The Arakan Army (AA) allegedly forced residents of the Rohingya village of Du Nyaung Pan Gyi, south of Maungdaw On Tuesday (August 12) to stand for hours under the blazing sun without food or water, in what local sources describe as a deliberate act of collective punishment.

Witnesses told the Arakan News Agency that the operation began at 8 a.m., with armed fighters surrounding the village and ordering all residents including infants, children, and the elderly into open fields, where they were held until after 2 p.m. Several young men were reportedly detained, while the rest were released later in the day.

During the raid, furniture and personal belongings were destroyed, and detainees were allegedly beaten and verbally abused regardless of age. Residents say the AA conducted house-to-house searches while denying those in custody access to food, water, or shelter.

The Arakan Army claims the operation was in response to the alleged killing of an ethnic Arakan fisherman by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on August 10. Locals, however, dismiss the accusation as fabricated, arguing it is being used as a pretext to target Rohingya communities.

Similar raids reportedly took place last week in the Soka, Myo-U, and Harbi areas of Maungdaw, where homes of displaced Rohingya were broken into and sanitary facilities were deliberately damaged.

Community leaders warn that such actions combined with blockades, the spread of unverified rumors, and targeted propaganda are deepening intercommunal tensions and could pave the way for renewed mass atrocities, possibly amounting to ethnic cleansing or genocide.

Since capturing Maungdaw on December 8, the AA has been accused of systematically persecuting Rohingya civilians, including sealing and confiscating homes based on unproven complaints, looting valuables, forcibly displacing families, and severely restricting movement. Travel between villages has been banned for Rohingya residents, with AA checkpoints at every entry and exit point. Pedestrians and motorcycle riders have reportedly been forced to pay tolls to cross bridges.

The AA’s military offensive, launched in November 2023 against Myanmar’s ruling junta, has resulted in its control over 14 of Arakan State’s 17 towns. But while the group positions itself as a liberation force for ethnic Arakanese, human rights observers and Rohingya advocates argue that its ongoing campaign of intimidation, forced displacement, and economic extortion against Rohingya civilians undermines its claims to legitimacy and mirrors the same patterns of persecution that led to the 2017 exodus of nearly one million Rohingya to Bangladesh.

Rights groups are calling for urgent international scrutiny, warning that without immediate intervention, the AA’s actions could escalate into another mass atrocity against one of the world’s most vulnerable and stateless communities.

BOB Post