High level Maungdaw officers have ordered village administration officers to provide a complete list of all the mobile phone numbers issued to the local Rohingya community by Myanmar Post and Telegram department (MPT), said Haroon, a student from the area.
The directive came after the Arakan state chief minister visited Maungdaw to inspect the situation in Du Chee Ya tan ( Kila Dong) village in southern Maungdaw the student said. The village was the scene of an alleged massacre of Rohingya villagers last month.
The GSM mobile SIM cards were issued by authorities, now they are collecting lists from only the Rohingya villages, alleged Hamid, a Maungdaw school teacher. They just want to harass the community and extort money under false pretensions, the school teacher said.
The authority intends to keep close tabs on all Rohingya in the area by tapping into the mobile network. These actions have come after the recent violence in Kila Dong by security forces and Rakhine residents from Kharay Mine Natala villages, Hamid said.
Villagers affected by the violence were able to use their phones to inform the international media and rights groups about travesties committed on their community. By controlling the mobile network, authorities intend to further isolate the Rohingya community from the world, said Halim, a human rights observer.
