The internally displaced Rohingyas in Pauktaw Township refused the shelter homes offered by the Myanmar authorities demanding restorations to their original homes and lands.

U Kyan Aye, the head of Pauktaw Township Administration, visited the ‘Sintet Maw (Sandama)’ IDP (Internally Displaced People) camps in Pauktaw Township around 3:00PM on Monday. During the meeting with the internally displaced Kamans and Rohingyas (IDP) in the camps, he said that there’s an instruction from the higher officials to build a single-storey house separately, one unit for every family at the place where they are currently living.

However, the displaced Kamans and Rohingyas in the camps originally from ‘Kyauk Phyu’ Township, responded saying “we are ready to accept anything if the government is restoring us to our original lands and homes in Kyauk Phyu. We’ll never agree to any proposal no matter if the government is planning to build flats or buildings here.”

Afterwards, U Kyan Aye asked the displaced people to sing on the paper by mentioning that they (the IDP) were refusing the offer of the shelter homes. Around 70 people have signed the letter of rejection.

Having the signatures of the people on the paper, the U Kyan Aye, left at around 5:00PM of the day. Before leaving, he said that he would submit the letter to the higher authorities.

None of the IDP (Kyauk Phyu Township) has been threatened or arrested by the authorities for the refusal of the offer yet. However, they (the IDP that signed on the letter) are worried that they will be troubled by the authorities sooner or later.

On September 24, U Kyan Aye, the head of Pauktaw Township Administration, paid a similar visit to the ‘Sintet Maw (Sandama)’ IDP camps and held a meeting with the camp committee regarding the issue.

The Muslim people, both Kamans and Rohingyas, fled from their hometown ‘Kyauk Phyu’ for ‘Sintet Maw in Pauktaw Township’ after their homes and villages have been burnt down and razed by the state-sponsored Rakhine (Magh) terrorists in October 2012. Attempt to make them permanently live in the IDP camps and to not return them their original homes and lands is a plan by the government to render them homeless and landless.