BNP senior leader Dr Abdul Moyeen Khan on Tuesday said the Rohingya problem sees no solution due to the government's diplomatic failure.
"Why can't we solve the Rohingya problem? Our foreign policy is to maintain friendship to all and malice to none. But then why has everyone become our enemy?” he told a virtual discussion.
The BNP leader said, "This is Bangladesh’s bad luck that only one country out of over 200 in the world is now our true friends. If this is the case, what’s the outcome of our foreign policy in 50 years?”
South Asia Youth for Peace and Prosperity Society (SAYPPS) organised the virtual discussion on Bangladesh's international relations.
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Dr Moyeen, a former minister, said this perception cannot be dismissed that the Rohingya problem is the outcome of China, India and Western powers’ role.
"But my point is that Bangladesh had faced the Rohingya problem twice earlier and we resolved those. Why can't we do it now? Can't we solve it by maintaining a friendship with India or trying to appease all sides (China and India)? It can be a matter of discussion,” he said.
The BNP leader said their party does not support the government‘s policy of development first and then democracy. “If we agree on this policy, there could be no reason for us to get separated from Pakistan and make an independent state.”
He said they believe in the policy that democracy and development will go together with equal importance. “Our development and independence will be meaningless without democracy.”
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The BNP leader said lakhs of people sacrificed their lives in the Liberation War in 1971 with two objectives—having democracy and economic emancipation of the poor. “I would like to ask which of the two we have achieved in 50 years.”
He said crores of people are now living below the poverty line in the country. “According to a recent study, Bangladesh is on the top of a list of the countries where the gap between the rich and the poor are growing fast. Did we fight for the establishment of such a Bangladesh?”