The Burmese (Myanmar) Border Guard Police has ordered closures of several Rohingya owned-shops in southern Maungdaw, the local reports.

The Border Guard Police also known as BGP based in ‘Inn Din’ village ordered on December 17 to close down at least 10 Rohingya shops located at ‘Zaydi’ hamlet of ‘Kyauk Pandu’ village tract tract in southern Maungdaw. The order to close down the shops is said to have come from the BGP as the business of the shops booming with increasing customers.

“Around 10 Rohingya-owned shops located at Zadydi hamlet of Kyauk Pandu (Shitaaf) village tract. This is to say they are located by the road between Kyauk Pandu village and Thinbaw Kway (Kullon) village. They mainly sell basic commodities such as food stuffs, medicines and phone covers etc. Their business is blooming as their sales are increasing.

However, the evil eyes of Major Lin Lin Naing, the cruel BGP Commander in ‘Inn Din (Aan Daang) village,’ have fallen on their business. He, out of malice and jealousy, has subsequently ordered to close down the business accusing the owners of running the shops without their permission.

Now, due to the order and pressure to close the down the business, the lives of the owners will become difficult now,” said an elderly local Rohingya in a neighbouring village.

They have licenses and also taken permission from NaSaKa (the former Border Security Force, the predecessors of BGP) when they started business. However, the Burmese Buddhist Police just want to cripple Rohingyas economically” he continued.

Moreover, the BGP also frequently rob local traders and shopkeepers and extort money from them.

Similarly, two local Rohingya youths — Hamidullah Abul Hussein, 23, and Haroon, 27 — run small bamboo trading shop in ‘Kyauk Pandu.’ On December 17, the BGP forcibly took away around ‘300 Bamboos’ causing them a loss of Kyat 120,000.

“If our shops especially owned by youths make more sales and our business makes profits, the authorities wantonly disrupt them. It is a tactic being implemented for a long time to make the youths jobless and hopeless ultimately forcing them (the youths) to leave the country) once and for all” said a Rohingya student in Maungdaw