October 3rd, 2022
The military council has reportedly tightened security and begun targeting Arakanese people for arrest in Ayeyarwady Region following rumors that graduates of the People’s Defense Forces (PDF) were entering the region.
On September 24th, regime soldiers arrested three Arakanese men – U Kalar Chay, U Hla Tin, and U Hla Kyi – from Nga Pyay Ma village in Hainggyikyun Sub-Township, Ngapudaw Township, Ayeyarwady Region.
“They are residents of Nga Pyay Ma village. They were arrested for allegedly being involved with PDF. More than 20 junta members from Haingyi naval base and regional police came to arrest them. They are peaceful villagers,” said an Arakanese man from Nga Pyay Ma village.
The military council has already carried out targeted arrests of Arakanese people in Ayeyarwady Region, including Haingyikyun, three times. They have released some of them, but most of them are still detained, causing fear among the Arakanese, said a resident of Haingyikyun.
Earlier, on September 13th, junta soldiers arbitrarily arrested three Arakanese youths in their 20s, a 60-year-old Arakanese man, and three other Arakanese women and have not released any of them so far.
“At the moment, rumors are circulating that the Arakan Army-trained members of the PDF have started coming to the region, and that they will start coming in droves from the beginning of next month. That is why they [regime’s soldiers] are targeting the Arakanese in the region and arresting them,” he said.
Mizzima News also reported that the military council has increased security in the Ayeyarwady Region starting October 1st, as news circulates that newly trained members of the PDF are coming to the region.
“Security has been doubled at the entrances and exits of the Ayeyarwady Region. They have also set up ambush patrols. A person close to them said they are monitoring the situation as they heard that PDF members would come to the region,” the report quoted residents as saying.
Political activists in the respective townships in the region said, according to the report, that the junta has increased security in 26 townships due to fears that Ayeyarwady-born PDF members might enter from the liberated areas.
A PDF official revealed a few months ago that the Arakan Army (AA) was training and providing military support to the PDF from mainland Myanmar.
The People’s Revolution Alliance (PRA)-Magway has also received military assistance from the AA and they planned to train and arm them at the same time, PRA political leader Naung Thurein told Than Lwin Times on June 24th, 2022.
“We are in an alliance with the PRA and the Rakhine Army. We have a very good relationship. We receive military support from them. We also receive a lot of technical support,” he said.
Sent by Khaing Lu Hla (Yoma Land)