By Rohingya Eye | January 26, 2017
Maungdaw — The displaced Rohingya villagers at the
village of Kyikanpyin in Maungdaw
Township have shown their disagreement over the Myanmar government’s plan to
resettle them at a different place, it has been reported.
Earlier, the displaced villagers welcomed the promise by
the Myanmar authorities of restoring them to their original places but later,
in practice, the authorities are reported to
have backtracked from their promise and been planning to resettling them
to elsewhere.
Two hamlets of the Kyikanpyin (Hawar Bil) village, Wapeik
(Wabek) and Middle hamlet, have been severely affected by the violence of the
Military and the BGP (Border Guard Police) in the name of ‘Clearance
Operation.’ The Wapeik hamlet was burnt down by the military and the BGP in
October 2016 in sporadic attacks, the villagers of the entire middle hamlet
were expelled from their homes in the late October (2016).
On January 24 morning, the officials from the Maungdaw
Township administration held a meeting with the displaced villagers of the
‘Wapeik’ and the ‘Middle Hamlet’ at the ‘Annex High School’ in Kyikanpyin.
During the meeting, the township administration officials
told the Wapeik villagers of ‘restoring them to their original homes in the
Wapeik and re-building it as a model village.’ The proposal was warmly welcomed
by the displaced Wapeik villagers attending the meeting.
A displaced person from the Middle hamlet attending the
event also said “our entire hamlet was removed in the name of ‘Operation
Clearance.’ Now, we need to take in the neighborhoods, which is very
inconvenient. We can’t return to our homes after the expulsion either. Our
homes were plundered and some homes were destroyed too.”
In reply, the township administration team promised the
villagers that they would arrange for their returns to their original homes
soon. The villagers attending the meeting were happy for the positive responses
from the authorities.
However, now, the displaced villagers are extremely
disappointed over the authorities’ divisive plan of resettlement realizing that
the actual place they (the authorities) are trying to resettle them to is a
different place contrary to their promise earlier.
The current place the authorities are planning to
resettle the displaced Rohingyas is located by the highway between ‘Kyikanpyin’
and ‘Zin Paing Nya’ villages. It’s a low-lying ground prone to frequently
flooding in the monsoon, difficult to find drinking water in the summer and
unsuitable for agriculture.
A displaced villager also added that the villagers are
currently facing troubles in taking shelters in the neighborhoods and the want
the authorities to restore them to their original place.