Schools in urban areas of Kyauktaw were closed on Tuesday after junta soldiers questioned and detained residents across the town. The Arakan Army (AA) detained three policemen in Kyauktaw on Monday.
Armed junta soldiers were seen patrolling the town and carrying out checks on motorists, passengers and pedestrians on Tuesday, said a school principal who asked for anonymity.
“We don’t want to close schools. We want to perform our duty peacefully,” the school headmaster told DMG. “However, because of the current situation, some parents came and took back their children. As we were teaching the remaining students, more parents came to take back their children. So, we closed the school, and went back to our homes. We dare not go out since.”
Junta soldiers and police drove around the town in prisoner transport vehicles and detained anyone who they thought was suspicious, according to residents.
“Children don’t know if they need to run if something bad happens,” the mother of a primary school student said. “Under current circumstances, they must be together with their parents. As you know, the town is in chaos. So, I went to school to bring them home. But after going halfway, the school was already sending them back in a school bus. I heard all the schools across the town were closed.”
Shops in the town were closed too, and the streets were deserted, said a Kyauktaw resident who did not want to be named.
“The military is making arrests as it pleases, and is also carrying out checks on houses. So, town residents have had to close their doors and stay in their homes. The whole town was silent, except for military vehicles and prisoner transport vehicles driving the roads,” said the resident.
At a press conference on June 14, AA spokesman Khaing Thukha said the ethnic armed group had detained junta personnel because the regime had arrested AA members first. He suggested an exchange of the captives.
Former Lower House lawmaker U Maung Maung from Kyauktaw Township said it is unacceptable to arrest innocent civilians in the course of ongoing tensions between the two sides.
“We have suffered from the military’s rights violations for many years. We don’t know if it is a political struggle or armed struggle between the two sides. But we can’t accept the arrest of innocent civilians. We want political problems to be solved by political means,” he said.
The Myanmar military has detained several civilians in recent days, including the prominent political and social activist Ko Zaw Win from Kyauktaw on Tuesday morning.
