A briefing on recent developments in Rakhine State in progress (Photo-EMG)
The false reporting by U.N.
agencies and international media and organisations could complicate the
situation in Rakhine State, said Myanmar's government officials in a
press briefing.
The briefing on a recent incident that
happened in Ducheertan Village, Maungtaw Township, Rakhine State was
held at the ministry of foreign affairs in Yangon yesterday. Foreign
diplomats and officials from UN and international organisations attended
the briefing.
Foreign Affairs Minister Wunna Maung
Lwin, Home Affairs Minister Lieutenant General Ko Ko, Rakhine Conflict
Investigation Commission Secretary Dr Kyaw Yin Hlaing and Deputy Border
Affairs Minister Major General Maung Maung gave their accounts of the
incident.
The Indonesian and Bangladeshi
ambassadors also gave their accounts while the U.S. ambassador raised
some questions, which the foreign affairs minister answered.
Minister Wunna Maung Lwin denied the
deaths of many people in the incident that occurred on January 13 as
reported by some media. He assured that U.N. organisations and media
could report to the government if they have any evidence of the
incident.
In his briefing, the home affairs
minister said police sergeant Aung Kyaw Thein went missing after the
incident in Ducheertan Village. A group of policemen, including Aung
Kyaw Thein, while on a regular patrol in the area, dispersed after they
were attacked by a mob of Bengalis, he said.
The Bengali group was led by K Faik
Dular, aged 23, who had completed training by Rohingya Solidarity
Organisation (RSO) in a neighbouring country. About 10 days before the
incident, he was reported to have trained his friends how to handle guns
by using dummy guns.
"Organisations should release reports
based on reliable sources. Groundless information could exacerbate the
situation and harm the rule of law. It should be noted that the local
people would not forgive when the truth appears," said Lt-Gen Ko Ko.
According to Ye Htut, presidential
spokesperson and deputy information minister, the government took
systematic measures so that unnecessary problems could not occur as the
missing person is a police sergeant as well as a Rakhine national.
"We have dealt with the incident as an
ordinary crime in order not to cause unnecessary problems. But actually,
the culprits released false information with intent to cover up their
offence. But there are those who believe the information. I mean news
agencies, UN agencies and international organisations in that region.
They are there to help resolve the conflict and ensure stability. But
what they have done causes more confusion to the situation. We cannot
accept that," said Ye Htut.
Ducheertan village incident is
systematically designed by those committed the crimes and spread false
news. Some easily believed the news and spread the rumor so also some
news agencies and organizations fabricated the news. Because of them,
unnecessary doubts between the two groups in Rakhine State have raised
said Ye Htut.
AP news agency and Irrawaddy news agency
while describing the Ducheertan village incident, wrote that violence
has been broke out in Ducheertan village, in Maungdaw, Rakhine State,
and some Muslim women and children were killed. According to the one
local of Maungdaw Township, about 40 were killed in that incident and
wounds of some of the dead were obtained by knives wounds. These are the
one sided news and are false news, the Government explained.
Deputy Minister Ye Htut said that they
need domestic media strength to retaliate the international accusations,
those want to profit from the conflict and issuing of one-sided news.
“As we all knew, some groups in
international media are very fast in reporting the news. The best way to
defy them is uniting with the strength of State owned media and
journalists in the nation. We have requested the diplomats to abide by
the diplomats’ code of conduct. International news agencies have to
abide by the international code of conduct of journalists’. If they want
to help this problem, they need to report the right and liable news on
their part,” he added.
The Government will prevent the conflict
between the two groups in Rakhine State. Action will be taken whatever
side committed the crimes. People need to report the respective
department with firm evidence if there are crimes occurred, he
continued.
Bangladesh ambassador to Myanmar Gen
Anup Kumar Chakma also said that concerning that problems, no one can
trust the rumors and unconfirmed news. Issuing this false news only
worsens the situation but Bangladesh will join hands with Myanmar in
combating violence. Recently, Bangladesh has arrested three terrorists
trying to enter Myanmar from Bangladesh, he said.
Dr. Kyaw Yin Hlaing, secretary of
Rakhine conflict investigation commission said that the commission has
launched the investigation into the allegations and inspected any mass
murder there but only found that evidences for killing of Police Sgt
Aung kyaw Thein and confirmed his loss. There were people fled from the
area due to conflict but majority them are now at their homes.
“We have sent our reporters from Sittwe,
Maungdaw and Yangon to cover the news. According to the data we got to
date, the reports of Government are true. We also found out that there
were wrong news releases by some of the international media. To get more
detailed news, we are to send senior editor and gather news from local
reporters. We will report after we get the detailed,” said Wai Phyo,
Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Eleven.
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Eleven Myanmar
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