Arakan News Agency
Myanmar authorities have demolished an old mosque in Arakan state that is more than 200 years old, according to the accounts of local historians.
A local resident of Buthidaung said the mosque area was a buzzing neighborhood during the British era of Myanmar and in the 1990s the government removed the neighborhood and expelled the Muslim population, which led to the abandonment of the mosque, but added that Muslims were congregating Friday prayers then.
“I prayed in 1992 and it was open until 1996. I remember that,” the man told Arakan news agency.
He pointed out that the army wanted to build a military barracks around the mosque for some period of time and people also reported the intentions of the authorities to demolish it in 2012 but did not do so.
It should be noted that dozens of mosques in Arakan state have been removed or closed after the events of 2012 and authorities have instituted measures that limit the construction of mosques and the establishment of religious rites.
