Bangladesh rejects Myanmar’s claim of repatriating Rohingya

In this April 14, 2018, photo provided by Myanmar Government Information Committee, Myanmar immigration officials examine documents and photographs with a Rohingya family of five at a receiving center in Taung Pyo, Letwe, northern Rakhine state. Myanmar Government Information Committee via AP

DHAKA, Bangladesh — Bangladesh has rejected a claim by Myanmar that the Buddhist-majority nation has repatriated the first five among some 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled to neighboring Bangladesh to escape military-led violence against the minority group.

A Myanmar government statement issued on Saturday noted that five members of a family returned to western Rakhine state from the border area. It said that the family was staying temporarily with relatives in Maungdaw town, the administrative center close to the border.

On Monday, Bangladesh’s home minister, Asaduzzaman Khan, said Myanmar’s claim that the family had been “repatriated” was false, noting that the family had never reached Bangladeshi territory. /kga