High Security Alert in towns of Northern Arakan

Sittwe, December 15: In the northern towns of the Arakan State, namely Sittwe (Akyab), Buthe Daung, Rathe Daung, Maung Daw, the local authority has increased the security arrangements due to the fear of communal violence between Arakanese Buddhists and Muslim communities.

“Though there is no official curfew in Sittwe, those found on the street after 10 pm have been arrested by the military. They cannot be bailed out. The troops are everywhere through out the city, as they were in the Coup of 1988. They are guarding every street corner,” a city resident said.

Due to the fear of communal violence, which had been intense in the middle of mainland Burma, the security forces have been more apparent in the northern towns of Arakan.

“There is heightened security in Sittwe and Maung Daw. Recently there was a brawl between an Arakanese student and a Muslim youth. There were some security scares, but the authority managed to contain it in time. However, Maung Kyaw Zin Khant, a protagonist of the brawl, is still missing. There was also a group of Muslims, who wanted to stir up the community, which set alight the Muslim religious school. This is why the authorities of these two towns are really careful with the communal problems,” said a Maung Daw resident.

Those civilians, who stay on the streets of Sittwe after 10 pm, are accused of being political dissidents and many of them are still in detention.

In 1942, on the eve of Japanese invasion into Burma, the communal violence spread into Arakan and resulted in violent clashes between Arakanese and Muslim residents of Arakan, leaving tens of thousands of people dead. Since then, the two communities have been at odds.