Dhaka Minister Meets US Congressman Who Mooted Rakhine Annexation

The Irrawaddy
By Muktadir Rashid  
19 July 2019

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AKM Abul Momen (second from right), meets US Congressman Bradley Sherman (second from left) in Washington on Thursday. / Bradley Sherman / Twitter   

DHAKA—Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AKM Abul Momen met US Congressman Bradley Sherman in Washington on Thursday to discuss the issue of Rohingya repatriation. Sherman hit the headlines recently after reportedly proposing that the Rohingya crisis could be resolved by making Rakhine State part of Bangladesh.

Hasina slams US congressman’s proposal to attach Rakhine state with Bangladesh

bdnews24.com
Senior Correspondent
09 Jul 2019

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has denounced the proposal by a US congressman to bring the Rakhine State in Myanmar under Bangladesh's territory, calling it an attempt 'to start a fire in the region'.

She made the remarks at a media briefing in Ganabhaban on Monday following her five-day official visit to China.

Over 1.1 million Rohingya people have taken refuge in Bangladesh to escape persecution in the Rakhine State. The refugees have since voiced concerns over their safety as plans for their repatriation are mooted.

Rohingya Crisis: Should Rakhine Be Under Bangladesh’s Sovereignty?

the quint
Shafiur Rahman

Opinion

Five years ago, an op-ed in a Bangladeshi daily, Dhaka Tribune, ruffled the feathers of the powers that be in Myanmar’s capital, Nay Pyi Taw. Such was the offence taken that the Bangladeshi Ambassador was summoned for a dressing down by the Burmese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the opinion piece, now long removed from the web, journalist Zeeshan Khan had argued that the Rohingya “should have the option of forming an independent country between Bangladesh and Myanmar”.

Now, a broadly similar proposition has resurfaced in an intervention by US Congressman Brad James Sherman, in the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. 

 

Also Read : Meet Tasmida,  the First Rohingya Refugee Girl to Enter College

US Congressman proposes to bring Rakhine under BD

Daily Bangladesh
International Deskdaily-bangladesh.com
Published: June 2019

A Congressman of the United States has proposed bringing the Rakhine state of Myanmar under the Bangladesh territory, arguing that Naypyidaw has failed to protect its nationals in that area.

The Congressman Bradley James Sherman made the proposal in the Congress during a hearing on the budget for South Asia on June 13, urging the US State Department to consider the matter.

Referring to the US supporting the split of South Sudan from Sudan, he asked why the government will not take a similar step about Myanmar for the protection of the civil rights of Rohingya people in Rakhine.

Bring Rakhine under BD -The Asian Age

The Asian Age 

29th June 2019

Kazi Nazrul Islam Ave, Dhaka

A Congressman of the United States has proposed bringing Rakhine state of Myanmar under the Bangladesh territory, arguing that Naypyidaw has failed to protect its nationals in that area.Bradley James Sherman made the proposal in the Congress during a hearing on the budget for South Asia on June 13, urging the US State Department to consider the matter.

Referring to the US supporting the split of South Sudan from Sudan, he asked why the government will not take similar step about Myanmar for the protection of the civil rights of Rohingya people in Rakhine.Sherman, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific of the Congress, described as genocide the atrocities Myanmar forces had unleashed against the Rohingyas, the Muslim minority in the predominately Buddhist country.

US on Rohingiya Crisis: Congress moves to slap sanctions on Myanmar military

The Daily Star
June 23, 2019

The US House Committee on Foreign Affairs has approved a bipartisan legislation to impose sanctions on Myanmar military in response to the genocide against Rohingyas.

The bill -- The Burma United through Rigorous Military Accountability (BURMA) Act -- will be placed before the full House of Representatives for consideration, said the Committee Chairman Eliot L Engel in a statement on Thursday.
The bill, if passed by the House of Representatives and Senate, would prohibit the expansion of American military assistance to Burma until re-forms take place, and require reporting on crimes against humanity, in-cluding war crimes and genocide.