C T Online Desk: A 22-member delegation from Myanmar has reached Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar to observe the preparations for the repatriation of Rohingyas.
They arrived at Teknaf Jetty Ghat by speed boat across the Naf River after 10am on Wednesday from Maungdaw Township in Rakhine State, Myanmar.
Officials of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Office as well as BGB and law enforcement personnel welcomed them at that time.
Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammed Mizanur Rahman said the delegation will meet with the officials of the Refugee Relief and Repatriation office and exchange views with a team of Rohingyas.
The delegation will verify the list of Rohingyas willing to return to Myanmar. They will also visit Rohingya camps, he said.
More than 1,000 Rohingya could be taken back under family-based repatriation initially, including hundreds of Rohingyas from the Hindu community.
A list of 862,000 Rohingyas was previously given to Myanmar by the Bangladesh government. After verifying this list provided by Bangladesh, Myanmar announced it would take back about 70,000 of them.
Bangladesh, which hosts over one million Rohingya refugees who fled a brutal crackdown by Myanmar’s army in Rakhine State in 2017, has long been urging the international community to pressurize Myanmar to speed up the repatriation process.
