Families are worried because there is still no news about the three locals missing from military council security checkpoints in Kyauktaw and Maungdaw townships in Arakan State.
Photographer U Soe Moe Kyaw disappeared while being checked by regime soldiers at a checkpoint in Kyauktawa amid rising tensions between the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar military
The photographer disappeared after being checked at the checkpoint on November 8 while travelling from Minbya to Sittwe. U Maung Than Shwe, a family member, said that when he asked the regime soldiers at the gate, they said he had not been arrested.
“The girl who saw his NRC being checked at the checkpoint informed his family. Since he wasn’t among those who returned to the bus after their NRCs were checked, the driver went down and asked them about him [U Soe Moe Kyaw] and they said they didn’t know. We went to the checkpoint and asked the people there, but they just denied knowing him. Since then, we haven’t heard from him. Since there was a person who witnessed the photographer being checked at the time, the families believe that he was arrested at the checkpoint. So even if he was arrested because he is guilty, he should be handed over to the police. Now his siblings are also very worried about him,” he said.
Similarly, Ma Aye Mya Sandar (25 years old) from Pyine Taw village in Minbya Township and Maung Maung Kyaw from Maungdaw also disappeared at No. 24 checkpoint in Kyaing Chaung village on November 1.
According to family members, Ma Aye Mya Sandar disappeared at Kyaing Chaung checkpoint on her way to Maungdaw town on Maung Maung Kyaw’s motorcycle to return to her village after visiting Mingalar Nyunt village in Maungdaw Township.
Maung Myo Nyein Chan, the younger brother of Ma Aye Mya Sandar, said she had been missing until that day without any news of her.
“My father and mother went to Maungdaw to inquire about her. When they inquired at the Kyaing Chaung checkpoint, they said they hadn’t arrested anyone like that. It is not convenient for us to check with the battalions. Even if we got a contact or information about her, it would be a relief for us. Now she has been missing for a month without us hearing anything from her. I am very worried about her,” he said.
Calls to Myanmar junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun and Arakan State Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Kyaw Thura for comment went unanswered.
Family members have pointed out that both armed forces need work together to free those detained and search for the missing, as there is currently a ceasefire between AA and the Myanmar military.
Fighting between the two sides flared up again in August, and an informal ceasefire was reached on November 26. Ethnic army’s spokesman U Khaing Thukha said they would do their best to free those arrested by the military regime.
Sent by Aung Htein (DMG).