Kyauktaw’s Rohingya Community Rejects NV Cards

The Rohingya community in Kyauktaw unanimously rejected the NV Cards also known as the National Verification Cards on Thursday (Mar 30) after their compatriots in Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Sittwe (Akyab) Townships, it has been reported.

The Mrauk-U District Immigration Chief, U Myint Thein; the Kyauktaw Township Administrator and Immigration Chief; and other administrative bodies held a meeting with the local Rohingyas at the village of ‘Khong Touk’ locally known as ‘Hondol’ in Kyauktaw at around 12:00 noon regarding the issue of the NV Card.

During the meeting, the authorities lured the locals to accept the NV Cards. The District Immigration Chief U Myint Thein said “if you take NV Card, you can travel and do all other things. You can apply for citizenship, too, after receiving the NV Cards.”

Meanwhile, an elderly Rohingya man stood up and said “the 1982 Citizenship Law has nothing to do with us. It’s not for us. We were one of the indigenous groups even before the establishment of 1982 Citizenship Law.” As he continued to express his views, the authorities abruptly stopped him and insulted him “are you a lawyer or something? You don’t need to be a busybody. So, be quiet.”

Then, the authorities asked the remaining people in the meeting if they wanted to accept the NV Cards, to which all of the people unanimously replied ‘NO.’

Before leaving the meeting at 1:30 pm, the authorities did try to coax the people saying “those who have National Registration Cards (NRCs) can apply for the Citizenship Cards. Those who don’t have NRCs must accept the NV Cards.” But the people present didn’t seem interested in the inducement.

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.

The Myanmar authorities have severely restricted Rohingya movements and access to their livelihoods since March 19 for refusing to accept the NV Cards in order to force them cease their resistance against the NV Cards.

Myanmar Armed Forces Raid Rohingya Village in Northern Maungdaw

The Myanmar armed forces launched a surprise raid on a Rohingya village called ‘Dudan’ in Northern Maungdaw this morning and have detained at least one hundred villagers since then, according to the reliable sources.

Approximately 1,000 members of the Myanmar military and Border Guard Police (BGP) jointly began to round up the village of ‘Dudan’ locally known as ‘Ludain’ at around 10:00 AM and arbitrarily detained more than 100 people in the village’s school.

While the raids are still going on, the villagers detained are being interrogated with at least two people reported to have been arrested thus far. They are:
1) Idiris (20), s/o Mohammed Hakim
2) Auli Ullah (35), s/o Sayed Amin

“We don’t know why the military and the BGP are raiding our houses and detaining the villagers. It was all of a sudden. We couldn’t offer Friday prayer. We are really terrified”, said a villager while fleeing to escape the arrests by the military.

The exact numbers of the arrestees can not be verified from any sources at the moment and two people have been released from being held.

No harassments or molestations of the Rohingya women by the Myanmar armed forces have been reported yet.

Border Guard Police Tortures Rohingya Villagers in Buthidaung

The Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) has recently started to subject the local Rohingya villagers in southern Buthidaung to arbitrary tortures and money extortions, according to the local sources.

On Tuesday (Mar 28), five Rohingya workers from ‘Mraung Na’ village were severely tortured by the Commander of the BGP Camp based at ‘Aaka Pyan’ Rakhine village in southern Buthidaung.

“The five people were hired by the abbot of the monastery at a Mro village called ‘Yon Khone’ for cutting trees. While they are working on it, the ‘Aaka Pyan’ based BGP Commander arrived at the place; and began to racially insult them and beat them. Although the six workers said to the Commander that they were working for the monastery, still he continued to brutally beat them.

“Finally, the BGP stopped torturing the people only when each of the victims agreed to pay the Commander Kyat 60,000”, said an eyewitness on the condition of anonymity.

The victims are identified as:
1) Junaid (18), s/o Kadir Hussain
2) Dudu Meah (25), s/o Shuna Ali
3) Abdul Malik (20), s/o Mohammed Hussain
4) Mohammed Amin (18), s/o Habibullah
5) Ayat Ullah (20), s/o Khala Meah

Of the give people tortured, Abdul Malik (30) was critically injured and hasn’t been recovered yet.

On Wednesday (March 29) afternoon, another Rohingya man from ‘Thabbyay Taung’ village locally known as ‘Kiyaa Zongya Fara’ was tortured by the same BGP Commander based at the ‘Aaka Pyan’ village.

The victim identified as Shomsul Alam (28), s/o Noor Islam makes his living after collecting firewoods in the village and selling them in the market. He was stopped and tortured by the BGP while he was on his way to the forest I collect firewoods.

The victims suffered severe injuries on his face and mouth; and has since been vomitting blood from his mouth, reports said.