Bangladesh PM gives pledge to Myanmar on insurgents

Bangladesh would never allow insurgents from Myanmar to operate on its territory, Prime Minister Ms Sheikh Hasina Wajed has told a senior Tatmadaw officer.

Sheikh Hasina issued a pledge during a meeting with Air Force Commander-in-Chief General Khin Aung Myint in Dhaka on November 9, Bangladesh’s state-run BSS news agency reported.

Her comment follows the deadly October 9 coordinated attacks by militants on three Border Guard Police outposts in northern Rakhine State on the border with Bangladesh.

Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh had once experienced problems with insurgents in its Chittagong Hill Tracts region bordering Myanmar and India but had resolved the situation “without intervention of any other country,” BSS reported, quoting her press secretary.

Khin Aung Myint thanked the premier for the support given by Bangladesh against what the report called “terrorist activities” on the border and said the situation there was under control, BSS reported.

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Sheikh Hasina told the Air Force chief that Bangladesh greatly valued its ties with Myanmar.

“As a close-door neighbour, Bangladesh always gives values to good relation and cooperation with Myanmar . . . we share a historic relation with Myanmar,” her press secretary quoted her as saying.

The premier had particularly referred to the long history of border and sea trade between the two neighbours, he said.

The report said Khin Aung Myint had expressed interest in Bangladesh’s “Ashrayan” poverty alleviation project and its program of building shelters in coastal areas to provide protection against cyclones.

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