Kyaukphyu arrests raise concerns about targeting of ethnic Rakhines

Ma Phyu, a 19-year-old Rakhine resident of Yangon, was returning to her hometown in Rakhine State to see her ailing father when she was arrested at the airport in Kyaukphyu last Sunday along with nearly 70 others aboard her flight. Since then, at least 80 more young Rakhine residents of Yangon have been detained for reasons that remain unexplained. According to sources close to some of the detainees, none of the 147 people arrested since Sunday have yet been released. “My daughter was just coming back to see her father, who’s been in the hospital for the past three weeks,” said Ma Phyu’s mother, Hla Phyu. (All sources who spoke to Myanmar Now for this report have been given pseudonyms to protect their identities.) “She was just working as a seamstress in Yangon. I have no idea why they are holding and investigating her,” she added. According to Hla Phyu, she has been allowed to bring her daughter some snacks, and has even been able to exchange a few words with her. But the reason for her arrest remains a mystery. “She said they asked her if she had a boyfriend,” said the bewildered mother, who also expressed concern about her daughter’s health. It is widely suspected that the arrests have something to do with last week’s announcement by the regime that it will soon begin conscripting young people into the military. However, there are also fears among some that it could be related to the junta’s efforts to stir up anti-Rakine sentiment amid recent advances by the Arakan Army (AA), a Rakhine nationalist armed group. Since the start of its offensive in mid-November of last year, the AA has captured at least six towns in northern Rakhine and southern Chin states, and continues to fight fiercely for control of Kyaukphyu, the site of multibillion-dollar investment projects. As the conflict rages on, the regime has almost completely closed Rakhine State off from the rest of the country, while also heavily restricting movement within the state. Phone and internet connections have also been cut in many areas. At present, the only way to travel to the state is by air, which is what more and more ethnic Rakhine people living in other parts of Myanmar have been attempting to do as tensions continue to rise. For Thida Aung, a 24-year-old student who moved to Yangon because she couldn’t continue her studies in her hometown of Mrauk-U due to the lack of internet and phone access, the situation has become as disruptive as the one she left behind. “I have been completely stressed out since they started talking about conscription. I can’t focus on my studies anymore,” she said, adding that the recent arrests suggest that the regime wants to “lock Rakhine people up in Yangon.” “Now I’m worried I could be arrested just because I’m a Rakhine.” While this has made her want to return to Rakhine State, it also makes her think she might be better off leaving the country altogether. “It already feels like I’m travelling illegally in another country, even thought this is my own country,” she said. Meanwhile, the status of those already in regime custody remains unclear. According to the aunt of one detainee, they’ve been told that they won’t be released until they can get at least two people to act as guarantors. Even then, they will be required to spend at least a week in a regime-controlled “guest house” before they can return to their homes. “I was told they will be sent back to Yangon if they don’t have relatives here who can sign for their release,” she said, adding that families of the detainees continue to visit the detention centre, despite being denied permission to speak with them since late Monday. Khin May, a Kyaukphyu resident who said that one of her students was among the detainees, told Myanmar Now that even those with relatives ready to vouch for them remain in custody. “As of today, no one has been released,” she said on Tuesday. She said her student told her that regime authorities have been questioning them about what they’ve been doing in Yangon and why they returned to Rakhine State. They have also been examining their social media accounts. “They keep asking the same questions for hours. My student told me that she wasn’t able to sleep at all last night,” she added. “They’re not very gentle about it, either. They were so loud and rude that one girl passed out.”

Kyaukphyu arrests raise concerns about targeting of ethnic Rakhines

While the families of detainees try to understand why their relatives are being held, Rakhines living elsewhere wonder what the arrests mean for them

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