Myanmar again builds up troops on Bangladesh border
Myanmar on Sunday again built up troops on Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Bandarban district where thousands of Rohingyas took shelter, officials and witnesses said.
This is the second deployment of troops on the borders in the last few days.
Nearly 500 Myanmar army men along with members of Border Guard Police were deployed near the no man’s land of Konarpara area of Naikhyangchhari in Bandarban around 8:00am, according to officials of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Myanmar’s Rohingya nationals who have taken shelter there.
They said that Myanmar troops also patrolled the area.
BGB officials said that this is a breach of international law and BGB members in the area are put on alert.
“BGB patrols have been beefed,” Cox’s Bazar BGB Battalion commander lieutenant colonel Monjurul Hassan Khan said.
Myanmar has deployed fresh troops one day after home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said that the earlier deployment of troops was based on receiving wrong information by the Myanmar force.
On Saturday home minister said that Myanmar removed its heavy weapons from the Tambru border area following a flag meeting held on Friday.
The military build-up has caused tension among the Rohingyas who took shelter in Bangladesh after they faced persecution in their homeland in Myanmar.
Nearly one million Rohingyas took shelter in Bangladesh as they fled the burning of their homes in Myanmar last year.
On Sunday, some Rohingya people said that they saw the Myanmar army with heavy arms digging up bunkers on the border area.
They said that the Myanmar troops asked them to leave the place using loudhailers.
“The Myanmar soldiers with six pick-up vans came to the border area. They have heavy weapons with them,” Dil Mohammad, 51, a Rohingya leader told Prothom Alo.
“Later a group of Border Guard Police (BGP) also joined them” he added.
BGB and Rohingyas on no man’s land said the soldiers deployed in the morning left the place around 1:30pm. Another group of army men arrived after half an hour. Around 6:00pm another team of Myanmar troops were deployed, according to them.
Earlier on Thursday and Friday, Myanmar army men with heavy arms and ammunition were deployed between the border outposts 34 and 35, opposite to Tambru border, breaching international border norms.
When a BGB team approached the Myanmar military with a ‘meet flag’, the Myanmar army instantly left the place by six trucks.
“There was an uncertainty on the border two days ago. But it’s now peaceful.” BGB’s Monjurul Hassan Khan said.