India will see if Rohingyas can return to Myanmar, says Foreign Secretary

Pic courtesy: Reuters

NEW DELHI: Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said on Thursday that a practical approach was needed to tackle the Rohingya refugee crisis arising out of Myanmar's Rakhine state.

"The fact that here is an exodus of a large number of people from Rakhine state is clearly a matter of concern," Jaishankar said in response to a question at a seminar in the national capital.

"Our objective would be to see how they can go back to their place of origin," he said, adding, however, that this was not easy.

He said that India has been "talking to Bangladesh and we have separately engaged with Myanmar".

"There have been high-level conversations with both countries. We feel that this is a situation which is better addressed through practical measures and constructive conversations rather than doing strong condemnations and then having checked the condemnation box and move on to the next issue," as per IANS. 

The Rohingyas do not have citizenship in Myanmar and are sparingly given refugee status in Bangladesh.

UN has put the total number of Rohingya refugees that have arrived in Bangladesh from Myanmar since August 25 at 604,000.

Return of 'displaced persons' can restore normalcy in Myanmar: Sushma Swaraj 

Meanwhile, in her recent visit to Bangladesh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had said that India was "deeply concerned" at the spate of violence in Rakhine state.

"India is deeply concerned at the spate of violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state," Swaraj had said on Sunday after talks with the Bangladeshi side as part of the fourth Joint Consultative Commission, PTI reported.

She, however, had preferred not to use the word "Rohingya" and said "we have urged that the situation be handled with restraint, keeping in mind the welfare of the population".

"It is clear that normalcy will only be restored with the return of the displaced persons to Rakhine state. The only long term solution to the situation in Rakhine State is rapid socio-economic and infrastructure development that would have a positive impact on all the communities living in the state," the EAM had further said,

(With Agency inputs)