“The said fishing dam is over 100 acres, owned by the Burmese army. It was seized from local villagers by the army, earlier. However, it was destroyed by the recent flood and is in need of repair.”

“The fishing dam is bidden by one of the villagers named Md. Ayas, a collaborator of the army and Nasaka, by giving money per year. So, Ayas asked the Nasaka to give him help in extracting forced labor from neighboring villagers to rebuild the fishing dam.”

Regarding the dam construction, Major San Win Khine, the Commander of Nasaka Area No. 6, ordered the neighboring villagers to construct the fishing dam on July 23, said a local farmer who declined to be named.

“As a result, everyday about 100 villagers have to go to the worksite, taking their own food with them since July 23. Concerned authorities are not even providing them with any wages.”

“The Nasaka personnel are collecting the villagers who are working in their paddy fields. The villagers have failed to cultivate their farmland for their next year’s food and survival.”

The villagers have to provide forced labor occasionally for construction of roads, to grow paddy during the rainy season, to grow vegetables in winter, and to supply firewood to bake bricks in the camp. Besides, every day, villagers have to provide 20 to 30 villagers to every army and Nasaka camp to do works, said another villager preferring not to be named.

This is the very important time for the farmers as they are busy with paddy growing. In this occasion, they have to provide forced labor, which prevents them from doing their main work, the villager continued.

Though the Burmese government declared earlier that there is no forced labor in the country, forced labor is being extracted from villagers across the country.