Family of Kyauktaw man worried amid dearth of info about arrest

By Hnin Nwe 13 Aug 2020

Hnin Nwe | DMG
13 August, Sittwe  

Family members of a missing man from Tawpanzin village in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, have expressed concern as they have yet to receive word on his status more than four days after he was reportedly detained by the military. 

The administrator of the Thinganat village-tract, of which Tawpanzin is a part, told DMG that 57-year-old U Aye Maung was detained by a military column while on his way to a drug store in neighbouring Sabalhla village on August 9.

“He went to Sabalhla village to buy medicine,” said U Hla Kyaw Phyu, the administrator. “He encountered a white car carrying soldiers on his way. He tried to run as he was afraid. He was arrested on suspicion and detained by the military in a house near the river. The military [subsequently] took him to another place.” 

U Maung Kyan Sein, the detainee’s father-in-law, said: “We call for the release of him quickly because he is innocent. He is poor. But he earns his living by cultivating his own bit of farmland honestly. He is a father of three. We are concerned for him as we don’t get any information about it.” 

U Aye Maung was reportedly arrested by personnel from the military’s Kansauk Mountain-based No. 539 Light Infantry Battalion.  

On August 11, town elders and monks went to a factory in the front of Kyauktaw Township’s Kwanohnchaung village, where servicemen are stationed. But the soldiers did not allow them to enter the village, according to U Maung Maung, an Arakan State lawmaker from Kyauktaw Township. 

“They don’t dare go there again as the servicemen threatened to treat them harshly,” he said. “They plan to lodge a complaint at the police station.” 

DMG phoned Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun and Major-General Tun Tun Nyi from the Tatmadaw True News Information Team seeking comment on the situation in the Thinganat village-tract, but they could not be reached. 

Scores of people have been arrested by the military as its conflict with the Arakan Army has escalated in western Myanmar. Often they go missing with only scant details of their disappearance or alleged wrongdoing initially available, in a pattern that critics contend is neither transparent nor respecting of the detainees’ due process rights. 

There have also been a number of detainee deaths while in military custody.