Myanmar pushes ARSA issue before Rohingya repatriation

File Photo
File Photo

Myanmar has urged Bangladesh to investigate and provide information about the list of what it called "terrorists and criminals" belonging to the ARSA, reports UNB quoting Myanmar media.

Such a list, which was also sent to Bangladesh earlier, was reportedly forwarded again, during the most recent bilateral meeting that could not finalise a date for beginning repatriation of almost 700,000 Rohingyas who have taken shelter in Bangladesh.

Myanmar's home affairs minister Lt-Gen Kyaw Swe made the request during his meeting with home minister Asaduzzaman Khan held in Dhaka on Friday, said UNB.

Myanmar, earlier, sent a list containing names of more than 1,300 members of Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a group which, according to an adviser to the European Centre for the Study of Extremism, Maung Zarni, was born out of "systematic abuse" of Rohingya people.

"This is not a terrorist group aimed at striking at the heart of Myanmar society as the government claims it is," Zarni was quoted by Al-Jazeera.

Bangladesh was requested to extradite the ARSA extremists in accordance with the 1980 Myanmar-Bangladesh Border Agreement, said UNB.

During the meeting held in Dhaka on Friday evening, matters relating to increasing work on border security and stability, combatting the illegal transport of drugs, sending back displaced persons from Bangladesh to Myanmar, increasing understanding and cooperation on security along the border of the two countries, terrorism and cross border crimes, and cooperation in combatting crimes occurring along the river border of the two countries were discussed, and the following was agreed upon.

According to the memorandum of understanding on security sector discussions and cooperation, arrangements are to be made for regular meetings between authorised officials, according to The New Global Light of Myanmar, a Myanmar media outlet.

Preparations for deputy minister/secretary-level annual meetings are to be set and, if necessary, a minister level meeting is also to be held.

To increase mutual understanding and cooperation, meetings between the Bangladesh Border Guard force and Myanmar Border Police force at different levels and sectors are to be continued.

Liaison officers are to be assigned at basic, intermediate, central/top levels for mutual coordination, communications and exchanges of news.

Exchanges between cultural and sports groups are to be scheduled, along with conducting the readings of papers, training programmes and study tours to establish cooperation.

The quick setup of liaison offices is to be implemented for bilateral security and the rule of law in Maungtaw on the Myanmar side, and at Cox's Bazar on the Bangladesh side, officials said.