AA spokesman decries junta arrests of Paletwa Twsp administrators

By DMG 11 Jun 2022

DMG Newsroom
11 June 2022, Sittwe

Arakan Army (AA) spokesman Khaing Thukha has called the military regime’s arrest of local administrators in Chin State’s Paletwa Township a human rights violation amid rising military tensions between the two sides.

Following fighting with the Arakan Army in Paletwa Township last month, the Myanmar military has detained a number of local administrators and villagers for interrogation. Three administrators reportedly remain detained.

“That they arrest village administrators and torture villagers because of clashes near their villages is a grave human rights violation. The arbitrary arrest of villager administrators threatens the rule of law and stability,” Khaing Thukha said.

The AA official insisted that the detained village administrators had no ties to the Arakanese ethnic armed group. Military tensions are running high in Paletwa and clashes could erupt and potentially escalate at any time, he said.

Sixty-year-old U Maung Win, a 100-household head from Paletwa’s Myoma ward, was arrested on Wednesday, the latest of the local administrators to be taken into custody. 

“Five soldiers came and arrested him. We don’t know why he was arrested, and we haven’t been able to see him,” his son-in-law told DMG.

Two 10-household heads and the village administrator of Abaung Thar village were detained on the same day that the military and Arakan Army clashed on May 26, according to residents.

The two 10-household heads have since been released but the administrator, U Thar Tun Aung, remains under detention, said a villager who asked for anonymity.

U Maung Me Kyawt, the administrator of Myoma ward in Paletwa, was also detained by the regime on June 4.

DMG’s calls to junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun went unanswered.

After three ward and village administrators in Myebon Township, Arakan State, were detained in June 2020 amid heavy fighting between the Myanmar military and the AA, dozens of fellow administrators submitted resignation letters to the township General Administration Department.

Administrators from Arakan State’s Rathedaung, Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw and Minbya townships also resigned in 2019 after their colleagues were detained by the regime over alleged ties to the AA.

The administrators of Bawdupa Muslim village and Kyet Kaing Tan village were also been detained by the regime last month and face charges under the Forest Law.