Myanmar’s military council has identified 4,241 people as having committed acts of terrorism while verifying the list of displaced persons submitted by Bangladesh for repatriation to Myanmar, according to a statement issued by the military council’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on August 15.
The military council said it had verified the information of 426,545 people out of a total of 828,824 names submitted by Bangladesh as of July 31, 2026. Among those whose information had been verified, 4,241 people were identified as individuals who had allegedly committed acts of terrorism.
According to the verified list, 308,797 people were found to have evidence indicating that they had previously lived in Rakhine State, while no evidence of residence in Rakhine State was found for 113,507 people, the statement said.
Based on the figures released by the military council, the 4,241 people it identified as having committed acts of terrorism account for approximately 1 percent of the 426,545 people whose information has been verified. However, only around half of the total list submitted by Bangladesh has so far been processed, and the remaining names will continue to be verified, the military council said.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would continue cooperating with Bangladesh to facilitate the safe and dignified voluntary return of those verified as having genuinely resided in Rakhine State.
However, the military council said repatriation would be carried out in coordination with Bangladesh only after the security situation in Rakhine State improves.
Myanmar and Bangladesh have previously signed agreements concerning the repatriation of displaced people from Rakhine State. Although repatriation arrangements were made in 2018 and 2019, no one ultimately returned to Myanmar, according to Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Currently, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Rakhine State remain in Bangladesh. Although discussions between the two countries on repatriation continue, security, citizenship rights, and arrangements for resettlement remain major challenges to the process.
Ref: The Military Council’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
