DHAKA — The Rohingya crisis has become a security concern for Bangladesh, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam said on Sunday, November 8, stressing the need to keep the issue high on the international agenda. 'We need to keep the Rohingya issue relevant on the international stage, and keeping it relevant remains a major challenge,' she said at a national policy dialogue in Dhaka, The Business Standard reported.

Source: The Business Standard, Nov 8 2026 — Rohingya crisis now a security concern: Shama

The dialogue — 'A Sustainable Approach to the Resolution of the Rohingya Crisis: Outline of a National Strategy and External Contribution' — was held at the CIRDAP Auditorium in Dhaka and brought together policymakers, diplomats, researchers, civil society and Rohingya community representatives, The Business Standard said. Shama Obaed, who was chief guest, said the crisis is a political problem that requires national political consensus, and that repatriation must take place in a safe and dignified manner: 'We need to ensure minimum dignity for them.'

Source: The Business Standard, Nov 8 2026 — the CIRDAP dialogue

Talks with Myanmar — and contact with the Arakan Army

The state minister disclosed the machinery Dhaka is now using. A National Strategy Formulation Committee on the Rohingya issue has already been established, she said, and under it Bangladesh is holding discussions with the government of Myanmar and establishing communication with the Arakan Army, while continuing bilateral engagement. The Arakan Army is the armed group that controls much of Rakhine State, the Rohingya homeland from which more than a million people fled to Bangladesh.

Source: The Business Standard, Nov 8 2026 — committee, Myanmar talks and Arakan Army communication

Former Ambassador Mohammad Sufiur Rahman, who presented at the dialogue, said the crisis had been imposed on Bangladesh and that its actual solution lay in Rakhine, The Business Standard reported. He stressed the need to initiate pragmatic and strategic dialogue with the Arakan Army and establish a relationship based on mutual interdependence, and he flagged the challenges of building a unified voice among the Rohingya and camp-based leadership. Lieutenant General (Retd) Mohammad Mahfuzur Rahman, chairman of the Osmani Centre for Peace and Security Studies, said military strength or hard power was highly respected in Myanmar and that a clear, firm message needed to be conveyed to the Arakan Army regarding the potential consequences of its actions.

Source: The Business Standard, Nov 8 2026 — Sufiur Rahman and Mahfuzur Rahman at the dialogue

'Myanmar must solve it' — the law minister's conditions

Law Minister Md Asaduzzaman, also speaking at the dialogue, called for effective international engagement to ensure the safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable repatriation of the Rohingya, saying the crisis cannot be resolved through bilateral efforts by Bangladesh and Myanmar alone, The Business Standard reported in a separate account of the dialogue. 'The Rohingya crisis is not Bangladesh's problem alone; it is an international issue,' he said. 'The crisis originated in Myanmar, and the responsibility for resolving it also lies with Myanmar.'

Source: The Business Standard, Nov 8 2026 — Law minister on repatriation

Repatriation, he said, must not simply mean sending people back: 'Their citizenship, human rights, security, education and dignity must also be guaranteed.' Referring to discussions at the UN General Assembly and a meeting with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on its sidelines, he said forcibly returning refugees or imposing a decision on them would not resolve the crisis. He also disclosed that a national committee has been formed under the leadership of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to formulate a national policy on the crisis and examine initiatives that could be pursued internationally, and said the government intends to draw on the approaches of the governments of former prime minister Khaleda Zia and former president Ziaur Rahman.

Source: The Business Standard, Nov 8 2026 — Asaduzzaman on guarantees and the PM-led committee

The two population figures were both given at Sunday's dialogue by Bangladeshi officials — the state minister's account put the hosted population at more than 1.3 million and rising, while the law minister put it at nearly 1.2 million — and Awaaz Punjab reports both as attributed figures rather than a single settled count. Asaduzzaman said around 82 to 90 children are born in the camps every day, warning that a prolonged crisis would increase demographic, economic and social pressures, and he stressed that the crisis involves not only humanitarian concerns but also national security, law and order and social stability.

Source: The Business Standard, Nov 8 2026 — both dialogue accounts

The Dhaka dialogue comes eleven days before the International Court of Justice is scheduled to deliver its ruling in the Rohingya genocide case concerning Myanmar on November 19 — a verdict both ministers' demand for guaranteed rights and citizenship will be measured against. Read the earlier report: ICJ to deliver Rohingya genocide ruling on November 19

What happens next, on Sunday's statements, is threefold: the strategy committee is to turn the consensus demand into a national policy; the twin channels — to Myanmar's government and to the Arakan Army — are to be continued and built out; and Dhaka is to press the international community to engage Myanmar directly to create the conditions inside Rakhine for a safe return. No timetable for any repatriation was announced at the dialogue, and neither Myanmar's government nor the Arakan Army commented in the reports of Sunday's event.