E/CN.4/1993/62 page 65 townships of Akyab District. In January 1991, 1,500 villagers in Buthidaung township were allegedly ordered to leave their homes. A number of villages are said to have lost up to half of their population as thousands of Muslims fled to seek refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh while others are almost completely empty. The mass exodus is said to have increased dramatically in late 1991 and early 1992. The human rights violations which have been brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur may be grouped into the following broad categories: ill-treatment and killing during porter duty, ill-treatment and rape, summary executions and religious persecution, eviction and population transfers. Ill-treatment during porter duty Since the mid-1980’s, Muslims are said to have been taken for forced porter duty by the military, particularly the light infantry divisions. A village headman would reportedly be coerced by troops into recruiting porters from his village, often in order to avoid an attack. Persons of all ages, including older men and children as well as clerics, are reported to have been taken from their villages and made to carry, without pay, heavy loads of food, bricks or ammunition for troops. Some are said to have literally been abducted from their homes, markets or local roads and many have never returned. They were also forced to work on the building of military camps, the construction and improvement of roads, digging trenches, or were made to act as servants for troops in army camps. They would also be forced frequently to build new villages for non-Muslim settlers which the armed forces had moved into the Rakhine area. Forced labourers were kept in army custody for periods varying from a few days to several months, often on rotation. Some were taken for forced porter duty several times. Since late 1991, there has reportedly been an increase in the number of Muslims taken as porters and the frequency with which they were taken. Citizens of Myanmar belonging to the Hindu faith are also reported to have been conscripted for forced portering. Muslims on forced porter duty have been reported to be victims of ill-treatment: they were given no food or only a small amount of rice a day and were often tied up at night, which made sleep impossible. Those who became ill or weak from exhaustion or lack of food and could not perform their duties to the satisfaction of the army were verbally abused, kicked with heavy boots, beaten with bamboo sticks, iron rods and rifle butts, burned with cigarettes, slashed with bayonets or killed. If they collapsed and could no longer stand, they were left by the troops on the ground to die. Men who would flee in order to evade porter duty would have female members of their family taken in their place to the military camp and raped, often being held as hostages until the return of the men. The following specific cases of ill-treatment of forced labourers were brought to the attention of the Special Rapporteur: Abdul Jalil, 70, from Kiladaung village, Maungdaw township, had served the military at the Kilarbil camp for a decade and was involved in portering heavy loads and canal building. He reported that no one was allowed to stop work and sleep until midnight, when workers had to sleep on the roadside,