Home From The Sidelines Bangladesh, the Country with a ‘Big Heart’ Wants Rohingyas to Go Back...

Bangladesh, the Country with a ‘Big Heart’ Wants Rohingyas to Go Back To Myanmar

Sheikh Hasina welcomed the Rohingyas to appease her Muslim vote bank but failed miserably.
Sheikh Hasina welcomed the Rohingyas to appease her Muslim vote bank but failed miserably.
Sheikh Hasina welcomed the Rohingyas to appease her Muslim vote bank but failed miserably.
Sheikh Hasina welcomed the Rohingyas to appease her Muslim vote bank but failed miserably.

New Delhi: Last month, the world media was going gaga over Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on her move to welcome Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Speaking to the press she said that Bangladesh is not a rich country, but we have a big heart. She was hailed as the new star of the east and the hero of the oppressed for her compassion and empathy in opening the border to save thousands of fleeing Rohingya refugees. However, it seems that the heart is not big enough to accommodate 5 lakh refugees.

Speaking at the India Economic Summit (IES) in New Delhi on Thursday, Bangladesh foreign secretary Mohammad Shahidul Haque talking about the Rohingya crisis said that Bangladesh wants the refugees to go back to their home country as soon as possible. “We can help the Myanmar government, but solution can’t be their stay in Bangladesh. We want them to go back as soon as possible,” Haque said.

In cross-border migration, rhetoric never works. Europe is the best example to understand this complex process. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, one of the vocal supporters of migration faced the wrath of her open-border policy in the recently concluded elections. People angered by this policy, supported AfD and it became the third largest party in Germany after the 2017 federal election, claiming 94 seats in the Bundestag.

In 2015, Germany opened its doors to asylum-seekers and accepted over 1 million refugees. However, it is now paying them to go home under StartHilfe Plus program.

Justin Trudeau, the poster child of liberals has also faced criticism for giving “false hope” to the thousands of migrants coming to Canada from the US. Since the start of the year, more than 11,300 people have crossed the border into Canada from America.

Trudeau later changed his stance and said: “For someone to successfully seek asylum it’s not about economic migration.”

“It’s about vulnerability, exposure to torture or death, or being stateless people. If they are seeking asylum we’ll evaluate them on the basis of what it is to be a refugee or asylum seeker.”

Sheikh Hasina welcomed the Rohingyas to appease her Muslim vote bank but failed miserably. According to the United Nations (UN), more than 5 lakh Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar since August 25 after violence erupted in the Rakhine state, where most of the Rohingyas stay.

A big heart is not going to put food in the mouths of 5 lakh Rohingyas or provide them with a means of income.

India had last month rushed relief material to Bangladesh and pledged all help to Dhaka in tackling the humanitarian crisis. However, the government wants to deport around 40,000 Rohingyas settled in various parts of the country as they pose serious “security threats”.