Tensions soar along border with Myanmar

Rekindled tensions have roiled Myanmar-Bangladesh border as the Burmese soldiers have fired shots in the air hours after Dhaka protested against deployment of additional troops.

Myanmar’s Border Guard Police (BGP) personnel fired two shots in the air on their side of the Tambru border at Naikkhyangchharhi in Bandarban around 8pm on Thursday, a Border Guard Bangladesh or BGB official said.

“We also heard a hullabaloo in the Rohingya camp on the zero line at the time. No one was injured,” BGB 34 Battalion Commander Lt Col Manjurul Hasan said.

He said they have informed their superiors about the incident.

Ghumdhum union council chairman Md Zahangir Aziz Chowdhury said the shooting by the Myanmar soldiers has triggered fresh concerns in the area.

Mohammad Arif, a representative of the Rohingyas staying in the no man’s land on Tambru border, said the BGP personnel aimed their weapons at the Rohingyas in the morning and asked them to leave the area.

He alleged the Myanmar soldiers also tried to enter the Rohingya camp by crossing the barbed-wire fence.

The Myanmar troopers took away their heavy weaponry when BGB strengthened presence in the afternoon, he added.

Around 17,000 Rohingyas have been living in no man’s land between the countries, including nearly 7,000 in Tambru, since Myanmar launched a military operation dubbed as “ethnic cleansing” in the Rakhine State on August 25 last year.

Myanmar’s latest move puts at risk the Rohingyas on the Tambru border.

Dhaka protests

The foreign ministry summoned the Myanmar ambassador in Dhaka in the afternoon and asked him to tell the Myanmar authorities to immediately withdrawal security forces along with military assets from the area.

It said such military buildup will create confusion in Bangladesh and escalate tensions on the border.

Acting Foreign Secretary Md Khurshed Alam said he handed over a ‘strong protest’ note to Ambassador Lwin Oo.

“It should be withdrawn...There is no need for military and artillery presence there. This can create panic among the Myanmar nationals who are living in the no man’s land. They can come into Bangladesh. We strongly protested this,” he said.

The stand-in secretary referenced the recent visit to the no man’s land by officials of both countries to say they had demanded safety and security of the Rohingyas during the visit.

“I reminded them (Myanmar) if we cannot ensure safety and security, they will not want to go back. We need to create the condition.”

He added he warned the Myanmar ambassador, saying, “If you push them back, then it will have a very negative impact.”

‘Against border norms’

BGB’s Additional Director General (operation and training) Brig Gen Mujibur Rahman said they were on “high alert” following the Myanmar move that “goes against the border norms”.

BGB Bandarban Sector Commander Col Abdul Khaleq said Myanmar had earlier deployed additional troops on the border and later withdrawn them.

 But the reason behind the buildup this time is not clear to the border guards, he added.

The border force’s ADG Mujibur briefed the media at the force’s headquarters in Peelkhana as the news of the mounting tension on the border got out.

He said they have called a flag meeting and also sent a protest note to the BGP.

Mujibur could not confirm the number of personnel of Myanmar security forces gathered on the border, but said it was ‘larger than normal’.

Officials at Bandarban district administration and BGB said the Myanmar authorities have been asking the Rohingyas to leave the no man’s land in different ways since the beginning of February.

According to bdnews24, on Thursday morning, a huge number of BGP personnel took position within a few hundred metres from the border with heavy weaponry.

They asked the Rohingyas to move away from the no man’s land, using loudspeaker for hours, and scaring the members of the ethnic minority, Naikkhyangchharhi Upazila Executive Officer (UNO) Sarwar Kamal said.

“The administration and the BGB have strengthened security along the border to tackle the situation,” he said.

Dil Mohammad, a leader of the Rohingyas staying on Tumbru border, said members of Myanmar’s BGP and army were throwing bottles of alcoholic drink and brickbats onto their shanties for some days.

“They have brought truckloads of people this morning. We want to live. We will be killed if we return to Myanmar,” he said. 

 Minister sees ‘nothing significant’

The heavy presence of the Myanmar troops at the border has created panic among the Rohingyas staying on the border, but Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal says the latest development is 'nothing significant'.

When asked for comments on the issue, he told reporters in Chittagong that Myanmar claimed it has deployed more troops in order to stop the Rohingyas in the no man’s land from entering Bangladesh.

“We saw earlier on many occasions, in 1978, 1991, 2016 and in 2017-18, that they (Myanmar) don’t do what they say. They are giving a wrong excuse now,” Kamal said.

“We are watching this. The BGB is on high alert. They (Myanmar troops) will not be allowed into our area…It’s impossible for someone to create disorder by entering our country,” he added.