180 Myanmar troops to return home, 170 Bangladeshis to be brought back: Hasan

Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud said yesterday that measures were being taken to bring home 170 Bangladeshis trapped in Myanmar and send back 180 members of Border Guard Police (BGP) and army personnel of Myanmar who took refuge in Bangladesh.

He said this while exchanging views with journalists at the foreign ministry in the afternoon.

Hasan said a total of 177 members of Myanmar’s Border Guard Police (BGP) and later three of their army personnel took shelter in Bangladesh.

“Myanmar government agreed to take them back after discussions with us.

“They proposed the sea route [for sending them back]. We wanted to send them back this week but as the sea is not favorable, they will be sent next week or as soon as the sea becomes calm,” he said.

“Besides, we proposed bringing back 170 Bangladeshis detained in Myanmar. They [Myanmar] responded positively to our proposal,” he said.

About the international response to the Joint Response Plan (JRP) meeting held in Geneva on March 13 to deal with the Rohingya crisis, the foreign minister said the foreign secretary and the prime minister’s principal secretary attended the JRP meeting in Switzerland.

“The response to our proposed funding and cooperation is better than last year,” he said.

Responding to a query over BNP Senior Joint Secretary General Ruhul Kabir Rizvi’s allegation of corruption against Awami League and comments that the country has become full of beggars, Hasan said the FBI of the US has given testimony against the corruption and “money-laundering” of the BNP’s acting chairman Tarique Rahman.

Laundered money of Arafat Rahman Koko, Tarique’s younger brother and second son of Begum Khaleda Zia, has been recovered from Singapore, he mentioned.

Earlier, UK Liberal Democrat Party’s Foreign Affairs Spokesperson (Lords Spokesperson) Lord Jeremy Purvis called on the foreign minister at the ministry.

About the meeting, the minister said he extended thanks to Lord Jeremy for UK’s continued cooperation in the development process of Bangladesh and in dealing with the Rohingya crisis and various areas of mutual interest.