By Rohingya Eye | March 20, 2017
Maungdaw – The Myanmar government resumed travel ban on
the Rohingya peoples especially in northern Maungdaw region on Sunday (Mar 19)
as the people resist the NV Card being forced upon them.
This time, the travel ban has come in the form of a total
block of the Rohingya movements in and around Maungdaw district after the
government temporarily halted the earlier ban on February 21 as apparently
giving the people time to consider about the NV Cards also known as NVC or the
National Verification Cards.
Yesterday on March 19, the Rohingyas travelling by vans
and motorcycles were stopped at the BGP (the Border Guard Police) check-post by
the bridge of ‘Myoma Kayintan’ in Maungdaw and were all turned away for not
having the NV Cards.
“The police told us that we wouldn’t be able to cross any
check-posts or travel to and from Maungdaw until we accept/have the NV Cards.
And there are too many check-posts along Kyeing-Chaung Maungdaw Highway and
other highways. All of us will be banned from travelling because we are not
accepting the NVC Card which is meant for the foreigners”, said a victim who
was stopped and turned back while on his way back home in northern Maungdaw.
The behavior of the Myanmar authorities towards the
Rohingya people has turned even more hostile and cruel after the UN Human
Rights failed to establish a Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the atrocity
crimes against them (the Rohingyas) by the Myanmar armed forces (the BGP and
the Military).
“Earlier, they were alluring us by saying that we would be
able to travel freely all over Arakan or Myanmar and become citizens of the
country if we accept the NV Cards. Or else, they were only threatening us that
we would be deprived of all these rights. And during the time of the human
rights report by the UN Rights Rapporteur, Ms. Yanghee Lee and the recent
convention in UN Human Rights Council (UN-HRC) in Geneva, the authorities were
quiet and the people here were living in apparent tranquility. However, as soon
as the UN-HRC failed to establish an investigation team and Russia and China
and Russia blocked a short UN Security Council Statement, the authorities have
doubled down their bullying and hostile behaviors towards us.
“This is a serious human rights violation where we are
banned from even moving around within 2 square kilometers without the NVC. Or
tell us where else on earth that it happens happen?” questioned a Rohingya
youth based in Maungdaw, while speaking to Rohingya Vision TV.
Despite all the threats and the cruelties, the Rohingya
community as a whole, barring some people collaborating with the government, is
determined to oppose the NV Cards at any cost.
During a meeting by a higher official from the BGP Headquarter
with the administrators of the different villages and Rohingya clerics under
the Myint-Hlut sub-township in southern Maungdaw on March 14, a Rohingya
village administrator said “some 15-18 years back, the Rohingya people accepted
the White Cards (the Temporary Registration Cards) believing in the
government’s promise that they would be given the human rights. But the
Government has failed to do that.
“Now, we can’t convince the people as they don’t believe
us when we say the government will give you human rights if you accept the NV
Cards.”
The Rohingya people as a whole categorically reject the
NVC as it is meant to issue to the foreigners recently arrived in Myanmar and
valid for only two years. Therefore, accepting these cards will automatically deprive
the Rohingya people of their indigenous status with the identity ‘Rohingya,’
disqualify their citizenship rights by birth and deny them their full rights as
citizens.
Read Related Reports:
Rohingyas’ Livelihood at Risk
as They Reject NVC Cards: https://goo.gl/z9r8kP
Border Guards Arrest Rohingya
Figureheads for Skipping NVC-Related Meeting: https://goo.gl/QZumsU
Myanmar Authorities Seize
Rohingya-Owned Farm Lands: https://goo.gl/qG3zgL
Myanmar Gov’t Tempts Rohingyas
for NVC with Ludicrous Leaflets: https://goo.gl/bCK58L
Abuses on Rohingyas Increase
for Rejecting NV Card: https://goo.gl/77kPIz
Source: http://goo.gl/KZadwo