IDPs in Chin State’s Paletwa town pushed to return home

By DMG 17 Sep 2022

DMG Newsroom
17 September 2022, Paletwa, Chin State

The township administrator has instructed internally displaced people (IDPs) who are currently sheltering in downtown Paletwa to return home next month, and a list is being collected as to whether they want to return home or not.

An official from the township administrator’s office phoned the administrators of Abaung Thar, Yokewa and Lwehla village-tracts on September 15 concerning the return of the IDPs.

The village-tract administrators went the next day to the township administrator’s office, where they were given documents to be filled out listing the IDPs who want to return home and those who do not want to return home, according to an unnamed administrator.

“We received a phone call from the township administrator’s office and we were told that a letter allowing the IDPs to return home was approved by state-level officials. Displacement camps in downtown Paletwa will reportedly be demolished. We are now forced to collect the list as to whether they [IDPs] want to return home or not,” the administrator said.

It is impossible for IDPs to return home for the time being due to a resumption of clashes near their villages, an IDP from Lwehla Village told DMG.

“IDPs dare not return home due to ongoing fighting near the village. We are worried about our safety. But we must go home if we are forced to return home. We are preparing to submit a letter to the state-level officials to articulate the plight of IDPs,” he added.

IDPs do not want to return home due to such safety concerns, as well as the risk of landmines, said an IDP from a displacement camp near the Paletwa Township football grounds.

“We dare not return home due to ongoing fighting. Sounds of heavy weapons were heard even in downtown Paletwa and we are concerned for our safety. We want to return home but we are worried about the risk of landmines. We must decide whether we will return home or not on Monday,” he said.

DMG continues to attempt to contact the Paletwa Township administrator’s office regarding the matter.

More than 3,000 IDPs from three village-tracts are currently taking refuge at displacement camps in Paletwa town.

Myanmar’s military and the Arakan Army reached an informal ceasefire agreement ahead of the country’s November 2020 general election, after approximately two years of often-intense fighting in Arakan State and Paletwa Township. But the peace pact has verged on total collapse for weeks amid months of escalating military tensions and a series of clashes between the two sides across multiple Arakan State townships, and in Paletwa Township.