Chittagong: Bangladesh will probably put forth its objections against Burma’s barbed-wire fence on the Burma-Bangladesh border. It has prohibited setting up the fence close to no-man’s land, without any discussions between the two countries, sources said.
The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) authorities have started erecting pillars for fencing the Burma-Bangladesh border (on the Burmese side) since March 21. They started erecting pillars from every Nasaka Sector of Maungdaw Township.
Burmese military extracts forced labor from villagers for fencing barbed-wire in Burma Bangladesh border. About 100 villagers have to go to work site every day per village, but they may get wages in future. Besides, every household has to provide 50 to 60 buckets of stones for fencing barbed-wire, said a village elder on condition of anonymity.
According to International Laws, it is illegal to put up any installation so close from no man’s land in Burma’s territory, Foreign Secretary, Touhid Hossain, said on March 29.
Bangladesh has 180 km border with Burma. The fence can be constructed on 150 feet off the zero point inside Burma territory.
Burma is erecting barb-wire fence 100 meters off the no- man’s land along the 40 kms of Bangladesh-Burma Border to check smuggling, including drug smuggling. There is no reason to be worried about it, said State Minister for foreign affairs Hassan Mahhmud yesterday.
Burmese ambassador U Phae Than Oo, had informed the foreign secretary earlier that they were putting up barbed-wire fences 13 meters off no man’s land and Bangladesh had not seen Burma’s fencing in its own territory as a threat to Bangladesh, the foreign secretary Touhid had said.
Burma had decided to put up a barbed-wire fence in its territory 13 meters off no-man’s land, to stop human trafficking and smuggling, U Phae said.
It is a new method to further tighten their grip on Rohingya and to repress them. The situation will further worsen. The global public opinion and the attitude of ASEAN will go against the ruling Burmese military junta, a politician said.
In the first week of March, Burma started stockpiling fencing materials along the Bangladesh border, after the tension between the two countries, when Burma had erected a drilling rig for exploration of oil and gas in the Bay of Bengal.
Each pillar is 20 ft high, 9 inches wide and 9 inches long. There is a 10 ft distance from one pillar to another pillar. In Bawli Bazar of Maungdaw Township, the barbed-wire fencing began on March 28. There are 15 barbed-wire lines in the fence. ##
