The military junta has restricted the travel permissions of people holding identification cards code 13/ Shan State “Wa”, Kokang, Palaung and identification cards code 11/ Rakhine people in Yangon.

According to travelers, Rakhine nationals traveling in Yangon must show both their police station and local authority recommendation letters, in addition to holding an 11/ identification card, to purchase bus tickets at the Aung Mingalar Highway Bus Terminal in Mingaladon Township.

Travelers have reported that, starting from recent days, they have been required to show such recommendation letters in order to purchase bus tickets.

A Rakhine man who traveled with a recommendation letter in the past few days mentioned that they face difficulties because when they request recommendation letters from the police station and the local administrative office, they are only provided with letters for job applications, not for travel.

He said, “If you have an 11/ identification card, they only issue bus tickets if you present both a police station recommendation letter and a headman of local administration recommendation letter. Without these two, they won’t sell you a ticket. The police and the local administrative office don’t issue travel recommendation letters; they only issue job application recommendation letters. Because of these circumstances, Rakhine people holding 11 identification cards face difficulties in traveling.”

He further mentioned that these recommendation letters are valid for only one day, and if the date passes, you are no longer allowed to travel.

“They don’t really want to issue recommendation letters to those with 11 identification cards. They told me it’s valid for only one day, so I came back immediately. If you pay a bribe, you can get one. They mostly just want to make money. Having such limited validity periods is not good, especially when it’s for family health matters,” he said.

Refugees in Yangon have reported that the military council has recently prohibited the sale of bus tickets to Wa, Kokang, and Palaung people holding Shan State ID cards with the code 13/.

It is also known that the military council had already imposed travel restrictions on those holding IDs with codes 7/, 5/, and 8/, which are associated with regions where resistance forces are strong, such as Bago, Sagaing, and Magway.