Maungdaw, Arakan State: The administration officer of Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township, U Kyi San, has issued a new order which requires multiple witnesses to verify all births and deaths of Rohingyas in the townhip, said a Maungdaw-based human rights watchdog named Halim.
He also said that after being issued on June 27th the order was publicly posted near the township administration office and distributed to all villages and block administration officers in Maungdaw Township.
According to Halim, the new order requires all births and deaths of Rohingyas in the township to be witnessed and signed by the village administration office clerk; the block or village administration officer; a medical officer; an education officer; and an elder. The order applies only to Rohingya only and Halim indicated that it will create hardship for the Rohingya community because the community doesn’t have any education or medical officers right now.
Moreover, a village administration officer from Maungdaw named Harron said the new measure is simply designed to extort money from the Rohingya community because many witnesses won’t sign if they aren’t given any money. When asked about this potential financial burden, a student from Maungdaw named Arif told Kaladan News that Rohingyas will need to pay excessive amounts of money in order to comply with the new order.
