Members of the National, People’s and State parliaments recently met with war refugees at Sapar Seik Village in Kyauktaw Township, Arakan State when they delivered aid to them.
Narinjara News interviewed one of the members of parliament on the trip, U Saw Nyein, the state parliament member for Kyauktaw Township.
Q: “We know that you went a field donation trip, where did you go?”
A: “We went to Sapar Seik Village.”
Q: “What kind of aid did you donate?”
A: “We delivered rice, potato, oil, monosodium glutamate, fish tin, and garlic.”
Q: “How many war refugees did you see there?”
A: “We saw 407 war refugees there.”
Q: “Were any restrictions placed on you during your trip?”
A: “No, there were no restrictions. Since we are members of parliament and had planned to go there we had informed the authorities. They allowed us to go and gave us three police for security. No restrictions were placed on us going there.”
Q: “We heard that some people had been arrested there. Did you meet with them?”
A: “Yes, we were allowed to meet with 11 arrested people. We also met with tactical unit commander Colonel Win Thu from the government army and discussed the case with him. We said that if you (Col. Win Thu) have to question those arrested people, please make sure you do it in a legal way. We requested that he not use torture [on the suspects] and if they are innocent to let them go. By focusing on that discussion we got agreement.”
Q: “How many arrested people did you see?”
A: “We saw 11 arrested people.”
Q: “Can you tell us their names?”
A: “Including Ko Zaw Win Maung and Ko Maung Than Myint, we saw 11 people in total.”
A: “When we asked Col. Win Thu why he arrested them [the villagers] he said that they were suspected of having contact with Arakan ethnic armed organisations and that they [the Burma Army] are just questioning them [the villagers] and are not torturing them. We suggested to him that they should release them as soon as possible. Since this issue is related to security and military affairs we should not interfere forcibly and everything should be done legally.”
Q: “We have heard reports that many villagers from Welgyi Chaung and Linsin Yoarthit villages are being arrested and tortured.”
A: “We arrived Linsin Yoarthit Village and we also met with abbot of the village monastery and we also met with officers from the government army, but we couldn’t meet with villagers. Since it was getting dark at the time we just met with the village administrator at the monastery and donated our aid to the village’s prominent people. We did not go into the village, we just docked at the monastery’s mooring at the stream and only made the donation [at the monastery].”
Q: “Who went with you on the trip?”
A: “People in our group included Ex. Major U Thar Sein, national parliament member U Khin Maung, state parliament member U Maung Hla Kyaing, and prominent local residents.”
Translated by Aung Myat Soe English version written by Mark Inkey for BNI
