The Burmese Police chased and arrested few internally displaced Rohingyas in Sittwe Township, Arakan state, last Friday.

On November 19, the Police is said to have attempted to arrest a few Internally Displaced People (IDP) in ‘Sethamma Gyi (Say Thar Mar Gyi)’ IDP Camps for unknown reasons. And it consequently led to a confrontation between the Police and the IDP.

During the confrontation in the Camps, the Police saw some IDP carrying knives with them. Therefore, the Police called for extra Forces and as the more Police Forces arrived, the (displaced) dispersed and left the place.

“Actually, the people carrying knives were from ‘Thandaw Li (Saantoli)” village taking shelter in the IDP Camps. Having knives with them and taking them wherever they go is their custom and tradition.

They used to do it. They are doing now. It’s not to harm anybody. And they were not involving in the confrontation but other people were.

However, the police misunderstood it or intentionally call for more police forces despite knowing it. As more police forces arrived, everybody left the place as they didn’t want the confrontation into a conflict or violence” said an internally displaced Rohingya.

Nevertheless, on November 20 around 7:30AM, many fully-prepared police forces raided in ‘Sethamma Gyi’ IDP Camps and started chasing people. One displaced Rohingya was arrested while the police kept chasing other people.

It has been further learnt that the arrested Rohingya was taken to the Police station of ‘Ohndaw Gyi’ IDP camps afterwards. The police kept him under the hot-sun in the premise of the police station for the whole day by tying him in the post with his hands also tied at his back.

Some of his camp-mates went to the police station to try to get him released.

The Myanmar Police besieged the Rohingya IDP (Internally Displaced People) camps in Pauktaw Township on Saturday morning to arrest their leaders that demanded to be settled back to their original places, according to the sources in IDP camps.

The Myanmar authorities force them to accept the government resettlement plan and have their homes (with link-houses or small houses) in the muddy and squalid camp areas where they are temporarily living. However, the displaced Rohingya people demand the authorities to restore them with their rights by allowing them to have homes built on their original lands.

As it continues, last Friday, the administrator of Pauktaw Township tightly guarded by the Security Police Personnel arrived at Nget Chaung IDP Camps. He urged the Rohingya IDP in the Camps to accept the government’s resettlement plan and agree to have homes to be built by the government in their IDP camp areas.

Three Rohingya people stood up on behalf of the Rohingyas in IDP camps and demanded the administrator to provide them homes in their original lands.

U Kyaw Hla, one of the three people, asked (the administrator) “if it (the violence) was communal as you said, why don’t/can’t you restore us with our lands and settle us back there? Why do you prefer (racial) segregation over (racial) reconciliation (with Rakhines)?

Where has gone your Rule of Law?”

After that, another leader in the camp, U Maung Ni said “we demand you to give us our lands back at any cost. You can kill us but we will never agree to any of your proposals: building houses for us in these camps’ areas and ‘Bengal’ as the label for our ethnic identity.”

To which the Administrator angrily responded “you must obey the order of President Thein Sein at any cost.”

On Saturday morning, many police personnel raided the camps in ‘Nget Chaung’ to arrest the three people that, on behalf of all Rohingya IDP, refused to accept the government resettlement plan a day earlier.

The police threatened (them) “you must accept the government’s housing program and also accept ‘Bengali’ as your ethnic identity.

And hand those three people – Abdul Ghani @Kyaw Hla, 28; Abdu Jalil @Maung Ni, 53; and Sadar Kya, 60 — over to our hands. We want them to through police investigations and trials.

If you don’t follow our orders, we will punish you all.”

However, many displaced people came out of their camps and shielded the three people – that stood up for their rights – from reaching the police’s hands and protected from getting arbitrarily arrested by them (the police).

“They were steadfast to the three people and helped them to escape the police’s arrest. Ultimately, the police left,” said a local Rohingya in Pauktaw.

Soon after the landmark election in Myanmar history, the Thein Sein government still in power has resumed its Genocidal Plan against the Rohingyas again. The Rohingya in Arakan have been being kept under Genocidal blockage since 2012.

Since then, they demand the government to have their homes back on the original lands where their homes burnt down by the state-sponsored Rakhine terrorists in 2012 and their lands were subsequently confiscated. Myanmar can never be considered to be a democratic country unless it ends Rohingya Genocide and restore them with their basic human rights, ethnic and citizenship rights.

A Rohingya man from Maungdaw Township have gone missing en route to Malaysia since he left Myanmar (Burma) in January 2015, reliable sources report.

The missing man is identified to be Mr. Baadshah Meah (son of) Sikaandahar from ‘Ye Dwin Pyin (Kuwaar Bil)’ village under ‘Taung Pyo Let Wai’ sub-township in northern Maungdaw.

He was coaxed by the human traffickers in the township to take boat journey for Malaysia and hence, left home in January 2015 falling into their trap. His family has heard home that he reached to Thailand after a few days he had left home.

“He left home in January 2015. And we have heard that he reached to Thailand. However, after that, we have not heard anything about his whereabouts and do not know where he is now. He has gone missing since then.

We don’t know if he died or not. We are extremely worried,” said a family member of the victim gone missing.

Thousands of Rohingyas have perished in the sea or killed by the human traffickers since they started leaving their homes en masse as a consequence of the persecution and violence against them by the Burmese government. The human trafficking has stopped since the crackdown of the traffickers took place in Thailand in May, June and afterwards.

However, the human trafficking of Rohingyas from Myanmar is slowly re-emerging as the persecution against them has not stopped yet and the actions by the regional authorities have decreased.

“As long as you don’t solve the root causes in Myanmar, which is the violence against us, you can’t stop people leaving our country and human trafficking forever,” said Rohingya youth in Maungdaw.

The Rakhine Buddhist extremists killed a Rohingya youth in Mrauk-U (Fatthar Killa) Township on Monday, while they severely injured another young boy and abandoned him in the farmland thinking he was dead.

The incident happened at ‘Si Thay’ village in Mrauk-U Township around 4:00PM on November 2. The Rakhine extremists from the nearby ‘Nan Chaa’ village attacked both of them as they went out to cut grass at the farmland outside ‘Si Thay’ village to feed the domestic animals they used to herd.

The dead body was found lying amidst the tall grass in the farmland around 11:00AM on November 3 as their villagers came out to look for these missing boys.

The killed youth has been identified as Mohammed Sadek (son of) Shafi Alam, 20, hails from ‘Si Thay’ village in Mrauk-U Township. Meanwhile, his friend abandoned with serious injuries is Shomsul Alam (son of) Dil Mohammed, 14, from ‘Nagara’ village under ‘Myaung Bwe’ sub-township of the Mrauk-U Township.

“The Rakhine extremists brutally beat both of us. We don’t know why. They slit the throat of Mohammed Sadek and killed him. And I lost sense and got fainted as they brutally beat me, too.

Therefore, they abandoned me in the farmland thinking I was dead. I was fortunate enough to survive,” said Shomsul Alam, the survivor, who was later found out by his villagers fainted and lying amidst the grass around 3:00PM (on November 3).

Later, the Mrauk-U Police arrested the surviving youth and accused him of killing his companion although he gave the statement that the Rakhine extremists were the people that attacked both of them.

“The police simply want to shield the Rakhine terrorists. They want not to punish the criminals because they are the people of their own kind and the same race and religion,” said a local Rohingya in Mrauk-U.

Both of them are farmers work in the same village ‘Si Thay.’ While the deceased Mohammed Sadek worked for a Rohingya man named ‘Hassan,’ the injured Shomsul Alam works for another Rohingya land-owner named ‘Mohammed Shah.’

As the national election is looming around the corner, Rakhine extremists backed by Rakhine political groups and the Rakhine militants based outside the country are trying to destabilize the region by targeting the helpless Rohingyas.

The Burmese government recruited 300 Rakhines as temporary police staffs in Maungdaw Township last week, which is thought to be a part of many plots reported to have been taking place against Rohingya ahead of the country’s controversial upcoming election. 

The police recruited for one month have been deployed at every Rakhine village in Maungdaw Township, an act claimed by the authorities to be for the security of Rakhine villages. However, no such security protections have been provided around Rohingya villages.

A local Rohingya in southern Maungdaw expressed his concern “the 300 Rakhines recruited as temporary police mostly include pick-pockets and hooligans. We fear deploying them around our villages will cause problems and unrests during the times of the elections.

They may attack us taking advantage of the authorities and uniforms provided to them.”

The temporary police recruits somehow fall in the category of volunteer police and each of them will reportedly enjoy a payment of Kyat 150,000 for his one-month service.

On the other hand, Captain Tin Tun Oo, the in-charge of the Border Guard Police (BGP) in Nyaung Chaung village in Buthidaung Township, visited a few Rohingya villages – Pharung Chaung, Sein Nyein Pya and Phaya Pyin Aung Pha — along with his group on October 29. He gathered Islamic Religious Scholars, the Rohingya community representatives and some other Rohingyas during his visit on pretext of holding meetings with them.

However, he just took photographs of the people gathered and left saying “Thank you,” according to an eyewitness.

Similarly, the military deployment in the ghettoed Rohingya area in Sittwe (Akyab) Township called ‘Aung Mingalar’ Quarter have been withdrawn and replaced with Security Forces known as ‘Hlun Hteins.’

“Military mainly composed of Bama (Burmese) Buddhists, while Hlun Hteins are formed mainly with Rakhine Buddhists. And most of these Hlun Hteins secretly act upon the instructions by the Rakhine politicians with vested interest.

And the military have been replaced by Hlun Hteins. It is something to be worried about. A lot of conspiracies have been going on against us, the Rohingya people, nowadays ahead of the coming elections.

Nevertheless, I urge my Rohingya compatriots to be well-aware of the situation, to not react upon instigations and stay calm. We should not give the extremists any chance,” said elderly man in Aung Mingalar Quarter.

A whole internally displaced Rohingya family suffering from Tuberculosis (TB) has been languishing without any medical treatments in Sittwe for more than a year.

At first, Aamir Hussein, 65, the head of the displaced family in ‘Thakkay Pyin (Sakki Fara) IDP (internally displaced people) camp, was infected by the TB, one of the widespread infectious diseases in the IDP  camps in Sittwe. Later, as he has been lack of proper medical treatment, the disease has spread to his daughter and two granddaughters; and the rest of his family members.

A year ago, around 35 Rohingya TB patients were admitted to ‘Thakkay Pyin’ clinic. The clinic took X-Rays and Saliva Tests on them upon the admissions.

However, the doctors in the clinic, whom are of Rakhine ethnic origin, citing the medical reports, said that only a few of them were infected by TB, while no signs of TB were found in the other patients including Aamir Hussein. But an ailing Aamir Hussein went to ‘Dar Paing’ clinic to see the doctor. The doctor (who is also a Rakhine) there, too, said that no TB disease was found.

Suffering from the severe disease, the unconvinced Aamir Hussein has given a few more rounds up and down to both clinics afterwards. Every time, he’s been told that no TB was found in him.

Now, after his whole family including his daughter and two of his granddaughters have been infected by the TB, he was told to have been found TB in him.

Unfortunately, there are no medical means available for them to cure the disease. It seems that the hopeless and miserable family, especially the old Aamir Hussein, has been awaiting a sad and slow demise.

His daughter and two granddaughters miserably suffering from TB are:

Husn Ara, 30 (daughter)

Tasmine Ara, 5 (granddaughter)

Yasmine Ara, 2 (granddaughter)

More than 140,000 Rohingyas have been internally displaced by the state-government-backed genocidal violence in June 2012 and afterwards. They have been isolated and ghettoed in the squalid concentration camps known as IDP camps in the outskirts of Sittwe and Pauktaw Townships.

And after the expulsion of the foreign medicos and humanitarian workers by the state-government-backed rioting Rakhine mob in March 2014, no international humanitarian agencies and medical workers have got full access to these ill-fortunate displaced Rohingyas.

The Burmese military has been subjecting the local Rohingyas in northern Maungdaw Township as forced labours for a few days now, according to the reliable reports.

The military from ‘Battalion 352’ in northern Maungdaw has been forcing the locals to carry woods from a few villages such as ‘Ye Nouk Nga Thar and Thaman Thar’ to their camp.

It has been reported that when the locals refuse to follow the military’s orders, they beat the innocent people and also extort money from them. On October 25, the military stopped the following four people on their way to ‘Thaman Thar Market’ and subjected them to put the woods on their vans.

They are:

• Noor Kamal Ajmal Hussein from ‘Nat Chaung-Laung Bouk’ village
• Khalid Hussein Rashid Ahmed from ‘Thet Kaing Nya-Laung Bouk’ village
• Rahmat Hussein Abdu Salam from ‘Thet Kaing Nya-Laung Bouk’ village
• Fau’izullah Noor Alam from ‘Thet Kaing Nya-Laung Bouk’ village

Initially, the four people hesitated to follow the military’s order to be their forced labours. Therefore, the military including the captain beat them up in gang. And they subjected them as forced labours.

Even after that, the military extorted Kyat 20,000 from each of them as fines for hesitating to follow their orders, according to an eyewitness.