Awami League General Secretary  Obaidul Quader on Monday urged the international community to mount pressure on Myanmar to take back Rohingyas.

He made the call at a regular briefing at his official residence.

Since the outbreak of the Rohingya crisis, the Sheikh Hasina government has been seeking supported of the international community for a peaceful solution to the crisis and continuing its diplomatic efforts, he said.

Quader, also Road Transport and Bridges Minister, said about 1.2 million Rohingyas have taken shelter in Teknaf-Ukhia, putting a great pressure on the economy of Bangladesh and harming the environment.

Both the social environment and the biodiversity are now at stake as huge people have been living in a place beyond its capacity, Quader said.

The government has taken steps to relocate the Rohingyas to Bhasanchar with more facilities due to the delay in their repatriation to Myanmar, Quader said.

The minister said only those who volunteer to go to Bhashanchar are being shifted and no pressure has been created on them.

The minister said the government has already taken initiatives to collect Covid-19 vaccine as and when it is available.

He is hopeful that the vaccine will arrive in the country either in the last week of January or in February.

Mentioning that preparations are underway to collect and store the vaccine smoothly, the minister said the health ministry is working on it and informing people in this regard.

Quader said a section of people or group is active in unnecessarily criticizing any good initiative of the government.

The vaccine has not come yet but the group has started spreading confusion, he said.

Quader urged people not to get confused by all this propaganda.