Dhaka: Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan on Thursday said the government has no specific statistics about how many Rohingya refugees intruded into Bangladesh from Myanmar.

Talking to reporters at Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) commanding officers’ conference at its Pilkhana headquarters, he also said the government has been trying to resolve the Rohingya refugee problem through discussions with Myanmar authorities.

“We’re trying to develop our ties with Myanmar, and we’ve made good progress to this end. We’re still at the discussion table, and we want to solve the problem through talks. We believe the more we’ll engage in discussions, the more it will pave the way for overcoming the problem,” he said.

As his attention was drawn to the unofficial figure that suggests around 65,000 Rohingya Muslims entered Bangladesh from Myanmar to escape persecution, he said, “We still didn’t count them. “We’ll tell you later about it after officially verifying it.”

Alongside discussions with Myanmar, Asaduzzaman said the government is enhancing the capability of the BGB by giving them necessary support and equipment. “We’re ready to prevent any untoward incident at any time.”  

About border killing, the home minister said it has come down significantly, but the government is trying to bring it to zero level.

“We’ve very good and friendly relations with India. There may be some occasional minor problems in border areas, and we’re resolving those through discussions, and we’ll continue to do so in the days to come.