After eight days of drama, Myanmar Border Guard Police yesterday released Border Guard Bangladesh Naik Abdur Razzak.
He was abducted by Myanmar’s BGP from the zero line on the Naf River in Cox’s Bazar on June 17 following a scuffle between the members of the two countries’ border security forces.
“BGP handed over Razzak, unhurt, to us [BGB] around 5:30pm along with his personal firearm, 22 rounds of bullet and other equipment, following a three-and-a-half-hour flag meeting in the morning,” said Maj Gen Aziz Ahmed, director general (DG) of BGB.
A team, led by 42 BGB Battalion Commanding Officer Lt Col Abu Jar Al Zahid, had went to the Mongdu area in Myanmar in the afternoon to bring the naik back. Maj Md Shah Alam, the medical officer in the team, checked Razzak’s physical and mental conditions and certified that everything was fine.
According to our Cox’s Bazar correspondent, the BGB team left Mongdu on a boat around 5:45pm and reached Teknaf Bazar area around 6:15pm.
Razzak was in his uniform and came down from the boat on his own feet. Asked how he was, the BGB naik replied: “I am fine now.” He however did not make any comment when asked whether he had been tortured in BGP custody.
Asked about the injury marks on his nose, he said he had got those during the scuffle at the Naf River border on the night he was abducted.
In the same incident on that night, another BGB member Biplob was injured by gunshots fired by BGP members. The Dhaka Tribune has learned that the BGP personnel also took the boatman and his helper and later released them but held Razzak back.
At a press conference at the BGB Pilkhana Headquarters in Dhaka in the evening, the paramilitary force’s chief Maj Gen Aziz said: “Actually, BGP has been locking into clashes at all those points on the border where we had strengthened surveillance to stop yaba trade.
Asked whether the BGP did this intentionally, Aziz said: “The place where Razzak was abducted from is one of the hotbeds of the yaba trade. A boatman named Lal Miah informed us that BGP men had been looking for one of our habildars named Lutfor, who had seized yaba pills worth Tk12 lakh from that spot and had been rewarded for his good work.
“Moreover, just a year ago, the BGP members did the same thing after we had set up a BOP [border outpost] after identifying an area as smuggling-prone and took necessary actions.”
On May 28 last year, another BGB naik Mizanur Rahman was allegedly abducted and killed by the Myanmar frontier force near the Paanchhari border in Naikkhongchhari of Bandarban. Two days later, the BGP was supposed to return Mizanur’s body to the BGB. But, when the Bangladeshi border guards went to receive the body, the BGP men opened fire on them instead of handing over the body.
The BGB chief also said: “I cannot say why the incidents took place but you people are clever enough to understand the reason.”
Asked about the flag meeting, Maj Gen Aziz said: “Not just regarding taking action against yaba trade, the BGP members crossed the limits even at the flag meeting as well.
“The meeting’s agenda was the issue of handing over Naik Razzak but they brought up other issues such as border management and shipping. They accused BGB men of not being in uniforms while on duty and crossing the border. But we did not agree to these accusations and replied that it was their people who crossed the border and abducted our men,” the BGB boss said at the press conference.
“Could Razzak have given out any information sensitive for the state?”
In reply, Maj Gen Aziz said that naik is not a very high-ranked post and therefore he is not supposed know anything sensitive.
“However, now that he has come back, we will definitely ask him about it [what happened in BGP custody] and whether any BGB official’s irresponsible actions led to the incident,” he added.
When reminded that BGB’s capabilities had come under scrutiny because of these incidents, Aziz said they work with patience and responsibility at the border since many sensitive issues depended on them. “That is why sometimes we cannot make decisions immediately.”
He also said that they had protested the posting of Naik Razzak’s photograph on Facebook by BGP officials and had been assured that appropriate steps would be taken against such an irresponsible act.
