NarinjaraNews, January 27 2023

At least 20 villagers have been killed and more than 100houses have been burnt down. The villagers of Tinma, Kyauktaw township, have repeatedlywritten and requested to be allowed to return to their homes, but the Military Councilofficials have never responded, and remained silent.

Tinma village is a large village of 600 houses located onthe river bank between Kyauktaw town and Paletwa town east of Kaladan river inRakhine state.

In March 2020, a Myanmar military column entered Tinma Thitvillage after a battle with the Arakan Army (AA) near Tinma village andabducted 8 villagers with blindfolds and ropes. Again on March 16, 10 villagerswere abducted from Tinma Gyi village.

Three others who were guarding the monastery were alsokilled by the military, according to reliable sources.18 were arrested. All thevillagers of Tinma Gyi and Tinma Thit villages were scared and fled theirhomes.

The military started burning the village and destroyed morethan 100 houses.The villagers have been living in Kyauktaw and Nyaung ChaungIDP camps for the last 3 years.

On November 26, 2022, the Arakan Army (AA) and the MilitaryCouncil reached an informal cease-fire. After the fighting stopped, they wroteto the military for the 9th time to be allowed to return home. Again there wasno response, the villagers of Tinma said.

A village elder expressed their frustration. “They didn’t answer anything. We have been writingand submitting for over a month. The military officials only say that refugeesfrom the war in Rakhine have been allowed to return, but our villagers are not being allowed toreturn. They killed the people in our village and burnt our houses, and so now they will not let us go back?”

There are nearly 600 houses in Tinma village, more than 100were torched by the military, andthe remaining houses were demolished and dormitories were built for the military. It is also reported that the polesand planks from the big houses are being soldby soldiers and other scavengers.

The village elder continued “I don’t know if it’s because of the military situation that the military is stationed nearby.We’ve been living in arefugee camp for more than threeyears. There is a lot of trouble in the camps, so I want to go back to my community,”

A villager who secretly visited Tinma village about a monthago said, “ When I visited the village, the situation wasvery bad. There are no boards, pillars ormirrors in the monastery. Only 60 of the more than 300 cows, are stillthere because the villagers couldnot take them with them. The entire village has been destroyed, and everything is already a garbage dump.”

As the houses in the village are being destroyed day by day,the crooks, including thesoldiers, are taking wood from the good houses and selling them, so the villagers will not want to return tothe village.

A local woman from Tinma village said that because thepeople of Tinma village arecurrently living in poverty in the refugee camps, they want to return to their place.

“ Theabbot and the villagers have requested our return. We have been living in close to a war-zone for three years.The abbot and the villagers really want to go back. There are more than 100 houses that have been burnt down. Evenmany houses that were not burntdown, are now destroyed. The nearby residents say that they hear the sounds of houses being demolished every day.We villagers really want to go back.It’s hard to live here.So we still want to go back to the village,”she said.

Tinma Sayadaw U Waya Minda the abbot said, that although thevillagers have repeatedly writtenand requested to return to the village, the relevant military authorities have not responded to thematter.

According to the abbot “ The government has not said anything. There has been no notification for a return to thevillage. Our request is like pouring water on sand. I have to write and submit permission for them to returnto their village. But the resultis nothing. It is very disappointing that we never get any answer”.

More than 3,000 villagers of Tinma village, who aresheltering in IDP camps, are reportedto be have suffered psychological damage to their health form all the experience of seeing the bloodshed thekillings and the burning down of their housesin 2020.

The villagers of Tinma Gyi who were killed in secret afterbeing arrested are U Maung Win Gyi(48), U Maung Win Chay (42), U Kyi Lin (36), U Aung Nyunt (60), U Maung Wun Sein (50), U Than Maung Tun(40), Maung Tun Tun Wai. (14) UYin Maung (38), Ko Nay Lin Oo (25) and U Tun Maung Win (42).

Villagers from Tinma Thitvillage whowere killed by Army are U Maung Seik Gyi (71),U Kyaw Win Maung (36), U Hla Kyaw Gyi (70), U Maung Than Soe (34), U Saw ShweThan (45), U San Thar Maung (52), U Maung Myint Aye (49) and U Maung Tun Sein(62).

Among those missing from Tinma village are a 14-year-old 8thgrade student and a 29-year-old deaf person. Those arrested are agedbetween 14 and 70.

On March 22, the military started burning the village anddestroyed more than 100 houses.Currently After, Tinma villagers have been living in Kyauktaw IDP camps and Nyaung Chaung IDP camps for almost3 years.

Tima Ywarthit and Tinma Gyi villages are currently coveredwith bushes and shrubs and theentire village is almost destroyed, the villagers said.