Maungdaw, Arakan State: Burma’s border security force (Nasaka) personnel have stepped up harassment of Arakanese Rohingya villagers since February 2010 in northern Maungdaw Township, according to a source from the township on condition of anonymity.

At night, Nasaka personnel go to villages and enter the houses speaking in Burmese language. They take all valuables like gold and cash among others and run away.

In the beginning of this month, Nasaka personnel looted many houses of Arakanese Rohingya, said an elder.

Among them, some were identified as the former chairman Salim (50), of Thebay Gone, Zahid Alam (30), and Nur Alam (40) son of Aflutan of Longdon Singri Para under Maungdaw Township.

Harassment is on in Rohingya villages under Sector No 5, said a local villager.

According to sources, the villagers cannot sleep at night for fear of being robbed. The authorities do not pay any heed.

A villager elder said, “We thought that the harassment will decrease and the situation in Burma will change before the 2010 elections, but it is becoming worse.”