The Burmese Border Guard Police (BGP) will only release the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) guard they abducted if Bangladesh takes in 544 boat-people being held in Maungdaw Township, said Lieutenant Colonel Abu Zar Al Zahid.
The BGP abducted Abdur Razzak, a BGB guard, on 17 June in a skirmish that both forces have described as a 'misunderstanding.'
Lt. Col. Abu Zar Al Zahid, the BGB Battalion No.42 Commander, said: "Since 17 June the BGB has been urging the BGP to hold a flag meeting to release Razzak, but the Burmese authorities are unwilling [to hold a flag meeting]. The reason that they have given is that they are too busy repatriating rescued boat-people and have no time to attend a flag meeting. After they have repatriated the 544 boat-people they will talk to us about Razzak."
The chief of Teknaf BGB said that when Bangladesh asked about the release of Razzak the Burmese authorities told Bangladesh to take the remaining boat-people rescued by Burma from the Andaman Sea on 29 May. They said that if the BGB took 544 of the 734 boat-people they were holding and accepted them as Bangladeshi nationals the BGP would then hold a meeting with the BGB to discuss the Razzak situation.
If Bangladesh does not take the 544 boat-people the BGP will not release Abdur Razak.
A politician from Cox’s Bazar said, on condition of anonymity: “Bangladesh is ready to take all [boat-people who are] its nationals from Myanmar after scrutinizing the list, whether they are Bengalis or not. Why does Myanmar tangle it [the repatriation of boat-people] with the Razzak incident.”
The chief of Teknaf BGB said: “The Myanmar BGP has not yet given us a clear list of the boat-people. If we receive it we will accept all the Bangladeshi people after clearing the list.”
He added: “The BGP is trying to open a case against Razzak within less than a week and they also published photos of the arrestee without discussing it with us. The Myanmar authorities broke the border agreement between our two countries.”
According to a local Bengali newspaper on 21 June, at about 2.10pm, Lt. Col. Abu Zar Al Zahid contacted the BGP commander at Maungdaw by phone and asked him about the release of Razzak, but the BGP officer told him that he did not have the authority to release Razzak until he got the order to do so from a higher authority.
Lt. Col. Abu Zar Al Zahid also said that the Burmese Government had deliberately delayed the release of Razzak.
The Bangladesh Government has been unwilling to take in any boat-people without first verifying their identities. Even after they were verified Rohingyas were found to be amongst the last group of trafficking victims that Bangladesh took from Burma last week.
Update 25 June 2014: Senior officers from the BGP and the BGB are expected to hold a flag meeting on 25 June to discuss the return of Abdur Razzak to Bangladesh, according to the BGB Director General Major General Azaiz Ahmed.
He said: “A delegation of 4 to 5 members of the BGB led by the Teknaf commanding officer will attend the flag meeting which will be held in Maungdaw.”
The BGP has also asked the BGB for a list of the officers who will attend the flag meeting according to an official from the Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry.
According to a source with the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs at BGB headquarters the BGP have not set any conditions on the repatriation of Razzak who is in the custody of the Myanmar police having been charged with trespass.
Ye Htut, the Myanmar President’s spokesperson also said that Naypyidaw did not set any conditions on the return of Razzak. Later the Myanmar authorities agreed to return him ‘unconditionally.’
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
