By Rohingya Eye |
April 12, 2017
Maungdaw — A Burmese
language media called ‘Thit Htoo Lwin’ published a
report on April 8 alleging the Rohingya villagers in southern Maungdaw
held meetings for days to form an armed outfit. http://thithtoolwin.mmbloggers.com/Home/Detail/7199941641260805
The report — stating
of quoting reliable sources but was in fact quoting a Facebook
post of DMG News Agency apparently led by a group of Rakhine extremists
— said that around 150 villagers held meetings at the village of ‘Inn Din’
[mentioned in the report as ‘Inn Taung’] on March 29 for three consecutive days
and decided to newly declare an armed outfit called ‘Arakan Rohingya Salvation
Army (ARSA).’ https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=811872458965167&substory_index=0&id=466648543487562
U Aye Myint, a human
rights observer based in Maungdaw, said “international news agencies like AP
and Reuters have reported that a Rohingya rebel group changed its earlier name
‘Harakah Al Yaqeen or the Faith Movement to Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army
(ARSA) on March 31 through releasing a statement, which also made 20 demands
for the Rohingya rights to the Myanmar government. So, it’s clear that the ARSA
is neither a new group nor associated with the villagers of ‘Inn Din’ in
anyway, unlike accused by the ‘Thit Htoo Lwin.’
“But the ‘Thit Htoo
Lwin’ spreading false news based on wrong sources like Facebook posts and other
undeclared sources like this creates public pressures on the military to take
harsh actions on the innocent Rohingya villagers. This is how the Burmese media
playing destructive roles towards the Rohingya since 2012, too. Now, the
villagers of ‘Inn Din’ are really worried here.”
The Thit Htoo Lwin
is an influential Burmese language online media having wider readerships among
the Burmese societies in Myanmar and abroad.