Personnel from Burma’s border security force Nasaka arrested three Rakhines today in the midst of an assault on Rohingya fishermen in Ywanyotaung village, according to an official from Maungdaw.
“The Nasaka personnel from outpost camp 12, under Nasaka area number 5, received information that a group of Rakhines was beating three Rohingya fishermen in Ywanyotaung village. [The information was] sent to Nasaka by a village administration officer.”
Nasaka officers quickly arrived at the location and arrested three of the assailants while others fled toward their Rakhine village, according to an official at the village administration office.
“The Nasaka kept the detained Rakhines at their outpost 12 for interrogation. The Nasaka officer learned that two of the Rakhines were from Bangladesh and one was from Rathedaung.”
The discovery of the detainees’ places of origin led authorities to question whether many Rakhines were entering Maungdaw illegally from Bangladesh, as well as how many Rakhines had come to Maungdaw from other towns in Arakan state.
A local elder in Maungdaw said that the Rakhines’ statement might have revealed to the authorities that, despite their conventional point of view, people crossing illegally from Bangladesh into Burma are Rakhine, not Rohingya.
Immigration minister U Khin Ye told reporters after the third round of peace talks between the KNU and Thein Sein’s government that investigations indicated that no illegal Rohingyas are entering Arakan State and most of the immigration officers are Rakhine.
An elder in Maungdaw speculated that it would be unlikely for Rohingyas to cross into Burma illegally with fake ID cards when the immigration officers in Northern Arakan State are Rakhine. At the same time, he said, this may indicate that it is easy for Rakhines from Bangladesh to use that border crossing. He added that for Rohingya people from Bangladesh, who face many restrictions in Arakan state, there is nothing attractive about coming to a place without freedom. To earn money, they are more likely to move to countries in the Middle East or elsewhere in Southeast Asia, like Malaysia.
“There are no jobs for the Rohingya in Burma, so why would people from Bangladesh come for work only to end up in jail?”
