The abductions of three Sittwe men in separate incidents over the past six weeks has left their families all the more worried because neither the missing men nor their captors have contacted them.
U Aye Tun aka U Aye Tun Bu from Tayarthisu ward was abducted on May 30; the acting chair of the Arakan League for Democracy (ALD) in Sittwe, U Zaw Win Tun from Kyay Bin Gyi ward, was abducted on June 28; and the head of Aung Daing village, U Aye Tun Maung, was abducted on June 30. None has been heard from since they were kidnapped.
“We did not report it to any organisation because we do not know who abducted him,” said Daw Ohn Shwe, the mother of U Zaw Win Tun. “We are investigating who and why they arrested him. We are worried for him because we have not been in contact with him.”
U Zaw Win Tun was abducted by a group of some six-armed individuals in civilian clothes and wearing masks, who took him away in a vehicle. The father of two has been active in Arakan State politics for years, and is currently serving as interim chairman of the Sittwe Township organising committee of the ALD.
Ko Yan Naing, the son of U Aye Tun Maung, said: “I think my father will be released. But we have not got in contact with him so far. We do not know why he was arrested, so we have not reported it to anyone.”
The reluctance to report the incidents comes amid a growing sense of lawlessness in the Arakan State capital and several cases of people being detained by security personnel, sometimes without explanation, in Taungup Township.
Sittwe resident U Nyunt Soe Aung, 52, was shot dead by an unidentified group of gunmen in the state capital on June 19, further setting locals on edge.
A Sittwe resident who did not want to be named said captors should be transparent about who they are and why they are abducting their targets.
“Residents of Arakan State have been arrested by armed groups, and it happens very often. The armed groups should claim their responsibility. Otherwise, people will be in shock and worried about when they might be arrested. Though they have done nothing wrong, they are worried about being arrested,” the resident said.
