Narinjara News

Cox’s Bazar, April 24



13 Bangladeshi hospitalized due to the torture of the Burmese Nasaka
 
13 Bangladeshi woodcutters have been hospitalized in Cox’s Bazar District in Bangladesh due to severe injuries inflicted by Nasaka, the Burmese border security forces. 
 
On April 21st, 150 Bangladeshi woodcutters traversed the forest of Waeladaung Hill near the Burma-Bangladesh border. At the hill, 32 of these woodcutters were seized by Nasaka troops who threatened them by firing guns into the air.


According to the woodcutters, the detained 32 people were tied to the trees by the Nasaka and beaten with wooden sticks and swords. As a result of the torture, 13 people have been severely injured and admitted to intensive care at Ramu and Ukhiya Hospitals in Cox’s Bazar District.
 
Ordinarily, the Bangladeshi woodcutters are allowed into Burma to get wood with an entry bribe of 500 kyat each to the Nasaka. However, after the changes within the Burmese military junta, such as the purging of Nasaka senior officers for corruption and misuse of power, Nasaka no longer allows entry of the Bangladeshi woodcutters.
 
A father of an injured woodcutter said to a local Bengali newspaper that he could not understand why the Nasaka troops tortured his son and another woodcutter. He said the woodcutters and the troops knew each other well since the former always provided money and other gifts with each entry into the woods.
 
In a separate incident on April 14, 20 Bangladeshi nationals were also detained by the Nasaka near the Border Post (46). They are yet to be released.
 
Such kinds of hostile behaviors towards Bangladeshi citizens from the Burmese authority have led to developing tensions across the Burma-Bangladesh border, and inter-border activities have been suspended for the time being. #

 

 

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