A Rohingya village in Maungdaw Township has been under the assault by the Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) since Monday, according to the reliable local sources. 

The village called Nyaung Chaung (also known as Khadir Bil) in southern Maungdaw has come under the assault over the death of the in-charge of the village following the attacks on him and his bodyguard by two of the villagers.

It has been learnt that the two villagers have been arbitrarily accused by the Burmese authority of inciting violence in June 2012 and since then, subsequently being continuously chased down for arrest. The in-charge of the village has often cooperated with the authority in attempt to arrest the two villagers.

“The in-charge of the village, Maung Zakir; and his bodyguard, Zubair (son of) Taandu, were on their way back from helping the Border Guard Police in raiding Rohingya villages around 2:15AM on Monday. Meanwhile, the two people waiting stand by launched attacks on them.

Then, the BGP arrived at the village upon information. They sent both of them to the hospital. And in the hospital, the village in-charge passed away” said a local Rohingya on the condition of anonymity.

After his death, the BGP has been continuously assaulting Rohingya homes in the village and indiscriminately vandalizing them on pretext of searching for the culprits.

A Rohingya woman in the village said “around 5:00PM on Monday, around 40 BGP personnel from the camps at Three-Mile Area and Gawdusara village arrived at Khadir Bil village. They raided and vandalized many unconcerned homes at the village. And men in the village went into hiding in fear of the arbitrary arrests by the BGP. They harassed the women that remained at home.

They shouted that they would arrest any Rohingya man found in their way (guilty or not) as per the order by the BGP Commander in Maungdaw, Lieutenant Colonel Tin Ko Ko.”

The Bodygaurd of the in-charge survived from the attacks and gave statement that the attacks were his villagers.. Though the BGP has identified the culprits, they still raided their homes, looted every valuable property and destroyed the rest. They did similar things in the houses of many innocent people in the village.

As it usually happens, the villagers are worried that the BGP will arrest many innocent people under arbitrary allegations and rape women in the absence of the men in the village.

“Though they have not arrested any people not related to the incident, we are worried that they might do so because they have untold records of committing atrocities against us. We are worried they may commit rape against our women at the gun point in our absence.  

They are still carrying out the raids and behaving barbaric” an elderly Rohingya identified to be, ‘M,’ said.