‘If we can feed 160m, we can also feed 700,000 Rohingya refugees’

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday said Bangladesh can feed 700,000 Rohingya refugees.

“We have the ability to feed 160 million people of Bangladesh and we have enough food security to feed the 700,000 refugees,” the prime minister at a programme after visiting the The Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Ukhiya, Cox’s Bazar.

After visiting the refugee camps and distributing aid, Sheikh Hasina spoke of the 10 million Bangali refugees during the Liberation War and said: “We have let the Rohingya in on humanitarian grounds and I ask the people of this country to help ease their suffering in whatever way they can.”

Violence erupted again in Rakhine State of Myanmar on August 24, forcing almost 300,000 Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh totalling the amount to 700,000 so far.

The prime minister went on to say: “I ask the international community to put pressure on the Myanmar government to take back their nationals.

“Bangladesh wants to maintain peace and good relations with its neighbouring countries, but it cannot accept unjust acts of the Myanmar government. We will do all we can to ease the suffering of the Rohingya refugees.”

Asking for peace, the prime minster said: “Does the Myanmar government not have a conscience? How can they displace hundreds or thousands of people because of a few?”

Hasina also directed the local government to make sure the sick and wounded Rohingya were well taken care of in the hospitals and they receive immediate medical attention.

This article first appeared on banglatribune.com