Multiethnic Alethankyaw stable and peaceful

November 8, 2016

The 9 October violent attacks on border guard police outposts left border guard policemen dead and a number of weapons and ammunition lost.

As a result, members of Defence Services and border guard police are clearing the areas, but Alethankyaw Village, whose residents are from different religious and ethnic groups, are as safe and peaceful as before.

“Most of us are engaged in agriculture and fishery. People here believed either in Buddhism or Hinduism or Islam, but all of us have been living together peacefully without any problem. However, recently, business activities were stagnant as a result of the violent attacks. Schools and markets are still open,” U Zaw Htoo, village administrator of the village said.

The market in Alethankyaw is open every day with over 160 shops. The market is busiest on Sundays and Thursdays.

The village has potential for an offshore fishery industry, according to Deputy Director U Naing Win Thein of the Fishery Department.

“We have two kinds of fishing at sea, one being near shore fishing and another being offshore fishing. In inland waters, we have freshwater fishing and we have about 15,000 fishery workers and about 120 trawlers and about 1,700 traditional fishing boats. Fish caught in the region were consumed locally and the remaining are dried and exported to a neighbouring country,” he said.

However, the residents of the village are not able to go to sea due to the security situation of the region. They are not allowed to go to sea due to security reasons.
“We are negatively affected by the violent attacks. We cannot fish in the sea at present. Many workers have suffered.

We denounce the violent attacks ,” U Maung Myint, a trawler owner said.

Ref; The Global New Light of Myanmar