Maungdaw, Arakan State: Burma’s border security force (Nasaka) authorities have forced more than 100 residents from villages in Maungdaw Township to work on lands confiscated from former Rohingya farmers, according to a local businessman.

Nasaka officials from the Bossara outpost in Inn Din village began summoning Rohingyas on October 27 to clear arable land that was previously seized from Rohingyas.

About 50 acres of land were earlier seized from Rohingya farmers, the businessman said. Workers have been forced to clear the land, and boundary flags have been erected, while builders have begun constructing a large house of wood and bamboo.

A local elder said residents have no idea what the structure will be or who will occupy it.

More than 100 villagers are taken to the site each day, where they work from early morning until about 6pm.

“I don’t know why the Nasaka is building such a big house in this area, but they must have some reason,” said a local village elder.

The elder added that the villagers being forced to work are facing food crisis because they are receiving no wages for their work, and anyone who refuses to work is severely tortured by Nasaka forces.

The area had earlier been used as a grazing ground for cattle and goats.

“It is intolerable that the Nasaka use us in this inhuman way. If we want to rest, they do not give us an opportunity,” said one of the workers who asked not to be named.