Banglar Bir
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1971 all over again
- Thread starter Banglar Bir
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dray / Rain Man
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In fact they do not have any credible support to pull off a 1971.
exactly crisis here is being manufactured, deliberately a mountain is being created out of molehill to suit one party's interest.
@Nilgiri this is the very reason BD is gungho about the issue. they see a nice chance to gain some territory at the expense of refugee plight. crocodiles tears are getting exposed.
Samurai_assassin
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Major difference is Pakistan is not responsible for any of the troubles. BD should request urgent support from their natural closest ally India. It is right for India to repay BD for its loyality of boycotting the SAARC summit in Islamabad last year. Surly India will come to Bangladeshs urgent need and aide?
I spikes therefore I am
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They are not Indian hindus they are burmese tamilians , keralite , andhra people still they living there with peace. Even they didn't involved any armed struggle like muslims. Ask Srilankan govt ......why Bangladesh formed ? same reason for armed struggle not all tamils involved in struggle( Most LTTE are Christians) . Wen it happened in Africa? did they involved in armed struggle ??. Malaysia?? those are crimes.... chinese have very big gangs wats ur point?? u missed mini India riot in Singapore. Another crime in orissa , that sikh riot , another riot . There is lot of difference between riot and terrorism.
Banglar Bir
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Malaysian fighters already in Myanmar to fight army: police
By Coconuts Yangon Sep. 20, 2017
Royal Malaysia Police inspector-general Mohamad Fuzi Harun. Photo: YouTube
Malaysia’s police chief announced yesterday that a group of Malaysians is already in Myanmar with plans to fight the country’s military, whose ongoing crackdown in Rakhine State has forced over 410,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.
The group is believed to have entered the country via Bangladesh and Thailand. It is not clear yet whether they have launched any attacks.
“We are determining how many of them are there [in Myanmar] and how many are planning to leave Malaysia [for Myanmar],” Royal Malaysia Police inspector-general Mohamad Fuzi Harun told The Straits Times.
Since the current mass displacement of the Rohingya began in late August, militant groups, including ISIS, have been recruiting Malaysians to fight the Myanmar army. However, Malaysia’s anti-terror chief Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said the group that is suspected to already be in Myanmar is not affiliated with ISIS.
“They are not ISIS…We do not have intelligence that shows ISIS and ARSA have joined forces,” Ayob told The Straits Times. “But the issue in Rakhine is being exploited by ISIS [to recruit more fighters] in Southeast Asia.”
Furthermore, Ayob told Free Malaysia Today that while his forces have picked up two men in Malaysia believed to be planning to launch attacks in Myanmar, the current presence of Malaysian fighters in Myanmar still needs confirmation.
“We are still pursuing information on whether there are Malaysians already in Myanmar to help the Arakan Rohinya Salvation Army fight the Myanmar security forces,” he said.
Ayob previously told the Bernama news agency that photos depicting the suffering of the Rohingya community are being by ISIS to recruit Malaysian members.
“Myanmar’s proximity to Malaysia encouraged ISIS to act in Rakhine. Myanmar is closer to Malaysia than Syria and the southern Philippines, where the conflict is ongoing, and now Rakhine has become their latest destination for jihad,” he said.
https://coconuts.co/yangon/news/malaysian-fighters-already-myanmar-fight-army-police/
Pakistan – Iran Army Chiefs consider military aid for Rohingya Muslims
on: September 18, 2017
TEHRAN (FNA)- Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri and Pakistani Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa in a phone conversation on Sunday underscored the necessity for ending the crisis created for the Muslims in Myanmar.
The two top Generals described measures adopted to send aid to the displaced Myanmar Muslims as insufficient, and underlined the need for the Muslim world's increased actions to end their undesirable and inhumane situation.
They also discussed the possibility for using the relief and humanitarian aid by all military and civilian organizations in the Islamic countries to accelerate aids the Myanmar Muslims.
In relevant remarks last Tuesday, Iranian Government Spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht vowed his country's utmost efforts to stop massacre and suppression of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has always shown that it defends the world's innocent and suppressed people, and the president (Hassan Rouhani) tried during his visit to Kazakhstan (for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit) to make other countries sensitive in this regard," Nobakht told reporters in Tehran.
"We will use all our diplomatic capacities in this regard," he added.
Nobakht also lambasted the international bodies for not showing a proper reaction to the human catastrophe in Myanmar.
His remarks came after Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei strongly blasted the international bodies and those who claim to be advocates of human rights for silence on the plights and pains of Muslims in Myanmar, and called on the Islamic countries to adopt practical measures against the Myanmar government.
"Of course, religious prejudice may play a role in this incident but it is a political issue because it is executed by the Myanmar government which is headed by a cruel woman who has won the Nobel prize, and actually the Nobel Peace Prize died with such incidents," Ayatollah Khamenei said last Tuesday.
He lashed out at the UN secretary-general who has only sufficed to the condemnation of the crimes in Myanmar, and said, "Those who claim to be advocates of human rights and start hues and cries sometimes for punishment of a guilty person in Iran, don’t show any reaction to the massacre and displacement of tens of thousands of people in Myanmar."
Ayatollah Khamenei underlined the need for the Islamic governments' action and practical measures, and said, "Of course, practical action doesn’t mean deployment of military forces but they should increase political, economic and trade pressures on Myanmar government and shout against such crimes in the international circles."
READ MORE: Pakistan takes a leading role on Rohingya Muslims issue in OIC contact group
The Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar have long been subjected to discrimination in Buddhist-majority country, which denies them citizenship.
Myanmar's government regards them as illegal migrants from Bangladesh, even if they have lived in the country for generations.
Refugee camps near Bangladesh's border with Myanmar already had about 300,000 Rohingya before the upsurge in violence last month and are now overwhelmed.
Tens of thousands of new arrivals have nowhere to shelter from monsoon rains.
Those flocking into Bangladesh have given harrowing accounts of killings, rape and arson by Myanmar's army. Myanmar authorities deny any wrongdoing.
Most have walked for days and the UN says many are sick, exhausted and in desperate need of shelter.
https://timesofislamabad.com/pakist...military-aid-for-rohingya-muslims/2017/09/18/
By Coconuts Yangon Sep. 20, 2017
Royal Malaysia Police inspector-general Mohamad Fuzi Harun. Photo: YouTube
Malaysia’s police chief announced yesterday that a group of Malaysians is already in Myanmar with plans to fight the country’s military, whose ongoing crackdown in Rakhine State has forced over 410,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh.
The group is believed to have entered the country via Bangladesh and Thailand. It is not clear yet whether they have launched any attacks.
“We are determining how many of them are there [in Myanmar] and how many are planning to leave Malaysia [for Myanmar],” Royal Malaysia Police inspector-general Mohamad Fuzi Harun told The Straits Times.
Since the current mass displacement of the Rohingya began in late August, militant groups, including ISIS, have been recruiting Malaysians to fight the Myanmar army. However, Malaysia’s anti-terror chief Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said the group that is suspected to already be in Myanmar is not affiliated with ISIS.
“They are not ISIS…We do not have intelligence that shows ISIS and ARSA have joined forces,” Ayob told The Straits Times. “But the issue in Rakhine is being exploited by ISIS [to recruit more fighters] in Southeast Asia.”
Furthermore, Ayob told Free Malaysia Today that while his forces have picked up two men in Malaysia believed to be planning to launch attacks in Myanmar, the current presence of Malaysian fighters in Myanmar still needs confirmation.
“We are still pursuing information on whether there are Malaysians already in Myanmar to help the Arakan Rohinya Salvation Army fight the Myanmar security forces,” he said.
Ayob previously told the Bernama news agency that photos depicting the suffering of the Rohingya community are being by ISIS to recruit Malaysian members.
“Myanmar’s proximity to Malaysia encouraged ISIS to act in Rakhine. Myanmar is closer to Malaysia than Syria and the southern Philippines, where the conflict is ongoing, and now Rakhine has become their latest destination for jihad,” he said.
https://coconuts.co/yangon/news/malaysian-fighters-already-myanmar-fight-army-police/
Pakistan – Iran Army Chiefs consider military aid for Rohingya Muslims
on: September 18, 2017
TEHRAN (FNA)- Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri and Pakistani Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa in a phone conversation on Sunday underscored the necessity for ending the crisis created for the Muslims in Myanmar.
The two top Generals described measures adopted to send aid to the displaced Myanmar Muslims as insufficient, and underlined the need for the Muslim world's increased actions to end their undesirable and inhumane situation.
They also discussed the possibility for using the relief and humanitarian aid by all military and civilian organizations in the Islamic countries to accelerate aids the Myanmar Muslims.
In relevant remarks last Tuesday, Iranian Government Spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht vowed his country's utmost efforts to stop massacre and suppression of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has always shown that it defends the world's innocent and suppressed people, and the president (Hassan Rouhani) tried during his visit to Kazakhstan (for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit) to make other countries sensitive in this regard," Nobakht told reporters in Tehran.
"We will use all our diplomatic capacities in this regard," he added.
Nobakht also lambasted the international bodies for not showing a proper reaction to the human catastrophe in Myanmar.
His remarks came after Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei strongly blasted the international bodies and those who claim to be advocates of human rights for silence on the plights and pains of Muslims in Myanmar, and called on the Islamic countries to adopt practical measures against the Myanmar government.
"Of course, religious prejudice may play a role in this incident but it is a political issue because it is executed by the Myanmar government which is headed by a cruel woman who has won the Nobel prize, and actually the Nobel Peace Prize died with such incidents," Ayatollah Khamenei said last Tuesday.
He lashed out at the UN secretary-general who has only sufficed to the condemnation of the crimes in Myanmar, and said, "Those who claim to be advocates of human rights and start hues and cries sometimes for punishment of a guilty person in Iran, don’t show any reaction to the massacre and displacement of tens of thousands of people in Myanmar."
Ayatollah Khamenei underlined the need for the Islamic governments' action and practical measures, and said, "Of course, practical action doesn’t mean deployment of military forces but they should increase political, economic and trade pressures on Myanmar government and shout against such crimes in the international circles."
READ MORE: Pakistan takes a leading role on Rohingya Muslims issue in OIC contact group
The Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar have long been subjected to discrimination in Buddhist-majority country, which denies them citizenship.
Myanmar's government regards them as illegal migrants from Bangladesh, even if they have lived in the country for generations.
Refugee camps near Bangladesh's border with Myanmar already had about 300,000 Rohingya before the upsurge in violence last month and are now overwhelmed.
Tens of thousands of new arrivals have nowhere to shelter from monsoon rains.
Those flocking into Bangladesh have given harrowing accounts of killings, rape and arson by Myanmar's army. Myanmar authorities deny any wrongdoing.
Most have walked for days and the UN says many are sick, exhausted and in desperate need of shelter.
https://timesofislamabad.com/pakist...military-aid-for-rohingya-muslims/2017/09/18/
Banglar Bir
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Myopia and mayhem running amok in Myanmar
Fazal Kamal
Countercurrents.org
The world has witnessed numerous “cleansing operations” but rarely has it seen the unabashed capitulation of someone who was honored with the highest accolade and had the support of a wide range of people across regions. Whether it’s a Faustian bargain that Suu Kyi has made with the armed forces or not, it does exhibit the distance some will traverse to retain a grip on power (though in this instance it appears that the robust power maybe more in the grip of the military).
On the other side, the Government of Bangladesh, apparently, was initially more inclined to be swayed by the advice of “security apparatus” (here and there, perhaps) to offer the Myanmar junta its active support to confront the perceived “security threat” but subsequently sensing the overt disposition of the people moved toward a more humanitarian approach; though its purported leaders persisted with outrageous and self-serving declarations without any inkling about the absence of sense or sensibilities they thus demonstrated.
Caught in a cleft stick
Given this backdrop, indications are that leaders in both the adjacent countries have one factor in common: they’ve got caught in a cleft stick. Certainly a most agonizing situation. Be that as it may. While more than half a million people have been rendered homeless, Suu Kyi, for the moment, is in the worse situation as her quick temper when confronted by a “Muslim” has been known to flare up like a pollen allergy as was displayed when a “Muslim” journalist was sent to interview her some years back.
Meanwhile, as the entire world is aware by now, a humungous tragic humanitarian crisis has developed with hundreds of thousands of Rohingya—mostly women and children—fleeing the marauding Myanmarese hordes who have been murdering, maiming, burning and raping at will with a wink and a nod from the Yangon administration which of course includes the brass under whose aegis previous campaigns to “clean the Rakhine state” had occurred.
Tellingly the UNHCR head reported in Geneva, “I have just returned from Bangladesh, where I witnessed people fleeing unimaginable violence … They had to flee very sudden and cruel violence, and they have fled with nothing. Their needs are enormous – food, health, shelter … They have absolutely nothing. I have hardly seen in my career people that have come with so little. They need everything.”
In addition, British Prime Minister Theresa May in her speech to the UN General Assembly announced that the UK would end all defence engagement and training of the Myanmar military until attacks against civilians in Rakhine state had stopped while in his speech to the Assembly, French President Emmanuel Macron characterized recent actions in Myanmar as ethnic cleansing. Also during the opening of the Assembly, US President Donald Trump called on the Council to take “strong and swift action” to end violence against the Rohingya.
Earlier the UN’s rights chief had described the atrocities in Rakhine as “textbook ethnic cleansing.”
‘Earth’s most unfortunate people’
These very evidently leave no sliver of doubt about what bloodthirsty events are taking place in that unfortunate part of the world.
In view of these brutal actions there has been a rising international crescendo for stripping Suu Kyi of the Nobel Peace prize, and definitely given her reluctance even to distance herself feebly from the homicidal activities, the demand is more rational than rash. Her behavior is actually an outright shame for all the other Nobel laureates and in the end she cannot evade the responsibility for the deaths and huge losses incurred by the Rohingya people.
In spite of the early dithering of the Bangladesh administration it, like a sloth, ultimately made the moves to provide a safe haven for the “most unfortunate” group of people on Earth. But questions continue to dog the government’s efforts as well as the blathering of ruling party honchos most of whom, firstly, want to curry favor with their leader, and secondly, regurgitate lexis without having any knowledge of the political, social and historical circumstances in Rakhine.
While the carnage, the haggling and the geopolitical jousting continue, the fact to consider and agonize over is this: Like previous tunnel-visioned and myopic armed forces’ actions elsewhere in the world—including in Bangladesh in 1971—the exploits of the Myanmar military are ultimately clearly going to fail in attaining their cherished but vicious goals. Instead, in all likelihood, especially because of the extant circumstances around the world, these acts meant to accomplish the annihilation of an entire people will lead to the radicalization of thousands.
And this consequence cannot augur well for the region, as well as its economic, social and political evolution. That will most certainly create a breeding ground for unwarranted developments and in the final analysis generate huge misfortunes for the peoples of the whole area.
Historically it has been proven innumerable times that militaries, wittingly or otherwise, launch onslaughts whose impacts prove to be not only beyond their command but also inflict inhuman torment on innocent people.
This present Burmese adventure isn’t proving to be any different. Sadly.
The writer has been a media professional, in print and online newspapers as editor and commentator, and in public affairs, for over forty-five years.
http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/Pages/UserHome.aspx
Fazal Kamal
Countercurrents.org
The world has witnessed numerous “cleansing operations” but rarely has it seen the unabashed capitulation of someone who was honored with the highest accolade and had the support of a wide range of people across regions. Whether it’s a Faustian bargain that Suu Kyi has made with the armed forces or not, it does exhibit the distance some will traverse to retain a grip on power (though in this instance it appears that the robust power maybe more in the grip of the military).
On the other side, the Government of Bangladesh, apparently, was initially more inclined to be swayed by the advice of “security apparatus” (here and there, perhaps) to offer the Myanmar junta its active support to confront the perceived “security threat” but subsequently sensing the overt disposition of the people moved toward a more humanitarian approach; though its purported leaders persisted with outrageous and self-serving declarations without any inkling about the absence of sense or sensibilities they thus demonstrated.
Caught in a cleft stick
Given this backdrop, indications are that leaders in both the adjacent countries have one factor in common: they’ve got caught in a cleft stick. Certainly a most agonizing situation. Be that as it may. While more than half a million people have been rendered homeless, Suu Kyi, for the moment, is in the worse situation as her quick temper when confronted by a “Muslim” has been known to flare up like a pollen allergy as was displayed when a “Muslim” journalist was sent to interview her some years back.
Meanwhile, as the entire world is aware by now, a humungous tragic humanitarian crisis has developed with hundreds of thousands of Rohingya—mostly women and children—fleeing the marauding Myanmarese hordes who have been murdering, maiming, burning and raping at will with a wink and a nod from the Yangon administration which of course includes the brass under whose aegis previous campaigns to “clean the Rakhine state” had occurred.
Tellingly the UNHCR head reported in Geneva, “I have just returned from Bangladesh, where I witnessed people fleeing unimaginable violence … They had to flee very sudden and cruel violence, and they have fled with nothing. Their needs are enormous – food, health, shelter … They have absolutely nothing. I have hardly seen in my career people that have come with so little. They need everything.”
In addition, British Prime Minister Theresa May in her speech to the UN General Assembly announced that the UK would end all defence engagement and training of the Myanmar military until attacks against civilians in Rakhine state had stopped while in his speech to the Assembly, French President Emmanuel Macron characterized recent actions in Myanmar as ethnic cleansing. Also during the opening of the Assembly, US President Donald Trump called on the Council to take “strong and swift action” to end violence against the Rohingya.
Earlier the UN’s rights chief had described the atrocities in Rakhine as “textbook ethnic cleansing.”
‘Earth’s most unfortunate people’
These very evidently leave no sliver of doubt about what bloodthirsty events are taking place in that unfortunate part of the world.
In view of these brutal actions there has been a rising international crescendo for stripping Suu Kyi of the Nobel Peace prize, and definitely given her reluctance even to distance herself feebly from the homicidal activities, the demand is more rational than rash. Her behavior is actually an outright shame for all the other Nobel laureates and in the end she cannot evade the responsibility for the deaths and huge losses incurred by the Rohingya people.
In spite of the early dithering of the Bangladesh administration it, like a sloth, ultimately made the moves to provide a safe haven for the “most unfortunate” group of people on Earth. But questions continue to dog the government’s efforts as well as the blathering of ruling party honchos most of whom, firstly, want to curry favor with their leader, and secondly, regurgitate lexis without having any knowledge of the political, social and historical circumstances in Rakhine.
While the carnage, the haggling and the geopolitical jousting continue, the fact to consider and agonize over is this: Like previous tunnel-visioned and myopic armed forces’ actions elsewhere in the world—including in Bangladesh in 1971—the exploits of the Myanmar military are ultimately clearly going to fail in attaining their cherished but vicious goals. Instead, in all likelihood, especially because of the extant circumstances around the world, these acts meant to accomplish the annihilation of an entire people will lead to the radicalization of thousands.
And this consequence cannot augur well for the region, as well as its economic, social and political evolution. That will most certainly create a breeding ground for unwarranted developments and in the final analysis generate huge misfortunes for the peoples of the whole area.
Historically it has been proven innumerable times that militaries, wittingly or otherwise, launch onslaughts whose impacts prove to be not only beyond their command but also inflict inhuman torment on innocent people.
This present Burmese adventure isn’t proving to be any different. Sadly.
The writer has been a media professional, in print and online newspapers as editor and commentator, and in public affairs, for over forty-five years.
http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/Pages/UserHome.aspx
Banglar Bir
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Ready to fight again: The homeless Rohingya still backing Myanmar insurgency
Reuters
Published at 09:37 AM October 06, 2017
A Rohingya man carrying his belongings approaches the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Bandarban, an area under Cox's Bazar authority, Bangladesh |Reuters
ARSA, which emerged in 2016, says it is fighting for the rights of the Rohingya
For 28-year-old Rohingya Muslim shopkeeper Mohammed Rashid, the evening phone call from organisers of the fledgling insurgent movement came as a surprise.
“Be ready,” was the message.
A few hours later, after meeting in the darkness in an open field, he was one of 150 men who attacked a Myanmar Border Guard Police post armed with swords, homemade explosives and a few handguns. At the end of a short battle, half a dozen men he had grown up with in his village were dead.
“We had no training, no weapons,” said Rashid, from the Buthidaung area of Myanmar’s Rakhine state, who had joined the group just two months earlier.
Accounts from some of those, like Rashid, who took part in attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on dozens of police posts early on August 25 paint a picture of a rag-tag band of hopeless, angry villagers, who were promised AK-47 rifles but ended up fighting with sticks and knives.
Hundreds joined as recently as June, according to the accounts, and membership meant little more than a knife and messages from leaders on the popular mobile messaging app Whatsapp.
Reuters interviewed half a dozen fighters and members of the group now sheltering in Bangladesh, as well as dozens of others among the more than half a million Rohingya refugees who have fled across the border to escape a Myanmar army counteroffensive that the United Nations has branded ethnic cleansing.
ARSA, which emerged in 2016, says in press releases and video messages from its leader, Ata Ullah, that it is fighting for the rights of the Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority that has long complained of persecution in mainly Buddhist Myanmar.
Myanmar says ARSA is a ruthless Islamist extremist movement that wants to create an Islamic republic in northern Rakhine.
Despite the massive suffering inflicted on their communities in the weeks since the August attacks, most of the fighters now stuck in dirt-poor camps said they were determined to continue their fight and some refugees voiced support for the insurgency.
Other refugees Reuters spoke to criticised the insurgents for bringing more misery upon them.
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s spokesman, Zaw Htay, said ARSA had killed many Muslims who had cooperated with the authorities and so “people have felt threatened and terrorised” into supporting it. He added that Myanmar’s intelligence showed that religious scholars were prominent in recruiting followers.
ARSA denies killing civilians, and did not respond to a request for comment this week.
Analysts say the violence could galvanise ARSA members and supporters huddled in the refugee camps and among those Rohingya still in Myanmar, as people feel they have even less to lose.
“A militancy like this finds fertile ground because of the desperation of the community,” said Richard Horsey, a Yangon-based analyst and former U.N. official. “They are willing to take suicidal steps because they don’t see any other choice.”
Transnational Islamist groups could also try to exploit the desperation in the camps to radicalise people, Horsey added. Al Qaeda last month called for support for the Rohingya.
Homemade weapons and Whatsapp
Reuters could not independently verify the individual insurgents’ stories, but there were broad similarities in all of their accounts.
One fighter, 35-year-old Kamal Hussain from a village in Rathedaung in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, said he joined ARSA when a religious teacher stood in his village square in June, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and implored a crowd of hundreds to fight.
“He said we have no choice but to attack Myanmar because our brothers and sisters are being killed day by day. I think everyone joined that day,” Hussain said, as he sat under a tarpaulin in a Bangladesh refugee camp. “We should attack again and again. I would go back to fight if I had the chance.”
Unlike longer-serving fighters, most new joiners had little or no training or contact with the group’s leaders, who communicated using Whatsapp and delivered rudimentary homemade explosives ahead of the assaults.
A third fighter, his account supported by comments from two elders from his village interviewed separately, said he and about 60 men from Myin Hlut signed up three months ago.
The 26-year-old, who asked not to be named because he feared arrest by Bangladeshi authorities, said he was among 200 men who attacked another police checkpost in the early hours of Aug. 25.
“We had only knives and sticks, no guns,” he said. “They promised us AK-47s but we got nothing. The explosives didn’t work. We had two of them for the whole group, but when we threw them nothing happened.”
About 40 fighters were killed, he said, but added that he would do it again if called on.
“I still support ARSA,” he said. “If my leaders call me to go again and fight, I will go back.”
According to two village-level commanders, there were Whatsapp groups restricted to leaders and others to members.
Bigger groups, administered from overseas, were used to build broader community support for ARSA and the Rohingya cause.
On his phone, Shoket Ullah, an uncle of the 26-year-old fighter, scrolled through messages posted in the Whatsapp group “ARSA.G1”, administered through a Saudi phone number, where ARSA press releases, videos of alleged Myanmar military violence and messages of support for Rohingyas were shared.
Another Whatsapp group on Ullah’s phone, “Rohingya Desh Arakan”, is administered by someone using a number from Malaysia. Tens of thousands of Rohingya live in both Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
Local backing
Rohingya anger at Myanmar has long existed, but this is the first serious armed resistance in decades.
In the crowded Bangladeshi camps, several refugees voice support for ARSA.
“I am disappointed and regret what happened but this was pre-planned by the Myanmar government,” said Shafi Rahman, a 45-year-old Burmese teacher whose village was burned to the ground the day after the attacks. “If ARSA didn’t attack, they would have done this to us anyway.”
Several refugees said some people had begun to sell cattle, vegetables and rice to raise funds for ARSA.
Not everyone was supportive, however. When Kamal Hussain, the fighter, argued that ARSA needed to keep fighting, his neighbours in the camp shouted him down.
“We have lost everything. Violence is not the answer,” shouted one elderly man, as muddy water spilled into the tent he now calls home.
It is not obvious how fighters would regroup and rebuild after so many have fled across the border or disappeared.
Three of the fighters who spoke to Reuters said they had been surprised by the ferocity of the Myanmar military’s response, and within weeks commanders had told their men to put down their weapons and abandon their villages.
Several said Whatsapp groups where regional and field commanders from ARSA, which before a rebranding this year called itself al-Yakin, or “Faith Movement”, would post updates had gone quiet.
“People who blame this on al-Yakin need to realise my people had to flee in 1978 and in the 1990s when there was no ARSA,” said one of the two village-level commanders, who grew up in Bangladesh after his family fled an earlier outbreak of violence, but returned to Myanmar in the 1990s.
“We should continue to attack. Even women can join.”
http://www.dhakatribune.com/world/s...ss-rohingya-still-backing-myanmar-insurgency/
Reuters
Published at 09:37 AM October 06, 2017
A Rohingya man carrying his belongings approaches the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Bandarban, an area under Cox's Bazar authority, Bangladesh |Reuters
ARSA, which emerged in 2016, says it is fighting for the rights of the Rohingya
For 28-year-old Rohingya Muslim shopkeeper Mohammed Rashid, the evening phone call from organisers of the fledgling insurgent movement came as a surprise.
“Be ready,” was the message.
A few hours later, after meeting in the darkness in an open field, he was one of 150 men who attacked a Myanmar Border Guard Police post armed with swords, homemade explosives and a few handguns. At the end of a short battle, half a dozen men he had grown up with in his village were dead.
“We had no training, no weapons,” said Rashid, from the Buthidaung area of Myanmar’s Rakhine state, who had joined the group just two months earlier.
Accounts from some of those, like Rashid, who took part in attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on dozens of police posts early on August 25 paint a picture of a rag-tag band of hopeless, angry villagers, who were promised AK-47 rifles but ended up fighting with sticks and knives.
Hundreds joined as recently as June, according to the accounts, and membership meant little more than a knife and messages from leaders on the popular mobile messaging app Whatsapp.
Reuters interviewed half a dozen fighters and members of the group now sheltering in Bangladesh, as well as dozens of others among the more than half a million Rohingya refugees who have fled across the border to escape a Myanmar army counteroffensive that the United Nations has branded ethnic cleansing.
ARSA, which emerged in 2016, says in press releases and video messages from its leader, Ata Ullah, that it is fighting for the rights of the Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority that has long complained of persecution in mainly Buddhist Myanmar.
Myanmar says ARSA is a ruthless Islamist extremist movement that wants to create an Islamic republic in northern Rakhine.
Despite the massive suffering inflicted on their communities in the weeks since the August attacks, most of the fighters now stuck in dirt-poor camps said they were determined to continue their fight and some refugees voiced support for the insurgency.
Other refugees Reuters spoke to criticised the insurgents for bringing more misery upon them.
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s spokesman, Zaw Htay, said ARSA had killed many Muslims who had cooperated with the authorities and so “people have felt threatened and terrorised” into supporting it. He added that Myanmar’s intelligence showed that religious scholars were prominent in recruiting followers.
ARSA denies killing civilians, and did not respond to a request for comment this week.
Analysts say the violence could galvanise ARSA members and supporters huddled in the refugee camps and among those Rohingya still in Myanmar, as people feel they have even less to lose.
“A militancy like this finds fertile ground because of the desperation of the community,” said Richard Horsey, a Yangon-based analyst and former U.N. official. “They are willing to take suicidal steps because they don’t see any other choice.”
Transnational Islamist groups could also try to exploit the desperation in the camps to radicalise people, Horsey added. Al Qaeda last month called for support for the Rohingya.
Homemade weapons and Whatsapp
Reuters could not independently verify the individual insurgents’ stories, but there were broad similarities in all of their accounts.
One fighter, 35-year-old Kamal Hussain from a village in Rathedaung in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, said he joined ARSA when a religious teacher stood in his village square in June, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and implored a crowd of hundreds to fight.
“He said we have no choice but to attack Myanmar because our brothers and sisters are being killed day by day. I think everyone joined that day,” Hussain said, as he sat under a tarpaulin in a Bangladesh refugee camp. “We should attack again and again. I would go back to fight if I had the chance.”
Unlike longer-serving fighters, most new joiners had little or no training or contact with the group’s leaders, who communicated using Whatsapp and delivered rudimentary homemade explosives ahead of the assaults.
A third fighter, his account supported by comments from two elders from his village interviewed separately, said he and about 60 men from Myin Hlut signed up three months ago.
The 26-year-old, who asked not to be named because he feared arrest by Bangladeshi authorities, said he was among 200 men who attacked another police checkpost in the early hours of Aug. 25.
“We had only knives and sticks, no guns,” he said. “They promised us AK-47s but we got nothing. The explosives didn’t work. We had two of them for the whole group, but when we threw them nothing happened.”
About 40 fighters were killed, he said, but added that he would do it again if called on.
“I still support ARSA,” he said. “If my leaders call me to go again and fight, I will go back.”
According to two village-level commanders, there were Whatsapp groups restricted to leaders and others to members.
Bigger groups, administered from overseas, were used to build broader community support for ARSA and the Rohingya cause.
On his phone, Shoket Ullah, an uncle of the 26-year-old fighter, scrolled through messages posted in the Whatsapp group “ARSA.G1”, administered through a Saudi phone number, where ARSA press releases, videos of alleged Myanmar military violence and messages of support for Rohingyas were shared.
Another Whatsapp group on Ullah’s phone, “Rohingya Desh Arakan”, is administered by someone using a number from Malaysia. Tens of thousands of Rohingya live in both Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
Local backing
Rohingya anger at Myanmar has long existed, but this is the first serious armed resistance in decades.
In the crowded Bangladeshi camps, several refugees voice support for ARSA.
“I am disappointed and regret what happened but this was pre-planned by the Myanmar government,” said Shafi Rahman, a 45-year-old Burmese teacher whose village was burned to the ground the day after the attacks. “If ARSA didn’t attack, they would have done this to us anyway.”
Several refugees said some people had begun to sell cattle, vegetables and rice to raise funds for ARSA.
Not everyone was supportive, however. When Kamal Hussain, the fighter, argued that ARSA needed to keep fighting, his neighbours in the camp shouted him down.
“We have lost everything. Violence is not the answer,” shouted one elderly man, as muddy water spilled into the tent he now calls home.
It is not obvious how fighters would regroup and rebuild after so many have fled across the border or disappeared.
Three of the fighters who spoke to Reuters said they had been surprised by the ferocity of the Myanmar military’s response, and within weeks commanders had told their men to put down their weapons and abandon their villages.
Several said Whatsapp groups where regional and field commanders from ARSA, which before a rebranding this year called itself al-Yakin, or “Faith Movement”, would post updates had gone quiet.
“People who blame this on al-Yakin need to realise my people had to flee in 1978 and in the 1990s when there was no ARSA,” said one of the two village-level commanders, who grew up in Bangladesh after his family fled an earlier outbreak of violence, but returned to Myanmar in the 1990s.
“We should continue to attack. Even women can join.”
http://www.dhakatribune.com/world/s...ss-rohingya-still-backing-myanmar-insurgency/
East Pakistan had 65 million people. Rohingyas are 1.5 million people. It is too small for anything to be done about it
Plus few people have the cunning and resolve to do what Indira Gandhi did. Give 1971 to her.
she made your whole struggle short and fruitful. if the war was bungled you would have a lot more dead Bangladeshis. the worst case scenario would be Bangladeshis would be the Rohingyas for the Pakistani army for years to come
Banglar Bir
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For Rohingya women, ARSA is family and salvation
Adil Sakhawat
Published at 12:25 AM October 21, 2017
Last updated at 08:30 AM October 23, 2017
Women and children fleeing violence in their villages arrive at the Yathae Taung township in Rakhine State in Myanmar on August 26, 2017 AFP
Almost every Rohingya woman firmly insisted that whereas the Myanmar army is notorious for rape and pillage, ARSA is cut from a different cloth
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) has been well-received by the Rohingya community for their fight against the oppressive Myanmar regime over their right to live.
What makes ARSA stand out is how they interact with the women.
The Dhaka Tribune discovered numerous female supporters of ARSA among the refugees arriving in Cox’s Bazar. Not many were abashed to speak out about their loyalties and explain the reasoning.
On one searing September day, a line of Rohingya were barely struggling to march towards Teknaf after disembarking from the boats. They looked haggard, their hands clutching the closest family member’s for a sense of security.
A woman tightly gripping the hands of two boys around 12-15 years old, paused in her tracks to speak.
She described the horror of having to flee her village in Maungdaw as the staccato of gunfire and deafening explosions to silence the terrified shrieks of the Rohingya.
The lines on her face became more and more pronounced with each atrocity described.
But when asked about the ARSA attack on the Myanmar outposts, her face steeled with resolve.
She stood straighter, a small hint of pride shone in the glint of her eyes.
“Only ARSA can bring peace to the Rohingya. They showed everyone last October and this year, that the Myanmar army cannot get away after everything they have done. We are not going to be treated like we do not matter,” she proclaimed.
She pointed at her two sons, saying: “I sent both of my sons to ARSA for training last year. They will go again, and help fight for our salvation.”
The proud mother of two ARSA guerillas-in-waiting added that whenever she met anyone from ARSA, they treated her with utmost respect.
The display of respect often moved her to cook for them and invite them over for food at her house.
Several other women corroborated her story, adding that they too have seen the firm politeness and respect in the attitude of the ARSA members.
“Our husbands are fighting for us, for our people. ARSA is not a stranger. ARSA is made up of people we know,” another Rohingya woman added.
Almost every Rohingya woman firmly insisted that whereas the Myanmar army is notorious for rape and pillage, ARSA is cut from a different cloth.
“Every night, we pray that our husbands and sons, fathers and brothers, win in their fight and come back to us safe and sound,” a woman said with tears in the corner of her eyes
http://www.dhakatribune.com/world/south-asia/2017/10/21/rohingya-women-arsa-family-salvation/
Adil Sakhawat
Published at 12:25 AM October 21, 2017
Last updated at 08:30 AM October 23, 2017
Women and children fleeing violence in their villages arrive at the Yathae Taung township in Rakhine State in Myanmar on August 26, 2017 AFP
Almost every Rohingya woman firmly insisted that whereas the Myanmar army is notorious for rape and pillage, ARSA is cut from a different cloth
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) has been well-received by the Rohingya community for their fight against the oppressive Myanmar regime over their right to live.
What makes ARSA stand out is how they interact with the women.
The Dhaka Tribune discovered numerous female supporters of ARSA among the refugees arriving in Cox’s Bazar. Not many were abashed to speak out about their loyalties and explain the reasoning.
On one searing September day, a line of Rohingya were barely struggling to march towards Teknaf after disembarking from the boats. They looked haggard, their hands clutching the closest family member’s for a sense of security.
A woman tightly gripping the hands of two boys around 12-15 years old, paused in her tracks to speak.
She described the horror of having to flee her village in Maungdaw as the staccato of gunfire and deafening explosions to silence the terrified shrieks of the Rohingya.
The lines on her face became more and more pronounced with each atrocity described.
But when asked about the ARSA attack on the Myanmar outposts, her face steeled with resolve.
She stood straighter, a small hint of pride shone in the glint of her eyes.
“Only ARSA can bring peace to the Rohingya. They showed everyone last October and this year, that the Myanmar army cannot get away after everything they have done. We are not going to be treated like we do not matter,” she proclaimed.
She pointed at her two sons, saying: “I sent both of my sons to ARSA for training last year. They will go again, and help fight for our salvation.”
The proud mother of two ARSA guerillas-in-waiting added that whenever she met anyone from ARSA, they treated her with utmost respect.
The display of respect often moved her to cook for them and invite them over for food at her house.
Several other women corroborated her story, adding that they too have seen the firm politeness and respect in the attitude of the ARSA members.
“Our husbands are fighting for us, for our people. ARSA is not a stranger. ARSA is made up of people we know,” another Rohingya woman added.
Almost every Rohingya woman firmly insisted that whereas the Myanmar army is notorious for rape and pillage, ARSA is cut from a different cloth.
“Every night, we pray that our husbands and sons, fathers and brothers, win in their fight and come back to us safe and sound,” a woman said with tears in the corner of her eyes
http://www.dhakatribune.com/world/south-asia/2017/10/21/rohingya-women-arsa-family-salvation/
Banglar Bir
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- Mar 19, 2006
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- 7,805
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AJ+
"I think they shot me by mistake. They meant to shoot big people."
Myanmar govt forces shot at this little Rohingya boy trying to flee.
"I think they shot me by mistake. They meant to shoot big people."
Myanmar govt forces shot at this little Rohingya boy trying to flee.
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