More than 600,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled the Rakhine state in Buddhist-majority Myanmar since security forces responded to Rohingya militants' attacks on Aug 25 by launching a crackdown. Bangladesh initially kept its border closed after violence broke out in the western Myanmar state, but later opened it to Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds. Bangladesh was already home to 400,000 Rohingya refugees over the last few decades before the latest colossal exodus. In 1992, Bangladesh signed a repatriation agreement with the then military regime of Myanmar, following which 236,599 Rohingyas returned to their homeland. During the talks, Dhaka proposed signing a new bilateral agreement for the repatriation process and handed over a draft to Myanmar.

Source: bd News24 October 27, 2017 06:45 UTC