The 79-year-old abbot, Tilawka, told Narinjara News about the incident soon after he arrived in Bangladesh from Burma.
"The army authorities set fire to my monastery after bulldozing it for two reasons. The first reason is that I was involved in the Saffron Revolution and the second is that I gave four monks, who were also involved in the revolution, shelter in my monastery," the abbot said.
The monastery that was razed was the Theik Thapon monastery in Theik Thapon Khami Village near the ancient Mahamuni temple in Kyauktaw Township, 80 miles north of Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State.
"We all escaped arrest by the army as we received information early, before an army platoon reached our monastery. When they reached the monastery, they bulldozed it and set it on fire angry because they could not arrest any monks," the abbot said.
After the incident, the abbot left for Bangladesh for refuge. The monk's journey to Bangladesh took nearly six months, and he luckily arrived on Bangladesh soil on March 8.
"It was impossible for me to come here wearing my robes, so I came to Bangladesh dressed as a layperson, but Nasaka forces were looking for me at several monasteries in Maungdaw," the monk said.
A local resident in Maungdaw said that the man who secretly ferried the monk to Bangladesh in his row boat, Bo Thein Dan, was arrested by authorities in Aung Bala ward in Maungdaw on March 10.
Tilawka has been a monk for 13 years, and is now seeking asylum in Bangladesh with the UNHCR office in Dhaka.
