Naf War

Operation Bismillah
Date 8–10 January 2000 Location Bangladesh-Myanmar border Result Bangladeshi victory Dam construction stopped
Belligerents
Bangladesh	Burma
Commanders and leaders
Brigadier Fazlur Rehman	General Than Shwe
Units involved
Bangladesh Rifles	Burmese Army
Casualties and losses
Bangladeshi claims: none Neutral reports: some potentially killed	Bangladeshi claims: 600 killed Neutral reports: less than 25

The Battle of Naf (Bengali: নাফ যুদ্ধ), officially called the 'Operation Bismillah' by Bangladesh Rifles (BdR) was a minor military engagement between the Bangladesh Rifles (now Border Guard Bangladesh ) and the Burmese border guards. The skirmish led to some Burmese military deaths, and no Bangladeshi loss of life. Later, Director General of the Bangladesh Rifles Major General Fazulr Rahman stated on a talk show that over six hundred Burmese soldiers died. Other military officials denied the claims, further adding that the situation was resolved diplomatically and that Parliament never declared a "war". The 2,500 soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles fought against two guard posts of the Burmese Army, i.e. 25 soldiers.

Background

In 1966, an agreement was reached between the governments of Pakistan and Burma during the border settlement. According to the agreement, the middle part of the Naf River sector was specified as the border between the two countries. The Naf River has twelve tributaries in Myanmar. As per the agreement, the middle part of the Naf River sector was recognized as the international boundary, so Myanmar could not take any action, which could cause major disruption in the course of the Naf River. But Myanmar ignored the agreement and built dams on eleven out of twelve rivers by 2000. Due to this, the main flow of Naf River was diverted towards Bangladesh and about 2500 acres of land was lost from the territory of Bangladesh.

In 2000, when Myanmar attempted to build a dam at the last tributary, there were several rounds of meetings between the border guards of the two countries. When this dam was being built, it was feared that the Bangladeshi part of the Naf River would flood causing Teknaf city to disappear, so when the Bangladesh Rifles requested not to build the dam in accordance with the 1966 agreement, but the Myanmar border guards sent a letter in threatening tone. "From NASAKA HQ to BDR HQ Bangladesh. We are warning you to behave otherwise we will teach you lessons you will never forget."

Ultimately the Bangladesh Rifles decided to stop the dam by military force.

Battle

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 the deciding factor in a potential battle.

According to the then Director General of BDR, Major General Alam Fazlur Rahman, he sent different types of ammunition from mortar shells to Cox's Bazar the 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 in Dinajpur that day as part of a regular border inspection. From there he ordered the start of the operation through a codename "Bismillah" . The battle was organized in the area adjacent to Parrot Island in the Huaikung Union of Teknaf. 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 battle several spies were sent to Burma to collect information. Information from them shows that 25 soldiers of the Burmese regular forces, under a major general and a rear admiral, appeared on the battlefield. Compared to that, the military preparedness of Bangladesh was very inadequate (only 2,500 regular soldiers). The then ruling military junta, a council called the State Peace and Development Council, was in charge of the Myanmar government. 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 foreign journalists and ambassadors stationed in Rangoon on January 9 and announced that "We want Bangladesh and us to discuss and settle the disputed issues together without any preconditions."

He also sent a letter from Myanmar asking Bangladesh to stop the attack.

Ceasefire

By January 10, the war had ended due to a unilateral withdrawal from the war. A high-level delegation was sent to Maungdaw, accepting Burma's offer of unconditional talks. The delegation led by the then Joint Secretary (Political) of the Ministry of Home Affairs Zanib ul Haq presented Bangladesh's proposals. 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-term conflict 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 victory in the battle, the government of Bangladesh awarded a gallantry medal called Operation Naf Padak to every soldier who participated in the battle. For the first time in Bangladesh, BDR won a single victory in a battle without the participation of the army.

Also the rarest feat achieved by BDR in Naf war was zero mortality. In the fierce battle that lasted for three days, 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 wounded.