Maungdaw, Arakan State:  Villagers in Maungdaw south are being forced to buy saplings by Burma’s border security force, the Nasaka since September 1, said a village elder on condition of anonymity.

Villagers are forced to buy the rubber saplings from Maungdaw six-mile gate. One family has to buy at least two saplings at the rate of kyat 1,000 a piece. Villagers don’t want to buy it, but they are forced by Nasaka, said a local trader who declined to be named.

The villagers of Maungdaw Township are forced to buy rubber saplings from government authorities. The authorities will get a lot of money from the villagers. This is a kind of lucrative business for the junta authorities.

The Nasaka has warned villagers who do not abide by the order will be punished heavily, said a local farmer.

Villagers have been ordered to grow these rubber saplings in the compound of the houses as well as plant it on the slope of a mountain in a nearby village.

The junta has been trying to grow rubber plantations across Arakan State by seizing lands from the local people and using forced labour from the villagers for five years now, said the farmer.

Every year, the authorities distribute rubber saplings to the villagers across Arakan state and collect a huge amount of money by selling rubber saplings to the people, said a schoolteacher from Maungdaw.