Myanmar has gone ‘too far’ by tagging condition to release Bangladesh border guard, says Kamal

State Minister for Home Assaduzzaman Khan Kamal said Myanmar is ‘going too far’ by attaching a condition to release abducted BGB Nayek Abdur Razzak.

But he told journalists following a ministerial meeting on Tuesday he was hopeful the matter would be resolved after another flag meeting.

The Myanmar border police on Monday said Bangladesh will have to take in 555 victims of human trafficking, who the country claim were Bangladeshis, without checking on their nationality.

They are among the 727 rescued by the Myanmar Navy from the Andaman Sea.

Even after verification, Rohingyas, or Muslims from the Rakhine state who are being persecuted in Myanmar, were found in the last group of trafficking victims brought in last week.

Asked about the state of negotiations for the return of the BGB man abducted six days back, Kamal said, “Myanmar tagged the issue of citizens recovered at sea to that of Razzak.”

“We repeatedly told them we would not bring anyone back without 100 percent scrutiny. We will definitely bring back those who are our citizens.

“Now tagging that with Razzak’s issue… we think they went too far and were asking for too much.

“We told them politely. They (Myanmar) agreed to treat the issues separately.”

The BGB headquarters clarified later on Monday night that Myanmar’s decision to return the BGB man was ‘unconditional’.

They said BGB Director General Major General Aziz Ahmed, who is currently abroad, had spoken with the defence attaché of the Bangladeshi embassy in Yangon, Brig Gen Md Mahbubul Haque.

The envoy said he had talks with the Myanmar home ministry and the authorities had agreed to unconditionally return the BGB trooper with his weapon.

Razzak was abducted following what the Bangladesh government says was a shooting in the Naf River at Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf on Jun 17 between border patrols.

A BGB soldier was shot in the incident caused by a “misunderstanding”, while Nayek Razzak was abducted by Myanmar’s BGP.

The foreign ministry summoned the Myanmar’s envoy in Dhaka the next day and asked him for action to secure the release of the abducted BGB soldier as rapidly as possible.

No information on the condition of Razzak could be known but two photographs uploaded on the BGP’s Facebook page showed him bloodied and handcuffed.

Razzak’s family in Natore are worried about his state after seeing the photographs. His wife gave birth to their third child on Monday.