The video of a group of Rohingya men in Tatmadaw uniform claiming to burn down a Northern Maungdaw village has become viral on the social media. The widely circulated video comes a day after an allegation by the Bangladesh government that terrorist groups are recruiting from Rohingya refugee camps situated in South Western part of their country which borders the Maungdaw region where the Rohingya men in Tatmadaw uniform are claiming to burn down the Rakhine village.
The men speaking in Rohingya language said they burned down the Rakhine village in retaliation of Rakhines burning Rohingya villages elsewhere.
In the last few days, the AA have increasingly targeted Rohingya civilians drawing concerns that the powerful insurgent group might follow the footsteps of the Tatmadaw to continue the genocide of Rohingya Muslims.
The video has been alleged by AA supporters as another instant of Muslim terrorists carrying out attacks on innocent Rakhine villages.
The video seems to be authentic, according to multiple sources.
In recent weeks, many Rohingyas have been forcefully conscripted into the Tatmadaw against their will.
Our correspondent in the camp has however confirmed there is a small but steady stream of willing recruits who have communicated with ARSA men to travel and fight alongside the Burmese army against the Rakhine insurgent outfit Arakan Army.
Ethnic tensions between the Rohingya and Rakhine have reached new heights following manipulation by the Tatmadaw which has effectively succeeded in pitting the two ethnic groups against each other. Tatmadaw has long used the ‘divide and rule’ strategy to keep the two major communities of Arakan apart and cement their control in the peripheral but geopolitically important border state.
The advent of the Arakan Army changed equations as the Tatmadaw lost battle after battle effectively ceding control of the state to the Rakhine insurgent outfit.
In a desperate move, the Tatmadaw took a programme to win over the Rohingyas to their side and raise tensions between the two communities. Events of last few days show that they have managed to pit the Rakhine and Rohingya against each other. Interestingly the agreement between the Tamadaw’s Rohingya supporters comes even as air force jets continue to bomb Muslim villages in Buthidaung, driving the locals of the area into AA controlled areas.
Under military rule, the Rohingyas have been subjected to a state sanctioned genocide resulting in tens of thousands killed and many raped. The last major operation of 2017 had killed approximately 25,000 Rohingyas and evicted most of the population east of the Mayu river to South Western Bangladesh where more than a million refugees currently live in squalid refugee camps.
The genocidal operation was carried out by what the military said was in response to attacks by ARSA militants on August 25, 2017. However, the timing and mode of the ARSA attacks have led to suspicions that the so called militant group was acting hand in glove with the Myanmar military from the very beginning to facilitate a refugee crisis. The allegation was further strengthened when the then spiritual leader of ARSA Hayderee was seen in the Myanmar embassy of Saudia Arabia. Hayderee was later arrested by Saudi police on charges of corruption.
Since then, ARSA gained control of much of the refugee camps in Bangladesh creating a reign of terror which included rapes, arbitrary killings and kidnappings of fellow Rohingyas and even local people. Following killing of popular Rohingya leader Mohibullah, Bangladesh security forces cracked down driving the group underground. ARSA killings however continue but the group does not have the same clout in the refugee camps it once did. But following open collaboration with the Burmese military, they have gained a powerful foothold in Maungdaw and Buthidaung in recent days.
This is the first time ARSA men are openly working with the Tatmadaw to repel what they say is to protect their faith from Rakhine Buddhist terrorists. Calls to protect the Islamic faith have also been made by Tatmadaw representatives in meetings with Rohingya village elders.
Interestingly the Tatmadaw have long cited the threat of the Islamic religion taking over Myanmar as one of their main excuse to maintain an iron grip on the majority Buddhist country. Their harsh version of Therevada Buddhism championed by Tatmadaw to legitimise their unpopular rule perceives Islam as a mortal threat to Myanmar and even while calling on Rohingyas to protect Islam in the peripheral border state of Arakan, the Bamar heartland is witnessing open collaboration with vocal anti Muslim groups including monks from the infamous 969 movement.
Before the coup of 2021, rampant Islamophobia and violence against Muslims was common in Myanmar against a backdrop of hate speech and organised programmes carried out by military backed Buddhist monks.
A long history of persecution by Rakhine nationalists means some Rohingyas support attacks against their neighbouring community. Even then, outside observers appear perplexed by what looks to be an increasingly strong nexus between Rohingya militants and the Buddhist nationalist Islamophobic Tatmadaw. However, in the complex landscape of Arakan, many Rohingya activists have regarded Rakhines as the main agents for their persecution in the hands of the military.
However, many Rohingya activists have denounced the burning of the Rakhine village saying they do not endorse attacks on Rakhine civilian targets.
Despite such condemnations, it is very likely the Tatmadaw have successfully managed to light the ethnic tinderbox of Arakan state.
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