The ship carrying the Bangladeshis will bring back Myanmar security personnel who crossed the border recently amid fighting with rebels
Published : 23 Apr 2024, 11:42 PM
As many as 173 Bangladeshis are returning home after their release from Sittwe prison in Rakhine State of Myanmar, the Bangladesh Embassy in Yangon has said.
Myanmar naval ship Chin Dwin, which is to take back members of its defence force, started for Bangladesh with the returnees on Tuesday.
The Myanmar personnel crossed the border into Bangladesh due to conflict in Rakhine.
The ship is expected to reach the Bangladesh territory by Wednesday and hand the Bangladeshi citizens over to the authorities at that time, the embassy said.
Out of the 173 returnees, 129 are from Cox’s Bazar District, 30 from Bandarban, seven from Rangamati, and one each from Khagrachhari, Noakhali, Narayanganj, Chattogram, Rajbari, Narsingdi, and Nilphamari.
The embassy said it took up the issue with the home and foreign ministries of Bangladesh, and the Myanmar authorities to seize the opportunity to send back the maximum number of verified Bangladeshi nationals who were in different prisons of Myanmar upon receipt of the information of the tentative visit of the Myanmar ship to Bangladesh.
The embassy also pursued the relevant host authorities to bring the 144 ‘verified and jail term completed or pardoned’ returnees in Sittwe prison for smooth return and pursued for releasing the 29 verified Bangladeshi nationals who were still serving their jail terms or under trial.
The 29 Bangladeshis were pardoned and sent back to Bangladesh.
On Feb 15, the government repatriated a total of 330 individuals, including members of Myanmar's border guards and armed forces, who had fled the ongoing conflict between armed insurgents and the junta’s forces in Rakhine state.
The group included 302 BGP personnel, four of their family members, two army men, 18 immigration officials and four civilians.
Bangladesh was preparing to send back 285 Myanmar border guards and army personnel in the second phase on Monday, but the repatriation was deferred.