Unwarranted tension on eastern border

THE last thing that we would want to have is an unsettled border in our eastern wing, although the current tension at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border has eased somewhat after the return of the body of the BGB soldier killed by the Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP). It is difficult to rationalise the action of the BGP, renamed from NASAKA, as to why it resorted to firing when there was no provocation from the BGB side at all.
That a BGB member in uniform was killed due to BGP firing, a fact that was also acknowledged by Myanmar, belies the subsequent statement of Myanmar authorities that it fired at what they thought were RSO members, since according to BGP, they were not wearing the appropriate BGB insignia.  But what was the provocation for opening fire for the second time when BGB patrol approached the border to retrieve the body of their comrade?
Clearly there is a flaw in the border management and control mechanism. Almost the entire stretch of land boundary between the two countries has been fenced of by Myanmar on their side behind the zero line. The hostile attitude of the BGP is manifest in their planting of anti-personnel mines on the Bangladesh side of the border, which is not only unethical and inhumane it is also illegal from the point of view of international law. And given the mined and fenced border it is difficult to understand how our border guards could have strayed inside their territory as claimed by the BGP.
The sticky issue here is the alleged activity of the so called RSO, the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation. The concerns of Myanmar regarding the Rohingya insurgent organisation may be genuine. And it for us the take measures to allay the fears of Myanmar, that Bangladesh does neither want them nor allow them to use its territory to conduct their anti-Myanmar activity. However, considering that a good part of the border remains out of our direct and constant observation because of the terrain condition, these elements could be using the inaccessible areas as a tactical expedient. But the matter has to be addressed through consultations between the two border forces, particularly at the lowest level of command. That, we are given to understand, has not been the case so far. And we would hope that the forthcoming DG level meeting would work out the issue of micromanagement of the border to prevent the repetition of hostile border incidents.
On its part Bangladesh should undertake measures to reinforce and enhance the capability of the BGB to allow for more effective oversight of this part of the border.
 

The writer is Editor OP-ed and Defence & Strategic Affairs, The Daily Star