by Bhupen Goswami

Guwahati :  The threat of an influx by Rohingyas is looming large on Northeast India. While the possible presence of terrorists among the Muslims fleeing Myanmar’s Rakhine state is alarming security agencies, it creates a bigger problem for the administration in a region where infiltration is already a sensitive issue and a cause for deadly violence in the past. Northeastern states share more than 4,500 km of border with Bangladesh, China, Myanmar and Bhutan. Of this, the 1,643-km Indo-Myanmar border in Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh is unfenced and ethnic communities on each side can travel visa-free 16 km inside the other country. The two nations signed an agreement with Myanmar agreeing to take back the Rohingyas but that has failed to kickstart the repatriation process.Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has started a three-day visit to China from July 3 in what many see a ‘desperate attempt’ to get Myanmar to take back the Rohingya refugees. “China has much political clout on Myanmar and Hasina feels it is the only country which, if it wants, could pressurise Myanmar to start taking back the Rohingyas.

The two nations signed an agreement with Myanmar agreeing to take back the Rohingyas but that has failed to kickstart the repatriation process. Bangladesh sees the burden of nearly one million Rohingya refugees as “unbearable for her fledgling economy”. Her efforts to get India to create pressure on Myanmar to take back Rohingyas has not worked so far primarily because Delhi does not have the clout that Beijing enjoys in Myanmar. This will be Hasina’s first trip to China after she came to power last year. With an estimated USD 31 billion investments, China has emerged as a major investor in Bangladesh–mainly in the infrastructure and energy–raising concerns in India over growing Chinese influence in the region. The rapid expansion of Chinese investments in Bangladesh was regarded as the second highest by Beijing after the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Hasina’s visit to China from July 3 to 5 will be marked by her talks with President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Li Keqiang and other top leaders to improve bilateral ties and exchange views on issues of mutual interest. Hasina would also take part in the Summer Davos meeting at Dalian which would be inaugurated by Li Keqiang. “Summer Davos”, also known as the annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC), is organised every year in China by the World Economic Forum (WEF) which hosts annual meeting at Davos in Switzerland where world leaders gather to interact on the state of the global economy and investments. Hasina’s push for repatriation of Rohingyas has got a shot in the arm after the The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor wants to open a full investigation into Myanmar’s alleged crimes against Rohingya Muslims, including killings and forced deportations.