Kaladan News

Date: Monday, June 20, 2005


Showing Legal Projects, Nasaka Extract Money from Villagers


Maungdaw, June 20:
Nasaka (Burmese Border Security Force) authority has been extracting money from villagers of Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships of Arakan State, since June 19, 2005.

 

After forming some committees comprising with Nasaka, Immigration, Army, Military Intelligent (MI), police, Village Peace and Development Council (VPDC) members showing legal projects such as--- taking photographs and checking family lists of villagers extracting money , said a trader from Maungdaw.  

 

When asked a villager of Naqakura village of Maungdaw, he said, “On June 3, 2005 an inquiry committee comes to my home and all the family members have to get out and have a queue in front of the home while the authorities take a group picture of my family excluding my younger child. My child is neither enlisted in my family list nor enrolled in their list. For this reason, when I asked one of the officials, “He says, if you give Kyat 12,000, your child will be enlisted.”

 

According to previous order of Nasaka, to enlist new born children in government office, the parents of the children went to the concerned Nasaka and immigration office before. But, the concerned authorities deliberately delayed to register them. As a result, most of the new born children were not enlisted appropriately in concerned departments, said a village elder that refused to mention his name.

 

Occasionally, while the concerned authorities checked the family lists and met some new born children have not been properly registered in their family lists. Accordingly, the concerned authorities blame to the head of the family and have to pay money to enlist the new born children in their books, he further added.

 

The authorities collect Kyat 500 to 2,000 for photographs per family according to their family status and to enlist a new born child they have to pay Kyat 1,200 to the concerned authority. Besides, the villagers have to pay Kyat 20,000 to 30,000 per head whose family has a member left for foreign countries for works.  But, they were exempted from the family list, said a family member whose son left for foreign country for supporting of his family.

 

We are checked at least 2 times in a year by concerned authorities but they never release Rohingya population data for public to know. So, there will be some things behind them, said a politician of Maugdaw Township who did not wish to be identified. ##

 

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