Burma denies troop build-up along Bangla border

by Siddique Islam
Saturday, 17 October 2009 13:22

Dhaka (Mizzima) - Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win has rubbished reports of military mobilization along its border with Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday.

“No such event has taken place,” a Foreign Ministry press statement quoted the Burmese Foreign Minister as telling Bangladesh's Foreign Minister Dipu Moni during a meeting on the sidelines of the 8th Ministerial Meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) held at the Sri Lankan capital on Thursday.

Nyan Win called the actions on the frontier as "routine exercise" by its "border security force."

“Regarding recent media reports on troop movement along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, Myanmar 's [Burmese] Foreign Minister stated that no such event has taken place and these are routine exercises by their border security force,” the statement added.

On October 11, Bangladesh's Foreign Minister rejected reports that Burma has amassed heavy security along the Bangladesh border following Dhaka's declaration that it's taking both India and Burma to a UN tribunal to resolve the festering row over maritime boundary.

“I had talks with the Bangladesh's ambassador to Myanmar [Burma] and our foreign secretary also discussed it with Myanmar’s [Burmese] ambassador in Dhaka. We came to know that it’s a routine movement of Myanmar forces,” Bangladesh's Foreign Minister told a press briefing at the foreign office in Dhaka on the day.

Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh Mijarul Kayes handed over copies of Dhaka's notification to the UN and its claims of sea territory to the Indian High Commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty and Burmese Ambassador U Phae Than Oo on October 8.

During the last couple of days, both local and foreign media reported that Burma reinforced troops and continued erecting barbed wire fencing in the frontline prompting a counter security alert on the Bangladesh side.

Bangladesh has also put its border security force the BDR on alert, according to reports.