Kaladan Press Network
Forced Labour and
Lands Confiscation Continued in
Arakan
By our Correspondent
Maungdaw,Arakan,
May 30: On
armed forces ordered to the
chairmen of the many local
Village Peace and Development Council (
VPDC ) in
building materials and construct a
total of 347
houses within the next few months
on the confiscation
lands of Rohingyas
with the forced labour of the
Rohingya villagers, said a
VPDC chairman.
On
to the NaSaKa
headquarters of
Maj. Tun Oo, Maj. Sein Tun and Maj. Khing
Lay Maung,
who are commanders respectively of
sector No. 1, 2 and
5 together with U Ray Lwin the ranger of Maungdaw
township, U Tin Maung, chairman of
the “Natala”
(responsible for model villages)
and personnel from
survey departments to confiscate
more Rohingyas’
lands, said a source in the NaSaKa headquarters.
Earlier the NaSaKa headquarters at
Kawarbil (Gyi Gan
Byin) village, 9.7 miles from the Maungdaw town, had
asked its Sector No. 1, 2, and 5 to
submit lists of
lands suitable for construction of
proposed new model
villages for new Buddhist settlers
by May 23, he
added.
Sites for new villages are to be selected on
consideration of giving total lands
to be confiscated
for the villagers, number plots in
proposed villages,
acres of wasteland around the
proposed villages for
possible clearance, distance
between proposed villages
and farmlands, feasibility for
freshwater and
environmental condition, he further
said.
It has been also reported that 347 houses for Buddhist
settlers would be completed in
three phases: in the
first phase a total 90 houses will
be constructed the
villages of Tharapi
(30 houses), Kying Gyi (30 houses)
and Thazan
Myiang (30houses), said a chairman of VPDC
who wish not be named
The second phase 70 houses will be constructed in the
villages of Tharapi
(15 houses), Kying Gyi (12
houses), Thazan
Myaing (15 houses), Pi Dok
(15 houses)
and Gim
Min (15 houses), he further added.
In early May 2002 the military authorities of Maungdaw
also ordered to the chairmen of VPDCs to construct 48
houses at “
east within two weeks and the
village was completed
with unpaid and forced labour from
Rohingya villagers.
It may be mentioned here that the SPDC government
initiated the model village program
in 1988 to
encourage ethnic Burman Buddhist
villagers from the
sites. Later, the government forced
villagers to move
and drew people from the delta and
within Arakan.
Model Villages are reserved exclusively for Buddhists,
so Rohingya Muslims are prohibited
by the government
from occupying them. Most often it
is the Rohingya who
pay for the construction of model
villages through the
provision of land, labour and
building materials for
the construction of model village
homes.
Editor
Kaladan press