Who will speak for the Rohingya in New York

Inside Bangladesh’s Rohingya Playbook

From left: Mizanur Rahman in blue, Khalilur Rahman in cream, and — on the far right — MV Sawedullah. 18th April, Kutupalong, Camp 1W.

Bangladesh’s new High-Level Conference on Rohingya is pencilled in for 30 September 2025, New York. A week ago, the High Representative on Rohingya Affairs and now also the National Security Adviser, Khalilur Rahman, swept into the camps to rally the refugees. But only seven days earlier – in the very same neighbourhood – Myanmar-linked strongman Dil Mohammed was holding court in his freshly painted office. If Khalilur wants a grassroots leadership chosen “by the youth, for the youth,” it looks as though the intelligence services already have their champion.