Two men in northern Shan State’s Kutkai Township have reportedly been arrested by the Burmese military on suspicion of association with a rebel armed group.

According to Sai Jing Lu, an MP from the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) representing Hsenwi Township Constituency No.2, the two villagers, Sai Aung Ba, 32, and Sai Kang, 22, were arrested in Karleng tract in Kutkai Township on February 3 by Burmese soldiers from Light Infantry Division 99 based in Kutkai.

“The Burmese troops arrested them because they suspected they were linked to the SSPP [Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army], he said. “The Tatmadaw [Burmese army] said that if they could prove they were not associated with the SSPP they would release them.”

These two men are residents of That Fah village in Kengmon tract in Kutkai Township, Shan State Assembly lawmaker Sai Jing Lu explained. “On the day of their arrest, they were returning home from selling their buffalos in Kutkai,” he said. “Their car broke down in Karleng, so they went into the town to borrow a friend’s motorbike to buy the equipment to fix their car. After buying the equipment they were driving back to the car on the motorbike when they were stopped by Burmese soldiers from Division 99. They were questioned but they don’t speak any Burmese. The soldiers then arrested them.”

The SNLD MP said he received a report of their arrest on February 15. He then contacted the Kutkai Township’s governor, Kyaw Winn.

On February 17, the parents of both men requested a meeting with their sons, he said, and were able to see them that afternoon. Meanwhile, Sai Jing Lu said, he contacted local authorities in Kutkai and asked them to process the case.

He said the men were told they would be released if they had nothing to do with the Shan rebels. However, at the time of press the pair was still in detention.

Clashes have been reported regularly between the Tatmadaw and SSPP/SSA, which is a member of the ethnic bloc United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC). The SSPPSSA declined to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) with the government in October 2015. However, it did sign state-level and union-level ceasefire accords with the then Thein Sein government. On January 25, Shan Herald reported that clashes broke out between two groups in southern Shan State’s Mong Hsu Township.

By Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN)