A letter has been sent to junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing seeking approval for the return of internally displaced people (IDPs) to Tinma village in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State, according to the village abbott.

The IDPs’ case has been submitted to township and state-level authorities many times, but nothing has happened to resolve the villagers’ plight, said the monk and community leader, Venerable U Wayamida.

“As we assume that Arakan State-level authorities cannot address the issue, we sent a letter to the Union level,” U Wayamida told DMG.

The letter, dated November 1, asks that the IDPs be allowed to return to their homes in Tinma village. It was sent to the junta leader, with copies of the request also sent to township and state-level authorities, and the military’s Western Command.

Residents of Tinma fled the village in March 2020 due to clashes between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army.

Dozens of houses were damaged or destroyed by fire in the villagers’ absence, and many more homes have fallen into disrepair in the months since Tinma was abandoned, according to residents who paid a visit to the village in March of this year.

“I think Senior General Min Aung Hlaing should help villagers to return home if he has goodwill toward ethnic people,” said U Maung Tun Nyunt, vice chair of the committee for rehabilitation of Tinma village.

Before the village was emptied of its inhabitants, it hosted about 700 households and more than 4,000 residents. They have largely congregated at an IDP camp, where most have remained for more than 18 months.   

The Myanmar military remains stationed at Mount Taung Shay near Tinma village.

During some two years of fighting between the military and Arakan Army in Arakan State from 2018-2020, hundreds of homes were damaged or destroyed by fire, with the Tatmadaw often accused of employing the same scorched-earth tactics seen in Muslim villages of northern Arakan State in 2017, and more recently in Thantlang, Chin State.