By: Hafizur Rahman
Maungdaw, Arakan State – July 23, 2025
At least seven Rohingya civilians have been arrested in recent days by the Arakan Army (AA) in the villages of Ka Yin Tan and La Thar, under accusations of being “undocumented returnees” from Bangladesh—an allegation residents say is false and being used to justify arbitrary detention.
Sources on the ground told Rohingya Khobor that the detainees include elderly men, youth, and a madrasa teacher. All were reportedly born and raised in their respective villages and had never crossed the border into Bangladesh. Despite this, AA fighters entered the villages, questioned several residents, and forcibly took away individuals without showing arrest warrants or providing any explanation to their families.
“The AA came to our house and took my cousin without even asking a question,” said one resident of Ka Yin Tan, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They claimed he returned illegally from Bangladesh. But he never left our village, not even during the military crackdowns.”
Locals fear that the arrests are part of a growing campaign to intimidate and isolate the remaining Rohingya population in areas now under AA control. Since seizing large parts of northern Rakhine in late 2024, the AA has imposed movement restrictions, introduced parallel administrative systems, and begun detaining Rohingya on vague or unsubstantiated charges.
Community members also allege that those arrested are often subjected to beatings and verbal abuse while in custody. “It’s not about documents—it’s about domination,” said a teacher from La Thar village. “They are using our statelessness as a weapon to erase our presence.”
Under Myanmar’s discriminatory 1982 Citizenship Law, the vast majority of Rohingya remain undocumented despite being native to the region for generations. Human rights organizations have long criticized this legal framework as a tool of ethnic exclusion and apartheid.
“These people are not outsiders,” said one youth from La Thar. “They were born here, grew up here, and yet they are treated as criminals for simply existing.”
As fear deepens, some families are hiding members in nearby forests or sending them to other villages to avoid arrest. Others are contemplating dangerous journeys back to refugee camps in Bangladesh—risking landmines, arrest by the junta, or worse—just to escape persecution under AA control.
The Arakan Army has not publicly commented on the arrests. Meanwhile, international actors have yet to gain access to verify the detentions or provide support to the affected communities.
“This is a silent ethnic purge,” said a Rohingya elder. “They’re not using bullets—they’re using registration lists and false accusations to disappear us.”
With the situation rapidly deteriorating and no legal or humanitarian protection in place, Rohingya voices are urgently calling on the international community to intervene before the remaining population in northern Rakhine is pushed into complete invisibility.
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