The arrest of a doctor in Rakhine State’s Pauktaw Township late last month is just the latest instance of healthcare workers in the state being targeted by Myanmar’s military, according to locals.
Dr. Win Naing Soe, a medical officer from Nga Pa Thone in Myebon Township, was detained by navy forces on September 25 while transporting medicine to a local hospital, a relative told Myanmar Now.
“He was bringing medicine back from Sittwe by motorboat when they stopped and searched him. After they found the medicine, they took him away for questioning,” said the relative, who did not want to be named.
Two days later, after being interrogated by state medical officers and junta officials, he was formally arrested. Although family members were able to contact him by telephone the next day, they said they were still worried because they didn’t know where he was being held.
According to local healthcare workers, the regime imposed restrictions on the transport of medicine and medical supplies early last month. Since then, they said, the military has been conducting searches at the main points of entry into the state to enforce the restrictions.
As a result, many hospitals, especially those in Rathedaung, Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, are starting to run short of supplies, sources in those areas reported.
Aimed at the AA
The move appears to be aimed at depriving the Arakan Army (AA), which has stepped up its conflict with the military in recent months, of access to basic necessities.
On September 6, the junta also arrested Dr. Kyaw Thura Tun, a physician who runs a private clinic in Taungup Township, and charged him under the Unlawful Associations Act for alleged involvement with the AA.
“Doctors are under constant watch now, and teachers are as well. The military is suspicious of everyone, which makes it a lot harder for us to make a living,” said one educator.
In June, a medical technician from Maungdaw named Saw Min Naing was also arrested at the township health department for allegedly providing medicated mosquito nets to the AA. He was released 21 days later.
As tensions continue to rise, more and more civilians, including healthcare workers, are being arrested on suspicion of having ties to the AA. Many have reportedly been tortured while under interrogation.
Last month alone, more than 40 people in the state were charged under the Unlawful Associations Act, according to local sources.
Targeting relief workers
On the same day that Dr. Win Naing Soe was taken into custody, the regime also took action against three charity workers whose social welfare groups provide medical services to the poor.
Than Tun, the secretary of Nan Yeik Garuna, a group that provides free oxygen to patients in Mrauk-U Township, was arrested along with his brother, Kyaw Than Hlaing, while Than Shwe, the chair of the Thingaha Kann Latt Rakhitta group from Minbya, was charged with incitement.
Some residents of the state say that the junta is deliberately targeting those who help the public in order to deepen the misery of ordinary citizens.
“They want to cause trouble for the public to make them think that they have to suffer because of the AA, not the military,” said one man living in Mrauk-U.
In a statement released last Thursday, the Arakan National Party (ANP) strongly condemned recent shelling by the military, which it said had claimed the lives of a large number of civilians and destroyed many houses.
Restrictions on both land and water routes in several Rakhine townships for an unlimited period were also threatening the livelihoods of people living in these areas, the party said.
In its statement, the ANP also called on the regime to lift restrictions on international and local organisations providing humanitarian assistance, which have been in place since September 16.
Last month, the regime charged Pe Than, a prominent Rakhine nationalist politician and former member of the ANP, with defamation and incitement.
