Foreign policy, in essence, indicates how the government of one country interacts with the government of another. It is important to maintain a positive foreign policy with other countries, especially with neighboring countries. The image of a country is created through its foreign policy in the global arena. A government that pursues a liberal approach will inevitably have a good impact on other states, and those nations will see that country positively or refrain from forming an unfavorable opinion of it. This research paper focuses on concerning the Rohingya problem and attempts to analyze a comparative study of the foreign policies of two neighboring countries, Bangladesh and Myanmar, which demonstrates that a local problem (the Rohingya issue) in one country (Myanmar) has become a major problem in the other country (Bangladesh), resulting in a hostile relationship. In addition, this study aims to understand the present state of Bangladesh-Myanmar foreign policy in regard to the Rohingya crisis and to look into the Rohingya communitys current situation in Bangladesh. According to this study, Myanmar must modify its foreign policy toward its neighbors and be flexible on the Rohingya issue.
It is true that the concept of foreign policy is not new one, after all it has been observed since the Napoleonic era. Nevertheless, recently, each country has its own clear foreign policy on the basis of which it can esta-blish both diplomatic and international relations with other countries and international organizations. Its purpose is to govern the international realm in accor-dance with the goals and objectives of its political acti-vities and all of which are directed towards its inter-ests. Basically, the study of behaviors and practices in the interactions between various global actors is known as foreign policy analysis (Alden & Aran, 2017, p.3). All we know is that foreign policy follows some theories like realism, liberalism, social construc-tivism and so on (Jackson & Sørensen, 2012, p.33). Basically, these theories tell us what things is signifi-cant and what are not significant and they form an image of our world. These are based on specific values and often contain perspectives on how we want to see the world (Jackson & Sørensen, 2012, p.57). Each country adopted one of these theories to formulate its foreign policy by maintaining its own principles, though many countries combine two or more of these theories. For all these theories, as foreign policy varies from country to country, so the relationship between countries varies either. It is true that relations among the bordering nations are at great risk, including secu-rity, peace, development and the welfare of the people (Bhatia, 2015). We can observe that, Bangladesh and Myanmar the two neighboring countries have always had a good relationship, although in recent times the relationship between them has deteriorated in the Rohingya issue (Ahamed et al., 2020, p.320). Myan-mar is a long-bordered neighbor of Bangladesh, and it has regularly crossed the border, intensified its military confrontation and forcefully sent Rohingyas to Bangla-desh after oppressing them. Myanmar and Bangladesh have been debating the problem of repatriating the Rohingya, and Bangladesh has taken a sympathetic stance toward Myanmar in this conversation. The ratio- nale for Bangladeshs cooperative stance is for the benefit of regional security and its own growth or development, which are a more vital basis of Bang-ladeshi foreign policy. Bangladesh cannot afford to get involved in a military war with any neighboring nation at this time in its development. Again, because the basic slogan of Bangladeshi foreign policy is "friend-ship to all and enmity to none," the country is not involved in any dispute with its neighbor (Saha, 2021).
Bangladesh has traditionally favored liberalism above realism. However, it does have a neoclassical realism in its foreign policy (Masud, 2016, p.260-262). Myan-mar is once again in the grip of a military coup, and as always, they show military power to their neighboring countries, which points to classical realism. Again, Myanmar has attempted to frighten and antagonize Bangladesh by deploying military forces along the Bangladeshi border. Myanmar has also included the proper island of Bangladesh to its maps; nevertheless, Bangladesh did not respond to the provocation; ins-tead, the administration handled the situation delicately (Alam et al., 2022; Saha, 2021).
Myanmar was known as Burma in prior times, which got its independence in 1948 from Britain. Bangladesh got independence from Britain in 1947, though at that time, this country was a part of Pakistan and it was known as East-Pakistan. Finally, Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan in 1971 through a bloody war at the expense of three million people. Both countries were under colonialism. Myanmar is five times bigger than Bangladesh as a whole, but Myan-mar has a population of only 50 million, approxi-mately, one third of Bangladesh. About 88% of Bang-ladeshs population is Muslim where 85% of Myan-mars population is Buddhist (Ahamed et al., 2020, p.324). There are some Muslims in Myanmar and most of these Muslims primarily reside in the province of Arakan (now Rakhine), known as the Rohingya which are a minority group. At first, in 1970, Myanmar military government started a campaign against the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine State, where a widespread human right violation and atrocities were observed and that time first the Rohingyas were compelled to go to Bangladesh (Uddin & Ahamed, 2011). Then, in 1991-1992, more than two lac Rohin-gya fled to Bangladesh to escape military repression (Parnini, 2018). Operation Clearance was the name of the military operation started by the Myanmar army on August 25, 2017 to reclaim the countrys Rakhine state from the Rohingya. The Myanmar army followed Japans notorious ‘Three All Policy from World War II in this operation. This plan includes killing every-one, burning everything, and looting everything (Deva-kumar, 2019). From then a lot of Rohingya have been coming into Bangladesh by crossing the border and the government of Myanmar agrees to this kind of re-location.
In 2017, a violent conflict erupted in western Myanmar between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims. Despite blaming each other for the violence, neither side has been able to come up with a mutually accept-able peaceful solution. The Rohingya have accused the state of Rakhine and the central government of attem-pting to exterminate their people. On the other hand, the Myanmar government has denied the allegations but failed to reach a long-term solution. Rohingyas have been consequently compelled to move to neigh-boring country Bangladesh due to the governments persecution. The Bangladesh government has given them a place to live there for humanity. But when the situation is somewhat normal and when the Bangla-desh government is asking for the repatriation of these Rohingyas, the Myanmar government is constantly sending thousands of Rohingyas to Bangladesh show-ing indifference to get them back. As a result, the foreign relations of the two neighboring countries are deteriorating because of differences in their foreign policies. This article aims to understand the current situation of foreign policy between Bangladesh and Myanmar on the Rohingya issue and to explore the current situation of Rohingyas in Bangladesh, as many Rohingyas have found refuge in this country for the sake of humanity. In addition, find out the service gap needs and demands of Rohingyas in Bangladesh and to explore the opportunities and challenges of Rohingyas in Bangladesh.
Literature Review: Concepts and Theories
This section of the paper will discuss some of the basic concepts as well as the scholarly analysis as much as possible so that the reader can understand the whole topic. The term "foreign policy" refers to a countrys policies and interactions with the environment beyond its boundaries (Breuning, 2007, p.5). In general, for-eign policy is a policy pursued by a state to maintain contact with other states in order to defend its interests.
Foreign policy is based on national security consider-ations rather than indistinct ethical principles (Hough et al., 2015, p.57). Foreign policy analysis (FPA) means how different actors in the international system, principally nations, conduct and practice their inter-actions. Foreign policy analysis has connected how foreign policy decisions are formed, assuming that human beings, acting individually or collectively, are the source of a lot of conduct and a lot of change in international politics. Foreign policy analysis serves as a link between the theory of international relations, comparative politics, and the foreign policy-making community (Hudson & Vore, 1995, p.210, 228). But it is true that, in order to achieve national goals in terms of power, foreign policy is also governed by state-smens ideological inclinations (Yesmin, 2016, p.75). According to Schmidht, if a country wishes to main-tain its security and independence, it might form alli-ances with other countries or enhance its military (Schmidt, 2016). It is true that, in the case of foreign policy analysis, the realism perspective places a greater emphasis on national interests than on humanitarian concerns. In this case, JP Pham said that, no internat-ional community can ensure national security; a nation must choose realist ideals above moral norms (Pham, 2008, p.259). States that are taking in Rohingya mig-rants have recently been more concerned about the threats that these refugees pose to national security, which has allowed them to legally deport Rohingyas who try to cross their borders. For reasons of national security, certain countries who are hosting Rohingyas are attempting to adopt a realist foreign policy (Yes-min, 2016, p.76). Originally, the Rohingya are a Mus-lim ethnic group that lives in Myanmars northern Arakan region, which borders Bangladesh. The word Rohingya comes from the names "Rohang" and "Rohan," which were given to the Arakan area in the ninth and eleventh centuries (Bangladesh - Myanmar Relations, 2012). The Rohingya are a minority ethnic group in Myanmar, where they are not considered as citizens or foreigners. The Myanmar government has also objected to the term "stateless person," but they appear to have developed a separate area called "Resi-dents of Myanmar," which is not a legal status. Gove-rnment authorities, on the other hand, have referred to them as "illegal immigrants from Bangladesh" some-times (Lewa, 2009). The Rohingya are a religious and ethnic minority population, primarily Muslims, who are natives of Buddhist-majority Myanmars Rakhine state (also known as Arakan). They inhabited this area prior to the British East India Companys colonization, according to historical evidence. The Rohingya people are Muslim natives of Myanmars Rakhine State who were forced to escape their homeland, and hundreds have been tortured, raped, and cruelly slain by the Burmese military in recent years, which is considered as a grave violation of human rights and crime against humanity by international and local nonprofit organi-zations (Tobing, 2018). Rohingya people in Myanmar are deemed state-less since they are not considered as citizens of Myanmar. Myanmar acknowledges 135 ethnic groups, but unfortunately the Rohingya do not belong to any of them (Blakemore, 2019).
In this case we should know about the basic idea of both realism and liberalism theory. In international relations, realism is regarded as the most authoritative school of thinking (Dornan, 2011). Power is a funda-mental concept in realism when it comes to explaining international politics. The notion of anarchy is basic, and it is unaffected by economies, civilizations, or ide-ologies. States have no obligations outside their bound-aries, according to realism, and must protect their own existence and interests (Barnett, 2016, p.245, 248). Realism always talks about self-interest; power of balance and it is value relative to the utmost obtain. From realism theory, states are the vital actors where they take decisions in a unitary rational way and here morality or ethics cannot be a factor in foreign policy and the main points are states, self-interest and power from the prevalence of anarchy (Wendt, 1992, p.400-405). On the other hand, the liberal strategy employs three concepts: democracy, freedom, and equality (Doyle, 2008, p.50). We know from liberalism that, in any foreign policy there must exists cooperation, inter-national institutions, political/economic considerations, improvement of democracy, despite the fact that states are the primary actors (Doyle & Recchia, 2011). From liberalism concept, cooperation or collaboration betw-een different organizations, countries and actors is ess-ential for maintaining world security and peace (Doyle, 2008, p.50). Liberalism provides a comprehensive overview of international politics presents a general argument for aid and has the right to explain military and economic events (Moravcsik, 1992, p.36). Libera-lism always asserts cooperation. In the case of Bangla-desh-Myanmar foreign policy analysis, we can observe that Myanmar always show their military power to-wards Bangladesh and has regularly violated the bor-der with Bangladesh, expanding its military power and forcibly moving Rohingyas to Bangladesh after tort-uring them. So, the study of Myanmar foreign policy is very interesting and stimulating, as the foreign policy is defined in an environment that affects many factors (Ahamed et al., 2020, p.321). Bangladesh has accep-ted a huge number of Rohingya refugees in three waves since it is the primary destination for Rohingya refugees. Bangladesh has transitioned from a liberal policy to a realism strategy in dealing with Rohingya refugees. Because, it is important for any state to give utmost priority to their own interest and security. Bangladesh is now trying to follow realism towards Rohingyas, since the security of Bangladesh is under threat for these huge Rohingyas (Yesmin, 2016, p.77-80). But many realists perceive that, many liberals, may be underplaying security dangers regardless of national borders. They can also overcome it by colla-borating and cooperating with other countries interests (Joisafita, Saputra, Maruhawa, & Alk, 2019). Accor-ding to Myanmar Government, keeping friendly ties with all nations, and good-neighboring relations with adjacent countries; having a non-aligned, independent, and just stance on international matters; maintaining friendly relations with all nations, and good-neighbor-ing relations with neighboring countries-all are key points of Myanmar foreign policy (Myanmar- Embassy of Republic of the Union of Myanmar in Brazil, n.d.). These show the liberal foreign policy towards other or neighboring countries. Nevertheless, the Myanmar governments attitude regarding Bangladesh in the Rohingya context does not support liberalism policy, but rather indicates realism. Bangladesh has always tried to maintain a liberal policy towards the Rohin-gyas and that is why the Government of Bangladesh provided temporary sanctuary to the Rohingyas, as well as food and medical services and humanitarian help (Yesmin, 2016, p.77, 78). In the case of Mya-nmar, such generosity is not noticeable. It is hoped that if Myanmar accommodates a smart comprehensive and pragmatic Bangladesh policy based on friendship and neighborhood, the region may see a holistic and long-term solution to the long-standing problem between Myanmar and Bangladesh (Yamada, 2022).
Theoretical Framework
By studding the literature and both realism and liberalism theory, the Rohingya issue can be illustrated thro-ugh the foreign policy of Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Here we can observe that for the effect of realism theory in Myanmar, there are created the Rohingya problem. At the same way, for maintaining liberalism theory, this Rohingya issue can affect badly in Bangladesh.
Given the research aim and question, qualitative res-earch will be undertaken as appropriate, with a com-parative approach (Bryman, 2016, p. 31; Landman, 2017, pp.3-6). It is possible to compare Bangladeshs and Myanmars foreign policies, as well as theoretical material, to examine their actions and con-duct toward Rohingya. Furthermore, comparing the two nations allows us a more comprehensive understanding of the Rohingya problem. Essentially, the Rohingya problem was picked as a case because it is a contentious topic in world politics, and these two nations were chosen not just because of their involvement, but also because their foreign policies are vastly different.
Myanmars Foreign Policy under Realism & Liber-alism Perspective
After getting independence in 1948, Myanmar has exp-erienced one of the oldest civil wars with minority political and ethnic groups, together with central gov-ernments. Between 1962 and 2010, the country was under military rule and very recently that means 1 Feb-ruary, 2021 it also went under military control. Since the military and the civil political party have come to this country in succession, so in enforcing foreign policy guidelines, different leaders met different stand-ards when working on the ground. When the country was in military rule, then it followed classical realism and then this countrys aggressive attitudes were obse-rved towards other countries. Geopolitically Myanmar is in a strategic position, close to the two ascendant powers, namely China and India, so this country always keeps an aggressive mentality. Myanmars foreign policy, like that of many other nations, was influenced by both internal and external influences. As they existed military rule most of the time, so they were only concerned about their self - interest. How-ever, since the early 1950s, Myanmar has firmly adhered to a foreign policy of neutrality and non-alignment (Myoe, 2020, p.786). But from 1962 – 2011 Myanmar was under a brutal military rule. Thus, a latent classical realism was observed in Myanmars foreign policy at that time, although the government was firmly commi-tted to taking a neutral, independent, and purely inter-national position. It is true, as there were continuous political instability and collisions among ethnic gro-ups, so these required Myanmar to pursue flexible diplomacy on its own, based on local policies and circumstances (Wah, 2016, p.15-16). However, in the 2010 elections, a new form of government was intro-duced in Myanmar with a view of democracy (Ahamed et al., 2020, p.321). Then this country desired to come out of international sanctions and isolation. They were then taking some flexible policies towards other coun-tries. They wanted to pay more concentration on liber-alism. They wanted to come up from the separation of the world, as most of the countries and inter-national organizations cut international relations with Myanmar for military rule. So, this country wanted to increase tourism, exchange ideas and engage with political leaders, scholars, civil society organizations and tour-ists from other countries (Ahamd, 2017). When com-pared to the circumstances under military rule, Myan-mars external relations have improved rapidly, and non-state entities and super-powers have treated Myan-mar more favorably (Wah, 2016, p.18). Though My-anmars new government tried to establish liberalism in its foreign policy, a great human rights violation has been observed towards the Rohingya.
Bangladeshs Foreign Policy under Realism and Liberalism Perspective
Bangladesh is a developing country in South Asia that gained freedom from the British government in 1947, but afterwards fell under the control of the Pakistani government until regaining independence in 1971. When the constitution was adopted in 1972 after the independence of Bangladesh, socialism was one of the four main principles. So that Bangladeshi foreign policys main motto is ‘Friendship to all and malice towards none and this country make its foreign poli-cies towards other countries and organization on the basis of this motto (Islam, 2017). Bangladesh always believes in liberalism rather than realism, as this coun-try faced external invasion and after independence it also faced internal political turmoil. This country always tries to maintain a good relationship with other countries and international organizations. Even still this country never has an aggressive attitude towards other countries. Moreover, this country has never invaded as its foreign policy is based on two pillars, security and development. The aim of Bangladeshi for-eign policy is: upgrading the national interest, ensuring national security and development, enhancing national regality and at same time keeping its ideology alive (Islam, 2017). As we know neoclassical realism assu-mes that the internal structure of the state and the per-ception of the leaders, like intervention variables, act as important mediators between pressure on the energy configuration and decisions of the actors. So, in this perspective, there also exists a neoclassical realism in Bangladesh foreign policy (Masud, 2016, p.260-262). Like other countries, Bangladesh also wants to keep their sovereignty and aware about their self-interest. Thus, the foreign policy follows liberalism mainly and also neoclassical realism in some cases. It is true that Bangladesh has a direct border with India and Myan-mar. By sustaining its own peace and security, this country is constantly mindful of the importance of maintaining good relations with its two bordering nations. Because these two countries sometimes create illegal attacks on the Bangladeshi border aggressively by their border army. On account of, sometimes many civilians are killed. Several times in a row, Myanmar has been violating the Bangladeshi area and practicing attacks against Bangladesh on the border. But Bangla-desh foreign policy always asserts liberalism, so this country has not done the same on the border. As a result of the Myanmar governments aggression against the Rohingyas in 1970, 1982 and 1992 and their perse-cution at various times, these Rohingyas constantly fled to Bangladesh. In August 2017, they were mass-acred in the name of Operation Clearance, which resulted in thousands of Rohingya fleeing Myanmar and taking refuge in Bangladesh. Since Bangladesh is the border country of Myanmar, most of the Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh rather than Malaysia or Thai-land. Now, the Bangladesh government has called on the Myanmar government to take back these Rohin-gyas but they are not giving any solution in this regard rather they are behaving hostilely towards this neigh-boring country. Considering these aspects, it can be said that the Myanmar government is taking advantage of the friendly and liberal foreign policy of the Bangla-desh government.
1) With the political turmoil in Myanmar again last year and the return of the military government, it has become almost impossible to repatriate these Rohingya. This has widened the foreign policy differences between the two countries.
2) Bangladesh is a developing country with a much larger population than its size. Since indepen-dence, the country has been in the throes of con-tinuous development, but this huge popu-lation has been a stumbling block for some time. In the meantime, the country is lagging behind due to Rohingyas coming from Myanmar, as Myanmar and Bangladesh share a 168-kilometer border. Even then, for the sake of humanity, this huge number is taking care of the helpless Rohingyas by sheltering them. In the border areas, Bangla-desh provided them with sanctuary. Even recen-tly, the Bangladesh government built a separate shelter for Rohingya refugees on Bhasan Char, which is an island in Bangladesh, where the government invested a significant amount of money there.
3) The government of Bangladesh is trying its best to provide a separate shelter for the Rohingya refugees in Bhasan Char. Schools are being set up so that the children of these Rohingya can study, medical camps have been set up to pro-vide health services and various projects have been taken up by the Bangladesh government to increase the facilities step by step. The Rohingya who took refuge in it are better off here than they were in their own country.
4) The Rohingyas may not be getting all the bene-fits they need. Because they have taken refuge in a country that is already struggling with its exist-ing population. So maybe Rohingyas are not getting all the benefits according to their needs but the Bangladesh government is trying its best to meet their basic needs. Attempts are being made to meet other needs as well. From this point of view, it may be said that there is a ser-vice gap.
5) These Rohingyas have left the border area and spread to different areas of Bangladesh. Because of their lack of work and their economic woes, they have spread to different areas and then be-come involved in various criminal activities.
6) Since Bangladesh already has a large population, this huge number of Rohingyas has become a huge challenge for the country. Since this huge number of people need an equal number of law enforcement personnel to provide security which is not sufficient now. In this, various criminal activities are occurring continuously. In addition, these Rohingyas are getting involved in various criminal activities. The most alarming thing is that these Rohingyas are expanding the drug business, spreading the life-destroying drug yaba and marijuana among the youth of Bangladesh. These Rohingyas are also inciting prostitution. All that can be said is that the Bangladesh gover-nment is facing a serious challenge by sheltering these Rohingyas. However, by strictly stopping these criminal activities, these Rohingyas can be used for various productive activities. Then, these Rohingyas will not be burdened but will become labor capital.
Military rules have been introduced in Myanmar many times and there has always been a lack of democracy. For this reason, Myanmar has been banned by various countries and international organizations at different times. Both foreign and domestic policies of Myanmar are rigid to the civilian. This military ruler always focused on classical realism. As we know, Myanmar is home to various ethnic groups. As there are most of the people are Buddhists, so the Muslim Rohingyas are minority there. From the very beginning, this minority ethnic group has been persecuted. The ruling group, especially the army government, considered them as a burden and they wanted to expel the Rohingyas from the country. At the same time, the government wanted to send them to the nearby neighboring Muslim-majo-rity country Bangladesh. But the Rohingya wanted to stay in Myanmar all the time, since it is their own. This has resulted in the military launching various camp-aigns at different times to oust them from the country, which is a clear violation of human rights. Though the military government attacked the Rohingya before 1978, but after that year, again the military government made an operation against the Rohingya in 1996 and since then, thousands of Rohingya refugees have retur-ned from Myanmar to Bangladesh. In 2015, a civilian government was elected, after decades of military rule in Myanmar, where it was hoped to end the perse-cution and destruction of ethnic and religious minor-ities. But the bitter truth is that that hope was not ful-filled. The new democratic government was following the path shown by the previous army government, so the new government was similarly persecuting the Rohingya and did not want to give them citizenship and treat them as like other people of that country. Since the new government was treating the Rohingyas in the same way, August 25, 2017 an armed Rohingya group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) set about a coordinated attack on about 30 security posts in northern Rakhine and the Myanmar soldier responded with a brutal crackdown on Rohin-gya women, men, children and the entire village (Am-nesty International, n.d.). When Bangladesh became independent in 1971, then it was wreckage as there was poor economic growth, a huge food crisis, large population, damaged physical infrastructure and inju-red human resources. Gradually the country is trying to overcome this situation. But the main problem is the huge population and it is so tough to manage these huge people. Where the country is constantly strugg-ling with its huge population, people that mean Rohin-gya from neighboring countries are becoming a huge burden for this country. From the very beginning, Bangladesh has followed liberalism theory and it is very cooperative, so they tolerated these huge people. The Myanmar government knows the total matter and allows this migration flow but the government is not interested in getting back these huge amounts of people. This is a really disappointing matter for the Bangladesh government. Notwithstanding the Bangla-desh government showed humanity and gave them temporary shelter hoping that the Myanmar govern-ment would take them back. The Government of Bangladesh has always maintained a friendly attitude towards other countries and its foreign policy has always been flexible by maintaining its own sove-reignty and security. The Bangladesh government has repeatedly requested the Myanmar government to take back the large influx of Rohingya and protect this migration flow. Matter of fact is that, still no response yet from the Myanmar government. Even the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, has drawn up a five-point plan to protect the Rohingya under the UN control in Myanmar. However, the complexity of the Myanmar governments response to the violence against Rohingya has become a challenge for the crisis (Parnini, 2018). Very recently, on the morning of February 1, 2021, a coup took place in Myanmar where the Myanmar army removed members of Myanmars democratically elected ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). The army has now returned to work and declared a state of emergency for a year. So, the chances of get-ting Rohingya back are very low, which is very bad news for Bangladesh. However, because of their views on Bangladesh, Bangladeshi politicians should not yet see Myanmar as their closest neighbor and full account should be taken of Myanmars recent military ambition seriously, as their foreign policy will become rigid as before. Thus, it is quite clear that there are wide differences between the two countries in terms of foreign policy, where Bangladesh is always ready for friendly relations and cooperation but Myanmar is not paying attention to this matter. It appears that in the current diplomatic relations between the two countries, there are two barriers- human rights abuses and migration flow. If Myanmar had not violated the human rights of Rohingyas, the largest influx of Rohingyas would not have taken place in Bangladesh and the relations bet-ween the two countries would not have been so bad. It is true that it is not right for the two countries to maintain such hostile relations, but the two countries should improve these relations. For such a hostile relationship Bangladesh is the affected one and this country must be careful in its foreign policy towards Myanmar and should maintain subtle diplomacy, as some international political analysts have imagined that Myanmars intense apathy cannot be trusted (Ahamed et al., 2020, p.342). Since the two countries foreign policies are different and the values of the two count-ries are also different, it is better to negotiate for peace to settle disputes and reduce tensions between the two sides. We think Myanmar should make a flexible for-eign policy towards its neighboring country. At the same time, Bangladesh should be more diplomatic to-wards Myanmar, as its purpose is always aggressive. From liberal point of view, Bangladesh showed its utmost cooperation towards the Rohingya from the very beginning. However, Bangladesh is currently attempting to take steps to ensure that no Rohingyas enter the nation. Rohingyas are creating many social and economic problems and they are also responsible for worsening law enforcement, environmental and health issues in Bangladesh. So, from, neoclassical point of view, Bangladesh is trying to protect the entrance and changing its liberal policy towards Myanmar. The matter of fact is Roingya are con-tinuously coming in many illegal ways. Again, the Myanmar government persistently pushed the Rohin-gya to Bangladesh and it was never be liberal towards this country. The new military government of Myanmar also follows the same rigid and non-cooperative foreign policy towards Bangladesh. Again, Bangladesh and Myanmar have long been at logger-heads over maritime boundaries. The International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea announced a verdict on March 14, 2012, that brought an end to this protracted maritime dispute between Bangladesh and Myanmar. Bangladesh has 111000 square kilometers of exclusive economic zone in the Bay of Bengal. The Tribunal also granted Bang-ladesh a 12-mile territorial sea surrounding St. Martins Island. Its a win-win situation for both nations. An amicable relationship between these two countries can be strengthened by bilateral friendship, goodwill, and pragmatism in foreign policy (Yamada, 2022).
From the above study we can see that the foreign policies of Myanmar and Bangladesh are different and due to non-cooperation of one party (Myanmar) it has a huge impact on other countries. The purpose of this study was to conduct a comparative analysis through quail-tative research method to discuss the current state of the two countries foreign policies while also discuss-ing their respective foreign policies in the frame-work of realism and liberalism theories. Similarly, to know about the current situation of these Rohingya. We can see that Myanmars foreign policy is as close to realism theory as ever, which is indifferent to cooperation with neighboring countries. Myanmar has always been un-cooperative with its neighboring country, considering their friendly foreign policy as a weakness. Although the Rohingya problem is an internal problem of Myan-mar, its responsibility should be borne by the neigh-boring country Bangladesh. But Bangladesh is a popu-lous developing country, where it is constantly struggling with a huge population. In the mean-time, they have to deal with this huge amount of the Rohingya.
From the figure, we can say that as, Rohingya issue is a local problem of Myanmar, so that if the government of Myanmar takes the following steps, we think this problem can be solved and simultaneously it will not create any problem in other states like Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is facing many problems with the shelter of these Rohingyas. But if both countries come for-ward to solve the Rohingya problem, it will be possible very soon. Firstly, the Myanmar governments foreign policy needs to change. They should maintain the liberalism policy of the country, where there should be a spirit of cooperation towards the neighboring coun-try. Secondly, since the Rohingya problem is their internal problem, the Rohingya should be repatriated to Myanmar, accepted as citizens and given all civil rights. Thirdly, Myanmar should make changes to its foreign policy as well as domestic policy. In this way all the citizens, along with Rohingyas, of their country will be able to enjoy all the rights. Fourthly, though Bangladesh is a small developing country and con-tinuously struggling with its large number of people, still this country is showing humanity towards the Rohingya by giving shelter, food and other facilities. Bangladesh gave them shelter in the border areas Teknaf, Ukhia and Coxs Bazar. Even recently, the Bangladesh government made a separate place for Rohingya to relocate in Bhasan Char, which is an island in Hatiya Upazila, Bangladesh and this shelter cost a lot of money to construct. So, in this case both Myanmar and international organizations should come forward to help Bangladesh financially to meet this expenditure. Again, Myanmar is not interested in tak-ing back their huge number of people. For this huge amount of people, Bangladesh is facing various types of problems. As Myanmar is apathetic about taking Rohingya back, international organizations like the UN, UNHCR, Amnesty International etc. must come forward and create pressure on Myanmar to take their people back and give them citizenship and treat them properly. In this case, Myanmar must be tolerant and make some changes in their foreign policy. Further-more, the government of Bangladesh should not con-sider these Rohingyas as a burden but instead involve them in various productive activities that will improve the economy of this country. Last but not least, all international social service provider organizations should come forward and help the Bangladesh gove-rnment to face this Rohingya problem.
To put it in a nutshell, we can say that if the two countries move forward equally, very soon these Rohingyas will get their due rights and they will get a beautiful life where they no longer have to worry about food, clothing, shelter, education, medical treatment. But before that, two countries should follow friendly foreign policy.
The authors take due cognizance of the blessings showered by Almighty and also must express our pro-found gratefulness to respondents for his continuous support and encouragement.
There is no potential for a conflict of interest in the publication of the present study.
Academic Editor
Dr. Antonio Russo, Professor, Dept. of Moral Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, University of Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy.
Master in International Affairs, Dept. of Political Science, Linnaeus University, Sweden & BSS (Hons) & MSS in Economics, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Khanam SS., and Ali MM. (2022). Foreign policies towards Rohingya refugees: a comparative study of Bangladesh and Myanmar, Asian J. Soc. Sci. Leg. Stud., 4(5), 178-188. https://doi.org/10.34104/ajssls.022.01780188