Dhaka: Local Media in Australia claimed that the country's administration decided to release some 235 million USD to Bangladesh to return more than 1 million Rohingya refugees who were forcefully displaced to their motherland in Myanmar, IANS reported.
The commitment came when outgoing Australian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Jeremy Bruer made a farewell call on Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, the national news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) reported, Xinhua News Agency said.
On the Rohingya issue, the envoy reiterated his country's support to Bangladesh for the dignified return of forcibly displaced Rohingyas to Myanmar, saying his country would give some 235 million dollars to them.
More than 1 million displaced Rohingyas from Myanmar are living in Cox's Bazar, some 300 km southeast of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.
In October, the Supreme Court of India issued a notice to the Centre on a plea seeking direction to the government to release Rohingya refugees who have been "illegally and arbitrarily" detained in jails, detention centres, or juvenile homes across the country.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra sought the Centre's response to the plea within four weeks.
Petitioner Priyali Sur submitted that many Rohingya refugees have been detained in facilities across the country and sought their release in order to protect their right to life and equality before the law under Article 21 and Article 14 of the Constitution.
According to Sur's plea, the Rohingya are an ethnic minority from Rakhine state in Myanmar, and they have been described by the United Nations as the world's most persecuted ethnic minority.