Arakan News Agency
Myanmar army battalion 232 and 552 have been persecuting Rohingya in Tin May (Tammi Fara) village of Buthidaung since November 2016 and accused 21 Rohingya for the destruction of Buddhist statue in Kyaung Ywa of Buthidaung on January 19, 2017.
A source reported that Some are accused of illegal marriage, some are accused supporters of terrorists and some illegal building. Though all are innocent, villagers give them money demanded by the military if the villagers can afford. Now they accused 21 villagers for the destruction of a Buddhist idol. Most of them cannot stay at home in fear of torture by the military.”
Local complaints that Military demands 8 million kyats because the army officers wants to remove the Rohingya village. He said ” They (military) know well we can’t afford that much money. Everyone knows that no villager destroyed the statue.
We told them to take all our farmlands instead money and let us to live in peace. They want to arrest us. They want to remove our village. We cannot stay at homes in fear of torture since last week.”
And based on Rakhine Buddhists from Buthidaung regarding ” the new statue issue in Kyaung Ywa of Buthidaung. They pointed out some facts; one of them is “Statue’s hands broke when a branch of dried tree fell on it” and the second fact is “there is no evidence that someone broke it”.
Rohingyas in Arakan have always faced persecutions but since November 2016 it has been intensified, one 12-years-old Rohingya girl named Buthini was gang-raped by soldiers on November 28. She bled profusely. She could not even sit and was very sick. And, in the absence of proper medical treatment she died three days later.” said her father.
Today, on Sunday, 22 January 2017, fifty soldiers entered Tin May village of Buthidaung from 7:30 AM to 11:30 AM, beat more than 100 villagers severely while searching to arrest those 21 persons mentioned above.
I have personal facts of those villagers. Seven of them are now in critical conditions. Nasir, one of the today’s victims, requested urgent protection from inhumanely persecution of army battalion 232 and 552.
Source: Aung Aung Sittwe
