FM: 180 Myanmar army, BGP men to return home, 170 Bangladeshis to be brought back

Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud has said measures are being taken to bring home 170 Bangladeshis trapped in Myanmar and send back 180 members of the border guard police (BGP) and army personnel of Myanmar who took refuge in Bangladesh.

He said he was exchanging views with journalists at his ministry on Tuesday.

Hasan said a total of 177 members of Myanmar's Border Guard Police (BGP) and later three of their army personnel took shelter in Bangladesh.
 
"The Myanmar government agreed to take them back after discussions with us.

"They proposed the sea route (for sending them back). We wanted to send them back this week, but as the sea is not favourable, they will be sent next week or as soon as the sea becomes calm," he said.

"Besides, we proposed bringing back 170 Bangladeshis detained in various ways in Myanmar. They (Myanmar) also responded positively to our proposal," he said.

About the international response to the Joint Response Plan (JRP) meeting held in Geneva on March 13 to deal with the Rohingya crisis, the foreign minister said the foreign secretary and the prime minister's principal secretary attended the JRP meeting in Switzerland, and "the response to our proposed funding and cooperation is better than last year.".

Responding to a query over BNP senior joint secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed's raising of allegations of corruption against the Awami League and comments that the country has become full of beggars, Hasan, also the Awami League Joint General Secretary, said that the FBI of the US has given testimony against the corruption and'money-laundering' of the BNP's acting chairman, Tarique Rahman.

The laundered money of Arafat Rahman Koko, Tarique's younger brother and second son of Begum Khaleda Zia, has been recovered from Singapore, he mentioned.

During their tenure, the country became the world champion in corruption five times in a row, and BNP is now doing much to conceal these wrongdoings, he said.

Hasan said there is competition among BNP leaders Mirza Fakhrul, Rizvi Ahmed, and Main Khan, and this is another reason for making such absurd comments.

Earlier, the UK Liberal Democrat Party's Foreign Affairs Spokesperson (Lords Spokesperson), Lord Jeremy Purvis, called on the Foreign Minister at the ministry.

About the meeting, the minister said he extended thanks to Lord Jeremy for the UK's continued cooperation in the development process of Bangladesh and in dealing with the Rohingya crisis and various areas of mutual interest.

Different issues of mutual interest, including their House of Lords' role in improving relations with Bangladesh, were discussed, he mentioned.