While Myanmar’s military regime has been forcing many displaced people to return to their homes following its ceasefire with the Arakan Army (AA), residents of Tinma Village in Kyauktaw Township are not yet allowed to return home despite their repeated demands.
Tinma villagers have submitted requests to the regime nine times so far asking it to clear landmines and rebuild burnt houses. The regime has not yet responded.
“We have signed a petition for our return, but they have not yet made a response,” said Tinma resident U Ba Pye Che. “We want to return to our village, whether they provide us with supplies or not. We are ready to return immediately once we are granted permission. But we want Myanmar military soldiers to withdraw from our village.”
U Maung Tun Nyunt from Tinma Village also called on the regime to arrange for their return.
“We also want to return like others do. We want them to arrange it for us. We dare not return now as they don’t take responsibility,” he said.
At the arrangement of the Myanmar military, more than 5,000 people have returned to their homes from displacement camps over the past three months, since the truce between the Myanmar military and the AA was reached in late November.
The Tinma villagers were forced to flee their homes in March 2020, following fighting between Myanmar military and the AA. Some 130 out of more than 600 houses in the village were burnt to the ground.
The Tinma residents have been taking shelter at a number of camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Kyauktaw Township for some three years now.
“The military council has not yet told us to return to our village,” said Ma Wai Wai from Tinma Village. “It has not yet cleared landmines. And Myanmar military soldiers are still stationed near our village, so we dare not go back. We just want to return and work on our farms. We don’t want to live here.”
Junta troops are still stationed at Mount Taungshae near Tinma, according to the villagers.
DMG’s calls to Arakan State Administration Council (ASAC) spokesman U Hla Thein went unanswered.
In March of last year, the ASAC said that villagers from Aung Thazi, Yaysoechaung, Hteeswe and Kyauktan villages in Kyauktaw Township would not yet be allowed to return home because troops from the Myanmar military and the AA were deployed close to each other near those villages.
