Bangladesh will send back 180 Myanmar nationals, including BGP and army personnel: Foreign minister

Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud on Tuesday said Bangladesh would send back 180 Myanmar nationals, including members of Border Guard Police and army personnel of Myanmar, who have taken refuge in Bangladesh.

Apart from that, he said, steps are being taken to bring home 170 Bangladeshis trapped in Myanmar.

The foreign minister came up with the updates while talking to journalists at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He said 177 members of Myanmar's Border Guard Police (BGP) and later three of their army personnel have taken shelter in Bangladesh.

"The Myanmar government has agreed to take them back following a discussion with us," Hasan said.

They preferred the sea route while Bangladesh was hoping to send them back this week.

"As the sea is not favorable at this moment, they will be sent back next week or as soon as the sea is calmer," Hasan said.

Besides, Bangladesh proposed Myanmar to return 170 Bangladeshis trapped in Myanmar.

The Myanmar side also responded positively to that proposal, Hasan said.

Asked about the international response to the Joint Response Plan (JRP) meeting held in Geneva on 13 March to deal with the Rohingya crisis, the foreign minister said the foreign secretary and the prime minister's principal secretary attended the JRP meeting in Switzerland.

"Response to our proposed funding and cooperation is better than last year," Hasan said.

'BNP talks so much to cover up corruption in their era'

When a journalist referred to BNP leader Ruhul Kabir Rizvi who is accusing Awami League of corruption, the Awami League joint general secretary said the FBI has testified against the corruption and money-laundering of the acting chairman of BNP and the smuggled money of his younger brother, Koko, has been recovered from Singapore.

"Not only that, the country was champion in corruption in the world five times in a row while they were in power. They talk so much to cover this up," Hasan said.

The minister said the "competition" between leaders Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Rizvi and Moyeen Khan is another reason for these unrealistic remarks from BNP.

"Rizvi's speech is so vulgar and unrealistic that it seems he needs treatment for mental imbalance," Hasan said.