Narinjara News
January 1, 2009
Cox's bazar: Burmese prisoners accounting for 105 people, though released have been languishing in Bangladesh prison since 2006 because the Burmese military government refuses to recognize them as Burmese citizens.
According to a prison report, 105 released Burmese prisoners were brought to Cox's Bazaar prison located near Burma's western border, from several prisons around Bangladesh in 2006 to be handed over to Burma.
However, the released Burmese prisoners could not be sent to Burma from Bangladesh as the Burmese authorities refused to accept them.
An immigration official Abu Kalan from Cox's Bazaar said that Burmese authorities told them whenever they request their transfer to Burma that they could not check whether the prisoners in Bangladesh are Burmese nationals or not.
According to prison sources, the Bangladesh government is not willing to keep the released Burmese prisoners in Bangladeshi prison anymore as the authorities have to spend additional funds for them.
At the same time, accommodation for Burmese prisoners is also another problem for Bangladesh because there are many prisoners staying in prison though there is not enough adequate accommodation in the prison.
In Cox's Bazaar prison, there are nearly 400 Burmese citizens and most of them are detained by Bangladesh authorities for illegally entering Bangladesh territory.
It is learnt that there are 1500 Burmese nationals in Bangladesh prison and the numbers have increased in recent years.
