Bangladesh Fires Up a 20‑Year‑Old Military Thesis on Little Saint Martin Island
Bangladesh has finally handed out a few dozen armed border guards to the tiny island that’s been a hotspot in the Bay of Bengal for the past two decades. Yep, it’s only the second time troops have actually landed there since 1997, according to Lieutenant‑Colonel Sarker Mohammad Mustafizur Rahman of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
Why the sudden deployment?
- Border security – Bangladesh wants to keep a tight grip on its southern frontier.
- Drug interdiction – The new troops will stand as a bulwark against smugglers.
- Political posturing – It’s a showcase that “we’ve got eyes on this island” amid a long‑running diplomatic spat with Myanmar.
Stirring the Pot Again
Just a couple of months ago, the Bangladeshi foreign ministry sent Myanmar’s ambassador off the hook because some Burmese maps were turning Saint Martin into a “Myanmar exclusive” post. The controversy had resurfaced in October when a Burmese government website put the island squarely inside Myanmar’s borders.
Bangladesh’s sigh of relief that the troops landed simply means the country feels it’s time to play the fifth‑eleventh card in the decades‑long diplomatic chess game.
From That Day, “We’re Back!”
“After more than 20 years we felt we should deploy,” the BGB commander grinned. In a region where simple commutes can turn into geopolitical stunts, this move shines a glaring spotlight on a tense border relationship.
Rohingya Crisis: The Underpinning Tension
Bangladesh’s anger flares, of course, because Myanmar has been launching a brutal crackdown on its Rohingya minority in Rakhine Province. For nearly 740,000 Rohingyas, the current conflict has cruelly forced them to flee cross‑border into Bangladesh since August 2017. It’s turned the border into the world’s largest refugee camp.
Bangladesh has accused Myanmar of genocide, which is no small thing, especially since many Rohingyas share cultural, linguistic, and familial ties with the Muslim majority in Bangladesh’s southeast.
In the End…
So, what’s happening? Bangladesh is saying, “We’re not just political, we’re looking out for the ball and the border.” With the army coming on a remote island that was obviously “so good” to both sides to own, the peace road remains a rough one. Of course, the next step will probably be more missiles, more grenades, or perhaps a diplomatic out‑and‑away like any other. In the meantime, the tiny island is a hotspot of history created by those two militarized states—all from a (still vague) decision to claim “territorial identity.”
Meanwhile, the world watches, the ring‑hatched corners in the Archipelago continue but slowly, but have they, still create some tension that might keep the war story in the undercurrent.
