Myanmar to launch refugee verification process in northern state soon

Myanmar authorities will launch a national verification process soon for refugees who fled conflicted northern Rakhine state to neighboring Bangladesh, the official Global New Light of Myanmar quoted Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement U Win Myat Aye as reporting Thursday.

Before the move, Minister at the State Counselor's Office U Kyaw Tint Swe will travel to Bangladesh for talks with the Bangladesh authorities over the process.

The verification process, based on principles to which both Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in 1993, will be carried out at Taungpyo Latwe village for those who return by road and at Naguya village for those who come back by waterways, U Win Myat Aye told a committee on implementing the recommendations on Rakhine state, chaired by him, on Wednesday.

Under the current plan, the verified refugees will be settled at Dargyizar village, he said.

In some Muslim communities in the state, their leaders are said to have decided not to join in the process. However, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi urged them in her Sept. 19 speech to respond to the process, saying that they have nothing to lose by it.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) extremist terrorists launched fresh attacks on police outposts in Rakhine on Aug. 25, displacing residents from a number of areas in Maungtaw district to border areas with Bangladesh for refuge.

Besides the national verification process, Myanmar authorities are also implementing a rehabilitation and resettlement and long-term development programs not only for Muslims but also for Rakhines, Mro, Daing-net and Mramagyi as well as the Hindu minority who fled their villages due to extremist terrorists' attacks as part of the refugee repatriation process.

Aung San Suu Kyi called on the international community to cooperate for constructively tackling the issue of northern Rakhine state, voicing government's pledge to implement the recommendations by the Advisory Commission, led by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and saying that those recommendations will help bring speedy improvement to the situation of the state within the shortest time frame.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)