September 7th, 2022
The military council has established two more checkpoints since August in Kelselyay ward and Setyoekya (Byinephyu) village in low-income neighborhoods of Arakan State’s capital Sittwe, according to local residents.
The two checkpoints were set up respectively at Warseik Bridge in Kelselyay ward and at the turn-off to Setyoekya (Byinephyu) village. The journey between the two checkpoints takes seven minutes by motorcycle.
Junta soldiers and police officers are currently deployed at the checkpoints, but it remains unclear why the new checkpoints were installed.
Due to the tightened security, workers who work outside late at night are now forced to go home earlier for fear of being checked at the checkpoints.
A woman from Byinephyu village told DMG that some people have even quit their jobs out of fear.
“Recently, there have been very strict checks. The administrator reportedly told the junta soldiers that the villagers here are just simple workers and asked them not to control them so strictly. They check people whenever they want. So, we can’t guess when they check. We housewives have to wait for our husbands at the top of the road in the evening because we are afraid that they’d be wrongfully arrested,” she said.
Residents of Byinephyu and Kelselyay wards mainly work in grocery stores and other stores and as drivers in urban Sittwe, returning home in the evening.
“Our village is a bit far from the town, and villagers usually come home late. In his previous job, he’d usually get home around 3 a.m. He quit that job and now works in a rice shop for a daily wage of MMK 8,000. He’s to come home early, and we can’t just work long hours for more money,” says another woman from Byinephyu village.”
According to one bamboo vendor, sales of bamboo have declined since the regime set up a checkpoint at the bridge in the third week of August.
“They haven’t done any inspection here. The vendors feel a little inconvenienced by their [the junta soldiers’] presence. People who come here to buy bamboo are a bit wary,” he says.
Calls to the Arakan State police chief, Police Colonel Thet Lwin, and State Minister for Security and Border Affairs Colonel Kyaw Thura, went unanswered.
“The police checkpoint near Warseik Bridge was installed out of necessity. But I don’t know anything about the military checkpoint at the entrance of Byinephyu ward,” an Arakan State Police Force told DMG.
There are other checkpoints in Sittwe – one at the entrance of Sittwe and one each near Kyauktan, Thekkelpyin and Bumay villages.
Sent by DMG