Myanmar regrets shelling inside Bangladesh border
The Border Guard Police (BGP) of Myanmar has expressed regret over shelling inside the Bangladesh border and violating its airspace.
The Myanmar border force also promised that such incidents will not happen in the future while attending a flag meeting with the Border Guard of Bangladesh (BGB).
BGB earlier strongly protested against such acts committed by the Myanmar armed forces.
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The flag meeting took place Sunday (30 October) at BGB's Rest House near Shahpari Island Jetty Ghat in Teknaf. The 5-hour long flag meeting ended at 3pm.
After the meeting, a pre-briefing was held at Teknafsth BGB 2nd Battalion at 4:30pm where Lt Colonel Sheikh Khalid Mohammad Iftekhar, leader of BGB delegation said, two sides discussed the issue of border shelling.
"When there was a strong protest about the incidents of shelling and helicopters violating the airspace within Bangladesh several times, the BGP expressed its sorrow and promised that such incidents would not happen again," he told the media.
In the meeting, various discussions were held to prevent smuggling and trespassing, he added.
Both sides reached an agreement to work collaboratively in a bid to de-escalate tension at Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
"BGP was called to a flag meeting at the invitation of Teknaf-2 battalion to discuss the emerging situation on the border. They agreed to attend the meeting on 25 October," said Lt Colonel Sheikh Khalid Mohammad Iftekhar.
However, due to cyclone Sitrang, the meeting was postponed to Sunday.
According to BGB, the meeting was held in a cordial manner where both sides agreed to work together to strengthen border security.
"Through such meetings, the relationship between the two border forces will continue to improve," the BGB official added.
Earlier, a delegation of 10 members of Myanmar's BGP arrived at Shahparirdwip Jetty Ghat in Teknaf at 9 am in two spread boats.
The BGB said that for the past three months, there has been an unstable situation on the border due to the ongoing shelling inside Myanmar. Residents of the Bangladesh border are in fear. From the beginning, communication between the border guarding forces of the two countries was going on at various levels regarding the border situation. BGB has also sent several letters to BGP regarding this.
In view of this, on Friday afternoon, the BGB received a letter from the BGP stating that they have agreed to sit for a meeting.
