New Delhi (Sputnik) — In a strong message to the world community, Bangladesh has warned that the ongoing "ethnic cleansing" in Myanmar should not only be viewed from the humanitarian angle, but should also be seen as a security threat with the potential to destabilize not only Myanmar or Bangladesh, but the entire Asian continent.
A day after meeting with India's top security officials, Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Shahidul Haque said that Myanmar is "snatching the rights" of the Rohingyas.
"It is not only the people's movement, but it is also a security issue, a border issue, which has the potential to destabilize the region, not just areas in Myanmar and Bangladesh," Shahidul Haque said in New Delhi.
However, Haque's response to India's tough stand on deporting 40,000 Rohingya refugees to Myanmar was against his own proposition.
"Not that it always becomes [a security threat], depends on how you manage it. So far the government of Bangladesh has been able to contain that. It has not moved into a security area. The population continues to remain neutral. They all look forward to go back. It is the responsibility of the state not to allow it [radicalization] to happen," he said.
Meanwhile, India has tightened the security along its border with Bangladesh in order to stop any further influx of the Rohingyas. Last month, India's Ministry of Home Affairs had asked the Border Security Force to use "rude and crude" methods to block the Rohingyas from entering into India.
