By: Camp Correspondent
Buthidaung, Rakhine — 30 June 2025 |
The Arakan Army (AA) has reportedly converted four Rohingya mosques in Ywet Nyo Taung village tract into military recruitment and gathering centers, following the mass displacement of civilians from the area. The move has sparked outrage and grief among Rohingya Muslims who were forced to flee Buthidaung Township amid the ongoing conflict.
According to survivors who recently crossed into Bangladesh, the mosques—once central to prayer, education, and community life, are now being used by AA fighters for recruitment, celebrations, and alleged misuse involving alcohol and loud music.
“They turned our mosques into places for parties and drinking,” said a displaced Rohingya man from Ywet Nyo Taung. “We used to pray there with our children. Now, they’re throwing beer bottles and laughing where we once bowed our heads in prayer.”
Witnesses told Rohingya Khobor that AA fighters began targeting Rohingya villages in April 2024, burning homes during clashes with the Myanmar military. By March 2025, civilians were only allowed to return to a single central village, while most of the surrounding areas, including religious sites and farmland, remained under AA control.
In the captured zones, four mosques and Islamic schools have been repurposed as shelters and military staging points. Locals who fled described the interiors as being filled with empty alcohol containers, cigarette butts, and garbage.
“It breaks my heart,” said another refugee now sheltering in a Bangladeshi camp. “They’re sleeping, drinking, and recruiting inside our mosques. Even women are inside, and loud music plays every night.”
The desecration of religious spaces adds to mounting allegations of rights violations by the Arakan Army against Rohingya civilians in northern Rakhine.
Human rights observers have also raised alarms over the forced displacement of Rohingya communities, who are now being replaced or militarily surrounded. Local sources estimate that nearly 40 Rohingya villages in Buthidaung have been emptied, with around 180,000 refugees fleeing to Bangladesh since the latest wave of violence began.
As the humanitarian crisis deepens, displaced Rohingya continue to call for international intervention, protection of religious sites, and accountability for violations committed against their communities.
