Military buildup on borders for security: Myanmar
Myanmar on Friday attributed "internal security" issues to its troops' buildup on frontiers with Bangladesh as their Border Guard Police (BGP) held a meeting on zero lines with Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) here.
"They (Myanmar) said they deployed their military contingents due to their 'internal security' concerns," BGB's 34 battalion's commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Manjurul Ahsan Khan told newsmen returning from the flag meeting at BGB's Ghumdhum Border Observation Post (BOP) at Naikhyangchhari frontiers on Friday afternoon.
Khan said BGB protested Myanmar's army buildup defying international border laws saying it could affect bilateral relations and negatively impact the repatriation of Rohingyas who fled to Bangladesh following persecution at their homeland in Myanmar's Rahkine state.
He said the Myanmar side, however, assured that they would take back all the 6,500 Rohingyas, staying on the no-man's land as they promised earlier.
Officials at the scene and residents in the neighbourhood said the overnight appearance of Myanmar army in battle gears escalated further the frights among Rohingyas on the zero lines.
They said the Myanmar troops were asking the Rohingyas on zero lines to immediately quit the area, using megaphones and firing gunshots forcing several Rohingya women and children to enter Bangladesh.
The Myanmar border force, however, joined the flag meeting responding to BGB calls while Bangladesh yesterday asked Naypyidawpull to back its troops from the shared border summoning its envoy to the foreign office in Dhaka.
More than 6,000 people took refuge on a narrow strip of land between the two countries while some 700,000 Rohingya fled the burning of their homes in Myanmar's Rakhine State since Auguat 25, last year to evade atrocities led by Burmese military what the UN called a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.
A large number of Myanmar soldiers appeared at the border fence two days ago escalating tensions, prompting Bangladesh authorities to mobilize extra BGB troops on its side of the border.
Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal day before yesterday, however, ruled out possibilities of any disorder in view of Myanmar's military buildup on borders saying, paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) were on alert on the frontiers.
"There is no reason to be worried about . . . they (Myanmar force) have no scope to create anarchy intruding Bangladesh," he said.
Source:BSS
