Bangladesh will convey its position to Myanmar through the country’s ambassador in Dhaka over a “factually incorrect” statement recently issued by Myanmar’s military-backed government regarding Rohingyas sheltered in Bangladesh.
Myanmar Ambassador to Bangladesh Kyaw Soe Moe is scheduled to meet the concerned director general at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday afternoon, a foreign ministry source told UNB.
The move comes after Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press statement on 15 August regarding the verification of Rohingya names submitted by Bangladesh for repatriation.
The United Council of Rohingya (UCR) has rejected and condemned the statement, calling it “misleading” and an attempt to rewrite history, deny state-sponsored crimes and avoid international accountability.
Bangladesh sent 828,824 names of displaced Rohingyas to Myanmar for verification, and as of 31 July 2026, Myanmar said 426,545 names had been verified.
According to Myanmar, the verification found 308,797 people with evidence of having lived in Rakhine State, 4,241 people accused of involvement in terrorist activities and 113,507 people with no evidence of having lived in Rakhine State.
“Based on these figures, we are concerned about the accusations that all those living in Bangladeshi camps are from Myanmar. We also strongly object to claims that boat refugees and people arriving in other countries under ethnic names that do not exist in Myanmar are from Myanmar,” Myanmar said.
The UCR rejected the statement, saying the Myanmar government was attempting to deny Rohingya identity and responsibility for their persecution.
“We are Rohingya, not Bengalis. Myanmar’s refusal to recognise our ethnic identity is the root cause of our persecution,” the group said, adding that Rohingyas have a documented history and culture spanning centuries in Rakhine State.
The group also rejected Myanmar’s claim that the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) was responsible for the Rohingya crisis.
The UCR said Myanmar military operations in 2016 and 2017 were a campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing documented by the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission.
It alleged that the operations involved mass killings, sexual violence and the burning of more than 300 villages, saying ARSA attacks were not the cause of the Rohingya exodus.
The UCR also rejected Myanmar’s figures on displacement, saying more than 700,000 Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh during the 2017 violence, joining more than 200,000 who had fled earlier waves of persecution in 1991-92.
It said Myanmar’s claim that more than 200,000 people remain in Rakhine was misleading, as many are living in camps with restrictions on movement and basic rights.
The international community and the United Nations have said more than one million Rohingyas remain displaced, the UCR said.
Myanmar does not recognise the Rohingya as one of its 135 officially recognised ethnic groups and refers to them as Bengalis, implying that they are migrants from Bangladesh.
Myanmar said it would continue working with Bangladesh to receive verified former residents when security conditions in Rakhine improve.
It also rejected claims that more than one million people were displaced from Rakhine, saying more than 540,000 people crossed into Bangladesh after the 2017 violence while more than 200,000 remained in northern Rakhine.
Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed on a two-year repatriation process in 2018, but the initiative failed to progress after security conditions worsened following the military takeover in Myanmar in 2021, which ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and triggered armed resistance.
The situation deteriorated further in 2023 after fighting intensified between the Rakhine-based Arakan Army and Myanmar’s military over control of the region. The conflict forced more Rohingyas to flee to Bangladesh and other countries, while the Arakan Army captured large parts of Rakhine from the military.
