DHAKA: Bangladesh will not accept two boats carrying hundreds of reportedly starving Rohingya refugees, the country’s foreign minister said on Thursday as calls grew to rescue the Muslim outcasts.

The new controversy over stranded Rohingya blew up just a week after dozens starved to death on a boat that was left at sea for two months before it could land.

Activists are fearful that large numbers of Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority from mostly Buddhist Myanmar, may be trapped on boats and unable to reach other countries.

The two latest boats are in international waters after human traffickers had tried to reach Malaysia, according to aid groups and a Rohingya community leader.

Bangladesh has ordered increased patrols in the Bay of Bengal to stop the boats entering, Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen said.

“Two boats carrying Rohingya are trying to get into our waters,” he said, adding that the vessels could have come from Myanmar’s Rakhine state following fighting between the military and rebel groups, or “somewhere else”.

“Our navy and coastguard are on alert and they have been instructed not to let these boats enter Bangladesh,” Momen said. “No more Rohingya will be allowed in,” he added.

Rights group Amnesty International has said two fishing trawlers carrying some 500 Rohingya women, men and children are in the Bay of Bengal after being pushed away by Malaysia.

Bangladesh should rescue the stranded Rohingya, Amnesty said in a statement, and other governments in the region should “fulfil their shared responsibility to carry out search and rescue efforts”.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2020