By NAW NOREEN Published: 29 July 2011 Muslim women in Arakan state's Sittwe hold ID cards while they wait to cast ballots during last year's elections (Reuters) Muslims in five principal townships in western Burma have been granted permission by the immigration department to travel freely, providing they carry ID cards. The decision comes nine months after the elections last year and campaign pledges by the eventual winner, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), that it would increase mobility for Burma’s long-persecuted Muslim minority. A man in Arakan state’s Sandoway said that the decision may be related to letter sent to the government by residents of the town in which they complained that the civil rights ascribed in the 2008 constitution, which was adopted when the new government came to power in March, were not being recognised. Until recently Muslims in Arakan state were required to get permission from their local authorities before travelling outside of