Border News Agency
Mrauk-U, August 26.
The Central Land Management Committee of the United League of Arakan (ULA) says it is expanding land management committees at the district and township levels to strengthen land administration and the public administration system in Arakan.
The committees were formed to resolve land disputes and other social conflicts in a fair and systematic way, provide better public services, and strengthen environmental protection and management.
The Central Land Management Committee says that poor land management by past governments, complicated land ownership documents, and corruption have left many land disputes. It says the current revolutionary government faces a major burden in dealing with these long-standing problems.
The committee says it is working to solve complicated land disputes through cooperation among different departments, including administration, the judiciary, and field inspection teams.
It also says that field inspections are being carried out under fair policies to prevent land disputes from damaging trust between local people and to protect the livelihoods and rights of farmers who are actually working on the land.
The committee says that long-term solutions to old land problems will require strong land policies, transparent justice, and public participation.
The AA has taken control of 15 townships, including the Paletwa area, and is developing an administrative system under what it calls the Arakan People’s Revolutionary Government.
In AA-controlled areas, the ULA Central Land Management Committee is chaired by Brigadier General Kyaw Han, with U Kyaw Zan serving as secretary. Former ANP National Assembly representative for Pauktaw Township U Tet Tun Aung, along with U Maung Oo Kyaw, U Tha Tun Shwe and others, are serving as committee members.
However, local residents say that AA officers, including U Aung Thar Win, head of the Department of Law Enforcement and Public Security (DLEPS), and members of the AA central intelligence team, have also been involved in land seizures that may amount to forced land confiscation and human rights violations.
Border News Agency has received information about many land cases in AA-controlled areas, including cases involving forced land seizures based on verbal orders. Its investigation found that very few of these cases have been effectively resolved by the ULA Central Land Management Committee.
