Bangladesh summons Myanmar ambassador again, protests baseless comments

The foreign ministry has summoned the Myanmar ambassador in Dhaka to protest “fabricated and baseless” statement that Bangladeshis were involved in a terrorist attack on a police post at Maungdaw Township near the border.

Lwin Oo met Md Delwar Hossain, director general of the foreign ministry’s Southeast Asia wing, on Tuesday afternoon. The envoy was asked to explain “irresponsible and false” allegations by the officials of the General Administration Department of Myanmar implicating Bangladesh in the attack.

“Myanmar is making absolutely false and fabricated statements,” Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen later told reporters when asked.

Myanmar Ambassador Lwin Oo. File Photo

Later the foreign ministry in a statement said the government is “utterly disgruntled” to notice some reports in Myanmar media based on irresponsible and false allegations by the officials of the General Administration Department of Myanmar implicating Bangladesh in the terrorist attack on a police post at Maungdaw Township near Boundary Pillar No. 41 in the early hours of Jan 24.

“The allegations are found to be absolutely fabricated and baseless.”

“It is affirmed that there was neither any border crossing by any group from Bangladesh nor any incident of firing from Bangladesh side towards any direction on that particular day,” read the statement.

“The allegation is fabricated and highly derogatory to the reputation of Bangladesh, a country that persistently strives for peace and stability all over the world.

“As on previous occasions, differences in narratives of various media houses and government officials of Myanmar are clearly evident and it usually happens when stories are fabricated."

It urged Myanmar to take effective measures to prevent "any attempt aiming at associating Bangladesh with the internal political and security conundrum of Myanmar".

The foreign ministry pointed out that Bangladesh is acclaimed by international community for its commitment and actions in the fight against terrorism.

The government offered its readiness to engage in comprehensive cooperation mechanism with Myanmar to combat terrorism.

Myanmar, which is under intense pressure over the Rohingya issue, has been trying to divert the attention by creating different issues such as violating airspace, putting Bangladesh’s Saint Martin's Island on its map, unprovoked firing at the border and making false statements.

Bangladesh has been responding to those issues by summoning the ambassador and registering protests.