Maungdaw, Arakan State: The Rohingya community in Maungdaw District has been subject to ongoing coercive pressure by local authorities to participate in a “population data collection” process that essentially forces them to identify as “Bengali” (instead of “Rohingya”) in order to obtain Burmese citizenship, according to a village elder named Khalil from northern Maungdaw.
Many people in Maungdaw’s Rohingya community have refused to participate in the data collection process, and in response local authorities have resorted to intimidation, incarceration, and even violence to pressure the community into providing population data.
For instance, an elder from Borgarbill Village known as Kalil said that “The Burma Border Guard Police (BGP) arrested eight people in our village from July 31-Aug 1 because they refused to go to the local BGP office, where elders from Borgarbill Village had been summoned for a meeting in which BGP officials were planning to ask the elders to encourage people in Borgarbill Village to provide population data identifying them as ‘Bengali’.”
Because the elders refused to attend the meeting BGP arrested four people from Borgarbill Village on July 31st and others were picked up the following day. Fearing arrest, many people from the village fled their homes after Borgarbill was surrounded by 11 trucks carrying BGP officers around midnight on July 31st, according to Hala, an elder from the village.
However, eight Borgarbill villagers were arrested by BGP officers because they chose not to escape from the area, and they are currently being detained at a local BGP camp, according to another village elder who preferred to remain anonymous.
Those who fled Borgarbill village locked their doors after leaving their houses, but BGP personnel forcibly entered some of the villagers’ homes by breaking down their doors. In addition, those who were arrested were severely beaten, according to a woman from the village who declined to be named.
Those arrested were taken to Maungdaw court, where the BGP alleged they disobeyed an order to attend a meeting at the local BGP office—an order which the same court had previously approved, said a BGP officer from Maungdaw who declined to be named.
“Most of the Rohingya community are worried about the situation because authorities have started to arrest Rohingya for disobeying these orders, and the community is upset about the actions that have been taken by local authorities because they infringe on their freedom of expression and their right to self-identify [both of which are recognized under international human rights law]” said Halim, a human rights watchdog from Maungdaw.
However, some Rohingya have been collaborating with the authorities by encouraging members of the local Rohingya community (mostly their relatives) to provide population data—particularly in the areas of Taung Bazar; Buthidaung; Ngakura; and some villages in southern Maungdaw District, said Maungdaw resident Mohamed Arif.
