Maungdaw, Arakan State : A number of Rohingyas fled from Northern Arakan for fear of being arrested after they clashed with Natala (model) villagers of the Buddhist community in Taungbro sub-border town of Burma – Bangladesh border on December 20.

“I escaped from my village, when the   police and ( Burma’s Border Security Force or Nasaka) came and arrested 50 people and were looking for young Rohingya youths,” said a 22 years Rohingya youth from Taungbro who recently arrived in Chittagong.

“I left my village for fear of arrest. If they had arrested me they would have harassed me and my family and take money from me. And we have no extra money to give them as we are farmers,” said a young farmer from the village.

According to Kaladan news dated December 20, the authorities arrested 50 Rohingya people after the clash. Some of the injured were admitted at Taungbro government clinic.

But, the government authorities stated that the concerned authority (Nasaka) had come on time and intervened to sort out the problem which had occurred between Natala villagers and local Rohingya villagers. No one was arrested, they claimed.

According to the local Rohingya villager, on that night the concerned authorities released 30 local Rohingya villagers from detention and kept others in police custody in Taungbro. On December 21, after foreign radio broadcasts about the clash, the authorities released again15 local Rohingya villagers.

On December 31, the Taungbro police again sent three Rohingya villagers from the arrested five Rohingya villagers to Maungdaw police station for further interrogation, said a teacher in the village.

The three local Rohingya villagers are — Shafi Alam son of Abdul Shukur, Syed Islam son of Syed Karim and Syedul Islam son of Syed Karim.