Arakan News Agency
Myanmar will send back Rohingya refugees, who have fled a brutal military campaign in the west of the country to Bangladesh, if they are not listed on government documents, amid the faltering repatriation, an immigration official said.
“we may return them to their country or take legal action, if someone returns and is not on the list, if they have lived here before, we will accept them,” said the director of the Maungdaw Immigration Department, Ko Ko Thaw.
In Myanmar, which is predominantly Buddhist, Muslims from the Rohingya minority are denied access to their basic rights, such as health care and education, and are denied citizenship under the Citizenship Act of 1982 in Myanmar.
Some 655,000 people fled to Bangladesh after government forces launched security operations in August last year.
Myanmar has contacted the Bangladesh embassy about a delay in the repatriation of the Rohingya, which was due to begin on Tuesday, in line with a bilateral agreement signed in November last year, state media said Wednesday.
