“Rohingya villagers of Alethankyaw village tract of Maungdaw south were summoned to attend a meeting yesterday. When some showed no interest in attending, Naska security forces went to their village and herded up everyone they could find to attend the meeting,”

During the meeting, the villagers were instructed on how to behave in Arakan state.

 “No one can bring, or use, any stick, sword, chopper, dagger, catapult and spear on the street, or inside their house,” warned District Police officer U Kyi San, “if you break this law, we will take legal action and you will be punished.”

The other Maungdaw authorities who were present during the meeting included:  Col. Maung Maung Oo, Nasaka Director; U Aung Myint Soe, District Administration Officer, U Kaun Hla San, the township administration officer and township police officer.

U Aung Myint Soe told the villagers they have to live together with Rakhine people, and that means they must send their children to school, and follow the laws mandated by the local authorities. 

 “You may have lived in Burma for generations, but under the 1982 Citizenship Law, you are not citizens unless you make an application.

But many international rights groups say Rohingya have been stripped of the right to apply to become Myanmar nationals under the 1982 Citizenship Law, which was introduced by former dictator Gen. Ne Win.  This law repealed the 1948 citizenship law - after Burma was granted independence – which stated, under Article 4 (II), ‘any person descended from ancestors who for two generations at least have all made any of the territories included within the Union their permanent home and whose parents and himself were born in any of such territories shall be deemed to be a citizen of the Union.’