Hasina seeks quick solution to Rohingya problem
Asansol, May 26: A day after seeking the cooperation of the international community to ensure Myanmar took back the Rohingya refugees, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sehikh Hasina on Saturday called for a quick solution to the problem.
"You know, about 11 lakh Rohingya refuges have taken shelter in our country. We have given them shelter on humanitarian grounds. We want a quick solution to the problem," she said after receiving an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from the Kazi Nazrul University here in West Bengal's Paschim Bardhaman district.
On Friday, the Bangladesh Prime Minister had urged the international community to mount pressure on the Myanmar government for taking back the refugees sheltered in her country.
The Indian government has refused to give shelter to the fleeing Rohingya refugees, saying it was already facing a "serious problem of infiltration" because of its porous border.
Close to 1.1 million Rohingyas have been residing in the south-eastern part of Bangladesh, known as the Cox's Bazar region, after they fled Rakhine state of Myanmar to escape a military crackdown on their villages on the night of August 24-25 last year.
Myanmar authorities, who signed an agreement with Bangladesh last November to repatriate the refugees, have denied allegations of human rights abuses in the military offensive and justified it as a legitimate response to terror.
Myanmar does not recognise the Rohingyas as citizens, claiming they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, which has led to continued discrimination against the community, including restrictions on their freedom of movement.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
