Maungdaw, Arakan State: A new massage parlor opened in Aung Mingala Nasaka camp under the Nasaka headquarters of Kyi Gan Pyin of Maungdaw Township earlier this month, said a villager elder who declined to be named.
“In the past, Nasaka personnel, Burma’s border security force officers, would patrol in the villages near Nasaka headquarters after sunset accompanied by villagers from nearby villages. The Nasaka called eight villagers from one village through the Village Administration office at night and patrolled in the villages the whole night. But, in the morning, the villagers were released.”
“However, since the first week of Ramadan (the Muslim holy month), the Nasaka have not patrolled in the villages, instead staying in their camp. They call eight villagers to their camp as before for sentry purposes in the camp. In turn, eight villagers have to go to the Nasaka camp from every village after sunset to massage the Nasaka personnel the whole night.”
After arrival at the camp, the villagers have to do miscellaneous works at the camp, and after that the villagers have to massage the Nasaka personnel the whole night in the camp without sleeping or praying at night. Besides, they are not allowed to fast at night as they have no food, and are not allowed to go home to have food, said a local youth.
“This month is the holy month for Muslims, and the Muslims have to fast for 29 or 30 days. Why does the Nasaka bar Rohingya villagers from fasting on the Sabbath? It is a big religious violation for the Muslim Rohingyas. So, we want to ask the higher authorities to take the initiative to solve the problem,” said a religious leader from the locality.
Another religious leader said, “The Nasaka authority thinks that the Rohingya Muslims are not human beings, they are a kind of animal, and they can do anything against Rohingyas that they like.”
A local elder who declined to be named said, “Now, the authority calls male Rohingyas to massage the Nasaka personnel. Later they will call female Rohingyas to massage them at night, seeing the situation in the future.”
“It is a new method of Nasaka persecution against the Rohingya which is not present in any other dictator’s country in the world.”
Moreover, recently, the Nasaka authorities have increased village sentry posts in villages across Maungdaw Township, so more villagers have to go to perform sentry duty, and they are not able to fast at night because they are not allowed to go to home to take food, said a local schoolmaster who asked not to be named.
Nasaka camps have become research centers for creating new methods to harass human beings, said a student from Maungdaw Town.
