BNP expresses 'grave concern' over Dhaka's agreement to open aid corridor for Myanmar's Rakhine

Dhaka: Former Bangladesh prime minister Khaleda Zia's BNP has expressed "grave concern" over the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government's announcement that Dhaka had agreed in-principle to open a humanitarian corridor for transporting relief supplies to Myanmar's Rakhine state.

On Monday, Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) secretary general Mira Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said at a public rally that the government should have consulted with all political parties before taking such a "major decision" as it involved the question of "our independence, sovereignty and stability and peace of the region in the future".

"The report made us concerned," Alamgir said.

M Touhid Hossain, the interim government's foreign affairs advisor, announced on Sunday that Dhaka agreed in-principle, "subject to conditions", to a United Nations (UN) proposal to establish a humanitarian corridor through Bangladesh to send aid to Rakhine amid the ongoing civil war between Myanmar government troops and the rebel Arakan Army.

Declining to elaborate on the conditions, he had said, "I will not go into the details (but), if the conditions are met, we will certainly provide assistance."

The UN had earlier expressed fear the region might witness a famine -- a fallout of the civil war that resulted in the possible influx of other ethnic groups into Bangladesh alongside the Rohingya.

Speaking on the issue, BNP leader Alamgir said, "We do not want to become another Gaza ... We do not want to get involved in another war. We do not want anyone to come here and create more trouble for us. We are already in a serious problem with the Rohingya."

He said the BNP did not have any objection in extending help to people in distress but consultations with political parties were required as "we don't want anyone to come to our territory to create troubles" afresh.

The BNP's reaction came amid reports that more Rohingya were trespassing into Bangladesh every day to escape the brutality of the Arakan Army.

The Daily Star newspaper, quoting Rohingya sources, said they faced murders, torture, forced disappearances and recruitment into the rebel group as human shields against junta forces.

"Currently, a large number of Rohingya are fleeing from Rakhine and taking shelter in various refugee camps in (southeastern) Cox's Bazar," Bangladesh's Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mizanur Rahman said.

Since November 2023, about 1.30 lakh Rohingya have entered Bangladesh. Most of them arrived after June 2024, he added.

Bangladesh last week acknowledged the Arakan Army's presence in its rugged southeastern region, saying it was disrupting trade with Myanmar.

More than 13 lakh Rohingya have been crammed into makeshift refugee camps in Bangladesh's southeastern part as they escaped a brutal military crackdown in 2017 while about 70,000 fled last year amid fresh violence.