October 19, 2016
Dozens of people have been detained by the Hlun Htein in the restive village tract of Nga Khura (Ngar Khu Ya), Maungdaw.
At around 2pm on Tuesday, the border police called twelve community leaders from the village. Since they went to the camp, their whereabouts are unknown. Since October 9, many who went in to the custody of the security forces have been killed, leading to suspicions these 12 men might also have met the same fate, though their fate is not confirmed at this moment.
The arrested men have been identified as Jinnah Khan, 40, Sirajuddin, 45, Sayeed Alam, 59, Shah Alam, 37, Sadiq, 41, Zakir, 56, Jabbar, 60, Osman, 43, Ayub, 55, Anwar,42 ,Yusuf Ali, 65 and Anwar, 40. They are well known for their community work in the neighbourhood.
There are reports that five more men have been arrested from the village on Wednesday morning.
The men went to the border police because it was threatened the whole village would be destroyed if they did not follow the orders. Nga Khura has remained tense since day one of the recent standoff and the security forces allege some of the men here have joined the resistance, albeit they did not provide any evidence to follow up on the claim.
Nga Khura suffers from severe food shortages as all access outside homes is restricted by security forces. Three men who went to fish on the river on Saturday were shot by the Tatmadaw. One have died while two are suffering amid complete lack of medical access.
There are also fears the arrested men might be tortured. Inhumane torture is common in the notorious prisons of Arakan where hundreds have died and many more maimed by security forces since 2012.
Many women have also been arrested and it is feared they will be raped in custody. The Tatmadaw has faced many allegations of raping women from ethnic minorities during military operations.
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