New police force just as bad as Nasaka

July 29, 2013

A Rohingya couple that married without getting the required permission from Arakan state authorities were forced to pay a 50,000 Kyat bribe (US $51) to the new central police force

(Hluntin). A source close to Hluntin that recently replaced the notorious border security force Nasaka several weeks ago told Kaladan Press Network that Nurul Amin, 33; son of Abu Mosa was detained in their camp after being arrested. The man from Ngakura in northern Maungdaw was picked up in his home on the morning of July 23 and released after the extortion fee was paid the following evening, according to the source.

The 1982 Citizenship Law introduced by Gen Ne Win stripped Rohingyas of citizenship. In order to marry it could take as long as 6 months to get permission and it required paying a series of bribes to Nasaka. The border guard force stopped issuing wedding permits last year.

Nasaka was started in the early ‘90s and used to be stationed across the country. But in 2005 the government dismantled it everywhere except in Arakan state.

After the central government abolished Nasaka several weeks ago many Rohingya hoped that they would suffer less harassment. But it appears that the central police force that have replaced them are picking off where the border guard force left off. Arrests and harassment are occurring just as frequently as before, according to a Rohingya villager that spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Some people believe that harassment would decrease after the central government dissolved the border security force, but the harassment will increase in the future. There won’t be any change,” a village administration officer said on condition of anonymity.

“President Thein Sein is promising that human rights violations will be no more in the country” but it’s just a “policy of the military backed quasi-civilian government” in order “to pursue the international companies to invest in Burma and get aid from the western world”, said a Maungdaw town businessman who didn’t want his name used.

The new police force has set up their base of operations in the same camps used by Nasaka, according to a former aide of the border guard force.

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