While Myanmar’s emergent Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) claims it’s like other ethnic armed groups fighting for self-determination across the country and should not be branded as a terrorist organization, the realities on the ground tell a different tale.
ARSA represents an entirely new type of insurgency, one which the Myanmar military has demonstrated it is wholly ill-equipped to combat. Other ethnic resistance armies in Myanmar, such as those from the Kachin, Shan, Karen or Mon, dress in military uniforms with the names of their respective groups prominently displayed and badges showing their ranks.
ARSA’s Muslim fighters, by contrast, mingle with villagers and wear civilian clothes. After their low-grade attacks on security force targets, ARSA insurgents are known to retreat across the border to neighboring Bangladesh, where people speak the same language and adhere to the same religious beliefs. In that sense, ARSA’s tactics more resemble the Muslim insurgents in southernmost Thailand, adjacent to Malaysia, than Myanmar’s other ethnic armies.
Without sharing the ideological doctrines of Nepal’s and India’s Maoists, ARSA appears to have aped their fighting techniques. Rather than facing Myanmar’s army in battles and ambushes, ARSA, like Nepalese Maoist insurgents did when they were active and the Indian Naxalites do today, prefers to mobilize hundreds of unarmed villagers to attack state positions in the middle of the night.
Defenders of the targeted state outpost, usually small and isolated, get the impression that they are being surrounded by a much bigger fighting force. The relatively small attacking party then moves in, kills the intimidated soldiers or police and escapes with their weapons. It’s a style of attack familiar in South Asia but altogether foreign until now in Myanmar.
After the attacks in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State on August 25, the Myanmar military claimed to have killed 400 insurgents. Most likely, however, nearly all of them would have been conscripted villagers. If that many ARSA fighters had been killed, almost the entire organization would have been wiped out, according to security analysts monitoring the group.
The same analysts say the strength of the organization is much less than what the rebels as well as Myanmar military authorities claim. According to insiders, ARSA’s strength is in the hundreds rather than thousands, with the total number of active trained combatants likely not exceeding 500.
While ARSA’s military capacities are limited, its propaganda machine is wide-reaching, with statements issued on Twitter and other social media platforms in surprisingly fluent English and in a language that aims to make the insurgent group appear moderate and reasonable.
In one of its first announcements on September 9, ARSA declared a month-long unilateral ceasefire to enable aid groups to reach Rohingya refugees and avert a full-blown humanitarian crisis. Aid groups have estimated over 400,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh since ARSA’s August 25 attacks and the military’s brutal counteractions.
It was a bold declaration for a lightly armed group that is by no means a proper organized army. Many of the group’s attacks have been launched with machetes. At the same time, ARSA has failed to explain how attacks by their few and poorly equipped cadres facing the might of the Myanmar army could be seen as acts taken to ”protect the Rohingya.”
If reports from the area received by Asia Times are accurate, local people are furious with ARSA for giving the Myanmar military an excuse to “ethnically cleanse” the area of Rohingya and other minority groups.
On September 14, ARSA said it wanted to “make it clear” that it had no “links to Al Qaeda, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Lashkar-e-Taiba or any transnational terrorist group.” ARSA also wanted “it to be known by all states that it is prepared to work with security agencies to intercept and prevent terrorists from entering [Rakhine] and making a bad situation worse.”
Security analysts and terrorism experts are not convinced considering the group’s clear links to foreign extremist groups, including in Pakistan. ARSA’s leader, Ataullah abu Ammar Junjuni, also known as Hafiz Tohar, was born in Karachi and received madrassa education in Saudi Arabia.
There are hundreds of thousands of first, second and third generation Rohingya living in Orangi, Korangi, Landhi and other impoverished suburbs of Karachi. Nearly all of them are stateless, although they have lived in Pakistan for years and most by now were born there. The areas where they live are long-time hotbeds of extremist activity, with some known to have been recruited to fight in the wars in Afghanistan.
ARSA was initially known as Harakah al-Yaqin, or “the faith movement.” The moniker had clear religious connotations and notably did not contain the words Rohingya or Arakan (Rakhine). It was only last year it started to use the more ethnically oriented name ARSA, perhaps in an attempt to distance itself from the radical milieu in which the movement was born.
According to intelligence analysts, its mentor is Abdus Qadoos Burmi, another Pakistani of Rohingya descent. Likewise based in Karachi, he has appeared in videos spread on social media calling for ‘jihad’ in Myanmar.
Abdus Qadoos has well-documented links to Lashkar-e-Taiba, or the Army of the Righteous, one of South Asia’s largest Islamic terrorist organizations that operates mainly from Pakistan. The group was founded in 1987 in Afghanistan with funding from now deceased Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. Abdus Qadoos has even appeared in meetings together with Lashkar-e-Taiba supremo Hafiz Mohammed Syed.
ARSA’s second-ranking leader is a shadowy man known only as “Sharif” who comes from Chittagong in southwestern Bangladesh and does not appear in any of the group’s propaganda videos. He reportedly speaks with an Urdu language accent, the official language of Pakistan.
ARSA itself may have been able to recruit angry and desperate young men among the Rohingya in Rakhine state and refugee camps in Bangladesh, but, according to security analysts, there also 150 odd foreigners among their rank.
Most of them are from Bangladesh, eight to ten come from Pakistan with smaller groups from Indonesia, Malaysia and southern Thailand. Two are reportedly from Uzbekistan. Trainings held in the Myanmar-Bangladesh border areas have been carried out in part by older veterans of the Afghan wars, the security analysts say.
It is now clear that the simultaneous attacks on August 25 required meticulous planning. In the months before the attacks, as many as 50 people, Muslims as well as Buddhists suspected of serving as government informants, had their throats slit or were hacked to death in order to deprive the Myanmar military of intelligence in the area.
The timing of the attacks was hardly a coincidence. On August 24, the Advisory Commission on Rakhine state, chaired by former UN secretary general Kofi Annan and commissioned by the Myanmar government, released its report suggesting peaceful means to end the conflict in the area.
Under the current chaotic and violent situation it will be difficult to revive its proposals, leaving the road open for more destabilizing militant activities.
Videos released by Islamist groups in Indonesia show groups of young men undergoing military training in Aceh, northern Sumatra, in preparation for a jihad in Rakhine state. Massive demonstrations in support of the Rohingya have been held throughout Bangladesh, where the influx of refugees has quickly become a domestic political issue pitting the ruling Awami League against a fundamentalist-backed opposition.
Given the Myanmar military’s ferocious reaction to ARSA’s first clash with security forces last October 9, an exchange and subsequent “clearance operation” which forced as many as 70,000 refugees into Bangladesh, analysts consider it inconceivable that the group did not anticipate an even stronger response to the more widespread attacks of August 25.
If the group’s goal was to “protect the Rohingyas”, as ARSA has claimed, its attacks backfired horribly. But the militants must have calculated the wider benefits that could be derived from the blowback. The international publicity surrounding the Rohingya’s plight has been unprecedented, promising new and potentially lucrative support from the Arab and Muslim worlds and more angry young men to recruit.
But the victims of this cynical game are the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya and others who have been forced from their destroyed homes and now languish in squalid camps in Bangladesh or the inhospitable no man’s land along the two countries’ increasingly hellish border.
Thank you for this, a welcome relief from other biased reporting.
Not true at all. We do know our situation and will never listen to all fake news this time. Terrorist behind all the scene. Not insurgents. We will stand with our leaders this time and will fight to the end. Please do not send me such news next time and I have no time at all to argue with all meaningless people.
Thanks a lot,Bertil lintner for helping us writing a true article in fighting on all false news from Muslim world.
Totally agree
thank you for the truth news!
Terrorists are all over the world. What should we do with them? America, Europe, Asia, Middle East. South east Asia. All of us are in danger.
Enemy of Democracy and the World Community"
————————————————————
Under cover of darkness, Many Bengali terrorist
groups began their approach march to the police
outputs in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships
of Rakhine State in Myanmar on 25 August 2017.
Then they severely attacked some thirty police
outputs there.
It’s jihad in Allah’s way they have made as they
attacked not only security forces but also innocent
people or non-Muslims who live in the area.
Some of security men and indigenous people were
killed. This is not the first attack they have made.
On October 2016, they also attacked some police
outputs including Head Quarters of Border Guard
Police there.
It is three days that the Bengali terrorists have
been attacking all human beings, non-Muslim
there even children. Recently they killed six Hindu
family members near Maungdaw.
Why do they keep doing act of terrorism?
To be frank, it is for years that they have been
endeavoring to set up an Islamic country there.
Bengalis in Myanmar are illegal migrants from
Bangladesh. But they claim Myanmar’s citizenship
all time. In fact they will not have the satisfaction
of being entitled to citizenship.
They have had the plan to claim their national
race like other ethnic minorities in Myanmar.
Some of Islamist countries including Saudi Arabia
in Middle East secretly formed some groups to
support Bengalis’ movement.
Sometimes they used media and diplomats to
help Bengalis including INGOs.
Bengalis may become citizens in accordance with
the law, but they will never be national race or
indigenous people wherever they have for long
lived here because they came from Bangladesh.
Bengalis were taken from Bangladesh to Myanmar
by the British authorities during their administration
as they could be hired on the cheap as farm
workers at that time.
Some Bengalis claimed that they served as soldiers
for Rakhnie kings. Had they been entitled to national
race of Myanmar in the pretext of their service for
the kings, the French and the Armenian who served
for Myanmar kings would have had the same rights.
The next interesting thing is Bangladesh’s attitude.
Everyone knows Bengalis come from Bangladesh.
They are of same blood. They speak same language
apart from dialectal differences from one area of
Bangladesh to another. Their faith is the same.
Their appearance is identical to Bangladeshis not
Myanmar.
Even so, Bangladeshi can look on their trouble.
Bangladesh suffering from population explosion
is a country affected by storm almost every year.
They [Bangladeshi] might think that they could
create a new country if they invested human
resources in Myanmar neglecting their miseries.
Driving migrant Bengalis into Myanmar might be
a project.
As the first phase of the project, illegal migrant
Bengalis will attempt to be entitled to Myanmar’s
citizenship. In doing so, some Islamist countries
including OIC will provide them with cash they
need. Meanwhile, they are to create some riots
in the pretext of being oppressed by the Buddhist
– majority in our country so that their issue would
become the focus of international attention. We
can see who were involved in the outbreaks of
riots and violence in the past two years.
For the second phase, being citizens, they will,
on the grounds of human rights, go on claiming
national race to which only Myanmar national
ethnic peoples are entitled. They will say they
have the same rights like other national races.
Besides, they will ask the government to recognize
them as Rohingya saying they can have their
identity according to their will. Their supporters
from Middle East will spend much money on
facilitating their movement. You should not
underestimate them. It is believed that they
can send their cells to some organizations
such as UNOs, INGOs, Media and business
groups. It is heard that in some UNOs, action
Every muslims aren’t terrorist but every terrorist are muslims
New Land Robbers for the Dark Ages, Not Refugees
——————————————————————
(Dear readers, this content was posted three years
ago on my wall. Recently you may have known about
the conflict in northern Rakhine State. The Bengali
terrorists attacked 30 police outs and Rakhine
villages.
How are the Bengalis called "terrorists"? They kill
not only security forces with arms but also innocent
indigenous people without arms even children. So
as a Myanmar citizen, I would like to explain to you
where Bengalis so called themselves Rohngya
came from. Thank you so much for reading.)
We see some people concerned with UNOs, INGOs,
regional organizations and media pointing an accusing
finger at Myanmar government in respect of Bengalis
boatpeople [so called Rohingya]. Why? How much
do they know about those Bengalis?
During the British rule in Myanmar, British authorities
took them from Bangladesh to our land as they could
very cheaply be hired to work as farm labors. Then
they remain as peasants here. That’s why we insist
that they are not Myanmar or our native people.
They are just migrant people named Bengalis after
their native Bangladesh.
Myanmar authorities have recently rescued 208
Bengalis adrift on a vessel at sea, 200 of them are
from Bangladesh and the rest 8 Bengalis from
Myanmar. Those 200 Bengalis admitted that they
are from Bangladesh. Even so, some of Bengalis
at DVB debate here claimed that those Bengalis
were from Myanmar. The actual number of Bengalis
from Myanmar on that boat is eight people.
As mentioned above, the native of Bengalis is
Bangladesh. They reached Myanmar as farm
labours in the British days and later some Bengalis
illegally migrated from Bangladesh to Myanmar
in search of work. Actually they are foreigners.
However, Myanmar government recognizes some
Bengalis as citizen in accordance with Burma
Citizenship Law (1982). Let me quote Section
43 from that Law. The provisions of Section
43 are as follows;
“43. The following persons, born in or outside
the State, from the date this law comes into
force, may also apply for naturalized citizenship: –
(a) persons born of parents, one of whom is a
citizen and the other a foreigner;
(b) persons born of parents, one of whom is
an associate citizen and the other a naturalized
citizen;
(c) persons born of parents, one of whom is
an associate citizen and the other a foreigner;
(d) persons born of parents, both of whom are
naturalized citizens;
(e) persons born of parents, one of whom is a
naturalized citizen and the other a foreigner.”
We don’t understand why they claim their citizenship
even though any foreigner can be entitled to
citizenship in Myanmar in accordance with the law?
Let me say again, their first generation was migrant
workers taken by British authorities and the last
generation is illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
According to Burma Citizenship Law (1982),
nationals such as Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin,
Burman, Mon, Rakhine, Shan and ethnic groups
as have settled in any of the territories included
within the State as their permanent home from
a period prior to 1185 B. E, 1823 A.D, are
citizens by birth. Accordingly, Bengalis may be
citizens here, but not nationals or natives.
In fact they try to take advantage of Myanmar’s
political reforms.
I think we should not rule out why Bangladesh
government lets their citizens go into sea without
enough provisions. It is clear why. Bangladesh,
a country frequently affected by storm almost
every year, which faces population explosion,
wants to create a new Islamist State. Accordingly,
Bangladesh authorities are believed to have
conspiracy to make many of their citizens migrate
from their native land to Myanmar’s somehow.
Very thought out and elaborately written. Thank you so much! Good read and worth sharing.
In an another post entitled Rohingya: Why India should side with Bangladesh and not Myanmar" The author Sarwar Chowdhury, is trying to threaten India if she doesn’t acquiesce to illegal entry of Rohingyas, Bangladesh may turn towards her enemies. Its an old aged strategy to extract favor and doesn’t work now-a-days. Who has stopped Bangladesh to take loan and favor from China. However, before doing this Bangladesh should see the fate of projects done by China in Sri lanka, Myanmar and in Pakistan (CPEC).
Sri-Lanka and Myanmar have failed miserably to pay back the loans and now they have forfeited their strategic territories. Pakistan is the next candidate for Chinese aggrandizement.
As far as Rohingyas are concerned, the moot question is why these people couldn’t assimilate cultural values and ethos of their adopted country? Why Muslims, in particular, want to create a cultural wedge between their adopted countries. They always migrate to good and peaceful countries for search of better life then they start changing her demography.
Vasudhav Kutumbkam is applicable to non-muslims where they can exist in peaceful co-existence but for Muslims Ghazwa-E-Hind seems to be the only guiding principle.
It is a well established strategy of islamic terror groups to fight by putting unarmed civilians, specially women and children in front. Theya re doing this in Kashmir. In retaliation when security forces fire, whole liberal human rights group go up in arms. Becuase first casualty will be children. Meanwhile terrorist will hide among these vulnerable populationa and lob grenade. Welcome to urban insurgency of islamic terror. These groups have several armies. Underground army that kills and murders. Over ground sympathisers. Finally those people argue their case in Teelvsion studios.
Thank you. For calling a spade a spade. This current Rohingya insurrection is nothing but extremist global ISIS Islamic terrorism instigated and funded by foreigners. These jihadist terrorists are making sacrificial pawns of the local Rohingyas.
Myanmar will becomes next Yugoslavia if their continue racist propaganda….
Just Myanmar Propaganda….
This report should be read and understood by all I think
Well done Bertil! But time the media mentioned that this is the 5th or 6th mass exous by Bengali-speaking Muslims from Arakan, that all of the previous movements (over 50 years) have been accompanied by a small political Islamic movement, that Bangladesh refused settlement in Bangladesh, that Burma allowed all in the past to return and they did (with no evident genocide) and that the name ‘Rohinga’ is not an ethnic term but simply means from Rakhine State (Arakan). Why does the media ignore the substantial lessons from the past? What we are witnessing now is simply a repeat performance.