India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has expressed solidarity with Bangladesh over the Rohingya crisis and said India was pressuring Myanmar to take back refugees who have fled the Buddhist-majority nation, a top aide to the Bangladeshi Prime Minister said on Friday.

More than 300,000 Rohingya Muslims have poured into Bangladesh since the latest flare-up in violence on August 25, adding to around 300,000 refugees already living in Bangladesh, close to the border with Myanmar, reports the Press Trust of India.

‘She (Swaraj) called our Prime Minister last night and conveyed her country’s solidarity with Bangladesh over the Myanmar refugee issue,’ Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina’s deputy press secretary Nazrul Islam told .

He said Swaraj told the Bangladeshi premier that the crisis now appears to be an international issue and India was trying to put ‘pressure bilaterally and multilaterally on Myanmar to stop persecution of ethnic minority Rohingya Muslims’ and take back the refugees who have fled to Bangladesh.

According to the spokesman, Hasina said Bangladesh was forced to offer refuge to the Rohingyas on humanitarian grounds as they fled their home at Myanmar’s western Rakhine state to evade atrocities.

However, the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, despite repeated attempts, did not comment on the call.

A ‘deeply concerned’ India had last week asked Myanmar to handle the situation in the Rakhine state with ‘maturity and restraint’ while focusing on the welfare of the civilian population.

According to Islam, Hasina explained to Swaraj the helplessness and miseries of the refugees, particularly of the minor children and women, and said Bangladesh is trying to address their basic needs.

‘She (Hasina) told Swaraj that Bangladesh required external supports to handle the refugee issue and return them to Myanmar,’ the spokesman said.

Hasina said her government allocated land for makeshift shelters of the Rohingyas ‘but it will certainly create a big problem for Bangladesh if they stay for long’.

The premier’s spokesman said Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Harsh Vardhan Shringla was present at the Hasina’s Ganabhaban residence when Swaraj called.

Swaraj’s call came hours after the external affairs ministry issued a statement expressing India’s readiness to provide Bangladesh ‘any assistance’ in tackling the refugee crisis.

India yesterday had rushed 53 tonnes of relief materials to Bangladesh and pledged all help to Dhaka in tackling the humanitarian crisis.

Shringla said India will provide 7,000 tonnes of relief materials to Bangladesh.

Dhaka earlier said Bangladesh required India’s assistance in its efforts to handle the situation and send the refugees back home.

‘The entire world today is worried with the Rohingya issue (and) their (India’s) concern and stand beside us is very crucial at this moment,’ ruling Awami League general secretary and senior minister Obaidul Quader had said earlier this week.