Seeking a ‘constructive’ approach to dealing with the exodus of the Rohingya, India said on Thursday that the displaced members of the community will have to return to their place of origin in the Rakhine province of Myanmar.

Speaking at a think tank event here, on the prospects of India-Japan cooperation in the Bay of Bengal and Asia-Pacific regions, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar highlighted India’s regional humanitarian responsibilities and growing convergence with Tokyo.

“The exodus of a large number of people from the Rakhine state to Bangladesh is clearly a matter of concern. Our objective will be to see how they can go back to their place of origin. Clearly that is not easy,” he said. “We are talking to Bangladesh and separately engaged with Myanmar and we feel that this is a situation better addressed with practical measures and constructive conversation, rather than doing very strong condemnations and, having checked the condemnation box, moving to the next issue.”

He highlighted the need for “a sober, sensitive and locally sensitive approach” in dealing with the humanitarian emergency that the exodus had become.

Regional cooperation

Mr. Jaishankar also brought up the ties between connectivity, regional cooperation and humanitarian response to evolving crises. “One of the areas we want to see in the agenda of BIMSTEC is collaboration on the HADR— that, we would like these member countries to cooperate on humanitarian assistance to disaster situation. In the last three years, Nepal earthquake relief, (India’s response to) Yemen civil war, Maldivian water crisis, and even Operation Insaniyat for the Rohingyas are part of cooperation.”