Tatmadaw interrogates over 40 villagers in Buthidaung Township

02 Jul 2019

Cha Lu Aung | DMG

2 July, Maungdaw

Local residents from Kan Pyin village who returned from IDP camps in the Buthidaung downtown area to work on their village farmland have been detained for interrogation on 2 July by the Tatmadaw, said U Maung Kyaw Zan, Amyotha Hluttaw MP for Buthidaung Township.

Kan Pyin village has more than 50 houses and over 160 people are living there. When clashes between the Tatmadaw and the AA took place in the region, they took shelter in the IDP camps in Buthidaung town. They have been detained while they were returning to their homes to do cultivation work.

“Three farmers who have been taken as local porters for the military troop arrived back at their homes now. About 40 villagers have been interrogated by the Tatmadaw.  They allowed villagers go to back home for lunch, eight people at a time,” U Maung Kyaw Zan said.

However, two women and one man from one group did not turn up after the lunch. The Tatmadaw did not allow the remaining villagers to have lunch and continued interrogating them at the village school.

U Kyaw Min Tun, administrator for Buthidaung Township, said: “I think the Tatmadaw meets with villagers and asks them questions. Reports on these activities have not come to me yet. The administrator from Kan Pyin village is one of the villagers fleeing from the village.”

There are 12 IDP camps in Buthidaung Township and 9000 of 12,680 IDPs returned home presently. So, the updated number of IDPs in the township is 2732.