New Wave of Attacks on the Rohingya by the Myanmar Army: Attacks, Burnings, and Killings.

[M.R.9]

The office of Myanmar’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, said military and border police responded to the attacks — which left 12 security personnel and 77 Rohingya dead — by launching “clearance operations.” Advocates for the Rohingya on social media have been reporting many army raids on villages, including killings and the burning down of homes. Human rights groups accused the army of carrying out massive human rights abuses including killing, rape and burning down more than 1,000 homes and other buildings. (The Indian Express, August 26, 2017)

Comment:

Thousands of the Rohinyga Muslims are left without shelter, safety, and food and water in a new wave of attacks by the ruthless Myanmar army this week. There is a report that a million Rohingya have tried to flee to the nearest land border to Bangladesh only to be fiercely inhumanely rejected because of the callousness of nationalistic policy and ridiculous allegations by the Bangladesh prime minister, Sheikha Hasina, leaving them stranded in despair and fear. To return to their torched bleak villages only to have a repeat of unspeakable torture in which the women and elderly are particularly at risk or flee to the distant mountains in the exposed environment. Indeed the outcome makes the heart bleed and the eyes swell with sadness. Even when various human right activists try to leak out hidden images and videos, the Myanmar government vehemently denies this and cites gross misrepresentation and agitation by them and so it is swept aside as if a minor matter. Flimsy statements by the major international organizations hold no weight in repercussions to the country whose ruler ironically ‘won the Nobel Peace Prize’. What an utter shame to have mass genocide and ethnic cleansing as part of their domestic policy to their unrecognized people, who historically have inhabited the land for centuries prior to the forming of current day Myanmar. The current U.N. secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, condemned the attacks on Myanmar security forces Friday. “The secretary-general has been closely following developments in Rakhine State and is concerned over the escalating tensions in the region. He reiterates the importance of addressing the root causes of violence, in particular issues related to identity and citizenship, and reducing intercommunal tensions. He strongly urges all the communities in Rakhine state to choose the path of peace,” his office said in a statement.

Yet the neighboring Muslim majority governments remain deaf, mute and blind to the horrendous acts, while the images and videos fill the spaces of social media yet rarely make major news outlets. If genocide is not seen on the major screens, then perhaps it may not exist—how deluded are they. This is what makes the plight of the Rohyinga even more tragic, accounts of arson, rape, tortures of all ages do not find their issue highlighted in the news. Even worse Sheikha Hasina rambles on and on of no space for them in Bangladesh treating the Muslim country as if it were her private residence and not as a right for the asylum seekers of the Ummah! Even countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, and Pakistan are meekly silent over this mass extermination. It is as if the Rohingya are doomed spanning decades and decades. It is long overdue that the Ruwaibidah rulers be uprooted and replaced with the sincere leadership.

{Source- ICGR report - 2017 }

 

[Banglar Bir]

A look at the insurgency behind Myanmar attacks
Tribune Desk
Published at 06:03 PM August 31, 2017

A bicycle seen near a house that was burnt down during the last days violence in Maungdaw, Myanmar August 30, 2017RETUERS
Analysts blame Myanmar's government for the conditions that led to Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA)'s creation
Armed with machetes and rifles, a ragtag band of insurgents comprised of members of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority launched unprecedented attacks last week, triggering fighting with security forces that has left more than 100 people dead and forced at least 18,000 to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh, reports the Associated Press.

Here’s a closer look at the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the group that claimed responsibility for the attacks:

The origins of ARSA
The group was formed last year by Rohingya exiles living in Saudi Arabia, according to the International Crisis Group, which detailed ARSA’s origins in a report last year. It is led by Attullah Abu Amar Jununi, a Pakistani-born Rohingya who grew up in Mecca, and a committee of about 20 Rohingya emigres. ICG says there are indications Jununi and others received militant training in Pakistan and possibly Afghanistan.

ARSA is believed to receive funding from the Rohingya diaspora and donors in Saudi Arabia, as well as other parts of the Middle East, ICG says.

Analysts blame Myanmar’s government for the conditions that led to the group’s creation. Successive governments in the predominantly Buddhist country have denied the Rohingya basic rights and citizenship, deeming most of them to be foreign invaders from Bangladesh, even though Rohingya have lived in Myanmar, also known as Burma, for generations. Bangladesh also rejects them.

The lack of a political solution to their plight, particularly after anti-Muslim violence in 2012 displaced more than 120,000 Rohingya, helped sow the seeds for armed rebellion. The disenfranchisement of Rohingya in the 2015 election, and a regional crackdown on human trafficking that cut off an escape by sea also left Myanmar’s Rohingya feeling boxed in.

The escalation of the violence
In ARSA’s first known operation, on October 9, 2016, hundreds of Rohingya men armed with knives, slingshots and rifles attacked three separate police posts in Rakhine state, killing nine officers.

The army responded with a savage counterinsurgency sweep that lasted months and, according to human rights groups, left entire villages burned to the ground. The United Nations accused security forces of gang-raping women and carrying out extrajudicial killings of children, even babies. The world body says some of the atrocities could amount to crimes against humanity.

The scale and scope of the latest violence is far greater. ARSA attacked at least two dozen police posts, and satellite imagery analysed by Human Rights Watch indicates homes were set ablaze as well, in an area about five times larger than what was burned in 2016.

An evolving message
When the group was first established, the insurgents called themselves the Harakah al-Yaqin, meaning “Faith Movement.” In their first video, that name was overlaid with Arabic script, which helped fuel speculation they could be aligned with global terrorist groups.

Analysts say the group does not appear to have jihadist motivations, and ARSA has stated that it does not associate with terrorist organizations. In recent months, the group has tried to dispel that perception and bolster the argument that they are freedom fighters who took up arms only to defend their people, said David Mathieson, an independent analyst in Yangon, Myanmar.

The insurgents, who posts statements through a Twitter account, changed their name to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army – Arakan is another word for the Rakhine region. And in a video statement released August 28, Jununi – standing beside two masked militants with assault rifles – described the insurgents as “the guardians and protectors of the oppressed Rohingya,” claiming they were waging “a defensive war with the brutal Burmese military regime.” It’s unclear how many fighters the group currently has.

After the latest attacks, Myanmar’s government has insisted they should only be referred to as “extreme Bengali terrorists.”

Prospects for peace
It’s unclear how much support the insurgents have among the Rohingya population, which numbers about 1 million in Myanmar. Neelakantan said there are reports that ARSA has executed suspected informants as part of a brutal effort to boost the insurgent group’s influence and control.

Given the deadly military sweep that followed their attacks last year, ARSA must have known an even greater backlash would come this time, Neelakantan said.

“They’re clearly harming their cause more than they are helping it,” she said. “But if they wanted attention, they’re going to get it.”

The violence has already hardened both sides and deepened communal hatred. Mathieson said “things will get worse before they get better. Once the killing starts, it’s hard to put that back in the box.”
http://www.dhakatribune.com/world/south-asia/2017/08/31/look-insurgency-behind-myanmar-attacks/

 

[M.R.9]

To kill the animal is a great sin / then what would be the sin if you killed this creature?

 

[Banglar Bir]

01:56 PM, September 02, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 09:41 PM, September 02, 2017
Food aid suspended as Myanmar state sinks deeper into violence

The World Food Programme has suspended food aid in Myanmar's violence-scorched Rakhine State, as the humanitarian situation deteriorates with a surging death toll and tens of thousands -- both Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Buddhists -- on the move. Photo: AFP
AFP, Yangon

The World Food Programme has suspended food aid in Myanmar's violence-scorched Rakhine state, as the humanitarian situation deteriorates with a surging death toll and tens of thousands -- both Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Buddhists -- on the move.

The UN's refugee agency late Saturday said some 60,000 mostly Rohingya Muslim refugees had poured into Bangladesh since the latest round of fighting broke out eight days ago, with the numbers expected to rise as thousands remain stuck on the border.

Relief agencies, including WFP, have repeatedly been accused by Myanmar authorities of allowing their rations to fall into the hands of Rohingya militants, whose attacks on police posts on August 25 sparked the most recent surge in violence.

Around 120,000 people -- most of them Rohingya Muslim civilians -- have relied on aid hand-outs in camps since 2012, when religious riots killed scores and sparked a crisis which is again burning through Rakhine state.

Over the last five years Rakhine has been cut along ethnic and religious lines, but the current violence is the worst yet.

Aid agencies are routinely accused of a pro-Rohingya bias and the sudden flare-up of unrest has renewed safety concerns, prompting relief work to be pulled back.

"All WFP food assistance operations in Rakhine State have been suspended due to insecurity... affecting 250,000 internally displaced and other most vulnerable populations," the WFP said in a statement.

The Rohingya, branded illegal immigrants in Myanmar and mostly denied citizenship, make up the vast majority of the dead and displaced since 2012.

In the ongoing bout of violence, 58,600 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh, according to the latest figures from UNHCR.

Tens of thousands have been turned away by Bangladeshi border officials, while scores have died trying to cross the Naf river -- which divides the two countries -- in makeshift boats and even on flotsam.

Dead left unburied
Anwar, a Rohingya man, was one of those stranded on the Myanmar side of the border on Saturday evening, terrified soldiers would find them.

"I saw three or four people who died along the way, there was no one to bury them," he told AFP by phone, asking not to disclose his location or full name.

He said it had taken him, his wife and their seven children three days to walk to the border and that they were hoping the darkness could provide them enough cover to slip into Bangladesh as night fell.

He also expressed anger at Rohingya militants who launched last week's attacks, sparking a renewed Myanmar military crackdown and his family's desperate flight.

"We do not know them (the militants)," he said, adding: "We didn't do anything."

On Friday, Myanmar's army chief said nearly 400 people have died in the violence, among them 370 Rohingya militants, while 11,000 ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, Hindus and other minority groups have been internally displaced.

Myanmar authorities have rejected help offered by foreign aid groups for the displaced ethnic Rakhine, according to a statement by the European Commission's relief assistance department.

As army clearance operations continue, ECHO (European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations) said access to northern Rakhine remained "cut off".

Meanwhile an "anti-UN/NGO propaganda campaign on Myanmar social media continues", the statement added.

'Humanitarian catastrophe'
Accounts from Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and Buddhists who fled to Sittwe, the Rakhine state capital, indicate the death toll may be much higher.

The worst-hit areas are off-limits to reporters. But unverifiable testimony has trickled out, telling of tit-for-tat mass killings and villages being torched by the army and the militants.

Pierre Peron, spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, warned disruption to aid supplies was having "a very real human impact".

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday warned the spiral of violence could lead to a "humanitarian catastrophe" and urged Myanmar's government to provide security for aid agencies to reach those in need.

Shortly before his comments, aid groups were again spotlighted by army chief Min Aung Hlaing, whose office said WFP-labelled food and medicines had been found with dead militants.

The office of de facto civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has also put out multiple statements in the last week saying the same.

The militants are fighting under the banner of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), who say they are defending the ethnic minority from persecution by Myanmar.

Despite decades of persecution the Rohingya largely eschewed violence.

But the ARSA emerged as a force in October last year when their attacks killed Myanmar border police, prompting a crackdown by security forces which the UN says may have amounted to ethnic cleansing.
http://www.thedailystar.net/world/a...d-myanmar-state-sinks-deeper-violence-1457260