Myanmar yet to agree to BD's 10-pt proposal

Myanmar government has not agreed to the 10-point proposal put forward by Bangladesh in resolving Rohingya crisis and even did not agree to discuss Kofi Annan Commission report in this regard, Home Ministry and diplomatic sources told the Daily Observer on Saturday.
"We could not form a joint working group because they did not agree to the 10 points," Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said after returning home from Myanmar.
Due to this disagreement, Bangladesh and Myanmar have failed to form the much awaiting "Joint working group" for safe return of Rohingyas.
"Myanmar has agreed totake back its citizens in accordance with the 1992 Joint Statement with Bangladesh. They did not like to hear about five-point proposal placed by the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at UNGA or Kofi Annan Commission Report," a senior official of the Home Ministry said.
Even the international community has also made a call to follow the 1992 statement changing their earlier stand. The Western countries, especially the US, are in favour of the implementation of the Annan commission report but on Thursday the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged the Myanmar army chief General Min Aung Hlaing to allow safe return of Rohingyas in accordance with the 1992 Joint Statement with Bangladesh and 'without further conditions'.
The Tillerson's statement came at the time when Bangladesh's Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal return home following a three day visit to Myanmar.
However, US Ambassador Marcia Bernicat in Bangladesh said that the 1992 deal of Rohingya repatriation can have additional characteristics considering the changed situation. "Obviously things have changed since 1992," she told media on Saturday.  
Meanwhile, foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque on Friday welcomed the Tillerson's statement although Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali had earlier said, "The previous arrangement (1992 joint statement) will not work now as the current situation is 'entirely different' and verifying Rohingyas based on their residence in Rakhine is not 'realistic' anymore".
The Home Minister said the Myanmar government edited the 10-point points and sent a fresh draft to Bangladesh's delegation. After returning home, the Home Ministry handed over the draft to the Foreign Ministry. However, Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali is scheduled to visit Myanmar on November 30 and is likely to discuss the issue with the Myanmar government.
Earlier, Bangladesh proposed that the joint working group would work centring the recommendations by the Kofi Annan Commission and the five-point proposal by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
"We are still talking to them and we believe the problems will be solved through dialogue," Home Minister said.
More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled the Rakhine state in Buddhist-majority Myanmar since security forces responded to Rohingya militants' attacks on August 25 by launching a crackdown.
In 1992, Bangladesh signed a repatriation agreement with the then military regime of Myanmar, following which 236,599 Rohingyas returned to their homeland. But another 2,415 were denied entry even after meeting the criteria under the arrangement.
Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a statement (on September 19) said the verification criteria will be based on the principles agreed to in 1992 when the two countries inked an agreement based on which Burma took back nearly 250,000 Rohingyas as 'members of Myanmar society'.
"Around half of the Muslim villages in the northern Rakhine State have been burned down and the burning is still going on. So, the identification of Rohingyas based on their residence in Rakhine would not be realistic," the foreign minister had said.