Bangladesh Stands by Engagement with Myanmar’s Arakan Army

Bangladeshi Foreign Ministry Advisor Touhid Hossain has defended Bangladesh’s unofficial engagement contact with the Arakan Army, which has taken control of neighboring Rakhine State in Myanmar.

Responding to reporters at the Foreign Ministry on Sunday, the advisor said keeping in touch was a “necessity” and in Dhaka’s own interest.

“We have officially acknowledged that the situation along Bangladesh’s border has changed, we cannot deny it,” he said according to bdnews24.com. “The entire stretch of our border with Myanmar is now under the control of non-state actors. The central government has no authority there.”