Mizzima
The Global Khumi Organisation issued a statement on 4th June, urging the Arakan Army (AA) to stop human rights violations of Khumi Chin people and others in Paletwa, Chin State.
The Khumi are an ethnic group originally from Bandarban District in Bangladesh that borders Rakhine and Chin States in Myanmar.
The statement accuses the AA of committing a litany of human rights abuses against Khumi Chin people in Paletwa since 2015, including the abduction of member of parliament, the arrest of women and youth leaders and the arrest, detention and rape of Khumi women.
The statement also accused the AA of selling and distributing illegal drugs in Paletwa.
Mizzima has been unable to verify any of the claims in the statement
Below is the statement in full:
- Paletwa Township in Chin State is an ancestral domain of ethnic Chins, and it is the main town of Chin State. All ethnic groups, including the Rakhine people, lived together peacefully in the past. According to the Township. Administration Department’s (GAD) statistic for 2020, the rate of ethnic Chins was over 80%, while Khumi (Chin) were over 60% of the total population of the Township, and Rakhine people, including other ethnic groups, were over 20%.
- The Arakan Army (AA) led by Htun Myat Naing started entering Palatwa Township in Chin State in 2015, following clashed with the SAC [State Administration Council] troops in Paletwa’s Pyan Soe village in Pi chaung.
- The SAC troops and AA members committed various human rights violations against the local people. However, the human rights violations committed by AA members were even worse than SAC troops’. The local Khumi Chin people have been bitterly faced such human rights violation for nearly a decade.
- Despite all ethnic groups, including the Rakhine people, being oppressed by the military dictatorship, the inhumane atrocities committed against the Chin people by the AA, which relied on weapons, have reached a level that has been unspeakable in the past. Therefore, local Chin people need to immediately cease the inhumane acts committed by AA and let Rakhine and Chin people from all over the world know the true situation of the lives of local Chin people in Paletwa Township. We would like to disclose the following to other international organizations, including the United Nations:
(a) Since 2015, AA members have abducted a parliament member, arrested women, village leaders, and some of the youth leaders, and tortured them for no reason. Some of them got major injuries, and some died during the torture.
(b) The AA members also arrested and detained local Khumi Chin women without any reason, raped them, and released them after six (6) months of pregnancy, including a middle school student repeatedly molested by AA, which is seen as a heinous and despicable crime.
(c) Since AA members’ intrusion into the territory of Paletwa Township, thousands of local Khumi Chin youths have left their native land and fled to safer places. In early 2024, just after taking over Paletwa township from the SAC troops, AA started to illegally emigrate a massive number of Bangladeshi citizens, Rakhine people, from Bangladesh to Myanmar’s Paletwa Township.
Definitely, this is the intentional disappearance of the Chin people, the local indigenous people, from their native land, and this action is a crime against humanity and genocide.
(d) The Arakan Army (AA) has been selling and distributing illegal drugs in Paletwa Township in Chin State since 2015, and many young people in Paletwa Township have been seen to be using drugs widely.
(e) Since April 2024, local Chin nationals aged 18 to 40 years in Palatwa Township have been forcibly collected to serve militias under the AA. Local youths who did not want serve the AA’s militia fled to safe places. Later on, the AA included under 15 middle school students at recruitment status. As a result, a large number of youths, some under the age of 15, are fleeing to India and other safe places.
- The Arakan Army (AA) relies on weapons invaded Chin state’s Paletwa Township, which is not Rakhine state, and assaulted the local Chin people. With the main aim of stopping the assault of inter-ethnic dominance, we would like to make the following urges known to the world.
(a) An Appeal to the Arakan Army (AA): We call on the Arakan Army (AA) to immediately cease arbitrary arrests and detentions of locals in Palatwa Township, the inhumane torture and killing of the arrestees, the committed child rape, and the illegal sale and distribution of drugs, which the international community strictly prohibits. The AA expels the local people indirectly from their original land by illegally importing and settling Rakhine people from Bangladesh, the intentional confiscation and destruction of locals’ houses and properties, and the disappearance of their native languages, literature, and culture.
(b) An Appeal to All Chin People in Homeland and Abroad: We expected that all Chin people in the country and foreign countries might have full sympathy the Chin brothers in Paletwa Township, who badly face being subjected to the atrocities of the AA. Moreover, you are sincerely requested, especially to any Chin organization, Chin armed groups, and personal not to cooperate with the AA.
(c) An Appeal to United Nations and international Governmental Organizations: It is a sincere request that international governments and the United Nations investigate the crimes and violations committed by AA against the Chin people in accordance with international legal procedures and take action against the perpetrators.
If possible, apply special pressure to the AA to stop all human rights violations, and provide humanitarian assistance such as health services, education, and food assistance to armed conflict-affected populations as soon as possible.
