The Burmese (Myanmar) armed forces have been abusing the local Rohingyas as forced labours in southern Maungdaw for weeks, according to the local sources.

It has been learnt that the armed forces such as the Military and the Border Guard Police (BGP) force the local Rohingyas in ‘Kyauk Pandu (Shitaaf)’ village to labour in their camps from 6:00AM to 6:00PM on daily basis. If any Rohingya fails to follow their order, they humiliate and beat him; and extort money from him.

“There are two BGP camps and one military camp in ‘Kyauk Pandu’ village. Kyauk Pandu is a Rohingya village known as Shitaaf in Rohingya.

There are 800 households with a population of 9707. A member of each of the households has to work as forced labour more than twice in a month.

And hence, every day, nine people are subjected as forced labours in the military camp, while five people have to do labour works at each of the two BGP camps.

They are forced to work for the whole day without any payment under harsh conditions. They are subjected to mow grass; clean the premise and the lavatory; carry water; sweep floors; do cooking; water the plants and trees; and do other general stuffs,” said a local in southern Maungdaw.

Similarly, the Rohingyas from the nearby village, Thinbaw Kway (Kullon), are also said to be often falling victims into the forced labouring by the armed forces. Consequently, the poor villagers who find their bread and butter working on daily basis are finding difficult to survive.