June 29, 2017
Maungdaw- Rakhine community leaders and well known Buddhist nationalists have been organising meetings near the restive village tract of Bali Bazaar in Northern Maungdaw since Eid day, according to our local correspondent.
In the meeting they speak about the threat of Muslims to the Rakhine community and said they must take renewed preparations to ‘defend’ themselves, according to reliable sources.
As a result, there is increased tensions in the already tensed village as locals fear the army is organising the mobs to create another 2012 style massacre that killed thousands of Muslims.
Bali Bazaar was one of the villages targeted by the army during last year’s operations, resulting in the deaths of scores. Back at that time, the nationalist gangs did not play a prominent part. But events since Eid has created fears that the next bout of ethnic cleansing will involve the participation of the nationalists enabling the army to hide behind nominally civilian gangs thus escaping to some degree the international pressure levied on them last year.
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