As many as 30 people are struggling to get by after they were evicted from a plot of land that the Myanmar military claims ownership of Ann Township, Arakan State, on April 18.
Evictees told DMG that they were forced to demolish their homes, located on a hill near where the military’s Light Infantry Battalion No. 371 is based between the old and new towns of Ann.
“The wood and bamboo were in good condition as we demolished the homes ourselves. But now I have no place to live, so I have to rent a house. I have no money to pay for rent or food to eat. We are facing many difficulties … We were told to demolish our homes, which are built on a land plot owned by the Myanmar military,” evictee Ma Chit Thet Wai told DMG.
Military officials reportedly ordered the demolition of the houses by April 18. About 30 people from a handful of families whose homes were demolished are hoping for help as they are struggling to make ends meet.
“We want to ask for help from others because we have no home to live in or a land plot. We would like some financial assistance, including accommodation,” said an unnamed evictee.
The ownership of the land is disputed.
“These lands are ancestral lands,” said an evictee who declined to be named for security reasons.
“Before 1988, the land was bought by my grandparents and there were fields and plantations in this area,” he added “Our forefathers bought and lived on this land, and about five years later, when the Myanmar military confiscated it, we had no place to live and went into the jungle. We resettled in this area in 2015, after the Myanmar military relinquished the land plot. The Myanmar military is now opening a case against us over illegal settlement.”
DMG attempted to contact Major-General Zaw Min Tun, a spokesman for the military regime, and Col. Kyaw Thura, Arakan State minister for security and border affairs, about evictees’ claims to be living on ancestral land, but they could not be reached.
When DMG contacted U Nay Lin Aung, a lawyer involved in the case, seeking comment on the demolition of the homes, he said: “I cannot answer because I have no right to answer.”
Last month, hundreds of people who the government described as squatters were evicted from a cemetery and an area owned by Myanmar Railways in Sittwe.
