Maungdaw: Local military authorities have reportedly responded to villagers' unrest over the death of a youth caused by the army's motor grader in Ngakhura Village in Maungdaw Township in Burma's Arakan State by compensating the victim's family.

A village elder told Narinjara that authorities provided 400,000 kyat and an acre of farmland in compensation to the family of the deceased on 8 March, a day after villagers clashed with army personnel over the accident.

"District Chairman U Tun Naing Linn, District Law Officer U Myint Than, Township Chairman U Aung Kyaw Oo, Township Police In-Charge Major U Aung Myint Kyi, and U Hla Shwe, alias Sayed, and U Kyaw Kyaw of the Regional Development Organization came to our village yesterday to solve disturbances among the villagers over the youth's death by the army's motor grader. They called on the village elders, including the parents of the deceased, at the VPDC office and provided 400,000 kyat and one acre of farmland in compensation to the deceased's parents," said the elder.

The elder also said that the authorities announced an order to the villagers to stop all unlawful melee against any personnel of the authorities, threatening legal actions against those who do not comply.

According to the source, the motor grader, a Caterpillar 120H bearing license plate number 4609 (Pha), belongs to the army's engineering unit, known as GE, which is building roads alongside the border fence near the village. The motor grader recklessly crashed into the youth from behind as he was walking alongside the village market road around 10:00 am on 7 March.

The victim was identified as 18-year-old Saddam Hossain (a) Mohammed Shah, son of Mustaf Ahmed from the same village, and he was killed at the scene of the accident.

The driver, a GE officer, ran away and abandoned the vehicle in fear of the crowd that approached the scene shortly after the accident.

"The clash between the authority's personnel and the villagers happened a few hours after the accident when one of the GE officers, along with armed Nasaka forces, came to scene to reclaim the grader. The villagers demanded he wait to take the machine until after an explanation was offered for the accident. However, the officer threatened the villagers with retaliation if they interfered with him moving the vehicle. The officer's misbehavior sparked anger among the villagers, who started to attack him and the Nasaka forces with brickbats and sticks," said the elder.

According to a source close to the GE unit, the officer is Thet Lwin, a warrant officer of GE's Special Border Project Group 1. He sustained serious injuries in the villagers' attack and is currently receiving treatment at Maungdaw Hospital. The driver of the grader was identified as Corporal Kyaw Thet Aung from the same unit, and his identity number is Ta-225216.

"Though the driver is the main person accused in the incident, he is so far exempted for his wrongdoing because he is army personnel, and he is now working as before in his unit. The Burmese Army never punishes its personnel for their crimes against the public," said the source.

The source also said that the reason for the authorities’ compensation of the victim's family was that they feared greater public unrest after learning the villagers had seized the grader and were prepared to resist any government forces that attempted to reclaim the grader without an investigation or justification of the accident.