Fresh Rohingya intrusion won’t be allowed: Home Minister

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has said that no more Rohingya citizens will be allowed to enter Bangladesh. 

"We are facing various complications with the Rohingyas living in the country. No more Rohingyas will be allowed to enter the country," he said while talking to reporters after a programme in Dhaka Monday (19 September).

The minister said, "Myanmar has been involved in the war due to various internal problems. We still don't know exactly who they are fighting with, or who they are resisting. As far as we know, their conflict is with the Arakan Army."

Mentioning the recent shelling on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border that killed one and injured several others, Kamal said, "The foreign ministry lodged a strong protest against Myanmar over the incident. If the protests don't work, we will raise our problems before the United Nations."

He further said, "We are a peaceful nation. We will try to get a peaceful solution. A decision in this regard will be taken soon by the prime minister and the foreign ministry."

On Friday (16 September), a 15-year-old Rohingya boy was killed and at least six people were injured when mortar shells fired from Myanmar exploded in Bangladesh – the latest in a series of violent incidents.

Fears grip people living by the bordering villages in Bandarban, as some 35 families of Konarpara of Bandarban's Tumbru moved to their relatives on Saturday (17 September). 

For more than a month, the "Arakan Army '' has been fighting with Myanmar's security forces in the country's Rakhine state across Bangladesh's Ghumdhum border at Naikhongchhari upazila of Bandarban. During this period, mortar shells have landed inside Bangladesh multiple times, with Myanmar also violating Bangladesh's airspace.      

Bangladesh this month issued a statement expressing deep concern over falling mortar shells inside Bangladesh territory, indiscriminate aerial firing from Myanmar in the bordering areas, and air space violation from Myanmar.

The Myanmar envoy in Dhaka was summoned multiple times in recent weeks so that those concerns could be conveyed.