Firing on Mayanmar border stops as Burmese soldiers step up patrol

Unlike the past couple of weeks, no gunfire was heard on Sunday on the Myanmar side of the Ghumdhum-Tumbru border in the south-eastern swathe of the country. Locals said they did not spot any Burmese chopper in the sky either. 

But Myanmar soldiers, armed with heavy weapons, were seen patrolling in groups along the borderline. The soldiers have also taken positions in borderline bankers, causing tensions among locals and around 4,500 Rohingya refugees at the zero-point to persist. 

"We are afraid of fresh violence as the soldiers could now be seen patrolling more frequently," Mohammad Rahim, a Rohingya living on the zero-point, told The Business Standard on Sunday. 

In the last three weeks, the Arakan Army (AA) had been fighting with Myanmar's security forces across the borderline. Bullets and several mortar shells fired from helicopters and fighter jets of the Myanmar forces landed on Bangladesh territory. The helicopters also violated Bangladesh airspace multiple times.   

Subsequently, Dhaka lodged a diplomatic protest to Naypyidaw.  

During a visit to the border on Sunday, a bunker of the Burmese army could be seen just opposite pillar number 33-2 of the border. The soldiers were stationed with heavy weapons. 

Around 22,000 locals live in villages near the borderline. Ghumdhum villagers said they are not coming out of home unless there is an urgency. 

Nurul Alam, a resident of Ghumdhum union, said they have stopped sending their kids to school due to the firing on the Myanmar side of the border. He said many of them have kept the cattle tied in sheds.    

"There was frequent firing on Saturday. We spotted firing from helicopters thrice. We cannot leave the house and go to the farm," said Bilkis Khatun of Tumbru Uttarpara.

On 28 August, a mortar shell landed on the yard of Noor Ahmad's house in the village. Bangladeshi law enforcers later removed it.

Noor Ahmad's wife Noor Jahan said we used to remain calm if there were gunshots on the other side of the border. But they are now panicking since the mortar shell landed.  

Ghumdhum Union Parishad Chairman AKM Jahangir Aziz said there is no official instruction to avoid the farmland near the borderline, but people are not going there out of fear.

In the face of persecution and brutal military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine state in 2017, about 750,000 Rohingya poured across the border seeking refuge in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is currently harbouring more than 11 lakh Rohingya as the camp in Cox's Bazar Kutupalong has turned into the world's largest refugee settlement. The UN described the Myanmar army's crackdown on the Rohingya as a "classic example of ethnic cleansing", while others have accused the country of committing genocide against the Muslim-minority group.