At a time when armed Rohingya outfits continue with predatory attacks in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, senior retired Bangladeshi security officials and diplomats are considering reviving the controversial “humanitarian corridor” for sending in aid across the border, Northeast News has learnt.
Discussing this issue at a conference jointly organised by the Dhaka-based government-aided Bangladesh Institute for International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) and the Armed Forces Division (AFD) today, some of the participants and speakers, including representatives from the Army, focused on reassessing and reviewing the option of assisting the Rohingya refugees’ for their safe repatriation to two provinces – Buthidaung and Maungdaw – in the Rakhine State.
The conference took place at a time when British officials, including a senior UK diplomat based in Yangon, met Bangladesh National Security Adviser (NSA) Khalilur Rahman for three hours in Dhaka.
Bangladesh government sources said that British officials “strongly back the Rohingya repatriation” which can potentially cause security concerns for Dhaka.
While the three main speakers, including two professors from Dhaka University and Jahangirnagar University, dwelt on the Rohingya issue, they insisted that the “humanitarian corridor” issue should be brought back on Bangladesh’s security agenda “if only to assist an orderly return of the Rohingya to their homes in the Rakhine State”.
A former Bangladesh Army major general, who did not wish to be identified, said that today’s conference “dwelt on regional geopolitics” and why it was time for Bangladesh to not shy away from playing a leading role in this part of South and Southeast Asia.
The security situation on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border has taken a turn for the worse over the past month or so, with frequent reports of cross-border attacks by armed Arakan Rohinya Salvation Army (ARSA) and Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO).
Today, the Arakan Army said in a statement that it was “actively searching for the ARSA members” who killed two persons “transporting” passengers and essential foodstuff from Zedipyin village in Rathedaung township to Kyaukpandu in Maungdaw.
“The passenger vehicle was ambushed by the Islamic extremist militant terrorist group ARSA near the bridge east of Myo Yu village, Maungdaw Township,” the Arakan Army said.
The “humanitarian corridor” issue stirred up a controversy when it was proposed by Bangladesh’s NSA Khalilur Rahman, with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) opposing the move tooth-and-nail.
Although the BNP subsequently refrained from politicising the issue, Rahman backed off and the matter was dropped.
However, the Armed Forces Division under the Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus’ office, which had mooted a parallel move in May 2025 to declare a swathe of area between Cox’s Bazar and Bandarban as a “military operations zone”, is now planning a revival of the “humanitarian corridor” that had previously been characterised by NSA Khalilur Rahman as a means to dispatch aid to the Rakhine State.
Now, however, the “humanitarian corridor” issue will be aimed to facilitate Rohingya repatriation, especially when at least two Bangladeshi agencies, including the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB), is allegedly clandestinely sending armed ARSA and RSO fighters into the Rakhine State.
Last week, the United League of Arakan, the Arakan Army’s political front, issued a warning to the Bangladesh interim government on its continuing support to ARSA and RSO raids inside the Rakhine State.
