Trump admin looking to work with India on Rohingya refugees

The Trump administration is looking for ways to work with India in terms of providing for the needs of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and also to put pressure on Myanmar to create conditions for their safe and voluntary return, a senior US official has said. Nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar's northern Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August last year when security forces launched a crackdown on insurgents. Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed in November to start repatriating Rohingya refugees who volunteered to return to Rakhine state, but the process has not yet begun.

The senior US administration official, on the condition of anonymity, said that there is interest in trying to work more closely with India.

"We think India also has an interest in seeing this situation resolved," he said on Friday. The Trump administration is looking for ways to try to work with India in terms of providing for the needs of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and also ways to work together to put pressure on Myanmar to create the conditions for their safe and voluntary return, the official said, reports PTI.

"India is a like-minded partner. There are ways we can explore coordinating diplomatic approaches to the Burmese in building on that common interest that we have in supporting Bangladesh and making sure that this doesn't become a situation which complicates their own socio-economic situation or socio-political situation and the radicalism; avoiding that problem of exacerbating a radicalism in Bangladesh," he said. While the US and India have a lot of joint interests, the official said that there has been no helpful response from China on this.