By Rohingya Eye |
February 15, 2017
Maungdaw — The
Myanmar military-led Investigation Team has recently visited Rohingya villages
in northern Maungdaw and ‘Koetankauk’ village in Rathedaung Township to
investigate into the crimes against humanity committed by its own troop members
after October 9, 2016, sources have reported.
The Investigation
Team was formed with high-ranking military officials in the wake of the report
by UN OHCHR — detailing the Devastating Cruelties by the Myanmar’s armed forces
against the Rohingya population in Myanmar’s Rakhine Province — and chaired by the
Lieutenant General Aye Win.
On Tuesday, 14th
February 2017, the investigation team visited the village of Du’dan (Ludain) in
northern Maungdaw, where some selective numbers of Rohingya men and women were
allowed to talk to the investigation team members. Many other victims were
denied from neighboring villages were denied access to meet with the
investigation team by the heavy security deployed in the region.
“Women that managed
to meet with the investigation team explained them how they were raped and molested
by the troops. The men also explained how they were tortured and many their
villages were shot dead at sight.
“It was a two-hour
meeting and so they could only explain that much. From their conversations
(i.e. the conversations among the military officials during the meeting), it’s
likely that they are going to shift the blames on the Border Guard Police (BGP)
for the crimes of the military” said a Rohingya man in the region asking not to
be identified.
Earlier on February
11, the investigation team visited the village of ‘Koetankauk’ locally known as
‘Dounsay’ in Rathedaung and met with the villagers. The villagers explained the
team about the atrocity crimes committed by the military against the villagers
and also said their properties were plundered during the so-called ‘Regional
Clearance Operation.’
“Four villagers said
that their motorcycles were illegally seized by the BGP and the military. So,
the Investigation Team ordered the BGP at the ‘Koetankauk’ camp to compensate
the four victims with Kyat 1.1 Million.
“However, when they
went to the BGP camp on the next day for the compensation, the BGP beat them up
and shackled them for the whole day. Before their release, the BGP offered them
Kyat 0.6 Million instead of Kyat 1.1 Million. So the four villagers returned
home without taking any money”, said a local villager of Koetankauk.
The military-led
Investigation Team was formed in response to the calls by the UN Officials and
other prominent human rights advocates around the globe to form an ‘Independent
International Investigation’ team under the mandate of the UN Human Rights
Council to investigate into the crimes of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya
population in Arakan (Rakhine) State as reported in the UN OHCHR report on
February 3. Hence, the formation of the military-led investigation team to
investigate into the crimes committed by the its troops under its own commands
leads to a belief that the Myanmar military is attempting to conceal the crimes
by its troops and ward off any international call for an Independent
investigation.