Kyauk Pru: A number of farmers in Kyaukpru Township in Arakan State have lost the chance to cultivate their crops this year due to their freehold lands being confiscated by the Burmese navy, a villager from Murion in Kyaukpru said.

"The navy officials confiscated a several acres of our lands in our villages without any compensation in order to plant castor oil trees for a government project. We could not cultivate our seasonal crops this year because we have no agricultural lands," he said.

The Burmese navy based in Kyaukpru, the second largest city in Arakan, established a base in the village of Calen Dae Village Tract in the last year to implement a government project cultivating castor oil.

After the navy set up base in the village, at least 200 acres of freehold lands belonging to farmers from Calen Dae and Murion Villages were confiscated for implementation of the government project.

"We cultivated many kinds of crops on the land, including chili, tomato, onion, sesame, and potato, every year in the past. We regularly received income from the land by cultivating the crops. Now we have lost this opportunity because our lands were confiscated by the authority," the villager said.

The navy base in the village is under naval force no. 16 and there are about 30 naval officers stationed there.

According to a local source, the naval officials sometimes summon the villagers from the Calen Dae Village Tract to work without pay on the government land.

"During this rainy season, the grass and bushes were growing in the castor oil gardens. At that time, the naval officials forced us to clear out the grass and bushes in the fields without any payment for wages," he added.

Local people say that the naval officials at the base have not only confiscated farm lands but have also forced Arakanese women into marriages with them in order to implement the ethnic cleansing policies practiced by the current military government.

"The authority set up the base in Calen Dae with two ambitions. One is to implement the government castor oil project and another is to exert army influence and power on the surrounding areas by marrying local Arakanese women," he said.

It was learned that the villagers in the area are dissatisfied with the actions of the naval authority because the land confiscation and forced marriages.