Burmese Army and Rakhines Destroy Rohingya Property in Maungdaw

Burmese Army and Rakhines Destroy Rohingya Property in Maungdaw
by -
Kaladan Press

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Burmese army troops and Rakhine villagers in Arakan State’s Marawaddy Village have been destroying Rohingya-owned property and harassing Rohingya cowboys since the third week of June, according to a witness from nearby Aley Than Kyaw Village named Mr. Lala.

“A group of Rakhines from Marawaddy Village destroyed some betel farms belonging to Rohingya villagers on June 18th about 11:00 am. After destroying the farms, they took some bamboo and wood from a nearby forest that the Rohingya villagers had been using for their farms and homes,” he said.
 
According to Mr. Lala, the group of Rakhines also severely beat up some Rohingya cowboys close to the forest where they were grazing their cattle and then stole their belongings. A village elder said on the condition of anonymity that one of the cowboys received a serious stab wound during the attack and would die without proper treatment. The cowboy who got stabbed was identified as a 20 year-old man named Yasin from Khonza Bill Village in Maungdaw Township.
 
In a separate incident, a farmer told Kaladan News on the condition of anonymity that a group of soliders from the Burma army’s Marawaddy out-post destroyed some betel farms belonging to himself and other Rohingyas in southern Maungdaw.

A Rohingya villager in the area—who also asked to remain anonymous due to fear of repercussions—  told Kaladan News that “A group of Rakhines and army personnel from the military’s Marawaddy out-post have been destroying our betel farms since the 3rd week of June. We are very disappointed, as we are impoverished and have been losing everything since 2012.”
 
A local Rohingya elder told Kaladan News that he believed local authorities and Rakhine villagers have been “systematically destroying Rohingya-owned property in a way that’s designed to uproot the Rohingya community from Arakan soil.”