A Bangladeshi security official, centre, interacts with an emotional Rohingya Muslim from Myanmar, who tried to cross the Naf river into Bangladesh to escape sectarian violence, while sent back to his boat after being intercepted in Teknaf yesterday

By Mizan Rahman
Dhaka

After a few days’ pause, scores of Rohingya refugees escaping communal violence in Myanmar were yesterday arrested for trying to cross into Bangladesh on boats through the Teknaf border. The border guards detained 137 Rohingyas from Shah Porir Dwip along the Teknaf border until yesterday.
Border Guard Bangladesh’s commanding officer Lt Col Jahid Hasan said that the refugees would be pushed back to Myanmar waters after providing them with food and other essentials.
Communal riot had broken out in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhaine, near the border with Bangladesh, where local Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas clashed. Hundreds of Rohingya refugees started to cross the border at Teknaf for taking shelter the neighbouring
Bangladesh.
Hundreds of refugees were detained and turned back by BGB until last week.
After a gap of three days since last influx on Thursday, the 137 people, mostly women and children, tried to enter Bangladesh’s territory in seven engine-run boats yesterday.
“They tried to intrude into the country starting from early hours of Monday until 1 in the afternoon,” said Lt Col Hasan.
The United Nation’s High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has requested Bangladesh for opening its border to Rohingyas fleeing from sectarian clash.
Bangladesh, already burdened with 500,000 illegal Rohingyas who entered into the country over the last two decades, has refused to respond to the
UNHCR call.
The government heightened border vigilance to prevent Rohingyas from crossing over, bringing trade through the Teknaf land port to an abrupt halt.
On Sunday, a fishing boat from Myanmar reached the port, apparently marking a resumption in business activities.
Meanwhile, Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) yesterday said they extended humanitarian assistance to refugees from Myanmar before pushing them back to their own land.
According to an official statement, the border guards at Naikhang Chhari and Teknaf detained 769 intruders from Myanmar from June 2 to June 15 and pushed them back to Myanmar after providing all sorts of humanitarian assistance.
The BGB troops provided emergency treatment, food and relief goods to them, the statement said, adding that even the BGB supplied fuel to their engine boats for carrying them back.