CPA to hold special session on Rohingya issue

The Rohingya crisis is expected to largely feature the upcoming Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Conference with host Bangladesh’s delegation chief and deputy speaker M Fazle Rabbi Miah saying a special session was planned to discuss the issue in the meet.

“The special session will be held on November 5 when our foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali will explain the situation,” Miah told BSS.

The 63rd CPA Conference virtually begins tomorrow with arrival of delegates from different 44 out of 52 CPA member states while Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was set to formally open it as the forum’s Vice Patron on Nov 5 at the South Plaza of the Jatiya Sangsad.

The CPA meet comes amid continued influx of Rohingyas who fled their home in Myanmar’s Rakhine State to evade atrocities while their number exceeded 600,000 since Aug 25 while Bangladesh previously sheltered over 400,000 of them for decades.

Another major global parliamentary forum, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) earlier this month took a resolution condemning the Myanmar atrocities and appreciating Dhaka for its humanitarian stance as its 137th Assembly was held in Russia.

Bangladesh had tabled a resolution titled ‘Ending the grave human crisis, persecution and violent attacks on the Rohingya as the threat to international peace and security and ensuring their unconditional and safe return to their homeland in Mayanmear’ in the IPU assembly.

According to the Jatiya Sangsad Secretariat, a presentation on Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman would be made immediately after a written message of the CPA Patron UK’s Queen Elizabeth II would be read out.

The main theme of this year’s conference is ‘Continuing to enhance the high standards of performance of Parliamentarians,’ while the theme of the CPA is Democracy, Diversity and Development, the Deputy Speaker added.

Source: BSS