KALADAN NEWS

Dated: Tuesday December 30, 2003

Nasaka Collecting Paddy From Farmers For Model Villagers In Northern Arakan

Maungdaw, December 30: The Nasaka (Border Security Force) of Maungdaw Township in Arakan State has been collecting paddy from Rohingya farmers since 9th December 2003, for Buddhists Natala (Model) villagers, according to a villager, who is contributed Kyat for Natala village.

Though the Nasaka authorities verbally ordered the villagers to pay 2.5 Tawn (one Tawn = 35 kgs) of paddy per acre from the farmers, practically, they have been collecting Kyat 2,000 per acre, he further added.

“It is doubtful that all the collected money goes to the model villagers,” said another villager who is afraid for SPDC authorities if his name was mentioned.

Since 1988, the SPDC authorities have been very busy for construction of model village for the new Buddhist settlers. The houses were built with forced labor of Rohingya villagers.This is nothing but an attempt to destroy the economic bases and old establishment of the Rohingya people, said a Rohingya intellectual.

The so-called Natala villages are spotted with continued erecting of pagodas, monasteries and community centers built with forced labor and by forced collections of funds extracting from Rohingyas while renovation, repairing and building of mosques and religious schools uprooted. As a result, more and more Rohingyas are becoming landless, internal refugees or internally displaced after their land properties being confiscated and their homes uprooted, said a schoolteacher to our source.

In addition to forced labor, the poor Rohingya villagers have to supply funds and house building materials for model villages’ constructions, even after their lands confiscated.