DHAKA — Bangladesh is preparing to secretly repatriate 330 defeated Myanmar junta personnel by ship this week amid more regime defeats in Rakhine State.
Sources in Dhaka said the foreign ministry is talking to Myanmar’s regime and has instructed the Bangladesh Navy and Coast Guard to organize the repatriation by Friday.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud told the media on Monday: “Myanmar has said it will take back the escapees taking refuge in Bangladesh. The process is underway. It’s secret. We cannot give any specific timetable for security reasons.”
The minister said he discussed the issue during a recent visit to India and New Delhi was working with Bangladesh on the issue.
Around 330 border police, soldiers, civilian staff and a few relatives crossed the border into Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar this month amid clashes with the Arakan Army (AA).
No troops have reportedly arrived since February 8.
Bangkok-based Fortify Rights on February 8 called on Bangladesh to investigate the personnel for possible involvement in crimes in Myanmar against the Rohingya and coordinate with the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) ongoing investigation.
The opposition Amar Bangladesh Party told the media on Monday that handing back regime personnel to the junta without any interrogation over the Rohingya genocide would be “irrational”.
The Geneva Convention forbids the return of prisoners of war while a conflict continues, the party said.
The AB Party said it was a great opportunity to negotiate with the junta over the repatriation of 1.3 million Rohingya refugees sheltering in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has stepped up border patrols along the River Naf and civilian ships have been banned from the waterway since February 10.
Fortify Rights said in a statement on Tuesday that it has documented indiscriminate attacks on civilians, killings, destruction of civilian homes and forced displacement during a four-day attack by Myanmar’s junta beginning on January 25 in the predominately Rohingya village of Hpon Nyo Leik in northern Rakhine State. “These attacks may amount to war crimes,” it said.
The rights group said the junta shelled Hpon Nyo Leik in Buthidaung Township for four days after the AA dug trenches around the village on January 24. The shelling killed 12 civilians and injured 32 others, including at least eight children. All the victims were Rohingya.
The attacks reportedly displaced 15,000 civilians from Hpon Nyo Leik and surrounding areas.
Fortify Rights called on all parties to protect civilians and member states of the ICC to refer the incident to the court under Article 14 of the Rome Statute.
