Burma News International

 

13 October 2004

* General Khin Nyunt does development by detaining villagers

* Nasaka Arrests Three-Member Mosque Committee for not Complying With Order

* Unfriendly Gesture in Dhaka-Rangoon Relations

 

 

General Khin Nyunt does development by detaining villagers

Independent Mon News Agency

October 13, 2004

 

Villagers in the area between Ye and Yepyu township where Prime

Minister General Khin Nyunt wants to have development, have been

detained in their villages by Burmese troops, according to villagers

from the area.

 

According to a New Mon State Party (NMSP) officer, NMSP leaders asked

General Khin Nyunt to allow the NMSP to do activities in the area when 

they met with him in September. But General Khin Nyunt denied the NMSP

request for the reason that the area was undeveloped and needed to

develop. The government wants to do development in the area and barred

the NMSP, he said.

 

However, Burmese troops under command of Military Operation Management

Command (MOMC) No.19, instead of doing development, banned villagers

from leaving their villages and did more human rights violations to

villagers in the area.

 

A village headman from Pouk-pinkwin, a current arrival in the Mon

Refugee Resettlement Camp at Hlockhani, Nai Myaing (who didn't want his

name revealed for his family's safety), said, ¡§They allowed no

villagers to go out of the village because the troops wanted to cut

contact between villagers and Mon rebels moving in the area." He fled

to the camp to escape arrest after one of his villagers was killed and

three arrested by army troops who suspected them of supporting rebels.

 

Now his villagers have been detained in the village and a15-year-old

schoolgirl, Mi Moe, was raped by an unidentified soldier under the

command of Light Infantry Battalion No. 407, according to Mrs. Mi

Phate, who recently arrived at  the camp from the village.

 

According to villagers arriving at the border, and confirmed by the 

IMNA, Tactical commander No.3, Colonel Nyi Nyi, under the command of

(MOMC) No.19, ordered residents of more than 30 villages in the area

not to leave their villages or go to work in the orchid plantation and

farm.

 

¡§Nai Myit, about 40, from Khaw-zar village where Tactical Commander Nyi

Nyi was based, had a bullet put in his mouth and was beaten after he

was arrested outside the village,¡¨ an IMNA source in the area said.

 

¡§One villager from Kork-Palaing was shot in his leg while trying to go

to the farm. After that no villager dared go out of the village¨ a

villager who fled to the border recently said.

 

¡§If the villagers want to go out they have to get a letter of

permission from the troop, but they only allow the women, although if

the troop sees them at the farm or orchid plantation they will be

fined,¡¨ said a resident of  Khaw-zar village, where a Burmese troop

forced seven young women 13-20 years old to entertain their commander

everyday.

 

In Kyauk-kadin village, Yepyu township, Burmese troop LIB No.282 closed

the village. The troop did  not allow villagers to go outside the

village to buy foodstuffs in town. Even though villagers faced food

shortage, the troop barred villagers from going out, according to Nai

Toe, a Kyauk-kadin villager kicked of the village after being arrested

and beaten by the troop which suspected him of supporting Mon rebels.

 

Burmese military planned to clean out the rubber in the area and do

development at the end of 2003. The tactical commander ordered

villagers to do roadwork in the area by forced labor. In July, mlitary

leader Gen. Maung Bo went to the area to check their development in

education by competion at the Mon National school, in the area for 30

years.

 

Until now, the Burmese troop has done no development work for the

people, but only human rights violations against local people for the

purpose of cleaning out Mon rebels.

 

Long-term military operations against the Mon rebels have caused

villagers who cannot tolerate the civil war to flee to the border as

refugee groups, including current groups.

 

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Nasaka Arrests Three-Member Mosque Committee for not Complying With Order

 

 Maungdaw, Oct. 11: Kaladan Press Network

 

Nasaka (the Burmese Border Security Force) arrested a three-member

mosque committee for not complying with a Nasaka order to destroy a

mosque in their village in Maungdaw Township in Arakan State, western

Burma, a villager of the area said.

 

In the first week of September, Colonel Tun Tun Oo, commander of Nasaka

Sector No. 6 of Maungdaw Township, ordered the villagers of Zun Baina

to destroy the ancient mosque, but the villagers didn¡¦t comply with the

order, the villager added.

 

So Nasaka arrested Zahir Ahmed, 56, son of Omor Abbas, Molvi Zakaria,

52, son of Lukman Hakim, and Abul Khasim, 54, son of Tanda Meah on

Sept. 25 because of their leading role in not complying with Nasaka¡¦s

order. The victims are all from Zun Baina village in Maungdaw Township.

Afterwards, they were detained at the Nasaka camp, according to another

villager.

 

However, the arrestees were released Oct. 2 after a 1.5 million Kyat

bribe to the authority concerned. But, the order was not withdrawn and

the mosque still exists. The ancient mosque in the village was built

with concrete and roofed with tin sheeting, he added.

 

Six years ago, the commander of the same Nasaka Sector gave permission

for renovation and a small extension on the mosque after taking a 150,

000 Kyat bribe from villagers. In August, the present Nasaka Sector

commander ordered the villagers to abolish the mosque but this order

was withdrawn after a 100, 000 Kyat bribe, a village schoolteacher said.

 

On Sept. 22, the Maungdaw Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC)

general secretary U Soe Win issued a notice mentioning that photo

requirements, a committee member list, income sources, land and other

relevant documents of religious schools, mosques, temples, mondirs and

churches of Maungdaw Township were to be submitted to the TPDC office

by the end of thie month, the teacher said.

 

A student, declining to give his name, said, ¡§Collecting all the

religious building lists is nothing but deceiving Rohingya people and

the international community by showing them the SPDC authorities don¡¦t

take action only on Muslim religious buildings but also those of other

religions. But their main target is the Rohingya Muslims¡¦ religious

buildings.¡¨

 

TPDC authorities in Maungdaw Township recently formed groups to query

religious schools, mosques, Buddhist temples, Hindu temples (Mondirs)

and churches in the township. Groups went to the villages and

collectied data on religious buildings, the teacher  said.

 

SPDC authorities have been destroying religious schools and mosques

across the country where Muslims are densely populated, particularly in

northern Arakan, since 1994, an elderly man said.

 

The SPDC is erecting Buddhist temples and pagodas in minority areas

such as northern Arakan and Chin State by extracting forced labor and

donations, while destroying other non-Buddhist religious buildings, the

elderly man added.

 

On Aug. 12-13, Nasaka authorities forcefully destroyed nine mosques in

Buthidaung Township in Asrakan State, western Burma.

 

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Unfriendly Gesture in Dhaka-Rangoon Relations

 

(By Fayas Ahmed) Kaladan Press Network

 

There is a cloud of misunderstanding between Bangladesh and Burma over

a visit by a Bangladeshi survey engineering team that had to

immediately return home for lack of a response from the Burma

side,  "The Daily Ajker Desh Bidesh" reported on Sept. 26.

 

Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia¡¦s visits to Rangoon have led to a

new era in correlations between the two neighbors. She said the planned

road link between the two neighboring countries would bring them as

well as other countries of the region closer;. The regular exchange of

visits by high officials of both countries opened new opportunities

between the neighbors.

 

General Khin Nyunt, after he took office as prime minister, arrived in

Dhaka April 4 on a three-day official visit accompanied by a 41-member

delegation including several ministers and government officials. On

April 5, Bangladesh and Burma signed a MoU on establishing a direct

road link between the two countries. The road, which will ultimately

link to China, is part of Bangladesh¡¦s policy of developing ties with

economic giants to its east. The two neighbors also signed two other

MoUs on cooperation in agriculture and related fields and waived visas

for Bangladeshi diplomats and government officials.

 

Under the first MoU, Dhaka and Rangoon agreed to set up joint technical

and financial task forces to determine details for early implementation

of the road-link project. Bangladesh will assist in construction of a

bridge over the Naf River, which is a very short distance to link the

two countries.

 

Bangladesh Communication Minister Nazamal Huda and Burma Transport

Minister Major General Hla Myint Swe laid the foundation stone April 5

for the 133-kilometer highway expected to be completed in a year and a

half. The friendship highway, which would subsequently link to the

Asian Highway, will go through 38 other countries, the ¡§The Daily Star¡¨

said.

 

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Morshed Khan had said construction of the

proposed Bangladesh-Burma Asian highway would start this year, the ¡§The

Daily Star" reported on Sept.18, 2003.

 

Hearing it, most border traders bought goods hoping to export them to

Burma, but to no effect. So Bangladeshis now cast doubt over successful

construction of the road in the scheduled time, the ¡§The Daily Ajker

Desh Bidesh¡¨ reported Sept. 26.

 

Businessmen in Bangladesh feel the importance of direct road

communications linking the Dhaka-Chittagong route with Rangoon to

export Bangladeshi goods to other Asian countries such as Singapore,

Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and China without depending on third

countries, greatly benefiting Bangladesh despite a possible drop in

Chittagong port revenue. 

 

Bangladesh was keen to construct a 133 kilometer portion of the Asian

High way between Bangladesh and Burma without third country  help.

Frequent meetings were held between the two countries contributing

improvements to their bilateral relations, particularly in politics,

trade and business.  

   

The cost of the road is estimated to be Taka 605 crore (US$10.083

crore) including the cost of a bridge across the Naf River. Bangladesh

has already given $10 million to construct bridges and culverts on its

side of the border. The road will run 36 kilometers from Ramu to

Ghondom in Cox¡¦s Bazar District in Bangladesh and 97 kilometers from

Taungbro left of Maungdaw Township to Buthidaung Town in Arakan State,

Burma.

 

As agreed between the two countries, a three-member survey team headed

by Abed Uddin, additional chief engineer of the Roads and Highways

Division of Dhaka went to Arakan State June 21. Mohammad Idris,

Chittagong zonal  aditional head of engineering, and Mohammad Kabir, an

in-charge of the Bridge Mapping Department , accompanied Abed Uddin.

 

They went for four days to make a necessary survey for construction of

a bridge over the Purma River in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State. The

bridge is part of the Asian Highway, and Bangladesh is to bear the cost

of its construction.

 

On June 21, the Bangladesh survey team left Cox¡¦s Bazar for Teknaf,

arriving about 9 a.m. They were scheduled to cross the Naf River at

about 10 a.m. but they received no information from their Burmese

counterparts even after the time elapsed. However, they waited in vain

at Teknaf until noon. Then they crossed the border in a BDR speedboat.

 

With the cooperation of Nasaka, they reached a police station in

Maungdaw Township where they waited for their counterparts until 4 p.m.

They then returned to Bangladesh greatly disappointed, according

to ¡§The Daily Cox¡¦s Bazar.¡¨ .

 

Although the Bangladesh survey team scheduled discussion with concerned

local and higher Burmese officials, the plan sank into oblivion when

high officials failed to join them from Akyab (Sittwe) and Rangoon.

Engineer Kabir told newspeople they would go to Arakan again for

discussions between the two countries.

 

The Burmese action surprised many in Bangladesh. They failed to

understand why Burma didn¡¦t receive the Bangladeshi survey team, and

for sometime it has been a subject of discussion and criticism among

the business community, who want the proposed project to be completed

soon.

 

In another development, eight Bangladeshi businessmen visiting the

border town of Maungdaw Aug. 24 for border trade were pushed back by

Burmese authorities, causing tension between the two sides of the

border. However, some speculate  this incident might be related to a

grenade explosion Aug. 21 in Dhaka.

 

Although it has been already one year since Bangladesh Communication

Minister Nazamal Huda and Burma Transport Minister Major General Hla

Myint Swe laid the foundation stone for the Asian Highway, construction

is yet to start so the project is still uncertain.

 

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Burma News International is a network of nine exiled media groups

such as Mizzima News, Shan Herald Agency for News, Kao Wao News Group,

Khonumthung News Group, Narinjara News, Kaladan Press Network,

Independent Mon News Agency, Karenni Information

Network Group and Network Media Group.

 

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