Even as there has been no recent reference to the now-aborted issue of a “humanitarian corridor” to Myanmar’s Rakhine State, Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman will begin a two-day visit to the headquarters of the Ramu-based 10th Infantry Division and the Teknaf camp on July 9, documents accessed by Northeast News reveal.
Gen Zaman will be accompanied by at least 20 other Army officers, including Quarter Master General Lieutenant General Faizur Rahman, Army Training and Doctrine Command General Officer Commanding Lt Gen Mainur Rahman, GOC 24th Infantry Division Maj Gen Mir Mushfiqur Rahman of the National Defence College and a host of Brigadier Generals and Lieutenant Colonels and Majors.
While Gen Zaman will fly out from Dhaka on July 9 on an Army Aviation Group’s CASA medium tactical transport aircraft before landing at the Cox’s Bazar airport, the other officers will reach Ramu by road.
This will be Gen Zaman’s first visit to Ramu cantonment (July 9) following the raging controversy over the UN-proposed “humanitarian corridor” – and seconded and supported by National Security Adviser Khalilur Rahman in April this year – against which he took a public stand in May.
On July 10, Gen Zaman and the other officers will visit the Army’s Teknaf camp where he is expected to be briefed for three hours on issues that sources were wary to disclose.
Other sources, however, said the Army was preparing to secure the stretch of area between Ramu and Teknaf in the backdrop of intelligence reports that armed groups of Rohingya refugees might pose a threat to this sensitive zone.
It may be recalled that Gen Zaman had visited Silkhali mouza, about 30 kms north of Teknaf, in February to personally oversee a large parcel of land that was planned to be developed into a “base camp” for receiving and disbursing supplies to the Arakan Army in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
Gen Zaman’s visit to Ramu and Teknaf comes in the wake of the controversy over the “humanitarian corridor” as well as a proposal to declare the area between Bandarban and Cox’s Bazar as a “military operations zone”.
When the “military operations zone” was still at the stage of discussions, it was proposed that the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) would step back from the border and pave the way for its dominance and control by the Army.
At that time, however, Bangladesh officials were tightlipped on the precise time when the MOZ will become operational.
Another key decision that was taken in the last couple of days was that while there will be no further reference to the controversial “humanitarian corridor”, the Army would not cross the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in the event logistics and supplies support was to be extended to the Arakan Army.
As a part of this plan, all supplies – logistics and provisions – will be provided at specific border points from where the Arakan Army will take them into their possession on their side of the boundary.
n a policy paper circulated among a select group of senior officers in May this year, a section of senior Army officers had opined that the “only way to effectively address the ongoing border security challenges, maintain a stable humanitarian corridor and reduce the burden on the BGB is declaring the Bangladesh-Myanmar border a Military Operations Zone (MOZ)”.
This would allow the Bangladesh Arny to “take full control of the border and secure it effectively, enabling the proper distribution of resources and freeing up the BGB for other important security tasks, including the managing the border with India”.
