A mourning ceremony was held on Friday for two men who were killed during a night of fire and gunfire amid the Tatmadaw-Arakan Army conflict in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township about one year ago.
The two men — Maung Nyunt Win, 27, and Ko Kan Maung Thein, 35 — were reportedly shot dead after a military column entered Phayarpaung and Taungpauk villages and was accused of setting more than 100 houses on fire on September 3 of last year.
The men’s bodies were found with gunshot wounds on the morning of September 4, after they were reportedly detained by Tatmadaw personnel the previous evening.
U Kyaw Soe Win, who was in charge of organising Friday’s event, told DMG that the anniversary ceremony was held in separate villages due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the ceremony, participants expressed their condolences over the incident and thanked those who helped send prayers and condolences to the victims.
“We offer alms and prayers for those who were killed in the fire. We also pray for the future, to prevent this from happening to future generations. We also express thanks to people who helped us when we were in trouble,” U Kyaw Soe Win said.
A memorial service was also to be held in the affected villages on Monday evening. The two villages were set on fire on September 3, but the one-year ceremony was held on the basis of the Buddhist calendar’s 1st waning of Wakhaung, said U Maung Maung Than, a local from Payarpaung village.
“I told them to work hard, even if they could not get back what they had lost in the past. I urge the people in the village not to give up, but to do what they have to do,” he said.
U Shwe Tun Nyo, a resident of Taungpauk village, also said he did not want future generations to experience a similar tragedy.
“We do not want our descendants to suffer the same thing over and over again. We, the next generation, need to remember this as well,” he said.
Myanmar military personnel entered Phayarpaung and Taungpauk villages on the night of September 3, 2020, allegedly setting dozens of homes in both Phayarpaung and Taungpauk villages alight.Several locals at the time accused Tatmadaw troops of torching the village, but the military rejected those accusations and blamed the Arakan Army (AA) for the fires.
“The notion that the houses were set on fire by the AA is just a groundless assertion,” U Tha Tun Hla, a fire victim from Phayapaung village, told DMG a few days after the incident. “We saw it with our own eyes. ... Almost all the villagers are eyewitnesses to arson.”
The military government is rebuilding new houses in these villages, but at present only about 20 houses have been built in each village, according to locals.
