Kyauktaw Twsp residents unwilling to return home despite junta troops’ retreat from their villages

By DMG 11 Aug 2022

DMG Newsroom
11 August 2022, Kyauktaw 

Residents of Phayapaung, Taung Pauk and Ponnar villages in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township fled their homes after junta troops entered the villages on Tuesday morning, and though the soldiers have since left, more than 100 villagers remain unwilling to return to their homes, according to locals. 

Hundreds of residents left their homes when the regime forces entered the villages on August 9. The majority of the residents returned after the junta troops left the villages the next day, but around 100 locals from Taung Pauk village are reportedly reluctant to do so. 

“The villagers returned to their communities as the Myanmar military column left the villages. But some villagers are afraid and dare not return home. They are worried about their safety as some villagers were arrested and killed by the Myanmar military during the fighting,” said a resident of Taung Pauk village. 

When the Myanmar military contingent entered Taung Pauk village, the village’s schools were closed, with teachers and students fleeing in fear, according to another resident. 

“Almost all residents fled when the Myanmar military entered the village. Only a few people remained in the village to feed their cattle. Elderly people who were unable to flee hid themselves at the village’s monastery,” said a local. 

More than 70 out of some 300 houses in Taung Pauk village were reduced to ashes in an arson attack on September 3, 2020. The Myanmar military has denied accusations, made by several locals, that its troops were responsible for setting fire to the homes.