Burmese trying to enroll in Bangladeshi voters list arrested

Dhaka (Narinjara): Eighteen Burmese Muslims were arrested on Wednesday by the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) on the border when they were trying to enter Bangladesh to enroll in the country’s voters list, said an official report.

Bangladeshi election authorities are now updating the country’s electoral rolls. So some Burmese nationals are trying to sneak into Bangladesh to enroll their names in the voters list. Should they succeed in registering their names in the voters list, they will become Bangladeshi citizens, the report said.

The Burmese nationals were arrested from different areas of Nakhongshari Township, opposite MaungdawTownship in Burma during a joint operation by the Bangladeshi security forces, official sources said.

“Acting on secret information, they entered Bangladesh territory to enroll themselves in the updated voters list. We caught them on the border,” said an official.

The BDR also arrested 11 Burmese nationals from different villages in Nakhongsari Township on Sunday and Monday while they were intruding into Bangladesh.

Despite Bangladeshi border authorities arresting many Burmese Muslims and pushing them back to Burma the exodus of Muslims from the neighbouring country continues unabated.

Most from the Muslim community in Arakan are entering Bangladesh to flee the economic crisis in the State. The people as a whole in Arakan are mired in financial crisis making it difficult for them to eke out a living, reports from Arakan say.