By Rohingya Eye & Rohingya Mirror
February 22, 2017
Maungdaw – The Maungdaw Township administration seized
many acres of Rohingya-owned farmlands in southern Maungdaw last week in order
to set up a model Hindu village, reports say.
The Maungdaw Township administrator and his team put up
red flags on the Rohingya lands the village of Kyauk Pandu locally known as
Shitaaf in the southern Maungdaw and ordered owners to stay away from the
lands.
U Aye Myint, a human rights activist based in Maungdaw,
view the move by the township administration to seize the Rohingya-owned
farlands and setting up a model village on them is to create animosity and
hostility between the local Muslims and the local Hindus.
“They have set up many illegal Rakhine settlements on the
lands belonged to the Rohingyas in the past. It has created hostility between
the people. Now, they are trying to create to animosity between Muslims and
Hindus by setting up a Hindu village on the Rohingyas’ lands. Now, the
government under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi is still implementing the
same old ‘Divide and Rule Policy’”, said U Aye Myint, while speaking to
Rohingya Vision TV.
Some owners of the lands confiscated are:
Mubarak (50), s/o Izhar Meah – 3 acres of his lands
confiscated
Abu Bakkar Siddique (45) – 1 acre of his land confiscated
Sayedullah (50), s/o Abdu Jalil — 3 acres of his lands
confiscated
Abdu Salam (55), s/o Iman Ali — 4 acres of his lands
confiscated
Abul Kasim (45), s/o Hala Meah — 1 acre of his lands
confiscated
Habiullah (40), Sayedur Rahman — 1 acre of his lands
confiscated
An acre of a mosque-owned land
Hashimullah (35), s/o Ghani Meah- 2 acres of his lands
confiscated
“At a time when we all are facing severe political and
economic crises, the government is confiscating our farmlands which are our
lifelines. These seizures of our farmlands could lead us to face starvations
and deaths,” said a Rohingya farmer in southern Maungdaw.
In a separate event taking place, the Myanmar Border
Guard Police has temporarily resumed travel access for the Rohingya people in
Maungdaw today (on February 21), a permission that is effective only for 14
days.
It has been learn that the police will raid Rohingya
villages and force them to accept the NVC (National Verification Card) if they
don’t agree to accept it within these 14 days. Approximately, 30 people at the
village of AlayThanKyaw (locally known as Haishshu Rata) in southern Maungdaw
have been forced to accept the NVC so far.
Read the related report: Border
Guards Arrest Rohingya Figureheads for Skipping NVC-Related Meeting https://goo.gl/QZumsU