by Hafizur Rahman
Buthidaung Township, Arakan State | December 13, 2025
The Arakan Army has begun clearing a former Rohingya village in Buthidaung Township using heavy machinery, destroying homes, farmland, and fruit trees that once sustained generations of Rohingya families, according to local residents.
Residents said Tappyar Village, a historically Rohingya settlement, is being flattened as excavators cut through houses, cultivated land, and long standing fruit trees, including mango, coconut, jackfruit, and tamarind. Community members said the trees and wood are being distributed to Rakhine and Hindu communities after being removed.
A Rohingya man who previously lived in the village said the clearing feels like an attempt to erase their existence. He said everything that carried memory or meaning for the community is being removed without regard for those who once lived there.
Local residents said the operation has gone beyond the village itself. Forested areas surrounding Tappyar are also being cut down, raising fears that the landscape will be permanently altered. Some said the land is being reshaped so extensively that even former residents may not be able to recognise it in the future.
A woman from a nearby area said Rohingya people are no longer allowed to collect firewood or approach the hills and forest areas they once depended on. She said access to land and natural resources has been fully cut off.
Rohingya residents said the destruction follows forced displacement carried out by the Arakan Army in 2024, when Rohingya families were driven out of both Tappyar Village and nearby Kan Pyin Village. Nearly two years later, none of the displaced families have been allowed to return.
Several former villagers told Rohingya Khobor that Arakan Army officials have demanded large sums of money from Rohingya families who wish to return to their land. Those unable to pay, they said, are being threatened with relocation to long rows of camp like shelters elsewhere.
An elderly former resident said most families have no way to meet such demands. He said they are not asking for compensation or privilege, only the right to return home, but continue to be pushed farther away from their land.
As the clearing continues, residents said the disappearance of villages, forests, and farmland has deepened fears that Rohingya presence in the area is being systematically removed. While the land grows emptier, displaced families say they are left carrying their memories from place to place, holding onto the hope that they may one day see their villages again.
