Myanmar moving to fence border
Dipu Moni keeps mum on barbed-wire fencing of border by Myanmar
bdnews24.com, Dhaka
Defying a bilateral accord, Myanmar has started fencing along the Bangladesh border, according to government officials in Dhaka.
The officials say some 200 "troops" have also been stationed just on the other side of the demarcation line.
"Officials of the coast guard and the deputy commissioner of Cox's Bazar have told me that a new contingent of troops has mobilised across the Naaf river," home secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder told bdnews24.com Monday night.
"But this is nothing serious," he added. According to a bilateral agreement, neither Bangladesh nor Myanmar can fence along the border or mobilise troops along the line without cause. On Mar 15, according to the Bangladesh officials, , Myanmar's border force Na Sa Ka began deploying necessary equipment for fencing in the village Kyin Gun just across the bordering river Naaf.
"We have gathered they will construct a fence along Maungdaw township to Paletwa township," one senior official told bdnews24.com Monday. The official insisted he not be named.
A foreign ministry official claimed that the Myanmar ambassador in Dhaka met the foreign secretary at his office and informed the latter of the fencing plan last week. The foreign secretary, Md Touhid Hossain, denied having discussed any such thing with the Yangon diplomat.
"We talked about the Rohingya problem," Touhid Hossain told bdnews24.com Monday night. "He did not tell me anything about fencing."
UNB adds:
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni preferred to keep mum on the reported barbed-wire fencing along Bangladesh border by Myanmar with the backing of its troops.
"I don't like to give any opinion
We'll firm up our stance considering the situation," he told reporters Tuesday at the Foreign Ministry when her comments were sought on the reported border fencing and mobilization of troops by Myanmar.
Asked whether the government is concerned over the situation along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, she said if any situation of concern takes place along the country's frontier, "we will be concerned".
UNB Cox's Bazar correspondent Tofael Ahmed on Tuesday reported that the Myanmar authorities with the support of their border-force Nasaka and the army kept erecting fences on their territory along the Bangladesh border for the last two days.
Sources on the Myanmar side said the barbed-wire fencing is designed to stop acts of sabotage in Myanmar by Myanmar insurgent groups operating from Bangladesh territories, an allegation always denied by the Bangladesh government.
The sources said the fencing was also aimed at halting the smuggling of prawn cultivated on the Myanmar side.
In another development, the Myanmar authorities are trying to construct a dam on the Dabfari Khal on the Myanmar side opposite to Ulubunia frontier in Hoaikong union of Teknaf upazila. In 2001, they also made a similar attempt but later retreated in the face of stiff protest by BDR personnel. Teknaf OC Jamal Uddin Chowdhury said BDR patrol has been strengthened in the area.
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