YANGON, March 1 (Xinhua) -- The refugees who fled the violent conflict in Myanmar's Rakhine state have yet to returned from Bangladesh despite announcement by the Myanmar authorities to receive them starting Jan. 23.
Up to Feb. 27 since announcing the readiness for the acceptance, no one has come back through the receiving camps set up at Maungtaw, according to a release from the Home Affairs Ministry on late Wednesday.
Minister of International Cooperation U Kyaw Tin said earlier that some groups were persuading the refugees not to return with the aim of making the matter more complicated to draw international attention and to invite pressure.
In the midst of the repatriation process, some refugees were reported to be stranded at zero line zone, prompting the authorities of the two countries to resolve matter of displaced people in such status.
Both sides vowed at their border authorities' meeting to offer assistance in sending the refugees back to their homes.
Meanwhile, Some international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) went into the zero line area under their own arrangement to provide aid to the refugees.
Known as no man's land, the zero line is an undeveloped, formerly uninhabited area on the border between Myanmar and Bangladesh that has recently become homes for refugees who rejected to participate in the repatriation.
Rakhine state officials commented that the action of the displaced people at zero line are politically motivated to create international pressure.
Myanmar and Bangladesh signed an arrangement in November last year on the return of displaced persons from Bangladesh.
The two countries also agreed to establish border liaison offices in Maungtaw in northern Rakhine and Tak Naf in Bangladesh.
Myanmar said it would receive the verified returnees at Taung Pyo Letwe and Nga Khu Ya reception centers, while adding Hla Pho Kaung as a transit camp for the returnees.
Set to receive the returnees five days per week, the Myanmar side has suggested Bangladesh side to include 1,258 persons of Hindu and Muslim faiths, verified as Myanmar residents, in the first batch of repatriation.
A verification process started on Oct. 1 last year and those verified have been granted national verification cards.
Despite the fact that no movement was seen on the designated day of starting to return, the Myanmar authorities insisted that coordination will continue with the other side's working group on the repatriation process for further action.
Under the 1993 agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh, if the refugees are found to be true that they have lived in Myanmar, they will be repatriated to their places of origin.
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army extremist terrorists launched attacks on police outposts in Rakhine on Aug. 25 last year, displacing residents from the Maungtaw district.
