"Unintentional mistake", says FM Momen about Myanmar mortar shelling Bangladesh

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has termed Myanmar's recent shelling of mortars and repeated gunfire inside Bangladesh as "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 on Tuesday. 

The foreign minister said the Myanmar authority informed Dhaka that they are not shelling inside Bangladesh targeting the neighbouring country.

"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 to us that they will maintain caution," he said.

Momen said Bangladesh has sealed the entire border with Myanmar and it 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.

Already, about 1.2 million Rohingyas have fled their homeland and taken shelter in Bangladesh in 2017 after Myanmar's military unleashed a crackdown on the ethnic Muslims.

He also mentioned that meanwhile 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.