Tensions Escalate Along Bangladesh-Myanmar Border

By Farzana Tamannur (TON Bangladesh)

Bombardment from Myanmar into the Bangladeshi side of the border has augmented in recent weeks, resultant in death and wounds to Rohingya.
Acting Foreign Secretary Rear Admiral (Rtd) Md. Khorshed Alam briefs the Heads of Mission from South East Asian countries in Dhaka on September 19, 2022, on the fundamental condition in the regions along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
On September 16, an 18-year-old Rohingya boy was slayed, and five others wounded when mortar bombs fired from Myanmar fell and blasted in the no-man’s land nearby Bandarban’s Tumbru Bazar border part. Around 4,000 Rohingyas are conveyed to be living in this region.
Bombs have been landing on the Bangladeshi side of the border over the previous few weeks and so far, Bangladesh’s reply has been somewhat mild. Soon afterward the decease of the Rohingya teenager in the bombardment, Bangladesh’s Foreign Ministry summoned Myanmar’s Ambassador in Dhaka Aung Kyaw Moe to protest against the bombardment and the violation of Bangladesh’s territory.
Myanmar’s ambassador accused the Arakan Army for firing bullets and bombs into the Bangladeshi side of the border.  He evaded taking queries from the Bangladeshi media.
Fighting between the Myanmar military as well as the Arakan Army is reported to have worsened in Northern Rakhine and Chin states from early August.
“We lodged a strong protest note against the violations of air and land space and cautioned Myanmar that such actions must not be repeated,” Rear Admiral (retired) Khurshed Alam, secretary of the Maritime Affairs Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said. Indicating that “the conflict between Arakan Army and Myanmar military” is an “internal matter” of Myanmar and how Myanmar selected to “solve it” was up to that country, he stressed that shells falling into Bangladesh was not tolerable.
“No mortar shells or bullets would land on our side. You have to take accountability for that,” he said.
“If even a brickbat lands on the Bangladesh side [of the border], it is a defilement of international guidelines. Myanmar has to accept the accountability,” said Major General (retired) Abdur Rashid, executive director at the Institution of Conflict, Law and Development Studies.
“As we do not want clash, our efforts are happening to find a peaceful solution with Myanmar. We will do the whole lot,” said Bangladesh’s Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal. “We have recurrently cautioned Myanmar over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but they did not heed the cautions.” He said that Bangladesh would notify the United Nations if Myanmar did not stop the firing adjacent the Bangladesh border.
This increase in tension along its border with Myanmar will effect Bangladesh and the area in several ways.
First, it will affect the deportation of Rohingya refugees. Bangladesh is sheltering 1.2 million Rohingya who run-away the genocidal violence unleashed on them by the Myanmar army. This refugee people has become a main concern for Bangladesh. Dhaka has been engaging in meetings with Myanmar to find techniques to deport Rohingya back to Myanmar. Though, the return procedure has not yet started as Myanmar’s army regime has laid down circumstances for repatriation, signifying reluctance on its part to take the Rohingya back.
The existing border tension will effect repatriation efforts. As Professor Imtiaz Ahmed, an international relations professional based in Dhaka, has debated, Myanmar might be aiming to generate a disordered situation along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border so that deportation will be postponed and forgotten.
Second, Bangladesh-Myanmar tensions will effect sub regional collaboration in BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), an association of member states including Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, which are Bay of Bengal coasts. BIMSTEC came into being in 1997 on the other hand it was only in 2022 that member-states accepted a long-overdue contract. At a time while SAARC is not working due to the antagonistic India-Pakistan relationship, countries in the area were looking to BIMSTEC to attain the benefits of collaboration. Such hopes might be dashed if the Bangladesh-Myanmar tension along the border intensifies.
Experts are also indicating that China’s geopolitical pressures might be behind the increasing tensions along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.  With India and the U.S. pushing Bangladesh to join the Quad, China is keen that Bangladesh stays unbiased and has asked Dhaka to join its promising Global Development Initiative (GDI) as well as the Global Security Initiative (GSI).
Throughout his visit to Dhaka in the first week of August, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had wide-ranging discussions with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Geopolitical problems are said to have been the foremost item on the agenda of the discussions.
A foremost Bangladeshi political expert told The Diplomat that there are robust links between China also the Myanmar junta and China wields substantial effect over the regime. It is possible that China is behindhand the latest tensions along the Bangladesh border, the expert said, adding that over the shelling into Bangladesh China is indicating that it can make trouble for Bangladesh if it wants through the Myanmar border.

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