Myanmar belittling neighbourly spirit
MYANMAR is one of Bangladesh’s closest neighbours. Unfortunately, the country’s behaviour is not so neighbourly. On Aug 25, 2017, Myanmar’s army raided the Rakhine state and carried out indiscriminate killings of the Rohingya population, setting fire to their homes.
In the face of this brutality, more than 700,000 Rohingyas fled and took shelter in Bangladesh.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas have come to Bangladesh from Myanmar at different times before.
At present, the number of Rohingyas registered in various refugee camps in Bangladesh is 1.25 million.
Myanmar has been reluctant to take them back. Bangladesh has to pay the price.
The country has been deceiving Bangladesh in many ways.
Under the pretext of the ongoing conflict between the Myanmar army and the Arakan Army, Myanmar has been strategically trying to expel the Rohingyas from Rakhine.
Rohingyas of several villages have already been ordered to leave the area. There is a fear of Rohingyas pouring into Bangladesh again.
Such information has emerged in the reports of some Bangladeshi Bangla media which covers and monitors the conflict between the Myanmar Army and the Arakan Army.
Those concerned say that effective action must be taken in this regard now.
It is expected that at least 200,000 Rohingyas will be deported again in the face of torture by the Myanmar army and the destination for most of these Rohingyas will be Bangladesh, which will have to face more crises.
According to media reports, two shells fired by Myanmar warplanes fell inside the Bangladesh border.
The incident took place on Saturday at 9:30am in the area between border pillars 40 and 41 under the jurisdiction of Reju Amtali BGB BOP of Ward No. 8 of Ghumdhum Union of Naikxyongchari Upazila of Bandarban.
Earlier, Myanmar border security, the Border Guard Police, reportedly hurled mortar shells at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Bandarban’s Naikhongchhari.
The incident was reported from Tumbru no man’s land on Aug 28 at about 2pm.
A helicopter of the Myanmar Army on Tuesday reportedly crossed the Bangladesh border and fired multiple shells on the hills at Ghumdhum union in Bandarban’s Naikhongchari Upazila.
Myanmar has been continuously violating the sovereignty of Bangladesh. This is very unexpected.
No state has the right to violate the sovereignty of another state at the border.
This is a clear violation of international law, norms and customs.
The neighbourly relations between the two countries need to be taken into account by the authority of Myanmar.
It must remember that Bangladesh is a sovereign state and shelling alone towards the border intentionally or unintentionally is unacceptable.
Myanmar has no right to violate another state’s jurisdiction. This type of attitude is not acceptable in the international community.
According to local sources, two warplanes and two fighting helicopters of the Myanmar Army arrived between border pillars 40 and 41 under Reju Amtali BGB BOP at 9:30am.
At this time, approximately eight to 10 rounds were fired from the warplanes and approximately 30 to 35 rounds were also fired from the helicopter.
Two shells fired from warplanes fell approximately 120m inside Bangladesh along Border Pillar 40.
The fact that two mortar shells fired from Myanmar earlier landed within the border of Bangladesh is unexpected.
It was reported that two mortar shells hit a sleepy populated area of Naikshyongchari Upazila of Bandarban near Zero Point around 3pm on Sunday, which caused panic among the locals.
In this incident, Bangladesh protested against the attack by summoning the Myanmar ambassador.
It is not yet clear whether the mortar shelling was accidental or intentional.
Residents said there has been shelling on the Myanmar border for several days.
Despite the sound of gunfire and mortar shells ringing in their ears, it is hard to tell what is going on there.
However, many residents in the area said the Arakan Army has been fighting with the Myanmar army across the border in Rakhine state for more than two weeks.
For the sake of maintaining normal relations between the two countries, Myanmar should immediately take effective measures to stop all kinds of unwanted behaviour at the border area as this is the peaceful way to go.
The two mortar shells from Myanmar that landed on Bangladeshi soil on Sunday pose a threat to both Bangladesh’s sovereignty and the bilateral relations between the two nations, where there has reportedly been intense combat between the Arakan Army and Myanmar military.
The incident does not bode well for the stability of the region as well as for Bangladesh and Myanmar.
On Sunday afternoon, the shells struck Naikhyangchari in Bandarban but did not explode, causing alarm among villagers in the Tumbru Uttar Para border region.
The shells are said to have been defused by the Border Guard Bangladesh’s (BGB) bomb disposal team.
Bangladesh has every right to be extremely concerned about this issue since it views the incident, whether it was deliberate or not, as a challenge to Bangladesh’s sovereignty and as having the potential to worsen bilateral relations.
More than a million Rohingyas have left the turmoil in Rakhine and entered Bangladesh over the past forty years, with more than 700,000 of them entering the country only in 2017.
As a result, the relationship between the two nations has already remained tense.
Since the two nations signed agreements, first in November 2017 and then in January 2018, repatriation attempts have stalled primarily due to the unwillingness of the Myanmar government and a tense situation in Myanmar.
The mortar shells that were fired on Sunday are the most recent instance of Myanmar’s blatant disrespect for Bangladesh’s sovereignty, its bilateral relations with Bangladesh and regional peace.
The Myanmar government is not yet known to have acknowledged the occurrence or made clear its views.
Such disdain was also evident in August and September 2017, when Myanmar helicopters repeatedly violated Bangladeshi airspace to which the Bangladeshi government vigorously objected.
The persistence of these occurrences, however, points to Myanmar’s ongoing violation of international law.
Additionally, it runs counter to friendly neighbourly relations and may result in unanticipated events that are not in the interests of just Myanmar, but also Bangladesh and other nearby nations.
An unstable Rakhine region poses a threat to the safe and honourable return of the Rohingya population, and an unstable border poses a threat to those who live there.
A stable and peaceful neighbour is always desired and, in fact, essential for any country.
To protect the interests of both countries as well as the international community, Bangladesh’s government must protest against its colleagues in Myanmar and demand an explanation for the mortar shell incident.
If Bangladesh wants, it can destabilise the whole region by supporting the insurgent groups of Myanmar.
But Bangladesh does not support any kind of insurgency or provocation in the region because it believes in the peaceful coexistence of every actor in the region.
Myanmar must respect Bangladesh’s peaceful attitude, mindset and mechanism.
It must know that Bangladesh also has a strong military, modern military logistics, support from the international community and opportunities to support the insurgents of Myanmar.
The BGB stepped up its vigilance along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in the Bandarban area after two Myanmar mortar shells landed in an area on Sunday afternoon.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam on Thursday said Bangladesh remains better prepared so that nobody can enter Bangladesh from Myanmar afresh due to the deteriorating situation in Rakhine State.
Therefore, the Bangladeshi government strongly denounces the mortar shell event by the Myanmar government and will inform international and regional forums of both the most current and prior cases of international law violations.
To make the locals feel comfortable, the government also strengthened security measures at the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
“For the sake of maintaining normal relations between the two countries, Myanmar should immediately take effective measures to stop all kinds of unwanted behaviour at the border area as this is the more desirable way to go.