Rights groups say recruitment of residents to counter alleged threat of Rohingya fighters will lead to more abuses.
 |
| Rohingya civilians have been displaced by a crackdown following the October 9 attacks [AP] |
Authorities in Myanmar say security forces have begun arming and training non-Muslim residents in the north of Rakhine state to counter an allegedly growing threat from fighters belonging to the ethnic Rohingya minority group.
Human rights advocates say the move could lead to more conflict and abuses against civilians in Rakhine.
Colonel Sein Lwin, Rakhine police chief, told Reuters news agency on Wednesday that his force had started recruiting new "regional police" from among Buddhist Rakhine and other non-Muslim ethnic minorities in the border town of Maungdaw.
Candidates who did not meet the educational attainment standards, or criteria such as minimum height, required for recruitment by the regular police would be accepted for the scheme, he said.
"But they have to be the residents," said Sein Lwin. "They will have to serve at their own places."
Min Aung, a minister in Rakhine parliament and a member of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, said only citizens would be eligible to sign up for the police training, ruling out the 1.1 million Rohingya living in Rakhine, who are denied citizenship by the government.
Police will also start recruiting civilians in Sittwe, Rakhine state's capital, next week.
Lin Lin Oo, a police official, said that initially 100 recruits aged between 18 and 35 would undergo an accelerated 16-week training programme in Sittwe on November 7.
Authorities said the auxiliary recruits would not form a new "people's militia", like those that fight in ethnic conflicts elsewhere in Myanmar.
Such militias - which are often accused of abuses against civilians - raise their own funds and are overseen by the army. The new recruits in Rakhine will be paid and come under the control of the border police.
Ref: Aljazeera News
