Bangladesh: Rohingya regional issue

DHAKA (Bangkok Post-AFP) -- Bangladesh said on Wednesday a regional initiative is needed to solve the Rohingya migration issue, echoing a similar proposal by Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

"It would have been better if we could settle the issue bilaterally. We have to think regionally definitely, if we cannot solve the issue bilaterally,'' said Bangladesh's junior foreign minister, Hasan Mahmud.

The minister was answering a query more than a week after Thailand's prime minister proposed the formation of a regional forum for dealing with illegal immigration.

The Thai army has been accused of mistreating refugees from the minority Muslim Rohingya group, thousands of whom flee poverty, abuse and repression in western Burma every year.

Mahmud said Rohingya migration had been a decade-long problem for Bangladesh, but denied that boat people from the ethnic minority were using his country as a escape route.

"It's not true that Rohingyas were boarding boats from Bangladeshi side. But it is true that many Rohingyas live in Bangladesh. Rohingyas who live in Bangladesh don't go to Thailand,'' he said.