"Myanmar mortar shelling unintentional mistake"
Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen yesterday (September 20, 2022) termed Myanmar's recent shelling of mortars and gunfire into Bangladesh "unintentional mistake".
He said this while addressing a press conference at Hotel Lotte In New York on the programmes of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the 77th UNGA session.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The foreign minister said the Myanmar authority informed Dhaka that they are not shelling inside Bangladesh intentionally.
"That particular border area is very much crisscrossed. Sometimes it is difficult to understand the border, for that reason they are not shelling inside our border intentionally. One and two shells that dropped inside our border happened by mistake," he said.
He also said, "Bangladesh Foreign Ministry summoned Myanmar ambassador and the Myanmar authority promised that they will maintain caution."
Momen said that Bangladesh has sealed the entire border and will not allow any new Rohingya to enter Bangladesh.
"We are in a very strong position right now. We have sealed our border so that no new Rohingya could enter Bangladesh," he said.
He also mentioned that some new Rohingyas went to bordering China as they did not dare to come to Bangladesh side.
He hoped that the displaced Rohingyas, who are staying in Bangladesh, would return to their homeland.
The foreign minister said PM Hasina has reiterated her call to the international community and the United Nations to play a more active role on the repatriation of the forcibly displaced Rohingyas to their motherland Myanmar and solve the crisis.
She made this call when UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi paid a courtesy call on her here.
Sheikh Hasina also called for enhancing UNHCR's activities in Myanmar for solving the Rohingya issue.
In response, Grandi said he would visit Myanmar soon, said Momen.
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