Mrauk U: The Mrauk U Township authority has issued warrants against 17 farmers from a remote village in the township for their inability to pay money to the township authority in accordance with their demand, said one farmer in the group.

"U Hla Myo, Chairman of Mrauk U Township, issued the warrant to us as we could not meet his demands for leasing farms from the authorities," He said.

The farmers are from Out Thakan Village under Bu Wrat Village Tract in Mrauk U Township, and they are now evading arrest.

A village source said the 17 farmers from the village began cultivating 48.13 acres of vacant land in 1997. Afterwards, the township authorities announced the farmlands were owned by the state, and locals were not allowed to cultivate the land without the authorities' permission.

After the announcement, the villagers appealed to the Chairman of Mrauk U Township to lease the lands to them on a yearly basis.

U Hla Myo agreed to lease the land to the farmers and ordered them to pay 15 tinns of paddy per acre during the harvest season to Mrauk U Township.

"We give paddy to the authorities every year in keeping with their demand since 1997, but last year U Hla Myo asked for 60,000 Kyats per acre from us. We could not pay that high amount. So now the authorities have issued a warrant to arrest us. We are now culprits because we could not pay," he said.

On 22 July, 2008, a group of policemen led by Senior Clerk U Maung Ni and Village Chairman U Maung Hla Aung came to the village to arrest the men, but they had luckily managed to escape.

The village source said the police force had come to look for U Kyaw Zan, U Aung Kyaw Thein, U Kyaw Tun Oo, U Maung Gri Chay, and U Tun Aung to arrest them because they could not give in to the authorities' demand for leasing the farmland.