Residents say the policy would cover land belonging both to Rohingya still in northern Arakan and to those displaced abroad, raising fears over livelihoods and future return.
by Hafizur Rahman
MAUNGDAW, Arakan, 14 August 2026: United League of Arakan (ULA) officials told Rohingya residents in Maungdaw that farmland historically owned by Rohingya families would no longer be recognised as their property and could only be cultivated with permission from the ULA, according to several residents who attended a meeting earlier this month.
Nearly 400 Rohingya from different villages attended the meeting on 8 August at the former Border Guard Police Battalion No. 10 compound in Maungdaw Township, residents told Rohingya Khobor.
According to attendees, ULA officials present included district and township administrators, a political officer and officials involved in the local justice system.
Residents said the ULA district administrator told the gathering that Rohingya would no longer hold ownership rights over their farmland. Instead, farmers would reportedly have to seek permission from ULA authorities to cultivate individual plots and pay a tax based on the amount of land they farmed.
The statements, if implemented as described, could affect not only Rohingya currently living in Maungdaw and Buthidaung but also hundreds of thousands who were displaced from northern Arakan and now live in Bangladesh and elsewhere.
During the meeting, a Rohingya community elder asked whether the policy applied only to land belonging to Rohingya who remain in the area or also to property belonging to families who had fled because of successive waves of violence and conflict.
“Does this mean the farmland of Rohingya who are still living here, or also the farmland of those who were forced to flee because of the war?” the elder asked, according to his account to Rohingya Khobor.
The district administrator replied that the rule applied to farmland belonging to both groups, attendees said.
Fear Among Farming Families
Rohingya residents said the announcement has caused widespread concern because agriculture remains an important source of food and income for families in northern Arakan.
One resident told Rohingya Khobor that farmers could effectively be reduced to cultivating, with official permission, land their families had owned and worked for generations.
Families displaced from their villages face an even greater concern. Many Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh retain claims to homes, farmland and other property in northern Arakan and regard restoration of those rights as an essential condition for any sustainable return.
A Rohingya resident interviewed by Rohingya Khobor said that if displaced families were no longer recognised as owners of their farmland, returning to their places of origin would become substantially more difficult.
Wider Concerns Over Rohingya Land
The accounts from the 8 August meeting come amid mounting allegations of Rohingya land being confiscated or placed under new administrative control in areas governed by the AA/ULA.
In recent months, rights groups and local reporting have documented allegations that Rohingya-owned land in northern Maungdaw has been seized, reassigned or used for the resettlement of other communities.
The issue also carries particular significance because the destruction, confiscation and repurposing of Rohingya property has long been central to their displacement from northern Arakan.
For displaced Rohingya families, restoration of land and property rights is therefore not only an economic issue but a central question for any future return.
Residents who spoke to Rohingya Khobor said they now want clarity on whether the statements made at the meeting represent an official ULA land policy and what legal basis, if any, the authorities are using to claim control over privately held Rohingya farmland.
Rohingya Khobor could not independently verify the statements attributed to ULA officials and had not obtained a response from the AA/ULA at the time of publication.
