A group of Bangladeshi Buddhist stay in a school in Maungdaw.

“They were brought to Maungdaw from Paletwa, a border town with India, by two machine boats. The Bangladeshi Buddhists had arrived in our Buthidaung jetty at around 8 pm and stayed the night in Aye Zayi monastery. Next morning, they were shifted to Maungdaw,” said Ko Zaw Lun, who received the team in Buthidaung.

The Bangladeshi Buddhists comprising 23 families, who hail from Chittagong hill tract area of south Bangladesh, had recently crossed the border through passes to arrive in Paletwa of south Chin State for refuges.

The Burmese authority received them at Kyauk Taw of Arakan State, which is  closer to Paletwa and later sent them to Maungdaw, a Muslim dominated locality for providing shelter.

A senior monk in Baho monastery of Maungdaw, while talking to Narinjara over phone informed that over 1000 Buddhist families, who came to Burma from different place of Bangladesh, had already arrived in the Maungdaw township in the last two months.

Prior to the 86 Buddhists team, a group of 48 Bangladeshis comprising 12 families reached Maungdaw in the first half of June, revealed  the senior monk.

“Till now, it is the last batch arriving in Maungdaw and they are still staying in our monastery. Later they are expected to shift to their shelters those are arranged by the local authority,” he added.

The authority has put the Bangladeshi Buddhists, who had left Bangladesh for the continued repression in respect of social, economic and religious freedom there, in many model villages throughout Maungdaw township.