Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
Rohingya residents in several villages in Buthidaung, Arakan state, western Myanmar, report increasing threats and intimidation from Arakan Buddhist Militias (Arakan army), including arbitrary arrests that have left families terrified.
Along the past two days, arrests have been reported, a resident from Kin Taung said at least three men were taken there, while villagers in Thin Taung confirmed that four others were arrested during a night raid. In Du Daung, community members reported that several young men were taken away after being questioned.
Witnesses said the number of detainees across these villages may now have reached at least twenty as ten men from Hpon Nyo Leik were arrested on September 9 and 10 by Arakan Militias without explanation. Families said they were not told the reason for the arrests, nor where their relatives were being taken.
Residents fear that they may be subjected to abuse as their whereabouts is unknown. Arrests were reported in Hpon Nyo Leik, Kin Taung, Thin Taung, Du Daung, Titu Pauk, and surrounding villages in Buthidaung.
Villagers said the militias often justify these arrests by accusing people of breaking the nightly curfew. But residents explained that many only left their homes in emergencies, such as seeking medical help or tending to urgent family needs. “Even if it is for an emergency, they don’t listen,” a villager from Du Daung said. “If they catch you outside, you are taken.”
“We also heard from our relatives in Titu Pauk that the AA arrested some young men last week,” a villager from Hpon Nyo Leik told Arakan News Agency. “It is happening everywhere. They are targeting our villages one by one. We are living in fear, waiting for our turn”.
Accounts
Residents described how fighters frequently enter villages, sometimes late at night, questioning residents and ordering families to follow orders. In several cases, militia members have forced households to gather in the village center, leaving women, children, and the elderly shaken.
“In Kin Taung, the AA came at night and surrounded several homes,” one villager said. “They took two young men, and the mothers were crying in front of everyone. Children still wake up in fear when they hear footsteps outside”.
Families said they avoid sending children outside after dark, and some women have stopped going to markets out of fear. “We live like prisoners,” a resident from Thin Taung said. “Any day they can come and take our sons, our husbands, or even our elders”.
The militias face allegations of conducting massacres, enforced disappearances, and systematically settling Rakhine populations in Rohingya villages, such practices were described by observers and Rohingya as attempts to permanently eliminate Rohingya presence from the region. The reopening of Maungdaw’s Grand Mosque highlights the complex realities facing Rohingya communities under Arakan Militias control.
