Maungdaw, Arakan State: The concerned authority - Maungdaw district admin officer, Township admin officer, Burma border guard police (BGP) officers and land survey officers – allotted 10-acre arable land of Rohingyas to build a pagoda and other purposes in Maungdaw south on August 24, Mohin from Maungdaw said.
The concerned Maungdaw high level officers also surveyed the land and told the Rohingya community the authority need the land to build a pagoda on it. The land survey department put land mark on it, Mohin more added.
The owners of lands are--- Kala Meah (57), son of Abdul Hakim: Ahamd Ullah (40), son of Kullah Meah; Omar Hazi (50), son of Kasim; Lal Meah (55) and Salamat (45), son of Yousuf. They all hailed from Khonzabill village under the Aley Than Kyaw village tract of Maungdaw township, he more added.
The said lands are also near the Border Guard Police (BGP) camp of Khonzabill, which is under the Aley Than Kyaw BGP camp of Maungdaw south, Refan, a villager said.
Earlier, in 2014, the concerned authorities seized more than 200 acres of arable lands from Rohingya villagers of Khonzabill and Udaung for building Khorzarbill BGP camp. The lands were forcibly seized from Rohingya villagers though there are available other lands for extending BGP camp and other purposes, some villagers said.
A village elder said on condition of anonymity, earlier the military junta and quasi-civilian government confiscated thousands of lands of Rohingyas and provided it to Natala villagers and others. Like them, the present NLD government is also starting to seize the lands of Rohingyas.
“How to maintain our family members as our lands are being seized,” said Nawseinma Khatoon, a village elder woman from the village.
