Draft:Naf War

• Comment: Need more references, including non-Bangladeshi ones. Vinegarymass911 (talk) 13:38, 26 April 2024 (UTC)

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Naf War
Date January 8 - 10, 2000 Location Bangladesh–Myanmar border Result Bangladesh strategic victory; treaty signed
Belligerents
Bangladesh Bangladesh Rifles	Myanmar Border Guard Forces
Commanders and leaders
A. L. M. Fazlur Rahman	General Than Shwe
Strength
2500	25000
Casualties and losses
0 killed (claimed by Bangladesh)	600 killed (claimed by Bangladesh)

The Naf War was a 3-day border clash that occurred in January 2000. During the clash, the Bangladesh Rifles (now Border Guard Bangladesh) and the Myanmar Army engaged in heavy fighting near the Naf River, before ending hostilities via a diplomatic truce.

Background

In 1966, an agreement was reached between the governments of Pakistan and Burma during the border settlement. According to the decision of this treaty, the middle part of the present-day Naf River sector is specified as the border of the two countries.The Naf River has twelve tributaries in Myanmar. As per the treaty, the middle part of the Naf River sector was recognized as the international boundary, Myanmar could not take any action in those sectors that would cause major changes in the course of the Naf River. But Myanmar ignored the agreement and built dams on eleven out of twelve rivers by 2000. As a result, the main flow of the Naf River shifted towards Bangladesh and about 2,500 acres of land was lost from the territory of Bangladesh.

In 2000, when Myanmar attempted to build a dam at the last branch, there were several rounds of meetings between the border guards of both countries. When this dam was built, it was feared that the Bangladesh part of the Naf River would break, so that the Teknaf town could disappear, so when the Bangladesh Rifles requested not to build the dam in accordance with the 1966 agreement, the Myanmar border guards sent a letter in rude and unprofessional language.

From NASAKA HQ to BDR HQ Bangladesh. We are warning you to behave otherwise we will teach you lessons you will never forget.
[নাসাকা সদরদপ্তর থেকে বিডিআর সদরদপ্তর বাংলাদেশ। সুন্দরভাবে আচরণ করতে আমরা আপনাদের সতর্ক করছি অন্যথায় আমরা আপনাদের এমন শিক্ষা দেব যা আপনারা কখনও ভুলবেন না।]

When diplomatic talks failed, the Bangladesh Rifles decided to stop the construction of the dam by using military force.

History

In terms of military position, the military position of Bangladesh was slightly below the position of Myanmar. However, the Bangladesh Rifles identified ammunition sufficiency as a factor that would determine the outcome of a potential battle.

Myanmar had 25,000 personnel on the border, including 2 Myanmar Army divisions and several Navy contingents.

According to the Director General of BDR, Major General Alam Fazlur Rahman, he sent mortal shells to different types of ammunition from to Cox's Bazar that night before the war started. He ordered half of this to be deployed at Cox's Bazar, while the rest of the ammunition was sent to the main battlefield.

The main battle started on January 8, 2000 at 2:30 PM. General Fazlur Rahman was staying at Dinajpur that day as part of a regular border inspection. From there he gave the order to start the operation through a code word saying "bismillah"

The battle was organized in Teknaf's Whykong Union region adjacent to Totar Island. Here the BDR opened fire in front of a bend in the Naf river. About six hundred Myanmar soldiers and dam construction workers were killed in the ambush. Burmese army gathering and casualties in the war received from intelligence sources.Shortly before the war several spies were sent to Burma to collect information. Information from them shows that 25,000 soldiers of the Burmese regular forces, under a major general and a rear admiral, appeared on the battlefield.Compared to that, Bangladesh's military preparedness was very inadequate (only 2,500 regular soldiers). The ruling military junta State Peace and Development Council was in charge of the Myanmar government then. The chairman of this council, Senior General Than Shwe, was the head of government of Myanmar, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

General Than Shwe summoned the foreign journalists and ambassadors stationed in Rangoon on January 9 and announced that-

We want Bangladesh to settle the conflicting issues together without any preconditions.

He also asked Bangladesh to stop attacking Myanmar by sending a letter

Ceasefire

By January 10, the war had subsided due to a unilateral withdrawal from the war. A high-level delegation went to Maungdaw, accepting Burma's offer of unconditional talks. The delegation led by the then Joint Secretary (Political) of the Ministry of Home Affairs Zanibul Haque presented Bangladesh's proposals.As no typewriters were provided by Myanmar, a handwritten pledge was signed at the meeting, in which the Myanmar government promised to refrain from any future attempt to build any form of dam on the Naf River.

Aftermath

Although the Naf War was short-lived in terms of its scope and duration, it had a long-term impact. After this war regular conferences were held at the level of the Border Guards. In recognition of the victory in the war, the government of the day awarded a gallant copper medal called "Operation Naf Padak" to every soldier who participated in the war.For the first time in Bangladesh, BDR won a single victory in a war without the participation of the army. Also the rarest feat achieved by BDR in Naf War is Zero Mortality. In the three-day fierce battle, more than six hundred people were killed on the Burmese side, but not a single person was killed in the BDR. Only a few were shot and injured.