Maungdaw, Arakan State: The SPDC authorities have decided to undertake some project in Maungdaw Township for their own purposes, so the Nasaka authorities have ordered 92 families of Bakka Gona Village of Maungdaw Township to vacate their homes yesterday, said a local elder on condition of anonymity.

This order was given by Immigration Officer Captain Zaw Myint from the Nasaka Head quarters of Maungdaw Township yesterday. The villagers were asked to vacate their homes within a month. The villagers have not been told where they could go, and have been asked to go anywhere they like.

The villagers were forced to sign on a blank white paper that they would vacate their houses within one month. The village has been established on a hill for 100 years. It has about 150 houses, said a businessman from the locality.

The authorities have alleged that the villagers give shelter to robbers and thieves so the authorities want them to vacate the houses. But, the villagers have never given shelter to any culprit.

The destruction of the houses of Rohingya villagers will create more difficulties in their daily affairs and confiscation of lands will also be increased in future. It will also affect the economy of the villagers, education of the children and the villagers will face many difficulties to establish new houses in other place. The villagers will become poorer and poorer. It is all worked out for the benefit of the concerned authorities.

An old woman said, “I have a lake near my home and survive by selling fish from the lake. How can I survive after vacating my home?”

Another old man said, “I have a garden near my home. I have no sons and daughters. What can I do after I relocate to another place?

There are eight Nasaka areas in Maungdaw Township, a western border town of Burma. The Rohingya people, living there are harassed significantly in their daily affairs so that they flee from Arakan and Arakan a state with a majority of Buddhists, said a school teacher from the locality.