Narinjara News, 12 February 2022

The internet services in five townships of Rakhine State in western Myanmarhave been disrupted since the early morning hours, locals claimed.

The affected townships namely  Sittwe, Thandwe,Kyaukphyu,  Maungdaw and Mrauk-U are not getting the services sinceSaturday morning.

The military council has not yet officially commented overthe matter whether it was cut as a precautionary measure.

Unconfirmed reports flooded in social media narrate that theinternet connection would be out of order till 11 pm on 12 February.

“The internet connection was cut off last night at KyaukphyuTownship. As it’s an  IT era, what would the people do without the internetdriven technologies? We can not even do financial transactions at this moment.I guess the term irregularity has not yet gone away from Myanmar,” said KoJapan Gyi (from Kularakkhita Association, Kyaukphyu).

During the days (from 2018 to 2020) of gunfighting in Rakhine State, theinternet service was regularly disrupted in a number of townships for more thana year. The internet facility was fully restored in those localities on 2February 2021 only.

Narinjara News cannot confirm about the internet cut, but only assumes that theauthority may go for such actions with an aim to prevent social media outragesagainst the ruling Military Council on the occasion of  75th anniversaryof Union Day.