Flag meeting today to get Razzak freed
A flag meeting between Bangladesh and Myanmar is likely to be held today over the return of Border Guard Bangladesh Nayek Abdur Razzak, who was taken away reportedly from the Naf river a week ago.
“A flag meeting may be held tomorrow [today] if the weather allows,” BGB Director General Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed told The Daily Star over the phone yesterday.
He added that the meeting might be rescheduled to the next day if the weather was bad.
According to sources, the weather is key to holding the meeting since the BGB personnel will have to travel on boat down the Naf river to reach Myanmar's Maungdaw, where the meeting is supposed to take place.
According to Met office, heavy rain and strong wind may continue until June 27 in Teknaf due to strong monsoon.
A top official at BGB 42 Battalion in Teknaf said they had completed all the preparations for the meeting.
Speaking to journalists at the BGB headquarters in Dhaka, Maj Gen Aziz said the meeting would be held at 10:00am. A six-member BGB team would attend the meeting and their names had been sent to Myanmar, he added.
The BGB chief said he was assured by Myanmar that Nayek Razzak, who became a father a couple of days earlier, would be given back to Bangladesh.
Quoting a BGB official, our Cox's Bazar correspondent said a letter regarding the meeting was sent to Myanmar's Border Guard Police (BGP) Battalion-2 in Maungdaw yesterday morning.
The BGB official did not want to be named.
Lt Col Abu Jar al Zahid, commanding officer of BGB 42 Battalion in Teknaf, is likely to lead the delegation, according to the BGB official.
Myanmar had been stalling the flag meeting ever since the BGP abducted Razzak on June 17 after they opened fire on a BGB patrol boat in a canal near the Naf river along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. A BGB trooper also suffered bullet wounds.
The incident drew widespread criticism and protests poured in by people from all walks of life.
Myanmar even uploaded photographs of Razzak in handcuffs on social media. One of the photos showed him wearing a BGB shirt and a lungi. In another picture, blood clots were seen on his nose.
In Natore, Razzak's family members are anxiously waiting for his release.
They said they were worried about Razzak's state after seeing the photographs. The BGB, however, assured them that Razzak was fine.
BGB high-ups and State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal had termed the incident a “misunderstanding”.
Myanmar, in its delayed response, tagged a condition to the release of the BGB man that Bangladesh would have to take back 550 people who have been rescued from the sea recently.
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