A Rohingya child in Pauktaw was brutally assaulted by Buddhist nationalists and then handed over to the military for venturing out of the camps to collect bamboo.
The child along with five other youngsters from the Kindi Prang IDP camp went to the woods on Friday morning when the group of miscreants attacked them. While the four others managed to run away with minor injuries, the boy was surrounded and seriously assaulted.
Sources say he was dragged on to the local military camp following the assault.
The IDP camps in Pauktaw are surrounded by hostile Rakhine territory and anybody venturing outside the camps face risk of assault, and even death in the hands of organised Buddhist nationalist mobs backed by the security forces. However, the government has also restricted aid to the camps, and many spend days without food. Meanwhile livelihood options are extremely risky as Friday’s incident once again shows that leaving the camps carries the risk of torture, and even death.
Rohingya activists have long alleged that the government has intentionally imposed a state of blockade on Rohingyas with the intention of cutting them off from all livelihood sources. Pauktaw is however far from the Bangladesh border and even escaping by sea is almost impossible. Under the circumstances, there are concerns the entire population might be wiped out as the army and nationalist groups harden their anti Rohingya approach.
International organisations have long described the conditions of the Muslim IDP camps as ‘the worst in the world’.
Our correspondent in Pauktaw reports that with a shortage of aid, and the risk of death if the Rohingyas go out to collect wood or catch fish, there is panic in the area as all options seem to be running out with infant mortality reaching an alarming high.
Many Rohingyas have to tread through raw sewage, with waste matters often reaching their homes. The almost complete lack of medical facilities has made matters worse.
