Reporters were not allowed to attend the closed doors meeting that was held at the Arakan State Government Hall No. 2 on 22 May between 4pm and 6pm.

NHK, Reuters and Narinjara all tried to interview Mr Nambiar, but he refused to answer questions, saying he would answer them later.

The only person who answered media questions was U Maung Maung Ohn, the Arakan State Prime Minister.

He said: “He [Vijay Nambiar] came and talked about the 208 boat people saved by the Burma Navy at about 3.30pm yesterday. The navy caught two fishing boats in Burmese territorial waters yesterday. There were 208 boat people, 17 crew members and two translators, making for a total of 227 people on the boat. There was no one on the second boat.”

Initially it was believed that all the 208 boat people were Bangladeshi, but after questioning it was discovered that eight of the boat people were from Sittwe and Kyauktaw townships, whilst the two translators were from Burma and the 17 crew members were from the Dawei area in Southern Burma,

The two boats were captured in Burmese territorial waters as they were returning to Bangladesh after they had heard they would not be able to leave their human cargo in Thailand, Malaysia or Indonesia, who have all clamped down on refugees arriving on their shores.

As all the people on the boat, including the 17 crew members, had been at sea for over 40 days they were all given medical checks and treatment.

At present, all the people on the boat are staying in temporary shelters in Alel-Thaan-Kyaw village, in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State. U Maung Maung Ohn, the Arakan State Prime Minister, said that Mr Nambiar and groups of Arakan government officials will go to inspect the shelters.

The talks with Mr Nambia were seen as successful and this case illustrates that not all the boat people come from Arakan State or Burma.

Translated by Aung Myat Soe English version written by Mark Inkey for BNI