By DVB
Burma and Bangladesh say they have agreed to work
together to prevent illegal immigrants, terrorists and smugglers from crossing
their mutual border.
According to Burma’s Ministry of Information, senior representatives
of both nations’ border guard forces held a flag meeting at a Border Guard
Bangladesh (BGB) base on 2 March, following a series of 14 joint border patrols
involving the BGB and Burma’s Border Guard Police Force (BGP) throughout
February.
In a statement released yesterday, the Ministry of
Information said, “These cooperative measures aim to: prevent terrorists from
maintaining a presence along the border; and deter illegal migrants and
smugglers. We also aim to bolster, in a timely fashion, liaisons and trust
between the border guard forces of both countries.”
The move to cooperate comes at a time when tens if not
hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazaar camps face a dilemma
over whether to return to Burma following an exodus last year in the wake of
Burmese military “clearance operations”, which many voices in the international
community called acts of genocide.
Burma and Bangladesh share a 170-mile border, 130 miles
of which are fenced. Citizens and non-citizens from both sides have for years
used boats to navigate between the two countries, either by sea or along the
narrow Naf River which likewise acts as an international boundary.