330 Myanmar nationals sent back
A total of 330 Myanmar nationals who crossed the border and took shelter in Bangladesh to escape the fighting between the Myanmar junta and the Arakan Army returned to their country yesterday.
They included 302 BGP members, four BGP family members, two army personnel, 18 immigration members, and four civilians.
Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB) handed them over to their counterpart in Myanmar, the Border Guard Police (BGP).
The handover started at Inani Navy Jetty in Cox's Bazar around 11:00am.
In the first phase, 165 Myanmar nationals were sent from the jetty to a Myanmar Navy ship stationed in Myanmar waters by a privately owned tourist ship, Karnaphuli Express.
In the second phase, another 165 people were sent back on another boat in the evening.
BGB Director General Maj Gen Md Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui at the event expressed his firm stance against infiltration.
"No matter the situation, we will never go on the back foot to protect the sovereignty, integrity and security of the country."
The BGB DG added that the weapons brought by the Myanmar nationals will be sent back through a separate process later.
On this occasion, Myanmar's ambassador to Bangladesh, U Aung Kyaw Moe, thanked the Bangladesh government, BGB, coast guard, and navy for providing safe shelter to the BGP members and the successful repatriation process.
Earlier at 9:50am, a five-member BGP delegation led by Myanmar's BGP Colonel Myo Thura Naung arrived at Inani Naval Jetty in Cox's Bazar by a Bangladesh Coast Guard ship.
Under the leadership of Colonel Mehdi Hossain Kabir, the sector commander of the Ramu sector of BGB, a repatriation committee was formed consisting of representatives from the home ministry, foreign ministry, Cox's Bazar district administration, and police.
The committee quickly communicated and coordinated with the authorities concerned of Myanmar and completed all the processes of repatriation of BGP and other members who took refuge in Bangladesh.
The Myanmar nationals started fleeing to Bangladesh on February 4 as the ongoing fighting between the Myanmar junta and the Arakan Army escalated across the border at Bandarban and Cox's Bazar.
The BGB members disarmed them and took them into their custody.
At least 68 of them -- of which 15 were bullet-hit -- took refuge in Bandarban on February 4, and the rest entered on different dates until February 7.
The injured were given treatment under the BGB and were among those sent back yesterday.
Amid the ongoing fighting, a Bangladeshi woman and a Rohingya man were killed when a mortar shell fired from Myanmar exploded in Bandarban's Ghumdhum union.
Meanwhile, since early yesterday morning, there have been fresh sounds of gunfire and mortar shell explosions coming from the Myanmar side across from St Martin's Island and Shahporir Dwip in Teknaf, Cox's Bazar.
Abdus Salam, a member of Sabrang Union Parishad, said although they were hearing fresh sounds of gunshots and explosions from the Myanmar side the locals were not frightened as there is the Naf River between the two countries.
On the other hand, the situation along the Myanmar border stretching from Tumbru in Ghumdhum union of Bandarban's Naikhongchari to Balukhali under Whykong union in Cox's Bazar's Teknaf was peaceful in comparison, according to public representatives and locals.