Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
Recently, Rohingya leaders in the city of Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State in western Myanmar, demanded that the ruling military council in Myanmar allow them to merely clean their historic mosque and perform prayers in it. However, the authorities rejected this request, raising widespread questions regarding the Myanmar military council’s readiness to permit the restoration and reopening of the mosque in the future.
The mosque dates back to 1859 and was built by the brothers “Mohammad Baqsh” and “Ilahi Jan.” It is considered one of the oldest Islamic landmarks in the region, remaining a prominent religious and cultural symbol for more than 170 years. However, the mosque has been closed since the 2012 events, which witnessed ethnic and religious unrest, and since then, prayers have been banned by successive governments.
An Arakan News Agency correspondent reported that despite repeated attempts by the Rohingya in Sittwe to submit annual requests to reopen and restore the mosque, they have been rejected each time.
In 2012, the government refused these demands, and this was repeated in 2015 during the era of the National League for Democracy government. Even after the 2021 coup, the military government continued to ignore the requests, despite them being limited to only cleaning and praying.
The lack of maintenance for more than a decade has led to serious deterioration in the mosque’s structure, with plants and trees growing inside the building, causing cracks and gradual damage, threatening its collapse and the loss of one of the oldest Islamic landmarks in Arakan.
A local resident said, “This mosque is part of our culture and history; we hope to be allowed to restore and preserve it.”
Analysts emphasized the necessity of opening a genuine dialogue between the local community and the authorities to reach solutions that preserve this mosque, which is part of the city’s cultural heritage.
Sittwe is one of three cities still under the control of the Myanmar Army, which lost control over 14 out of 17 cities after the Arakan Army launched a military campaign to control the state. The conflict has engulfed the Rohingya, who have been subjected to violence, forced displacement, and persecution by both sides after also facing a “genocide” campaign by the Myanmar Army in 2017, forcing nearly a million of them to flee to Bangladesh.
