Abducted Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) officer Abdul Razzak was handed over by the Burma Border Guard Police (BGP) to a BGB team on 25 June, at about 5;30 pm after being held by the BGP for eight days.
According to the BGB's Cox’s Bazar Sector Deputy Commander Major Aminul Islam at a press briefing Abdul Razak was handed over to a BGB team led by 42 BGB Battalion Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Abu Jar Al Zahid following a seven hour flag meeting between the border forces of the two countries that was held in Maungdaw, Arakan State, Burma.
Major Medical Shah Alam, the medical officer in the team, checked officer Razzak’s physical and mental condition after he was handed over and certified that everything was fine, Maj. Islam said.
He said that the seven-member BGB team that went to Burma earlier that morning to negotiate officer Razzak’s had arrived back with officer Razzak at the Teknaf Landing Port immigration check post in Bangladesh at around 6:15pm.
“I am well,” officer Razzak told journalists on his arrival at the transit jetty at Teknaf Landing Port. He also said he suffered nose injuries while scuffling with BGP troopers who attacked the six-member team he was leading whilst they were searching a fishing boat, but, he was silent when asked whether the BGP personnel had tortured him.
Officer Razzak was abducted by the BGP following a shootout between the BGB and the BGP on the Naf River near the Dum Dum Meah area of Teknaf in Cox’s Bazar on 17 Jun. Another BGB soldier was shot in the incident caused by what the Bangladesh government says was a ‘misunderstanding’.
The flag meeting to negotiate Razzak’s release started at the Maungdaw Dewa Nandi Hall around 10:30am.
Teknaf 42 BGB Commander Lt Col Md Abu Jar Al Jahid led the Bangladesh side, while BGP-2 Lieutenant Colonel Thi Ha headed the Burmese team.
The BGB, in a media statement, said Burma also returned Razzak’s submachine gun, magazine and ammunition.
The two sides also discussed ways to avoid such ‘untoward’ incidents in the future
At the flag meeting the BGP claimed officer Razzak was not in uniform when they detained him for crossing over to Burmese waters on that day, the BGB Director General Aziz Ahmed told a press conference at its Pilkhana headquarters in Dhaka.
He also said: “We strongly protested their claims and told them that no BGB member goes on duty without being in uniform. And Razzak did not cross the border on that day.” He added: “It was the BGP personnel who were not in uniform.”
He said that The BGB had asked the BGP to honour the agreement signed between the neighboring countries in 1980 to prevent any similar incidents from happening again.
“From now on, the BGB and the BGP will share information and notify each other beforehand if the border needs to be crossed,” he said.
Her also claimed that it was not the first time that BGP forces had attacked BGB forces. He said: “Moreover, just a year ago, the BGP members did the same thing after we had set up a BOP [border outpost] after identifying an area as smuggling-prone and took necessary actions.”
On 28 May 2014, another BGB officer Mizanur Rahman was allegedly abducted and killed by the Burmese frontier force near the Paanchhari border in Naikkhongchhari area of Bandarban on Bangladeshi territory. Two days later, the BGP was supposed to return Mizanur’s body to the BGB. But, when the Bangladeshi border guards went to receive the body, the BGP men opened fire on them instead of handing over the body.
The BGP replaced the Nasaka (Border Security Force) in July 2013 after the Burmese authorities abolished the Nasaka.
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
