বাংলা | Epaper

বাংলা E-Paper 📍 Dhaka 📅 Thursday | 5 November 2026, 20 Kartik 1433 PID registration number 06

HEADLINE

● Ronaldo bids farewell to international football ● Dengue claims 7 more lives, 1,596 hospitalised ● Tarique alleges cross-border plot to fuel unrest over workers’ demands ● No travel pass for Sheikh Hasina: State Minister ● Public gatherings prohibited in parts of Dhaka for Parliament session ● Liu Haixing leaves Dhaka after three-day bilateral tour ● Ashulia situation under control, 70 of 1,863 factories closed: Police

The key to resolving Rohingya crisis lies in Myanmar

A new international strategy and repatriation roadmap

Published : Thursday, 5 November, 2026 at 2:16 PM

A. H. M. Faruk

In August 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas fled across the border into Bangladesh to save their lives in the face of planned killings, massacres and arson carried out in Myanmar's Arakan, or Rakhine State, by the Burmese military junta and its accomplices. This horrific humanitarian tragedy is now approaching its tenth year.

Initially, the junta forces and their local allied Rakhine groups, and subsequently forces operating under the banner of the Arakan Army, have subjected the Rohingyas to brutal persecution and repression throughout the decade.

The refugee camps that have emerged along the hills of Ukhiya and Teknaf are no longer confined to the boundaries of a humanitarian shelter. The crisis has now become a major concern for the geopolitics of Southeast Asia, the stability of the Bay of Bengal region and Bangladesh's sovereignty. It is increasingly being viewed as the country's foremost national security threat.

Amid prolonged diplomatic stagnation and deadlock, two highly significant international developments have recently come to the fore. The first was Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's clear and unequivocal declaration during a bilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo this week: “The permanent solution to the Rohingya crisis lies in Myanmar.” At the same time, he called for ensuring the voluntary, safe, dignified and swift repatriation of the Rohingyas to their homeland.

The second development was the renewed declaration of full support by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for the historic genocide case filed by The Gambia against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands. These two developments have converged at a strategically important moment. On the one hand, Bangladesh's new leadership has articulated a strong and pragmatic position on the global stage; on the other, the OIC has reinforced its support on the international judicial front. Together, these developments have created an unprecedented opportunity to formulate a new international roadmap for breaking the deadlock surrounding Rohingya repatriation.

The Rohingyas are neither outsiders nor a so-called “Bengali infiltrator” population in Myanmar's Rakhine, formerly Arakan, State. They are indigenous inhabitants of that land. From as early as the eighth century, through the golden age of the independent Arakan Kingdom between 1430 and 1784, and until the tenure of U Nu, the first prime minister of independent Myanmar after 1948, the Rohingyas were recognised as one of the country's indigenous communities and citizens. However, through the military junta's controversial citizenship laws and successive clearance operations, they were rendered stateless in their own homeland and pushed into Bangladesh.

The history of independent Bangladesh demonstrates that whenever nationalist forces have been in state power, Myanmar's provocations and aggression have been confronted with firmness and prudence. In 1978, when the Myanmar military junta pushed hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas into Bangladesh through “Operation Dragon King,” statesman and martyred President Ziaur Rahman did not resort to conventional diplomacy based on appeals and entreaties. Similarly, in 1991–92, more than a quarter of a million Rohingyas were repatriated to their homeland with dignity through the prudent and uncompromising defensive diplomacy of then Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia.

During his visit to Tokyo, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman respectfully recalled the historic contributions of his father, martyred President Ziaur Rahman, and his mother, former Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, in strengthening bilateral relations and pledged to take relations between the two countries to new heights.

By contrast, during the tenure of the previous Awami League government, the border was opened to more than 1.2 million Rohingyas without securing any international guarantees or conditions, allegedly driven by international branding and the pursuit of the “Mother of Humanity” title. The price of that strategic failure and diplomatic bankruptcy is now being paid through deep demographic imbalances and serious security challenges in Bangladesh's southeastern region.

Against this backdrop, Prime Minister Tarique Rahman's new declaration on Japanese soil—that “the solution lies in Myanmar”—is a timely and pragmatic diplomatic signal. It represents a departure from reliance on conventional international relief efforts and a move towards addressing the root of the problem.

The case of The Gambia v. Myanmar at the International Court of Justice is a historic milestone in the pursuit of accountability for the genocide against the Rohingyas. The OIC's unanimous and strong support could help accelerate the case and directly contribute to mobilising the necessary legal resources and funding.

It is imperative to bring Myanmar's military and administrative leadership before the global court of accountability for international crimes and human rights violations. If the ICJ can generate binding legal and political pressure on the junta, Myanmar may be compelled to create conditions conducive to the safe return of the Rohingyas to Rakhine and provide fundamental guarantees of citizenship. The collective support of the OIC's 57 Muslim-majority states must not remain limited to the adoption of resolutions; it should also be used as an instrument for coordinated global economic and diplomatic pressure.

The current situation in Myanmar's Rakhine State is markedly different from that of 2017. The military junta has steadily lost ground, while the local armed group, the Arakan Army (AA), has taken control of more than 80 percent of the territory in Rakhine.

This reality raises a critical question: whom should Bangladesh engage with—the weakening junta or the emerging rebel force? Relying solely on Naypyidaw or the junta government is now, arguably, a strategic mistake. Through international mediators and with the support of the OIC and ASEAN, the time has come to initiate informal Track-II diplomacy with the Arakan Army, the de facto power on the ground in much of Rakhine, as well as Myanmar's National Unity Government (NUG).

However, caution is essential. According to various intelligence reports, the Arakan Army's alleged involvement in drug trafficking, including the smuggling of yaba and crystal methamphetamine, as well as alleged efforts to recruit members of indigenous communities from the Chittagong Hill Tracts into its ranks, pose new risks to Bangladesh's border security. Bangladesh must maintain strict military surveillance along the border and adopt zero tolerance against drug syndicates. At the same time, strategic engagement should make it clear that lasting peace in Rakhine will remain elusive unless the Rohingyas' rights to their land are restored and sustainable repatriation is ensured.

More than 8,000 acres of protected forest in Ukhiya and Teknaf have been lost, groundwater levels have fallen alarmingly, and the crisis costs more than $1 billion annually. Bangladesh cannot carry this enormous burden indefinitely. While continuing cooperation with existing partner countries, Bangladesh should deepen its partnership with major development partners such as Japan and immediately adopt a set of concrete measures in response to this difficult reality.

Establish a High-Powered Special Commission: A “Special Rohingya Commission,” or a strong task force, should be formed under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister, comprising military, diplomatic and political experts. It should monitor international and border developments on a daily basis and enable swift decision-making.

Formulate a National Unity Charter: The Rohingya issue is a struggle that transcends party politics and concerns Bangladesh's national existence. A National Unity Charter should be developed with the participation of all political parties and relevant stakeholders so that the country's national policy on Rohingya repatriation remains unchanged regardless of changes in government.

Make Strategic Use of the OIC and ASEAN Platforms: Alongside leveraging the OIC's support at the ICJ, Bangladesh must strengthen coordination with leading ASEAN countries. Building on resolutions adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, the international community should be urged to develop a time-bound roadmap for repatriation and to exert sustained pressure on Myanmar.

Create a Safe Zone: Bangladesh should strongly raise the proposal for establishing a safe zone near the Rakhine border inside Myanmar, under international monitoring and United Nations protection, so that the Rohingyas can be resettled close to their ancestral homeland.

The OIC's strong support at the ICJ has injected new momentum into an otherwise sluggish international pursuit of justice, while the Prime Minister's firm message from Japan has provided a clear direction for Bangladesh's national position.

In conclusion, the key to resolving the Rohingya crisis does not lie in Bangladesh or in the relief camps of international aid agencies. The key lies in the land of Rakhine State in Myanmar. Bangladesh has before it the record of firm resolve and pragmatic diplomacy demonstrated by the governments of Ziaur Rahman and Khaleda Zia in 1978 and 1991–92. Drawing upon those historical experiences, Bangladesh can secure a sustainable and dignified resolution to this prolonged crisis by combining ironclad domestic political unity with assertive international diplomacy.

Writer is a journalist, columnist and political analyst

Researcher on the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the Rohingya Crisis and Border Security