission.
"The Rohingya refugees are staying in our country since 1991. Despite our own massive population, we are helping them out. But these NGO's have passed on wrong information abroad in the guise of working there," Razzaque told journalists.
"We informed the EU representatives that the Rohingya issue is Myanmar's problem," he added when asked about the anxiety of the European Commission on the issue.
"We have told them that we paid the whole cost of flying in our nationals from Libya during the crisis there. They [Myanmar] should also take back their nationals."
He continued that there are nearly 0.4 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Only 35 thousand are registered and live in camps, whom the UNHRC, EU and some NGO's attend to.
"The Bangladesh Government meets the food and nutritional needs of the remaining Rohingyas along with its own population of more than 1.5 billion. It is very much possible for the government to arrange for the remaining 35 thousand Rohingyas."
The European Commission delegation said that they have talked with the Myanmar government about the Rohingya issue and that they wanted to work in the Rakhaine province. But the Myanamar government did not agree.
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