On Friday (February 5), regional military commanders visited the Muslim Rohingya community in Rakhine for the third day in a row, which Momen hailed as a positive move.

He said Dhaka has decided to start direct talks with the new Myanmar government on Rohingya repatriation in due course.

In the meantime, China has extended its hand to mediate a tripartite dialogue.

On August 25, 2017, nearly 740,000 Muslim-majority Rohingya fled Rakhine State for Bangladesh. Photo: UNHCR/Roger Arnold

A meeting of the tripartite executive group was postponed on February 4 due to the recent coup in Myanmar.

Dhaka could not contact Nay Pyi Taw. However, they had showed a positive attitude towards the repatriation of their citizens during the last tripartite secretary-level talks held on January 19.

Myanmar's new military administration has written to all foreign missions in Nay Pyi Taw, including the Bangladesh embassy, in an attempt to justify the army's seizure of power as a constitutional obligation in the wake of allegations of fraud in the country's last general election.

The foreign minister said Myanmar's new military regime is facing international criticism. Such a situation could motivate them to repatriate the Rohingya community, especially after pressure from the Western world.

Dr. Momen said such a move could be seen as the will of the military junta to gradually restore normalcy in the Rakhine state.

He said it was too early to judge whether such an attitude was indicative of the Myanmar army's flexible attitude towards the Rohingya community, but this may have been done to build trust between them for a compromise at a later time.