Dhaka summons Myanmar envoy
Border Firing
Some 36 hours after the gun-battle and abduction of a Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) trooper, the Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) are yet to respond to the call for a flag meeting between the two border forces, the chief of the BGBs 42 Battalion, Lt Col. Abu Zar Al Zahid, told The Independent yesterday.
BGP members informed us that they are yet to get clearance from their ministry to hold the flag meeting. That is why we cannot bring back the abducted BGB Nayek, Abdur Razzaq, from Myanmar, he explained.
Our sources informed us that Abdur Razzaq is quite well in BGP captivity, he added.
Lt Col. Abu Zar Al Zahid also said they are trying to hold a flag meeting with the BGP as soon as possible, through diplomatic as well as their own channels.
Meanwhile, the foreign ministry summoned Myanmars ambassador to Dhaka, Myo Mint Than, to protest against the shooting at the border and abduction of a BGB trooper.
We asked him to release Nayek Razzaq immediately, and also explain why the BGP opened fire and injured a BGB man, said an official of the foreign ministry. The ambassador said the BGP had opened fire as they wrongly believed the BGB trooper to be a robber, the official disclosed.
The ambassador also called Myanmarese officials from the meeting and asked them to expedite the process of releasing the BGB personnel, he said. A BGB trooper, Biplob Kumar, was shot, and BGB Naik Razzaq was abducted and his sub-machinegun (SMG) taken away, by Myanmars BGP in the Naf river area near Jadimura on the Teknaf border in Coxs Bazar on Wednesday morning.
Talking to reporters at his Secretariat office on Wednesday, Asaduzzman Khan Kamal, the state minister for home affairs, had said the two border forces exchanged fire at Teknaf following a misunderstanding.
