A Muslim Survivor Recounts Ordeal at Junta’s Hands in Buthidaung

By Admin 31 Aug 2024

Written by Min Tun

From a small building where he was confined, Saw Lein Mohla, 35, heard continuous gunfire and artillery barrage. His nerves were on edge as the gunfire approached.

He could barely move, let alone flee. His hands were tied behind his back. For the past three days, he had been deprived of food and water, being confined to a brick building roofed with iron sheets, he explained, recounting his first-hand experience of the fighting between the Arakkha Army (AA) and the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 353 in Buthidaung Town in May.

He was not alone on that day, May 14. There were more than 30 other detainees including adults and children. All of them were from Karu Chaung Village in Buthidaung Township.
 
The township became a battlefield after the AA launched an offensive against the regime in Arakan State last November. After the fighting peaked in Buthidaung Township, the regime started forcibly recruiting Muslim villagers near their bases.
 
Karu Chaung residents were among the Muslim villagers recruited by the regime through persuasion or coercion.
 
The village is just three furlongs from the junta’s LIB No. 353 and was under the control of the regime.
 
Junta troops from LIB No. 353 came to Karu Chaung and attempted to persuade male villagers to enlist, said Saw Lein Mohla.
 
“They said we would get citizenship identity cards and we would be free to go anywhere we like,” he said.
 
When the Karu Chaung villagers were not swayed, the regime used force to conscript them.
 
“Junta soldiers came to our village and told us to provide conscripts. They threatened to kill us and torch the village if we didn’t,” he said.
 
Many young and middle-aged men went into hiding in the mountains for days. Only elderly people and women were left in the village.
 
Meanwhile, junta soldiers arrived at Karu Chaung and ordered village officials to call the Muslims who would serve in the military. Residents of Karu Chaung said that junta soldiers beat some of the elderly Muslims who were left behind when they could not recruit Muslims meeting the criteria for military service.
 
After that, young and middle-aged people from Karu Chaung, including Saw Lein Mohla, who had fled, returned to the village. It was not long before trouble was visited on Saw Lein Mohla and other returnees.
 
Some armed Muslim militiamen and junta soldiers armed with guns, allied with the military regime, suddenly entered Karu Chaung (Muslim) Village at around 4:00 p.m.
 
During fighting in Buthidaung Township between the Myanmar military and the AA, the regime arrested 35 Muslim men, women, and children, including Saw Lein Mohla from Karu Chaung, detaining them at LIB No. 353.
 
Inside a building at the battalion, junta soldiers tore off the Muslim detainees’ clothes, tied their hands behind their backs and told them to lay on their stomachs. Muslim detainees said junta soldiers kicked their heads and beat them.
 
Saw Lein Mohla described how junta soldiers tortured the Muslim detainees and kept them locked up in the battalion for three days without food or water.
 
“They kicked our heads and beat us. They did not give us food or water. We were held at the junta battalion for three days,” said Saw Lein Mohla.
 
Thirty-five residents of Karu Chaung including Saw Lein Mohla in Light Infantry Battalion No. 353 were arrested and detained at the time when the battle between the military and AA intensified around the battalion.
 
Muslim detainees, including Saw Lein Mohla, were also detained and trapped in the middle of the fighting. At that time, an artillery shell exploded near the dormitory where they were held, and the shrapnel hit Saw Lein Mohla, who was locked inside.
 
“I didn’t think I would survive,” Saw Lein Mohla, 35, recounted, describing being deprived of basic needs like food and water and amid a battlefield as well.
 
Two of the 35 Muslim detainees, including Saw Lein Mohla, had been injured by artillery shrapnel. 
 
A 30-year-old Muslim woman also suffered shrapnel wounds to her left arm and her condition is considered not life-threatening.
 
After the AA seized Light Infantry Battalion No. 353 on May 14, it rescued the 35 detainees, who had been deprived of food and water for three days, Saw Lein Mohla said.
 
The AA released a video on May 18 that 35 Muslim detainees from Karu Chaung (Muslim) Village, who had been deprived of food and water for three days, were rescued when the battalion was captured.
 
The regime has yet to release any information about the matter. DMG attempted to contact junta spokesman Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun regarding the matter, but he could not be reached.
 
The AA also gave clothes and food to the residents of Karu Chaung (Muslim) Village, as well as giving medical treatment to two injured people, including Saw Lein Mohla.
 
The AA seized control of the entire Buthidaung Township on May 18. The Karu Chaung (Muslim) villagers who were rescued by the AA have not yet returned to their homes and are taking refuge in a place in the Buthidaung area controlled by the ethnic armed group.