More than 65,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled conflict-torn northern Arakan State in recent months, seeking shelter across the border in Bangladesh, according to startling figures released by the United Nations this week.

Rights advocates have criticised the State Counsellor’s Office after it put out a press release and Facebook post last week that appeared aimed at discrediting the accounts of two women in northern Arakan State who alleged that they had been raped.

Amnesty International has welcomed the establishment of a high-level Arakan Commission headed by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, but has called for it to address the human rights situation in the volatile region, while investigating decades of discrimination against minorities.

Kalay, a major trading town in Sagaing Division, pays a heavy price for its strategic location near the Indian border, as police fight in vain against a flood of drugs.

Maung Aye left his poor village for Hpakant, where he risks his life each day to find the one jade stone that will lift him out of poverty.

A dozen more prisoners were released this week, adding to the more than 200 freed since the NLD assumed power earlier this month.