A government official in Sittwe reached by telephone confirmed to The Myanmar Times that the immigration department would check the identities of residents in Aung Mingalar on May 21.
The residents of Aung Mingalar, said to number 4530 according to a 2012 count, have lived in what amounts to a ghetto, guarded by police and severely limited in their movements, since 2012 when violence erupted between the Buddhist and Muslim communities across the state.
Most Muslim residents of Sittwe were forced into rural camps in 2012 but a number were allowed to remain in their homes in Aung Mingalar, which is now the only predominantly Muslim area of the city. Many identify themselves as Rohingya, although locals and the military refer to them as Bengalis, implying they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. (Courtesy of Myanmar Times)
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