Bangladesh has delayed the repatriation of Rohingya Muslim refugees to Myanmar, set to start from tomorrow. <br/><br/>Bangladesh's refugee relief and rehabilitation commissioner Abul Kalam, today said that the return would have to be delayed because the process of compiling and verifying the list of people to be sent back is incomplete. <br/><br/>He, however, did not immediately give a new date for the repatriations to begin. The decision comes as tensions have risen in camps holding hundreds of thousands of refugees, some of whom are opposing their transfer back to Myanmar because of lack of security guarantees. <br/><br/>Meanwhile, Myanmar said it is ready to take back the returning Rohingya.Director General of Myanmar's Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, Ko Ko Naing said on its part, the preparation is ready and they are ready to accept them once they come back. <br/><br/>Myanmar agreed earlier this month to receive the Rohingya refugees at two reception centres and a temporary camp near its border with Bangladesh over a two-year period starting tomorrow. <br/><br/>More than 655,500 Muslim Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after a crackdown by the Myanmar military in the northern part of Rakhine state in response to militant attacks on security forces in August last year. The United Nations described the military operation as ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya, which Myanmar denies.
News On AIR | January 22, 2018 2:13 PM
Bangladesh says Rohingya return to Myanmar is delayed