Don't destroy your image, Modi reportedly told Aung San Suu Kyi on Rohingya crisis

New Delhi/Dhaka: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Sunday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has advised Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi not to "destroy" her image over her stance on the Rohingya issue as Myanmar's military actions in Rakhine state sparked a global outrage.

Swaraj referred to Modi's advice as she called on Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina after joining the 4th Bangladesh-India Joint Consultative Commission meeting with her counterpart AH Mahmood Ali.

"He (Modi) told her (Suu Kyi) 'you have a very good international image, don't destroy it'," the Bangladesh premier's press secretary Ihsanul Karim told PTI, quoting Swaraj as saying during her meeting with Hasina at her residence.

It is not clear when Modi made the comments, however, Bangladeshi media reports claimed he said this in September when he met Suu Kyi during his first bilateral visit to Myanmar.

Karim said Swaraj extended her full support to Bangladesh's stance that Myanmar must take back its nationals and must not punish innocent people while fighting terrorism.

"Myanmar may punish the terrorists, not innocent people," he quoted Swaraj as



saying.

Swaraj appreciated Bangladesh's stand on the Rohingya issue but described the exodus of forcibly displaced people as a "big burden for Bangladesh".

"It's a big burden for Bangladesh, and how long will Bangladesh bear this?" she said referring to the exodus of the forcibly displaced people who fled the violence in their homeland and took shelter in neighbouring Bangladesh.

Swaraj added there should be a permanent solution of the Rohingya issues and international community should contribute to social and economic development of Rakhine state.

Karim said she praised Premier Hasina for extending all humanitarian support to the displaced people.

He said Hasina narrated the situation after the beginning of the Rohingya exodus since August 25 and her government's initiatives for their shelter.

"We have given them shelter upon the confidence that we would be able to feed the distressed Rohingyas on humanitarian ground," she told Swaraj.

Hasina said Bangladesh had already established an engagement with Myanmar and the Bangladeshi home minister was set to visit the neighbouring county over the crisis.