Narinjara News,  15 June 2022

At least six Rakhine nationals from Paletwa township in south Chin State had gone missing for nearly two weeksafter the junta troops abducted them.

According to family sources, they were abducted in the last week of May and first week of June last after aclash broke out between the militarypersonnel and Arakan Army (AA) members near Abound Thar village under Paletwa township.

Talking to Narinjara News, a relative of shopkeeper U Mae Kyaw, one of the detainees, informed that the family members areworried about the detainees asthey have not been able to contact them after their arrests. On the other hand, the military authority hasnot reported anything to the concerned families.

Other detainees are identified as U Maung Win, head of 100 houses in Myoma ward of Paletwa locality,  UThar Tun Aung, the Abound Thar village administrator and three other villagers from the same area.

They were initially taken to number LIB 289 battalion based in Paletwa for interrogation, but nothing revealedthereafter about their whereabouts.

"No contact has been made since their arrests. It is now  over10 days since their abductions. We even went to thepolice station but they denied anyinformation. The junta’s silence has worried the concerned families,” said the relative.

According to a convinced source, they were arrested suspecting their links  with AA members. However, the family members denied the allegationand termed them ordinaryindividuals.

Some Junta soldierswere also killed in thegunfighting that took place near to Abound Thar village on 26 May. Since then, the junta authority startedarresting Rakhine people with thesuspicion of maintaining links with the AA.