Sittwe traffic police extort money from Muslims traveling on motorbikes

The Sittwe traffic police personnel are extorting money from Muslims traveling on motorbikes citing the reason of invalid licenses.

On 19 August soon after 2 pm, some  Muslims faced the problem. They informed Narinjara News that three Sittwe traffic police officers on duty at the intersection of Miset Gyi (big generator) extorted money from seven Muslims traveling on their motorcycles.

Among them there are two students from Sittwe University (who hail from Buthidaung and Maungdaw localities), two individuals from Kaung Dukkar and Saythamar refugee camps,  one person from That Kay Byint refugee camp, one old  man from block (16) of Bu May village and onemyoung man from Kudin Pike village under Sittwe township.

"They took away my motorcycle key and cellphone. They also asked me if I had a valid driver's licence and other papers. As I didn't have the license, they demanded Kyats 1.5 lakh. I had to pay the amount as I had an important urgent task that day,” said one Muslim traveller.

Another Muslim man said that the Sittwe University students also did not have the license and hence they were asked to pay Kyats 7 thousand.

The others had to pay Kyats 3.5 lakh as they could speak Rakhine and Burmese language.

"The two students were returning to residences and they were compelled to pay the money. As they did not have the amount, they borrowed from a Bumay villager. Each one had to pay Kyats 7,000. Normally the court imposes a fine of Kyats 3,000 only, but the police personnel threatened to send him to jail under traffic laws," he added.

Often the Muslim bikers without necessary papers are arrested. The problem is that if a Muslim goes to the road transport director’s office in Sittwe for a driving license, he is denied citing the reason that Muslims are not recognized as genuine citizens.

A Muslims leader argues that no Muslim person can get the necessary papers as they do not have national ID cards issued by the immigration department. So this is an example of discrimination, he added.

Narinjara News tried to contact Sittwe township traffic police office for their reaction, but it went in vain.

Most of the Muslims in Sittwe are living in specified villages or refugee camps on the city’s outskirts. They are living for more than a decade with no freedom of movement because of the conflicts that took place in 2012.

Recently, as the relation between the Buddhists and Muslims have improved, the Muslims in Sittwe are enjoying the advantage to move towards the downtown areas. But the extortion of traffic police personnel are putting them in trouble again.