KALADAN NEWS

Dated: May 1, 2005

Burmese Goods Flood in Bangladesh Market

Teknaf, May 1: Burmese goods are being flooded in Teknaf town, a border town of Bangladesh, opposite site of Maungdaw Township by legal and illegal means and becomes it as a market of Burmese, said Shokot Ali, a customer who recently went to Teknaf Town for buying Burmese goods.

Generally, people of Teknaf are fond of Burmese goods as their households and daily uses. Comparatively, they use Burmese goods more than Bangladeshi as Burmese commodities are cheaper than the Bangladeshi goods, said Abul Hussain, a local trader from Teknaf.

According to a local customer from Teknaf, “We get Burmese goods easily, if we wait a day. Goods reached to our home which have good quality but Bangladeshi goods are mostly artificial and more costly than Burmese”.

“In reality, although I am a Bangladeshi, I would admit the right one. Everyone is responsible to say same thing for the goods of Burma”, he further said.

Lower and upper market of Teknaf town is full of Burmese clothes, shoes, nets, plates, cups, bags, umbrellas, sweets, slippers, pickles, spectacles, and fruits and various kinds of households and food stuff.

Though Bangladeshi people have access to go to Burma with holding special passport that issued from Bangladesh Rifles (BDR), border security force of Bangladesh of Teknaf, but, Burmese people have very limited access to come to Bangladesh as they would pay a huge amount of bribes and maintain various formalities in Maungdaw gate.

According to a trader from Maungdaw, “We have to pay money to many places--- like Kunthwe Ray Athin (Chamber of Commerce), District Peace and Development Council (DPDC) and Immigration Department--- and etc. It is not easy to cross border for us, although we have special business passports for Bangladesh because of as traders.”

Rakhaing people have good access to cross border and for border trade as they are respected as indigenous in Burma. They can enjoy their rights fully compare to Rohingyas but Rohingyas do not have such opportunity neither in Burma nor Bangladesh as they are stateless in the world, he more added. # #

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