26 farmers sued for demanding the return of their confiscated farmlands

Rathedaung: 26 farmers from Rathedaung Township in Arakan State have been sued by an army backed businessman for their efforts to retain their own shrimp and paddy farmlands that were confiscated by the army during the tenure of last military regime.

The Town of Rathedaung is located at 20 miles north of Sittwe, the capital Arakan.

The farmers who are now being sued by the businessman U Saw Aung Thein are from the villages of Paungsar, Naypukhan, Kyunchaung and Kaungrechaung that are situated on the bank of the Mayu River in Rathedaung Township.

“Now that the pro-democracy civilian government is in power, the farmers have appealed to the government to return their shrimp farms and paddy fields that were forcibly confiscated by the army. As the government has been delayed taking action with their appeals, they started to mend the broken dykes of those farmlands in order to make a living like before. Then, U Saw Aung Thein who has leased those lands from the western command has sued them”, said a local youth close to the farmers.

The farmers were said to be detained in the Laungchaung Police Station just after U Saw Aung Thein filed a lawsuit against them, but later were released on bail.


“The township court in Rathedaung started to hear their case on 9th of March and examined the plaintiff U Saw Aung Thein and two of his 16 witnesses, and then appointed the next hearing to be held on 19 and 28 March”, said the youth.

He said the police stepped up security around the court, searched and restricted the defendants and their two lawyers and dispelled the local people who crowded to listen to the hearing 20 yards away from the court on the first day of the hearing.

He added that the police however favored the plaintiff U Saw Aung Thein and his witnesses allowing him to hold his hand phone inside the courtroom though they did not allow the defendants’ lawyers to do so.

The plaintiff U Saw Aung Thein is a well-to-do businessman in downtown Rathedaung, and has been taking leases on confiscated farmlands from the western command after bribing army officers based in the area.

“He has to pay kyat 60 lakh a year to the western command that has confiscated those shrimp and paddy farms from the farmers and 40 lakh kyat to the army officers from the area as a bribe to assist him in gaining priority for those farms. And then he hires out the farms to the local farmers again with a rent of 200-250 lakh kyat and monopolizes the products of shrimp and paddy from the farmers with low prices as well”, said the youth.

According to him, total 1,800 acres of shrimp and paddy farmlands owned by the farmers in Rathedaung Township were forcibly confiscated by the western command in 1998.


A lawyer who is voluntarily giving legal assistance to the farmers told Narinjara that it would not be easy for the farmers to win the lawsuit that is directly connected to the western command and not to U Saw Aung Thein.

“Actually the main plaintiff in this lawsuit is not U Saw Aung Thein, but the western command. There would be wide criticism if the command sued the farmers. That is why it has asked its sycophant to file lawsuit against them. Judge, officials of the court as well as police are found favoring the plaintiff because the army, the most powerful institution, is on his side and there is little or no hope for the farmers to win the lawsuit”, said the lawyer.

The lawyer said the farmers traditionally owned the farmlands and tried to take back their farmlands because they have been in poverty since the lands were confiscated by the western command.

“80 villagers including those 26 farmers are now in great trouble because they have to face the lawsuit while they are already stricken by severe poverty and they are now totally helpless”, he said.

Sources said such lawsuit against the group of farmers was never heard of in their region before and interest in the lawsuit is growing among the local peoples as well.

Source: Narinjara.com

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Newly-wed woman gang-raped by soldiers and paramilitaries

Ponna Kyunt: A newly-wed woman was gang-raped by three personnel of the Burmese army and the paramilitary group known as Swan-Arr-Shin in Ponnagyun in western Burma’s Arakan State on the 8th of March, after she was taken by them on the pretense of guest inspections.


The victim is identified as 20 year old Ma——, a resident of Sanpateechaung Village in Ponnagyun Township. She was said to be raped while she was visiting her native village just after she married a colleague, they have been working together in a private fishery in Thandwe Township.

A lawyer told Narinjara that the personnel gang-raped the young woman after taking her away from her husband on the pretense of guest inspections while she was going with her husband to report their overnight stay in a ward in downtown Ponnagyun to the ward headman.

“The young couple had gone to report to the ward headman about their overnight stay in the house of U Aung Than Hlaing in Sanpya Sayronsu Ward in Ponnagyun around 8 pm on the day of the incident. But the headman was not at home and when they came back three personnel of the army and the Swan-Arr-Shin intercepted and inspected them for their guest information papers. As they had no papers, the personnel asked for 50,000 kyat from them. When they were unable to pay, the personnel asked the wife to go with them to the headman’s house, making the husband find more money for them”, said the lawyer.

“When the husband left the spot to find more money, the personnel forcibly took the wife under the hills of U-Rite-Taw Pagoda that is situated on the other side of the river in Ponnagyun and gang-raped her there without bringing her to the headman’s house.”

The lawyer said those three personnel are private Hla Thein Tun from the Light Infantry Battalion (550) based in Ponnagyun, and Maung Sein Shwe and Maung Phyu of the Swan-Arr-Shin group and they have since been arrested by the local police.

Two of the personnel private Hla Thein Tun and Maung Sein Shwe were said to be in their official uniforms when they raped the woman.

The local police station in Ponnagyun also confirmed that they have already arrested the alleged offenders and were preparing to take legal action against them.

Source: Narinjara.com

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Arakan Rangers and Government Troops Clash, One Injured, One Killed

Dhaka: The Arakan Rangers, formed by the Arakan Liberation Army to carry out inland activities, clashed with the government army on 14 March on Burma’s western frontier, killing one Burmese government soldier and injuring another.

Ko Soe Than, member of the department of organizing and information for the Arakan Liberation Army, told Narinjara that the clash happened while the Arakan Rangers were giving medical aid to local villagers on the border.

(Arakan Rangers of ALP in Arakan)

“The clash happened around 12:30 pm on 14 March at Pe-Taung Upper Village as the government troops approached the village when our Arakan Ranger troops were giving medical aid to the villagers there,” said Soe Than.


He said one government soldier was killed and another one was injured when the government troops were fired upon by the ambush patrols of the Arakan Rangers.

“Our informant told us that one government soldier was killed and another was taken to the nearby hospital after the clash with our troops. Our ambush patrols had to fire on them because they were approaching our forces who were giving medical aid to the villagers,” he said.

He added that the government troops were from Battalion 232 based in Sittwe, and they are currently deployed in Khamuangwa Village near Pe-Taung on the frontier.

The recent clash is the first since U Thein Sein’s regime invited the Arakan Liberation Army for peace talks. Deputy leader of the union-level peacemaking group, U Thein Zaw, offered peace talks to the ALP last January.

The Arakan Rangers are said to have been supplying medical aid and food to the villagers, who are now living in a state of internal displacement on the frontier in western Burma.

Source: Narinjara.com

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Land Owner Threatened for Demanding Compensation

Rambree: The authorities in Rambree in southern Arakan State have threatened to arrest a local land owner for demanding compensation for his farmland that was confiscated for road construction in the area.

“The land owned by U Kyaw Nyan was confiscated by the municipality and was dug up for rocks to pave the road in the Kyaukchaung and Kyauknimaw Road Project. His farmland was also damaged very badly. The municipality did not pay for his land and when he demanded compensation, the township administrator became angry over his demand and ordered him to come to his office,” said a close friend of U Kyaw Nyan.

He said the township administrator, U Aung Thu, has now threatened to arrest U Kyaw Nyan because he did not go to see him when he was summoned to his office on 14 March.

“He did not go to see the administrator because he was threatened with being jailed when he prevented the road construction team from digging his land for rocks. He is now suffering not only from losing his land, but also from threats from the authorities,” he said.

The authorities confiscated two acres of U Kyaw Nyan’s land, situated on the Kyauknimaw – Kyaukchaung road that is being constructed as part of an island ring road in Rambree Township.

The land was confiscated by the municipal engineering office during construction of the ring road by the border area development team.

The island ring road in Rambree Township is now being constructed to cross through Rambree. Kyauknimaw, Kyaukchaung, Zeetaw, U-Ga, Aunghlapyin, Kyauknagar, Zaratpyin, Kinn, and Maronn in the area, and will connect to the main town of Kyaukpru.

Source : Narinjara.com

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