Arakan Army commits vicious war crimes in Paletwa
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Tun Mon Thet (NP News) - June 13
Notorious Rakhine insurgent ‘Arakan Army’ known as ‘AA’ has been committing crimes against humanity over Chin ethnic indigenous in Paletwa, Chin State. Those atrocities reportedly involve torture, rape, child molesting, genocide, drug trafficking, and forced military recruitments. Such reported war crimes committed by the AA have been commencing since 2015, according to the GKO.
The Global Khumi Organization (GKO) released a statement on 4 June 2024 that addresses many of the AA’s ferocious war crimes in Paletwa, Chin State; and those committed against the Union ethnicities are unthinkable.
Statistics of the Paletwa Township General Administration Department show that there are over 80 percent Chin ethnics, of which, 60 percent occupied by Khumi (one of the Chin tribes); and the remaining 20 is shared by other ethnics in Paletwa Township as of 2020.
The AA’s inhumane war crimes against Chin ethnics in Paletwa have been worsening more and more after the AA conquered Tatmadaw’s security outposts in Paletwa in January 2024, claimed the GKO.
What is more, the Arakan Army imports Bangladeshis and transfers Rakhine ethnics into Paletwa which forces the Chin indigenous to displace their lands involuntarily. Such importation of aliens (Bengalis) into Chin State’s Paletwa by the AA aiming to exploit political profits in this sphere will somehow complicate in stateless Bengali issue in Myanmar in the future.
The GKO highlighted that the AA – abducted women, parliamentarians, village elderly persons, and youths, especially in 2015. Some of those abductees were killed while some ended their lives with disabilities; abducts and rapes Chin women, and underage middle school students; commits sexual assaults repeatedly, and releases those vulnerable females after six months after committing the repetitive gang rapes; and distributes drugs and narcotics extensively within Paletwa.
What is more, the GKO also claimed that the AA has been forcibly recruiting Chin men aged between 18 and 40 to serve the military services for the AA commencing in April 2024. Most Chin youths from Paletwa fled in order to avoid conscription for the AA. Since then, the AA has changed techniques to recruiting under-15-year-old Chin minors.
The Global Khumi Organization also calls on international communities and UN organizations to investigate AA for its war crimes against Chin ethnic indigenous in Paletwa as per international rules and regulations.
In addition, the Arakan Army committed arson and destroyed the Bengalis’ houses in Buthidaung on 17 and 18 May; and committed mass killings, reports said.
What is more, Twan Mrat Naing leading AA armed troops also committed a massacre on 8 February 2024 killing approximately 900 individuals in Kaladan River near Kyauktaw City. Major victims in the said Kyauktaw massacre exterminated by the AA were the retreated Tatmadaw families, children, and wounded servicemen from Kyauktaw outposts.
Therefore, the AA is deemed to be committing war crimes not only against Chin indigenous ethnics, Rakhine ethnics, and Bamar ethnics but also against Bengalis.
Last but not least, since this potential genocide and the crimes against humanity are absolutely carried out by the Rakhine insurgents AA in Rakhine State and Chin State’s Paletwa, the Myanmar Union Government or the Tatmadaw is not involved in such complicated wired atrocities.