Interview
Border News Agency
Kyauktaw, May 31
In the final phase of the Arakan war, the Arakan Army (AA) launched decisive offensives and fully seized control of fourteen townships across the Arakan region, including Maungdaw, Buthidaung, and Rathedaung. The AA is now establishing administrative mechanisms under the framework of the Arakan People’s Revolutionary Government.
According to local residents, the administrative mechanisms of the Arakan People’s Revolutionary Government have included Muslims by appointing them to various roles and responsibilities. Additionally, a dedicated Muslim Affairs Committee has been established and is actively operating under the revolutionary administration.
Border News Agency recently interviewed Ko Kyaw Naing, a Muslim man from Kyauktaw Township, which is currently under the control of the Arakan Army (AA).
“We are from Kyauktaw. Things now are very different from the past. These days, we enjoy human rights – we are free to travel wherever we want. We can live and move freely among people of different communities,” he said.
“I don’t feel any fear anymore. Now we can move around freely, and we’re treated with basic human rights. It’s not like before. In the past, some people were allowed to travel, but we weren’t. That’s no longer the case,” he said.
“It’s not like that anymore. Now we can go wherever we’re allowed to. The only minor difficulty is that some places require identification documents. At the moment, we don’t have any IDs,” he said.
“Not every place allows us to do things just with an ID. That’s the only difficulty we face. Other than that, we don’t have any problems at all. As for going to the clinic, I’m not sure if we were allowed in the past, like before 2022, but back then we couldn’t go. The clinic in Kyauktaw was there, but we weren’t allowed to go. Now, we can,” he said.
“We are given our rights. We can even go to the clinic for treatment. However, if we want to travel far, sometimes we can’t because we don’t have a national ID. In some cases, authorities check if we have proper registration. But mainly, it’s not because we’re denied travel permission – it’s just the law. If you don’t have an ID, you can’t travel freely; that’s the same in every country, not just this one,” he said.
“However, in our territory, even without national ID, we can travel with recommendation letters. I should say that this recommendation letter is issued by the Arakan Army. The only real difficulty is related to traveling with a national ID. For example, if someone wants to travel a long distance, they can’t do so without an ID. But traveling between nearby towns is allowed and convenient,” he said.
“The situation has improved a lot, and it’s no longer like before. Now, there’s significant attention given to education and healthcare. Education, in particular, is being seriously prioritized. Children are allowed to attend school, and they can even study up to the 10th grade. We are truly thankful for that,” he said.
