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Myanmar has long been provoking Bangladesh to go into a war with it, but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resolute stance has preventeda full-scale conflict, the chief of the Rapid Action Battalion has said.
RAB Director General Khurshid Alam made the comments at a programme in Gopalganj on Saturday amid a violent conflict between the Myanmar military and rebels of the Arakan Army along the Bangladesh border.
The conflict has affected Bangladesh directly, with at least two killed and many injured in shelling or gunfire at this side of the border.
Hundreds of personnel of the Myanmar armed forces have also fled to Bangladesh while many Rohingya have been denied entry as Bangladesh is already overburdened with more than 1 million refugees, including over 700,000 who were forced by a brutal military campaign in 2017.
“Myanmar is the main route of drug smuggling. It is being done in a planned way for a political reason now. Myanmar has long been seeking war with Bangladesh. They are provoking politically in many ways, including forcing the Rohingya into Bangladesh,” Khurshid said.
“The prime minister’s resolute stance has saved us from this [war]. The country will be ruined if we start a war now. The military junta government of Myanmar is at war with the Arakan Army. They are trying to make gains by creating trouble for us.”