Migrant crisis: Myanmar refuses to be singled out for blame

Refusing to take all the blame for South Asia's migrant crisis, Myanmar warned the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) against pointing fingers, saying it will take them nowhere.

While addressing a special meeting in Bangkok today, Myanmar's foreign ministry chief Htin Lynn said that the migrant crisis was a challenge to all the countries in the region. He added that they were "sincerely" working within their jurisdiction to stop trafficking and were eager to cooperate with other countries in the matter, reported The Daily Star.

Pointing out that he had raised the issue with the UNHCR back in September, the Myanmar official stressed that the agency needed to understand the issue better.

The special meeting of 17 nations and several international agencies, convened by Thailand, took place in the backdrop of an unprecedented irregular migration in the Indian Ocean and discovery of mass graves of migrants in Malaysia's border town.

The migrants are mostly Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar and Bangladesh, fleeing persecution and poverty in their respective homelands or those who have been abducted by traffickers. Thousands of people are believed to be stranded at sea in abandoned boats.