Border Tension: BNP says BD now in the jaws of crossfire

BNP concern over killing citizen

Dhaka, Feb 7 - Voicing concern over the killings of the country’s citizens along the borders of Myanmar and India, BNP on Wednesday alleged that Bangladesh is now in the jaws of crossfire.

At a press conference arranged by the party standing committee on the country’s overall situation at its chairperson’s Gulshan office, BNP also alleged that the Awami League is now in power with the support of India, China and Russia by giving these countries various ' illegal economic and geopolitical' privileges'.

“Our BGB members and our people are being gunned down along India’s border beginning from the West Bengal, on the other hand two people were killed and several others injured in firing and mortar shells landed from Myanmar side. Troops from Rakhine state are flocking and taking shelter (in our country). In other words, Bangladesh is now in the jaws of crossfire,” said BNP standing committee member Gayeshwar Chandra Roy.

He urged the journalists to think of what is going to happen and the reasons behind the prevailing tension along the Bangladesh border.

The BNP leader also raised the question whether tension is being created on the Myanmar border to divert attention of the people of Bangladesh to a different direction from its various failures and problems. “Whether the government (of Bangladesh) has a secret relationship with those who are causing these incidents...the government earlier created one issue one after another to mislead people.”

He hoped that the government would take necessary and visible steps to tackle the border problem if it had no connection with the rising tension along the Myanmar frontier.

The BNP leader said a country like Myanmar has never dared to fire into Bangladesh’. "Why do they get the courage to do it now? This is what you all need to think about... where is our country heading toward?”

He urged the people to be vocal against the border problem to force the government to take proper initiatives to protect the citizens of the country from the way they are being now attacked from all sides.

A tense situation has been prevailing along the border between Bandarban's Naikhongchhari Ghumdhum and Tumbru amid fierce fighting, skirmishes and gunfire between the armed forces of the military junta and insurgent groups inside Myanmar for more than a week.

At least 327 Myanmar forces and border guards have so far taken shelter in Bangladesh as of Wednesday noon in the wake of conflicts along the border.

Meanwhile, two people--a Bangladeshi woman and a Rohingya man-- were killed when mortar shells from the Myanmar side landed on a kitchen at Jalpaitli village of Ghumdhum union in Naikhongchhari upazila of Bandarban on Monday.-UNB