India, on Thursday, sent 55 tonnes of relief materials to Bangladesh in a C-17 Globemaster heavy cargo aircraft for Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar, who poured into the country following the ethnic violence in the neighbouring Buddhist-majority nation. One more C-17 is scheduled to airlift additional relief material to Bangladesh.
The first consignment of India's assistance comes days after Dhaka briefed New Delhi about the problems it faced due to the influx of these refugees.
Bangladesh High Commissioner in New Delhi, Syed Muazzem Ali, had met Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar last week and discussed the issue of Rohingyas in detail.
“In response to the humanitarian crisis being faced on account of the large influx of refugees into Bangladesh, Government of India has decided to extend assistance to Bangladesh,” said a statement by the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi.
The relief material consists of items required urgently by the affected people, namely rice, pulses, sugar, salt, cooking oil, tea, ready to eat noodles, biscuits, mosquito nets etc, the statement said.
India will provide 7,000 tonnes of relief materials to Bangladesh.
Bangladesh's Road Transport Minister Obaidul Quader received the materials from Indian High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla after an Indian aircraft carrying the assistance landed at southeastern port city of Chittagong.
The mission, said Quader, is a repeat of India reaching out to Bangladesh during the 1971 Liberation War.
Bangladesh, which is facing a big influx of Rohingyas from Myanmar, has called on the international community to intervene and put pressure on Myanmar to address the exodus.
According to the UN estimates, over 3,79,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state into Bangladesh since 25 August, when fresh wave of violence erupted.
Bangladesh had earlier said the new influx of Rohingya refugees is an unbearable additional burden on the country, which has been hosting around 4,00,000 Myanmar nationals who had to leave their country in the past due to communal violence and repeated military operations.
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