To resolve the Rohingya crisis in a peaceful way, Bangladesh will have to mount more pressure on Myanmar with the help of the international community. However, it is important to bring forward the voices of the Rohingya and reach a consensus among the political leadership within Bangladesh.
Experts came up with these remarks at a day-long event on the Rohingya crisis held at the CIRDAP Auditorium in the capital on Wednesday. Research organisation Neeti Gobeshona Kendro organised the national dialogue titled “Amplifying the Rohingya Voices and Aspiration: A Strategic Dialogue Ahead of UNGA 2025’. The day-long discussion included two working sessions apart from the inaugural and ending sessions.
Farhad Mazhar was the chief guest in the inaugural session in the morning. The session was moderated by Neeti Gobeshona Kendro trustee Professor Sk Tawfique M Haque.
Former Bangladesh ambassador to Myanmar and senior fellow of North South University South Asia Institute of Policy and Governance Sufiur Rahman presented the keynote in the session.
He said the Arakan Army will have to ensure Myanmar citizenship, rights to vote and political participation of the Rohingyas as a mandatory condition for repatriation.
There should be a commitment to stop forceful recruitment and forced labour and to ensure Rohingya citizen’s freedom of movement. To gain the confidence of this displaced community, it is essential to hold dialogues between relevant communities, including the Rohingya and Rakhine communities, on returning the rights to properties of the Rohingya communities, ensuring their participation in local agencies and councils, allowing the neutral observers to work at field level and mutual respect and endurance among the communities.
In the discussion, Arakan Rohingya National Alliance chairman Nurul Islam said that all perpetrators of the Rohingya genocide must be brought to justice, steps must be taken to prevent the recurrence of violence, cases should be filed in international courts, sanctions imposed, and effective pressure applied to stop human rights violations.
Peter Kern, head of the Bangladesh mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said the Rohingya crisis is a political problem originating in Myanmar, and its permanent solution also lies there. He added that Bangladesh deserves greater recognition from the international community for the generosity it has shown by sheltering an unprecedented number of Rohingya refugees.
In his address as the chief guest at the second session, interim government labour ministry adviser M Sakhawat Hossain said it would be wrong to view the Rohingya issue through a religious lens.
He described it as a humanitarian and international problem, noting that the Rohingyas are an ethnic community who have lived in Myanmar for centuries. The Myanmar government has tried to give their identity a religious colour, but for Bangladesh and the international community, this remains a humanitarian issue. As an active UN member, a responsible part of the global community, and out of moral duty, Bangladesh must seek a safe and peaceful solution for this community.
Poet and thinker Farhad Mazhar said the Rohingya crisis cannot be solved by the United Nations. He emphasised that the solution must come through the people’s historical experience and unity. For this reason, he added, the root solution depends on building understanding among the people and establishing a democratic framework.
Farhad Mazhar further said that resolving the Rohingya crisis is not merely a technical issue, but a political one. Therefore, its solution must also be political. He added that India’s role cannot be ignored, as it could have a significant impact in the future.
Lieutenant General (Retd.) Md Mahfuzur Rahman, former principal staff officer of the Bangladesh Army and chairman of the Osmani Centre for Peace and Security Studies, said that Myanmar initially sought to resolve the Rohingya issue through military means.
He also noted that the operation was devised by a general and his daughter, and is currently being overseen by two other generals. From the very beginning, he added, the Rohingya crisis has been a military campaign carried out in several phases.
Other speakers at the dialogue included Brigadier General (Retd.) Mohammad Hasan Nasir, president of Nexus Defence and Development; Shama Obayed of BNP; Ehsan Zubayer of Jamaat-e-Islami; Md Nazrul Islam, secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Prothom Alo’s diplomatic correspondent Rahid Ejaz.
At the end of the event, the Dhaka Declaration was read by Mahbubul Haque, trustee of the Neeti Gobeshona Kendro and a lecturer at University Sultan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia.
