Four months after ceasefire, curfews still disrupt Arakan State residents’ lives

By Admin 30 Mar 2023

DMG Newsroom
30 March 2023, Sittwe

Although it has been more than four months since the Myanmar military and Arakan Army (AA) observed an informal ceasefire on November 26, a curfew order remains in place in over half of Arakan State’s 17 townships.

Curfew orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure were recently extended for another two months in Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Minbya, Ann, Myebon, Rathedaung, Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships.

“The township General Administration Department extends the curfew orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure every two months for security reasons,” U Myo Soe Moe, an administrator of Minbya Township, told DMG.

“The regime extends the curfew orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for security reasons,” said U Pe Than, a veteran Arakanese politician. “If this curfew order is imposed, the regime can do whatever it wants, so I think this order will continue to be put in place in some townships in Arakan State.”

Members of the public are prohibited from going outside in Myebon Township from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., while elsewhere in Arakan State the curfew is in effect from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.

As the regime continues to extend curfew orders, residents are suffering economic, health-related and social hardships.

“We have to help patients at any time, day or night,” said an official from Phyusin Myitta, a local philanthropic association in Kyauktaw. “Since the curfew order has been imposed, we have to seek the respective ward or village administrator’s recommendation letter to pass through the security checkpoints, causing delays and inconvenience.”

Villagers from townships where curfew orders have been imposed say this supposed security measure does not make them feel safer as they travel to urban areas to sell locally grown vegetables and other crops.

“It’s not like before, but there is no security in people’s minds. We are worried about when we will be arrested for violating the curfew order. Some of the local people were arrested at night, so I would like to see this curfew order withdrawn,” said a ward administrator, who declined to be named for security reasons.

Passenger buses and cargo trucks running between Arakan State and mainland Myanmar, meanwhile, have to pull over or turn back if they do not arrive at checkpoints during hours outside the specified curfew, causing delays.

“We have to spend one night along the road if we do not arrive at the security checkpoints within the specified time due to the curfew order. We are allowed to pass through the security checkpoints after 6 a.m.,” said a cargo truck driver plying a route between the Arakan State capital Sittwe and Mandalay.

DMG phoned Arakan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs Colonel Kyaw Thura and Arakan State military council spokesperson U Hla Thein to find out whether the curfew order would be lifted in Arakan State any time soon, but they could not be reached.