Myanmar to launch refugee verification process in northern state
CGTN
["china"]
Myanmar authorities will launch a national verification process for refugees who fled conflicted northern Rakhine State to neighboring Bangladesh, reported Global New Light of Myanmar quoting the Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement U Win Myat Aye on Thursday. 
Before the move, Minister at the State Counselor's Office U Kyaw Tint Swe will travel to Bangladesh for talks with the Bangladesh authorities over the process.  
Rohingya refugees wait to receive aid in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, September 27, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Rohingya refugees wait to receive aid in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, September 27, 2017. /Reuters Photo

The verification process, based on principles to which both Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed to in 1993, will be carried out at Taungpyo Latwe village for those who return by road and at Naguya village for those who come back by waterways, U Win Myat Aye told a committee implementing the recommendations on the Rakhine State on Wednesday.
Under the current plan, the verified refugees will be settled at Dargyizar village, he said. 
In some Muslim communities in the state, their leaders are said to have decided not to join in the process. However, State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi urged them in her September 19 speech to respond to the process, saying that they have nothing to lose by it.  
Rohingya refugees walk through a camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, September 27, 2017. /Reuters Photo

Rohingya refugees walk through a camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, September 27, 2017. /Reuters Photo

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) extremist terrorists launched fresh attacks on police outposts in Rakhine State on August 25. The attacks and following government security forces' sweeping operations displaced large number of residents from a number of areas in Maungtaw district to border areas with Bangladesh for refuge.  
Besides the national verification process, Myanmar authorities are also implementing a rehabilitation and resettlement and long-term development programs. The programs are designed not only for Muslims but also for Rakhines, Mro, Daing-net and Mramagyi as well as the Hindu minority who fled their villages due to extremist terrorists' attacks as part of the refugee repatriation process. 
Aung San Suu Kyi called on the international community to cooperate for constructively tackling the issue of the northern Rakhine State. She voiced the government's pledge to implement the recommendations by the Advisory Commission, led by former Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and stated that those recommendations will help bring speedy improvement to the situation of the state within the shortest time frame. 
Source(s): Xinhua News Agency