Lieutenant Colonel Khaing Paw Lin, an executive committee member of Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), and a Grade 8 student were taken from their home by members of the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA) in the Arakan State capital Sittwe on August 2, an ALP official said.
“They were arrested by ULA/AA members at about 6 p.m. on Tuesday. We are investigating their whereabouts,” Khaing Aung Soe Than, the ALP joint secretary, told DMG.
The Grade 8 student has been identified as Maung Soe Min Naing, the son of Khaing Paw Lin’s friend.
In a statement, the ALP said that such an arrest undermines Arakan national unity and is an act that should never happen among Arakanese resistance groups.
“The ALP and ULA/AA are revolutionary groups and share the same objective. The ALP has been fighting successive governments since before the ULA/AA was established,” Khaing Aung Soe Than said. “If there is no understanding at the bottom level of both groups, then there should be dialogue and negotiation to build a path to national unity at the top level. We are going to consult with the ULA or other organisations after the reorganisation of the ALP.”
The AA and its political wing, the ULA, have arrested at least 10 members of the ALP including Khaing Aung Thein Htay, an auxiliary central committee member, who have not been released to date, the ALP said.
Khaing Aung Soe Than was himself detained by the ULA/AA in August 2020, and was released along with four other ALP members about a week later.
The ALP has demanded the release of previously arrested party leaders and members, as well as the more recently detained Lt-Col Khaing Paw Lin.
DMG was unable to obtain comment from U Khaing Thukha, spokesman for the Arakan Army, regarding the AA’s latest detention of an ALP member.
The ALP was formed in 1968 with the help of the Karen National Union (KNU), and is considered a veteran armed organisation in Arakan State that has often stood at odds with successive Myanmar governments. The ALP signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with the government in 2015, something the Arakan Army has not done.
