179 BGP men to be sent back to Myanmar following discussions: foreign minister

Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud today said Bangladesh was continuing discussions with Myanmar to send back the 179 Border Guard Police members who crossed into Bangladesh yesterday.

They will be sent back in the way 330 Myanmar nationals were repatriated earlier, the minister said while talking to journalists after a meeting with the Malaysian high commissioner in Dhaka today.

At least 179 BGP members took shelter in Bangladesh on Monday amid the ongoing fighting between the Myanmar junta and Arakan Army in Rakhine state.

BGP members from Angthapaya camp of Myanmar entered Bangladesh through Jamchhari border of Sadar union of Bandarban’s Naikhongchhari upazila in two phases yesterday morning and last night, BGB said.

This type of situation is created due to the internal volatile situation in Myanmar, said the foreign minister.

Answering a query, the FM said, “We have constant contact with Myanmar regarding this issue. If it is necessary, the ambassador of Myanmar will be summoned.”

Answering another question about why the BGP members are allowed to enter Bangladesh and whether there is any lack of competency, Hasan said, “This is not a matter of competency. They also entered India and were sent back through discussion. The border is open. When they were attacked by their opponents, they infiltrated into Bangladesh. This is the issue.”

The 179 BGP members were still in custody of the 11 Border Guard Bangladesh Battalion in Bandarban’s Naikhongchhari this evening.

Nurul Absar Imon, chairman of Sadar Union of Naikhongchhari upazila, said people of his area are living in panic after the arrival of 179 BGP members and a bullet from Myanmar left a union parishad member injured.

They heard the sound of gunfire and mortar shells exploding from the other side of the border for several days till Sunday. The situation is calm now but people are frightened, he added.

On February 15, a total of 330 Myanmar nationals, who crossed the border and took refuge in Bangladesh to escape the fighting between the Myanmar junta and the Arakan Army, were sent back to their country.

They included 302 BGP members, four family members of the BGP personnel, two army personnel, 18 immigration members, and four civilians.

The Myanmar citizens started fleeing to Bangladesh on February 4 as the fighting between the Myanmar junta force and the Arakan Army escalated across the border in Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar.

The BGB members disarmed them and took them into custody.

At least 68 of them — of which 15 were bullet-hit — took shelter in Bangladesh on February 4, and the rest entered on different dates until February 7.

During the fighting along the border areas, a Bangladeshi woman and a Rohingya man were killed when a mortar shell fired from Myanmar exploded in Bandarban’s Ghumdhum on February 5.