Google Alert – বাংলাদেশ
Having lost her right leg in a landmine explosion, Nur Kaida, a 23-year-old Rohingya woman, now feels helpless at a refugee camp in Teknaf.
“I have become a burden,” said Kaida who was maimed while trying to return home in Maungdaw, Rakhine State, in February this year.
“Landmines were laid around many houses after we fled the village. Now, people are too afraid to go back.”
— Nur Kaida, a Rohingya woman, about her neighbourhood in Maungdaw
“Our family is devastated,” she said softly, her frail body bearing visible signs of malnutrition.
Like many others, she and her family fled their village to a forest in August last year amid fierce fighting between Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA). Hiding in the forest for months, they attempted to return to the village after the AA claimed control over much of Maungdaw in early December.
But their hope was short-lived. On February 3, as they approached the entrance to their abandoned home, a hidden landmine detonated, leaving Kaida and her two siblings severely injured.
“Landmines were laid around many houses after we fled the village. Now, people are too afraid to go back,” she said, adding that local villagers believe the landmines were planted to prevent the return of displaced Rohingyas.
Kaida, along with her parents and two siblings, escaped to Bangladesh and took shelter at the refugee camp in the second week of February.
They are among more than a million Rohingyas who have fled to Bangladesh since 2017 — around 750,000 during the military crackdown that year, and another 200,000 after a fresh conflict between the AA and military junta in late 2023.
RISING LANDMINE CASUALTIES
Landmine-related injuries along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border have been on the rise over the last couple of years, according to Border Guard Bangladesh data.
In the first six months of this year, at least 18 people — 17 Bangladeshis and one Rohingya — were wounded in landmine explosions on the Myanmar side of the border. Two Rohingyas were killed and six others wounded last year, while five people were injured in 2023.
Human Rights Watch reported last November that the Myanmar military continues to deploy banned antipersonnel landmines across all 14 states and regions despite international prohibitions.
Since the military coup in February, 2021, both the junta and non-state armed groups, such as the AA, reportedly increased the use of these mines, it said.
Landmine Monitor 2024 ranked Myanmar the world’s deadliest country for landmine casualties, with 1,003 civilian deaths and injuries recorded in 2023 — nearly triple the figure in 2022. The grim trend continues, with 692 civilian casualties, including many children, reported in the first six months of this year. Experts believe the actual toll is significantly higher.
With the junta losing ground in Rakhine, the AA has been accused of planting mines, particularly near houses and along routes used for cross-border movement.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) sources said mines were placed only 300-400 yards inside Myanmar territory, near Naikhongchhari border in Bandarban.
TRAGEDIES ON THE BORDER
The Bangladeshis injured by hidden landmines were either foraging for wood and bamboo in forests or trying to cross into Myanmar illegally for trade.
Moreover, Naikhongchhari has become a major escape route for distressed Rohingyas fleeing Rakhine.
On July 13, Mohammad Hosain from Ukhiya’s Patabari village lost a leg after he stepped on a mine while collecting bamboo. He is now receiving treatment at Chattogram Medical College Hospital.
Several BGB officials said the AA plants mines not only to bar Rohingyas from returning to Myanmar but also to control informal trade routes. Many Rohingyas said they had to pay the AA while crossing the border.
Lt Col SKM Kafil Uddin Kayes, commander of the 11 BGB Battalion, pointed out that in the past, landmines were laid by Myanmar border guards. “Now, it’s Arakan Army. Those who enter Myanmar territory illegally are the ones getting injured in mine explosions.”
He said these incidents are regularly reported to higher authorities. But coordination among all relevant entities remains difficult, as the AA is a non-state actor.
Quoting a smuggler interrogated while in detention, an official of the Armed Police Battalion (APBN), said, “Arakan Army controls many of the routes and landmines are planted to deter movement outside those.”
MEASURES NEEDED
The use of antipersonnel mines goes against the Ottawa Treaty that aims to ban such weapons worldwide, said security analyst Ishfaq Ilahi Choudhury.
Myanmar is not a signatory to this treaty.
“The 271-kilometre border is now largely under Arakan Army’s control, but Bangladesh should raise this issue with the Myanmar government and international bodies like the UN Refugee Agency,” he said.
“Awareness among locals is vital so that they don’t cross the border,” he noted.
Naikhongchhari Upazila Nirbahi Officer Mazharul Islam Chowdhury said the administration is working with local representatives to raise awareness among locals.
“We are coordinating with BGB to avert such incidents, but the strengthening of border infrastructure and logistics will make a big difference,” he added.
During a visit to Rohingya camps in Ukhiya on July 14, Home Affairs Adviser Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said the government was taking measures to mitigate landmine risks and enhance safety along the border.
He, however, did not clarify how the government would do so.