Bangladesh summons Myanmar envoy over Rohingya influx

Bangladesh has summoned Myanmar's ambassador here to express concerns over a military operation that has forced thousands of Rohingyas to flee their villages and asked it to take urgent measures to ensure that the Muslim minorities are not forced to seek shelter across the border.

The Foreign Ministry summoned Naypyidaw's envoy Myo Myint Than yesterday to express concern over the crisis in Myanmar's Buddhist majority western Rakhine state bordering Bangladesh. "We expressed our concerns (to the envoy) to be conveyed to the Myanmar authority over the ongoing military actions in Rakhine State 'causing dire consequences to the people (Rohingyas) and implications to Bangladesh," a foreign ministry spokesman said.

He said the envoy was told that thousands of Myanmar citizens continued to make their ways to Bangladesh despite tightened border vigil.

A foreign office statement said Dhaka also urged Myanmar to give "due consideration" to the international community's call for an impartial investigation into the alleged indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force and human rights violation during the military operation in Rakhine. "Dhaka requested Naypyidaw to initiate urgent measures so that the Muslim minorities are not forced to seek shelter across the border," the statement read.

Witnesses and media reports suggested paramilitary coastguards joined the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to enforce a tighter vigil on the borders with Myanmar to prevent the Rohingya influx. Myanmar troops poured into the western state of Rakhine along the frontier with Bangladesh in response to coordinated attacks on three border posts on October 9 that killed nine police officers.