Maungdaw: Burmese military authorities are preparing to issue green citizen cards to local Muslims living in the urban areas of Maungdaw District in western Burma's Arakan State ahead of the 2010 election, reports an immigration official.
"The green card, which recognizes the bearer as 'guest-citizens' will be delivered to those urban Muslims in Maungdaw District who are eligible for the status before the election," he told Narinjara on condition of anonymity.
The official said that Director General of Immigration, Colonel Maung Maung Than had visited Maungdaw for three days from 19 to 21 November and met with regional immigration staff and Nasaka authorities regarding implementation of the process.
According to local sources, Colonel Maung Maung Than had also brought a delegation of four Muslim businessmen from Yangon to mobilize support of local prominent Muslims and community leaders for the authorities implementation of the election scheduled for next year.
The businessmen were identified as Shamsul Alam, Nur Armin, Zahidur Rahman, and Jamil Ahmed. All of them are former residents of Maungdaw Township.
A resident from Maungdaw also confirmed that the delegation had met with local prominent Muslim people and religious leaders by visiting houses and mosques and sharing the regimes' propaganda for the 2010 election.
"We had a meeting with them after Jumma prayers last Friday in Myoma Mosque. They told us to support authorities in the coming poll, so as to get full citizen rights like other people in the country and that no one or no party except the SPDC government can make our community developed," he said, citing the speech of a delegation member during their meeting.
He also added that the delegation had passed the same message to the local Muslim people throughout Maungdaw during their stay there.
The military authorities are apparently planning to issue the "Guest Citizens Scrutiny Card" in green to Muslim people in Maungdaw District so as to attract their support in the coming election.
Currently, most Muslim adults in Maungdaw District have been issued a provisional approval card in white with the following remark on the back, "by this card the bearer must not claim citizenship of any country."
Very few of those who are related to Rakhine (Arakanese) or Myanmar (Burmese) have been issued red-colored citizen cards with "Rakhine/Muslim" or "Myanmar/Muslim" in the Ethnicity/Religion field of the card.
According to an intelligence source, Burmese authorities issued guest citizen cards just before the 2008 constitutional referendum to some Indian tribes, known locally as Manipuri or Kathay, who have been setting in a jungle village near Ngaranchaung Village in Maungdaw Township since 1993.
