Kyaukphyu residents fret over fate of detained relatives

By Admin 05 Sep 2024

DMG Newsroom
5 September 2024, Kyaukphyu

Family members say they are worried about the fate of some residents in Kyaukphyu Township, Arakan State, as their whereabouts remain unknown since their arrests months ago.

Maung Paing Soe Tun, a 15-year-old teenage boy from Pyinshae Village in Kyaukphyu Township, is a Grade 9 student at a high school in Malakyun Village. He was arrested by junta soldiers in the second week of November 2023 while returning to his village from school.

Maung Paing Soe Tun hasn’t been seen or heard from since his arrest, said Daw Ma Nge Daung, the boy’s mother.

“I am worried about his safety. He is a 15-year-old teenage boy. I want my son to be released,” she said.

Three men including Ko Kyaw Kyaw Naing, a 33-year-old local man from Kulaba Village in Kyaukphyu Township, were arrested by a military column in March when they went to the forest to collect vegetables.

Family members say they have not been in contact with the detainees since their arrest.

The three men have reportedly been charged under Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act, but family members have been unable to go to Kyaukphyu to meet them due to the junta blockades and more recently implemented access restrictions from the Arakkha Army (AA).

“I don’t know whether he [Ko Kyaw Kyaw Naing] is in good health or not. I want to meet him. My children also want to meet him. It will be good if I have a chance to meet him,” said Ma Khin Myo Tun, the wife of Ko Kyaw Kyaw Naing.

The regime has detained more than 200 people in Kyaukphyu Township since the latest fighting in Arakan State began in November. Of the detainees, over 100 people have been released, but at least 86 are still being held by the regime.

Among those arrested are politicians, activists, ordinary civilians and minors, most of whom have been charged under Section 17(1) of the Unlawful Associations Act.

“If the regime really cares about the people, I think they should allow [detainees] and their families to meet. Another thing is that if the regime really wants to protect the people, it should release the innocent people,” said a social activist in Kyaukphyu Township.

With fighting between the military and the AA ongoing in Kyaukphyu, military tensions are running high and the entire island town has been blocked off by the AA.