B’desh probing Pak intel link to Rohingya terrorist groups
KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: Dhaka is investigating whether Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence has established any link with Rohingya terror groups, a senior Bangladeshi minister said.
“We have received intelligence inputs about the ISI’s link with the Rohingya militant elements. We are investigating it,” road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader said in Kolkata.
According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 8.59 lakh Rohingyas have taken refuge in Bangladesh fleeing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where the army launched a crackdown after the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army reportedly attacked police and army patrols on August 25.
Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government had in the past blamed Pakistan for the terror activities in Bangladesh, including a series of murders of bloggers and the attack on a Dhaka cafe in July 2016.
Quader made no bones about his government’s prickly relations with Pakistan. “They should remember Bangladesh is ahead of their country in all development indicators,” he said.
INDIA COMMITS $25 MN TO DEVELOP RAKHINE
India has pledged $25 million to develop Rakhine State from where thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh following the crackdown.
“The amount of commitment is $25 million over five years, which is an indicative figure and depends on the actual requirement and utilisation,” external affairs ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said on Thursday.
The two countries have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in this regard during foreign secretary S Jaishankar’s visit to Myanmar on Wednesday.
It is the first government-to-government agreement signed by the ministry of social welfare, relief and resettlement of Myanmar with a cooperation partner focused on socio-economic development and livelihood initiatives in Rakhine State, the external affairs ministry said in a statement.
In the MoU, India proposed to build prefabricated housing in Rakhine State to meet the immediate needs of returning refugees.
Jaishankar also called on Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, minister in state counsellor’s office U Kyaw Tint Swe and minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement Win Myat Aye.