Rakhine officials collect nearly 400,000 ‘white cards’ by deadline

U Khin Soe, director of immigration department, told The Myanmar Times yesterday that office hours had been extended until 6pm on the last day for the “white cards” to be handed in.

Most of the white-card holders in Rakhine State are stateless Muslims who identify as Rohingya but are officially referred to by the government as Bengali.

The government decreed in February that all temporary ID holders in the country – said then to number 797,504 – should hand in their documents between April 1 and May 31.

From June 1 former white-card holders will be eligible to apply for citizenship, which will be granted if they fulfil the legal criteria. For Rohingya Muslims this includes renouncing Rohingya as their ethnic identity.

U Khin Soe said his latest data showed 392,259 cards had been handed in across Rakhine State. The government had previously said there were 666,831 white-card holders in the state.

Explaining the discrepancy, the director denied that people were refusing to surrender their cards.

“Some of them are dead. Some have lost their cards or had their cards burned. Some had their cards torn apart,” he said, referring to the inter-communal violence in 2012 that left around 200 people dead.

He made no mention of UN estimates that some tens of thousands of Rohingya have also fled villages and IDP camps on smuggling routes plied by human traffickers.

The director said the rate of collection had gradually fallen during May to a little over 1000 cards a day, compared to more than 20,000 on some days in April.

Minister for Immigration and Population U Khin Yi told Voice of America on May 29 that more than 415,000 white cards had been submitted across the country.

UN officials say that many of those who have been granted citizenship through the verification process are still confined to their camps, as the state government says it is unsafe for them to leave.
Source : mmtimes