Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen on Tuesday termed Myanmar’s recent mortar shelling inside Bangladesh “unintentional mistake”. He said this while addressing a press conference — on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s itinerary at the 77th UNGA — at Hotel Lotte in New York.  The foreign minister said Myanmar authorities informed them that they are not shelling, targeting Bangladesh. Read Myanmar claims mortar shells fired by Arakan Army, ARSA on its border forces landed in Bangladesh “That particular border area is very crisscrossed. Sometimes it is difficult to understand the border…for that reason, they are not shelling inside our border intentionally,” Momen said. One or two mortar shells that landed inside the Bangladesh border were dropped by mistake, he said. He also said that Bangladesh foreign ministry summoned the Myanmar ambassador and the Myanmar authority promised that they will remain cautious. Momen said Bangladesh has sealed the entire border and will not allow any more Rohingyas cross into the country. Read Malaysian foreign minister, int’l lawmakers demand decisive action on Myanmar He also mentioned that some Rohingyas went to the China area as they did not dare to come to the Bangladesh side. He hoped that the displaced Rohingyas, who are staying in Bangladesh, would return to their homeland. The foreign minister said Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has reiterated her call to the international community and the United Nations to play a more active role in repatriation of the forcibly displaced Rohingyas to their motherland Myanmar. Read Tension at Bangladesh-Myanmar border: Govt plans to evacuate 300 families She made the call while UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi paid a courtesy call on her in New York. Sheikh Hasina also emphasized enhancing UNHCR's activities in Myanmar for solving the Rohingya issue. In response, Filippo Grandi said he would visit Myanmar soon. Read BGB, Coast Guard asked to remain alert with “reinforcement”, if needed The PM reiterated that the Rohingya crisis can only be resolved by repatriating them to Myanmar.  The UNHCR High Commissioner also agreed with her on this matter. During the meeting, they discussed in detail the present operations of UNHCR to help Rohingyas who took shelter in Cox's Bazar and Bhashanchar in Bangladesh. Read BNP urges global community to act against Myanmar's insolent activities Later, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)  Karim A A Khan QC also called on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. They discussed various aspects of cooperation between Bangladesh and the ICC. The  Premier has assured the ICC Prosecutor that Bangladesh will continue to cooperate with all ongoing efforts at the ICC to ensure justice and accountability for the Rohingya victims of torture in Myanmar. Read Do more to cut Myanmar military's revenue, arms supply: UN to countries ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan has expressed interest in visiting Bangladesh again early next year. Executive Director of the UN-Habitat Maimunah Mohd Sharif paid a courtesy call on the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina as well. In this meeting, the steps for sustainable urbanisation taken by the Bangladesh government and areas of future cooperation were discussed. Read Bangladesh-Myanmar border tension: ASEAN envoys to relay Dhaka's concerns In this connection, the Prime Minister informed him about the success of the Ashrayan Project undertaken by the Government of Bangladesh for the landless and homeless people.

Bangladesh today summoned Myanmar Ambassador to Bangladesh, Aung Kyaw Moe, for the fourth time and lodged a strong protest over the recent incidents along Bangladesh-Myanmar border. The ambassador was summoned at the office of Md. Najmul Huda, Director General (South East Asia wing) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to lodge the protest, said a MoFA source.    Ambassador Moe was seen running fast and left the MoFA quickly getting into his car to avoid the journalists who were present there.    Read: Home Minister: Will complain to UN over Myanmar’s mortar shelling if needed Earlier, Dhaka reiterated its “deep concern” over the recent incidents of Myanmar’s mortar shelling, indiscriminate aerial firing in the bordering areas, and air space violations. On Saturday, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said the government is trying to resolve the issues with Myanmar peacefully and diplomatically but a complaint will be lodged to the United Nations regarding mortar shelling at the border if necessary. He said the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry has warned them (Myanmar) several times but they didn’t keep their promise. “We have lodged a strong protest over casualties from Friday’s mortar shelling by Myanmar at Tombru border,” he added. Read:Rohingya boy killed, 5 injured as Myanmar steps up shelling along border “Myanmar’s internal conflicts should remain within its border but their forces are crossing the border time and again and injuring Bangladeshi nationals,” said Asaduzzaman. He said Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) is continuously being contacted about this issue and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) has remained alert to prevent illegal entry of Rohingyas. On Friday night, a 17-year-old-Rohingya boy named Mohammad Iqbal was killed and five others were injured as a mortar shell fired by the Myanmar army exploded at the Zero Point Rohingya Camp close to the international border in Tombru, Bandarban. The deceased and injured were all residents of the Zero Point Rohingya Camp, known as the camp that is closest to the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, in no man's land. Read:Bangladesh wants discussion to avert border tension with Myanmar: Foreign Secretary Four mortar shells landed in succession at the Rohingya camp around 8pm. Earlier, an indigenous youth named Anganthowai Tanchangya was grievously injured in a landmine explosion along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Naikhongchhari upazila of Bandarban on Friday noon. Locals said it is the Myanmar army that has mined the area. Twelve mortar shells have been fired by the Myanmar army on Bangladesh territory so far.

UN Member States must ensure that the current Permanent Representative of Myanmar to the United Nations, Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, retains his position as Myanmar’s representative to the UN, said 358 Myanmar and international civil society organizations on Monday.  They made the call in an open letter to members of the UN General Assembly. On September 14, the UN’s Credentials Committee, comprised of nine UN Member States (including China, Russia and the United States), will meet to consider which of the competing submissions – Ambassador U Kyaw Moe Tun or the illegitimate military junta that has attempted a bloody coup since February – should be Myanmar’s representative at the UN.  Read:Myanmar leaders use pandemic as political weapon - Since the attempted coup, the Ambassador has provided a crucial voice at the UN for the people of Myanmar and their legitimate government, the National Unity Government (NUG).  Following its deliberations, the Credentials Committee will submit its recommendations to the UN General Assembly.  Khin Ohmar, founder of Progressive Voice, said there is a real risk that complacency from UN member states could result in the Myanmar people being robbed of their rightful voice at the UN, or even in the military junta receiving official UN accreditation as representatives of the people they have murdered and tortured so mercilessly.  "We therefore need any UN member state that values humanity, peace and stability, and respects the will of the people, to reject - as the people of Myanmar categorically have - the military junta and its mass atrocities, and take a stand publicly in support of U Kyaw Moe Tun and the NUG.” Since the February attempted coup, the military junta has killed 1,058, arrested 7,992, detained 6,343 (including 104 children), sentenced 118 people in absentia and 39 people to death in absentia, and has tortured and sexually assaulted countless more.  The junta has been unable to establish government functions or take effective control over the territory of Myanmar.  Instead of making attempt to control Covid-19, the junta has instead seized medical facilities, hoarded oxygen, persecuting healthcare professionals, and fired on crowds seeking assistance, resulting in an uncontrolled outbreak of the disease that jeopardises global efforts to control it. Kasit Piromya, a Board Member of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) and former Foreign Minister of Thailand said the junta is the very antithesis of the UN’s core values of peace, human rights, justice and social progress.  "Allowing it to sit at the UN would not only undermine any chance of seeing peace and democracy again in Myanmar, but would undermine the credibility of all UN efforts across the globe.” Dr. Simon Adams, Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect said Myanmar’s military is responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and continues to kill and arrest its own people for resisting the coup.  Read: Myanmar writes to Bangladesh explaining military takeover: FM The UN General Assembly voted in June to condemn the excessive and lethal violence utilized by Myanmar's armed forces since 1 February 2021 and called upon the military to respect the will of the people.  "This denunciation sent a clear message from the international community that the actions taken by the junta are contrary to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. No country should recognize or support the Myanmar’s military junta.” 

Two Myanmar citizens were arrested on charges alleging that they conspired to oust Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations, who opposes the military junta that seized power earlier this year, by injuring — or even killing — him. Phyo Hein Htut and Ye Hein Zaw plotted to seriously injure or kill Myanmar’s ambassador in an attack that was to take place on American soil, U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a release Friday. Read: UN takes no action on order against Myanmar on Rohingyas According to court documents in White Plains federal court, a Thailand arms dealer who sells weapons to the Myanmar military hired the pair to hurt the ambassador to try to force him to step down. If that didn’t work, the ambassador was to be killed, authorities said. Myanmar’s military overthrew the country’s civilian government in February. Myanmar’s currently recognized U.N. ambassador, Kyaw Moe Tun, staunchly opposed the ouster of civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. In a speech to the General Assembly in late February, Tun called for “the strongest possible action from the international community” to restore democracy. Myanmar’s military has tried to remove Tun from his post, but the 193-member General Assembly is responsible for accrediting diplomats and has not taken action at the military’s urging. There was no immediate response to a phone call and email to Myanmar’s U.N. Mission seeking comment. Read: UN calls for return to democracy in Myanmar, end to violence The plot to maim or kill Tun was to be carried out in Westchester County, where the ambassador lives, according to two criminal complaints. Htut last month was contacted by the arms dealer, who wanted to pay several thousand dollars for Htut to carry out the attack, the complaints said. Htut received a $2,000 advance on July 23, it added. After the FBI learned of the plot on Tuesday, it arranged to interview Htut on Wednesday, when Htut described the plan, which included initially tampering with the ambassador’s tires to cause an accident, the complaint said. It said Htut received $4,000 in payments to carry out the attack and was to be paid another $1,000 once it was finished. In a complaint against Zaw, authorities said Zaw admitted after his arrest that he sent the $4,000 to Htut. Htut, 28, and Zaw, 20, are each charged with conspiracy to assault and make a violent attack upon a foreign official, which carries a maximum sentence upon conviction of five years in prison. At an initial appearance in White Plains federal court Friday, Htut consented to detention. Zaw awaited an initial appearance. Messages seeking comment from their lawyers were not immediately returned.