Thandwe: Burmese authorities have been issuing “E” marks on family unit list cards to Muslims living in the villages of Thandwe Township in southern Arakan State in Burma, confiscating old family unit identity list cards at the same time, reported a an elder of the community.
The elder is a resident of Lin Thi Village, a predominantly Muslim village, 17 miles away from the main town in Thandwe Township. He said the “E” marks were posted by all family member names on the cards, recognizing them as the guest citizens in the country.
“All the Muslim families in our village are now being issued the “E” mark on family unit cards. It has been discovered that the letter “E” is used to recognize the bearers as guest citizens in the country”, he said.
He also said that the authorities have confiscated the original family unit cards from Muslims who were granted nationality status under the terms of the Rakhine-Islam in 1992 and who are now being forced to accept the status of Kaman or Bengali Islam as well.
“[Authorities] told us that there was no such national status as Rakhine-Islam and have taken away all the cards from those Muslims who were granted nationality based on that status, and have forced them to accept the status of Kaman or Bengali Islam," he said.
“We are neither Kaman nor Bengali Islam. We are just the peoples living in the Rakhine State and the authorities are discriminating against us because we follow Islam," the source added.
Kaman Muslims are issued genuine national identity cards as they are recognized as a legitimate tribe, while the Bengali Muslims are regarded as guest citizens and are issued white identity cards by the Burmese authorities in the Arakan State.
The Burmese government had stringently restricted every Muslim from Arakan State from traveling within and outside of the state for decades. The restriction was lifted on the 15th of July and any Muslims, excluding those who are hold white identity cards and are therefore guest citizens, have been allowed to travel freely across the country.
On 1 August, the Thandwe Township administrator issued a letter where stating that white national ID card holders with Bengali names were not allowed to travel outside of Arakan State freely. If any white identity card holders want to travel outside of Arakan State to other areas of Burma, they must be obtain the traveling form No. 4 from immigration. Moreover, there was a note in the letter that there will be punishment for anyone who does not follow the direction of letter.
The letter was sent to all village level administrators in Thandwe Township and copied to the chairmen of Thandwe District and Township as well as all immigration departments in Thandwe, said a source.
The Muslims being recognized as Bengali, however, have to fill out the No. 4 form in their respective immigration departments to get approval for any travels necessary for health and education.
Sources said that the Burmese government has recognized most of the Muslims living in the townships of Sittwe, Buthidaung and Maungdaw in Arakan State as Bengali guest citizens and as a result has been restricting their travels due to its fear that most of the Muslims will migrate into the mainland Burma if they are allowed.
