Distressed Rohingyas getting local support: PM

Desk Report: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wednesday said local people have given their overwhelming support to the government's steps giving shelter to displaced Rohingya citizens of Myanmar in Bangladesh.

She said this when visiting UNFPA Executive Director and UN Under Secretary Natalia Kanem called on the PM at her Tejgaon office.

The premier told the UNFPA official that her government has given shelter to Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds as the people of Bangladesh have the experience of sufferings such a displacement.

"And, local people of Bangladesh are extending their wholehearted support to the Rohingyas," she said.

After the meeting, PM's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim said they discussed various matters related to mutual interests particularly the issues of women development and forcibly displaced Rohingyas citizens of Myanmar taken shelter in Bangladesh.

Sheikh Hasina said the Rohingyas are staying in the shelter centers in a very inhumane condition though the government is making constant strides to give them some comfort.

Everyday 60 babies are born in the refugee camps and the monsoon may cause untold suffering to them, she said.

Sheikh Hasina said about one lake refugees would be shifted to Bhasan Char camp very soon where they would be able to live in a better environment.

Natalia appreciated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's role in giving shelter to Rohingyas as well as Bangladesh's extraordinary success in women empowerment.

She assured the prime minister of continued support of the UN organization in various sectors.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina highlighted her government's priority to ensure development of the country from the grassroots level, the press secretary said.

Sheikh Hasina said her government is striving for ensuring food security, healthcare and education of the people from the grassroots.

The government is following the footprint of the Father of the Nation who soon after independence had initiated to bring the womenfolk into the mainstream of national development, she said.

The annual development programs (ADP) of the country has been prepared with focus on rural development, she added.

PM's Advisor on International Affairs Dr Goher Rizvi and PM's Principal Secretary Md. Najibur Rahman were present.

Source: BSS



risingbd/May 23, 2018/Mukul