Myanmar authority has been repairing the barbed wire fence at different points of the Bangladesh-Myanmar border for the past three days. On Monday (September 25), the Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) members were seen deployed near Ghumdhum, Tumbru and Jolpaitoli border areas in Naikhongchhari Upazila.

Locals believe that Myanmar is repairing the damaged fence to prevent the Rohingya refugees from returning to their country.

In different points of the Myanmar border, it is seen that camps have been set up for construction workers and heavy machineries. The points of the border which had been damaged because of Rohingya infiltration into Bangladesh are mainly repaired. At the same time, the boundary pillar adjacent to the barbed wire has also been changed.

Rohingya refugees of the small slum established on the no man’s land adjacent to the border of Naikhongchhari’s Ghumdhum and Tumbru had the desire to return to their homelands once the situation in Rakhine state calms down. They fear that it will not be possible after this reinforcement of barbed wire in the border.

The Myanmar government is also placing landmines at the border, which has further frightened the Rohingya.

When asked, Border Guard Bangladesh 34 Commander Lt Col Monjurul Hasan Khan said, “Repairing barbed wire fence in the border is an internal matter of Myanmar. It is not under our jurisdiction. However, BGB is patrolling every inch of the border cautiously.”

The border between Bangladesh and Myanmar is 271km, where 208km is on land and 63km is water.

The Myanmar government has successfully installed barbed wire fences across most of the border over the past five years.