Paletwa (, ) is one of the westernmost towns of

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

, in

Chin State Chin State (, ) is a state in western Myanmar. Chin State is bordered by Sagaing Division and Magway Division to the east, Rakhine State to the south, the Chattogram Division of Bangladesh to the west, and the Indian states of Mizoram to th ...

, 18 kilometres from the

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

with

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. On the other side of the border, lies

Chittagong Division Chittagong Division (), officially Chattogram Division, is geographically the largest of the eight administrative divisions of Bangladesh. It covers the southeasternmost areas of the country, with a total area of and a population according to th ...

of Bangladesh. Paletwa town's population was about 97,000 in 2014. The

Arakan Army The Arakan Army (; Abbreviation, abbreviated AA), sometimes referred to as the Arakha Army is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnic-List of insurgent groups in Myanmar, armed organisation based in Rakhine State (Arakan). Founded in April 2009, the Ara ...

launched an attack at the town on November 13, 2023 and captured it on 15 January, 2024 during the

Myanmar Civil War Myanmar has been embroiled in armed conflict since 1948, when the country, then known as Burma, gained independence from the United Kingdom. The conflict has largely been ethnic-based, with ethnic armed organisations fighting Myanmar's arm ...

Demographics

Rakhine is the

Lingua Franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

of the region, while

Kuki-Chin languages The Kuki-Chin languages (also called Kukish or South-Central Tibeto-Burman languages) are a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family spoken in northeastern India, western Myanmar and southeastern Bangladesh. Most notable Kuki-Chin-speaking ...

are spoken mostly in the hills. The west of the town hosts many refugees that have fled from Rakhine state. The literacy rate is 65% (2017). Neighboring villages such as Kan Lay (ကန်းလေ) can be reached only by foot in about an hour.

Connectivity

Nazang is connected to the

Rakhine state Rakhine State ( ; , ; ), formerly known as Arakan State, is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Re ...

only by boat. It leaves

Kyauktaw Kyauktaw ( ) is a town in northern Rakhine State, in the westernmost part of Myanmar. The famous Mahamuni Buddha image, currently at Amarapura, was originally situated near Kyauktaw, in the ruins of the old city of Dhanyawadi. The town was captur ...

every morning and reaches Paletwa in the afternoon, running up the

Kaladan River The Kaladan (, ) or Kissapanadi River (, ), also known as the Beino, Bawinu and Kolodyne, is a river in the eastern Mizoram, Mizoram State of India, and in Chin State and Rakhine State of western Myanmar. The Kaladan River is called the Chhimtuip ...

. The road to Matupi is reported to be on the brink of completion. Though, there is no direct evidence of it. Paletwa is part of an ongoing infrastructure project Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project that will connect it to the Indian state of Mizoram.

Tourism

Despite its serene natural surroundings, Paletwa sees few tourists. The town has one hotel, but restrictive policies and limited accessibility make travel to the area a challenge.

References

External links

Satellite map at Maplandia.com
Township capitals of Myanmar Populated places in Chin State {{Chin-geo-stub