Junta recruits over 1,000 Muslims in Sittwe, summons 1,000 more

By Admin 11 Apr 2024

DMG Newsroom
11 April 2024, Sittwe

Myanmar’s military regime forcibly conscripted and provided basic military training to over 1,000 Muslims from villages and displacement camps in Arakan State’s Sittwe in March, and has summoned 1,000 more Muslims.

Over 1,000 Muslims from Bumay and Barsar villages and Bawdupha and Ohntawgyi displacement camps underwent two weeks of military training at the Regional Operations Command in Sittwe.

“Some of them have already died in fighting in Rathedaung. More than 200 Muslims were trained in each batch. Some were dispatched to guard Palinpyin Village,” said a young Muslim man from Sittwe.

Earlier this week, the junta-appointed Arakan State security and border affairs minister and Sittwe Township administrator summoned administrators of Muslim villages and displacement camps to a meeting and told them to supply 1,000 more people for military service.

“They told us that villages must give 500 people, and displacement camps must give another 500. We replied that we would consider it after the Eid al-Fitr [on Thursday]. We don’t want to serve in the military. We don’t know where to flee as the regime has imposed travel restrictions in Sittwe,” said a Muslim from Bumay Village.

The regime also forced Muslims in Sittwe and Buthidaung towns to stage protests against the Arakan Army (AA) as it has attempted to stir up racial tensions.

The regime has been forcibly recruiting Muslims in Kyaukphyu, Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships as well, prompting many to flee.

One Muslim man from Kyauktalone refugee camp in Kyaukphyu Township said: “They told us that we are citizens and that we must serve in the military, and work for the country. We don’t want to serve the regime, and we have fled.”

Muslim activists have called the conscription of Muslims a gross violation of human rights.

Seriously depleted by daily clashes with resistance forces at multiple fronts across the country, the regime enforced the national conscription law on February 10, requiring the country’s young population to serve in the military for two to five years.