Rohingya Crisis: Bangladesh Must Guard Against Geopolitical Manipulation

Reading Time: 2 minutes As the Rohingya crisis grinds into its seventh year, a dangerous new narrative is quietly gaining ground in international discourse, one that risks destabilising the region further and placing Bangladesh in an increasingly precarious geopolitical position. What began as a legitimate humanitarian concern is now being reshaped by external forces, particularly Western governments and their associated NGOs, think tanks, and media outlets, into a counter-terrorism issue. The implications of this shift are far-reaching and deeply problematic. Under the emerging narrative, the entire Rohingya population numbering over a million in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar refugee camps is at risk of being painted with the same brush as militant factions such as ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) and RSO (Rohingya Solidarity Organisation). This conflation is both unfair and dangerous. While these groups have undoubtedly carried out violent activities, the vast majority of Rohingya remain stateless victims of systemic persecution