Rohingyas working in KSA with BD passports to get renewal

The government is taking preparation to renew passports of Rohingyas who have travelled to Saudi Arabia with Bangladeshi passports.
The Foreign Ministry is taking the preparation ahead of the visit of Saudi Foreign      Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud to Dhaka in the last week of January, Foreign Ministry sources said.
"The visit is likely to focus on documentations of displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi government told Dhaka in September 2020 that it 'would be helpful' if the refugees were given Bangladeshi passports as the Kingdom 'doesn't keep stateless people,' and in line with this the government is taking all preparations," a senior official of the Foreign Ministry told this Correspondent on Saturday.
Local experts opined that as Bangladesh does not recognize the Rohingyas as its citizens, so if the government renews their passports then it could put the country on a back-foot in its repatriation process of Rohingyas to their homeland in Myanmar.
"If they give us the real and exact information including passports and NIDs of these people (Rohingyas) how can we deny them, rather we should try to give the Saudis an understanding that it would be illegal. Everyone knows that Rohingays are Myanmar's citizen and they are not Bangladeshis," former Ambassador Muhammad Zamir said.Saudi Arabia is mounting huge pressure over the Rohingya citizenship issue on Bangladesh since 2003, but we do not accept the idea as we feel that issue has multiple implications.
The Saudi authorities have handed over several lists to the Bangladesh embassy in Riyadh containing the names of about 54,000 Rohingyas with the request for providing them with travel documents claiming that these Myanmar nationals have migrated to the KSA using Bangladeshi passports issued over the years. However, Dhaka sought more specific information from the Saudi authorities to check the authenticity of the Saudi claims about the use of Bangladeshi travel documents by Rohingyas.
"Those who are trying to say that the Kingdom may tag the issue with the Bangladeshi migrant workers issue are not correct, One has to remember the migration issue would rapidly change in the post Covid period across the world, not only in Saudi Arabia. The manpower business market is expected to shrink worldwide," a former senior official of the Foreign Ministry said.
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said that authorities in Dhaka could provide legal documents to some of the Rohingyas that live in Saudi Arabia.
The Rohingyas in Saudi Arabia do not hold passport of any country. The Muslim Rohingyas are an ethnic minority originating in Myanmar's Rakhine State. However, Myanmar refuses to recognize them as citizens. For decades, the Rohingyas have fled from persecution to other countries, most of them to neighbouring Bangladesh.
Some 300,000 Rohingyas have already received work permit in Saudi Arabia. Many of the 54,000 Rohingyas that Riyadh wants to repatriate now either carried Bangladeshi passports when they travelled to Saudi Arabia, or they received them from the Bangladeshi consulates in the Middle Eastern country.
Almost 40 years ago, Saudi Arabia took in tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees who were facing persecution in Myanmar.
The visit of Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud to Dhaka will also focus on the potential Saudi investment in Bangladesh and employment of more Bangladeshi workers there.