Husbands, neighbours, grandsons – police and
troops dragged them from their homes in Myo Thu Gyi, Rakhine state, and
executed them. All were innocent civilians say witnesses to the killings,
revenge for police deaths in a rebel raid
BY CARLOS SARDIÑA GALACHE
28 APR 2017
Early on the morning of October 10, last year, two
military men stormed into the small wooden house of Noor Begun (not her real
name), a fragile Rohingya woman, in Myo Thu Gyi, a village in Maungdaw
township, in the north of Rakhine state, Myanmar.
“They beat up my husband in front of me and my seven
children, we cried and pleaded with them, but they didn’t listen to us. They
kept beating him and I passed out. When I regained consciousness, he wasn’t
there,” she recounts to Post Magazine, speaking in the covered porch of her
house and trying to contain her tears.
Her husband, Tayoub Ali, was dragged by the soldiers to a
spot near the cemetery, about 100 metres from his house, and executed by the
security forces with a shot to the head. His brother was also dragged from his
house, but he had been beaten so badly he could barely walk, so he was shot
midway to the execution ground. Fatima, a woman in her 20s, saw the killings
unfold from her house.
“[The area] was full of soldiers and Border Guard Police;
I couldn’t distinguish who was which because all of them were wearing dark
green raincoats,” she says. “They were dragging that man, but he could not
walk, so they just shot him right there, in front of me. They just left him
there.”
The previous afternoon, Ali had told his family that they
shouldn’t leave their house, let alone the village, as he foresaw trouble. In
the early hours of October 9, insurgents had attacked three Border Guard Police
facilities, including the force’s Maungdaw headquarters, about 4km from Myo Thu
Gyi. The attackers killed nine policemen before making off with arms and
ammunition. According to his widow, Ali, a farmer in his 50s, returned home
immediately after learning of the attack to warn his family.
The new insurgent group that carried out the attacks was
called Harakah al-Yaqin (“faith movement”) but, according to a recent
statement, it has rebranded itself as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.
According to a report published by the International
Crisis Group in December, it is governed by a committee of Rohingya exiles
based in Saudi Arabia. On the ground, the insurgents are led by a man called
Ata Ullah, a Rohingya born in Pakistan and raised in Saudi Arabia, and a couple
of dozen Rohingya exiles who had been organising and training youths in the
north of Rakhine since successive waves of sectarian violence between the
Rohingya and the Buddhist ethnic Rakhine majority engulfed the state in 2012.
The overwhelming majority of the population in northern
Rakhine – comprising the townships of Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung – are
Rohingya, a mostly Muslim ethnic group in Buddhist-majority Myanmar that has
been oppressed by the government for decades. The authorities regard them as
“Bengalis”, implying they are illegal interlopers from Bangladesh and in the
late 1980s and early 90s stripped most of them of the citizenship many had held
since the country gained independence, in 1948. The Rohingya have been subject
to restrictions on freedom of movement and access to tertiary education and
health care, and have suffered serious human rights violations, widely
documented over the years by organisations such as Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch.
Their plight worsened dramatically in 2012, only one year
after the military had launched a process of transition to what it termed a
“discipline-flourishing democracy”. Inter-communal violence in June and October
of that year left at least 200 people dead, most of them Rohingya, and up to
140,000 – again, mostly Rohingya – displaced in camps, where they are still
confined, almost five years later.
Suu Kyi denies ethnic cleansing of Myanmar’s
Rohingya as UN probes torture, murder and rape by troops: http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2085397/suu-kyi-denies-ethnic-cleansing-myanmars-rohingya-un-probes
The highly imperfect democracy now installed in Myanmar
has meant further restrictions and disenfranchisement for the Rohingya. In the
2015 elections, they were, for the first time in the country’s history,
prevented from voting. The first credible polls in decades gave a resounding
victory to the long-standing nemesis of the military dictators, Aung San Suu
Kyi and her National League for Democracy.
The Rohingya are almost universally reviled in Myanmar,
and have found no defenders in the new government, whose steps to solve the
situation in Rakhine have been limited to the appointment of a commission of
inquiry led by former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan.
It was against this backdrop of hopelessness and
desperation that the first Rohingya insurgency in decades took shape. Hundreds
of men armed with knives, machetes and home-made weapons took part in the
October 9 attack, but it is difficult to ascertain to what extent the insurgency
enjoys popular support in north Rakhine.
What happened in Myo Thu Gyi is a clear
example of how security forces target villagers at random, often without any
evidence or known links to armed groups (Laura Haigh, Amnesty International)
In Myo Thu Gyi, all the villagers interviewed by Post
Magazine express concern about the response of the security forces rather than
support for the insurgents.
“They mean trouble for us, we will pay the
consequences,” says a villager, who does not wish to be named.
In the aftermath of the attack, the military launched a
“clearance operation” in northern Rakhine. As many as 600 Rohingya have since
been arrested, six of them having died in custody, according to the government;
several villages have been burned to the ground and up to 1,000 Rohingya may
have been killed, according to the UN. More than 70,000 have fled to
Bangladesh.
The first thing the security forces did, though, was
wreak vengeance on Myo Thu Gyi.
Rohingya Muslim militants to keep fighting
‘even if a million die’ http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2084042/rohingya-muslim-militants-keep-fighting-even-if-million-die
Hussein Muhammad, an old Rohingya man who, like most of
the villagers interviewed for this article, doesn’t know his age, was awoken at
6am on October 10 by dozens of soldiers and members of the Border Guard Police
noisily surrounding his house. When he stepped outside, he discovered that his
compound – two small bamboo houses, two latrines and a sink with taps to wash
the clothes of the extended family of 16 who live here – had been invaded by
armed men.
“They asked us if there was any terrorist in our house,”
Muhammad recounts, sitting in the compound. “Then they dragged out two of my
grandsons and told me they were taking them to talk to their superior. I tried
to stop them and tried to give them my family list to show them they were my
grandsons, but they beat me up and threatened me with their weapons.”
His grandsons, Ali Muhammed and Ali Ayaz, were 20 and 13
years old, respectively. They were dragged to a small forest known locally as
Betel Garden, on the fringe of the village, and were executed, along with
another man.
“Four members of the Border Guard Police made them sit
down on the ground with their hands under their legs,” says Ahmed Mahmood, a
farmer in his late 20s who says he was hiding in a hut nearby and witnessed the
killing. “One of the policemen executed them while the others were looking
around. He kicked them first in their backs and then put a bullet in their
heads, one by one. He shot the youngest one twice, once in his back and once in
his head.”
“My grandsons had nothing to do with the insurgency,”
claims Muhammad. “They were here in our house when the insurgents attacked the
Border Guard Police.
“They just sold betel nut, worked and tried
to study. They never got into trouble.”
Until now, the area has been closed to foreign journalists,
except for a couple of tours closely supervised by the authorities, but we
have been granted a permit to visit Maungdaw for the first time since the
violence began in October.
Photo-book gives powerful testimony to
plight of Myanmar’s Rohingya minority: http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/books/article/1049429/photo-book-gives-powerful-testimony-plight-myanmars-rohingya
Reports suggest people interviewed during the
government-organised media tours have been harassed by the local authorities
after denouncing atrocities committed by the security forces while others may
have been killed by the insurgents after denying such atrocities or having
been accused of collaborating with the government. Post Magazine conducted the
interviews in the village without any government official present, but we have
changed the names of all the Rohingya interviewees to protect their identities.
Four members of the Border Guard Police made
them sit down on the ground with their hands under their legs. One of the
policemen executed them (Ahmed Mahmood, a farmer)
Myo Thu Gyi is home to about 1,000 people and is
separated into two sections, about 500 metres apart across paddy fields. In
total, seven men were executed in the village on October 10, according to
several interviewees. According to the villagers, several hundred soldiers and
members of the Border Guard Police took part in the reprisals. They returned a
couple of hours after the assault to take away four of the bodies, including
those of Muhammad’s grandsons. Relatives and neighbours were able to hide the
three other corpses, including that of Tayoub Ali, and give them a proper
Muslim burial the next day.
Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, which has
been documenting human rights violations in Rakhine for years, confirmed our
findings in a telephone conversation. Members of her organisation investigated
the incident on the ground and spoke with eyewitnesses to the attack on Myo Thu
Gyi.
“Those were just random summary executions,” Lewa says.
“It seems that those two boys [Ali Muhammed and Ali Ayaz] were dragged from the
house just because they were peeking from the fence surrounding their compound.
How could a 13-year-old child take part in the insurgency?”
Laura Haigh, Myanmar researcher for human rights group Amnesty
International, also investigated the incident and spoke with eyewitnesses who
fled to Bangladesh.
“What happened in Myo Thu Gyi is a clear example of how
security forces target villagers at random, often without any evidence or known
links to armed groups,” Haigh explains in an e-mail. “In this instance, they
dragged people – including a child – from their homes and shot them dead. In
other places, military and police have entered villages and opened fire,
shooting at people even as they fled in fear. The lack of access to the area,
and intimidation and threats against those who speak out, means we simply do
not know how many were killed during this appalling offensive.”
Hate speech Myanmar monk who compares himself
to Trump banned from sermons for a year: http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2078178/hate-speech-myanmar-monk-who-compares-himself-trump-banned
The security forces appeared again in the village five
weeks later, according to the villagers. They demanded that every household
remove the fences around their compounds, to deprive insurgents of hiding
places. Most of the fences I saw when I visited Myo Thu Gyi in Februarylast
year have disappeared, and with them any privacy for the villagers.
The government announced in early February that
“clearance operations” by the military were over, but entire areas in northern
Maungdaw remain off limits for aid workers and journalists. And an almost
tangible feeling of anguish and fear hangs over villages such as Myo Thu Gyi,
which contrasts with official statements.
“The situation is stable now,” says U Tin Maung Swe,
executive secretary of the state, in a cavernous room in the government
building in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine. “That’s why people are returning
now from Bangladesh. The military has returned to the barracks and only the
Border Guard Police conduct operations now in northern Rakhine state.”
U Tin Maung Swe denies the allegations of human rights
violations committed by the security forces.
“These are just lies and rumours that people repeat.
There is no evidence,” he says. “The media has voiced these allegations and
many people think they are true. Even my wife believed these rumours and was
very upset, so I sent her to Maungdaw for three days, so she can see for
herself that everything is fine there.”
Click here to reach Maungdaw: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Maungdaw,+Myanmar+(Burma)/@20.822814,92.368562,1758425m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x30ae1b9124cc86ff:0xa76629cc658cdb37!8m2!3d20.8241071!4d92.3690224?hl=en-US
In Maungdaw, a dusty, decaying city near the Naf River,
which marks the border with Bangladesh, an apparent normality reigns during
the day. Most of the inhabitants are Rohingya, but there is a sizeable Rakhine
population, both communities living in mono-ethnic quarters, often across the
road from one another.
The town feels very different under the nightly curfew,
however.
In a sign of openness rare in the country’s security
forces, we have been allowed to accompany a police patrol of the town during
the curfew. We ride in a truck with 10 policemen, behind a pickup carrying the
captain of the patrol, another official, two translators (one Rakhine, another
Rohingya) and two policemen. Another pickup follows.
The contrast between the Rohingya and the Rakhine
quarters is stark, especially during the first hour of the curfew. In the
Rakhine quarters, lights are on and it is possible to see people watching
television through open windows or chatting in their courtyards. The Rohingya
homes are, by contrast, eerily deserted: windows are closed, no light is turned
on and no human presence is visible.
There has not been an insurgent attack in northern
Rakhine since mid-November and up to 600 people have been arrested, but the
security forces are still trying to find the ringleaders.
“They must be hiding somewhere,” says Kyaw Aye Hlaing,
the police captain, during a stop in which the policemen get out of their
vehicles for a cigarette. “We know their faces and their names, but for us all
these Bengalis look the same, so it’s difficult to recognise them.
“The government has offered them National Verification
Cards, but many refused to accept them. That makes our task of identifying
people very difficult. I think they refused the NVC cards so they can join more
easily the insurgency,” he says, neglecting to point out that the cards do not
offer proof of citizenship and so are of little benefit to their holders.
A report released by the charity Physicians for Human
Rights in October denounced the many checkpoints that choke the roads of
northern Rakhine, describing them as “places of extortion and humiliation,
where Rohingya people are perpetually reminded of their marginalised status”
and have to pay exorbitant bribes to pass from village to village. Hearing Kyaw
Aye Hlaing detail police salaries, one begins to understand part of the
motivation behind the corruption.
We have known for years that [Myo Thu Gyi] is
full of extremists. It was a very troublesome village during the violence in
2012 (Kyaw Aye Hlaing)
“Here, a captain like me gets a little bit less than
400,000 kyat [HK$2,270] per month, a mid-level officer gets around 300,000 kyat
and a regular policeman gets a little bit less than 200,000 kyat,” he says.
But there is also pure contempt for the Rohingya.
“The Bengalis don’t belong here, they are
illegal immigrants and they can’t possibly integrate because they are uneducated
and, for instance, don’t respect women’s rights,” says Kyaw Aye Hlaing.
To further illustrate his point, he calls over the
Rohingya translator. The man approaches with trepidation.
“Do you allow your wife to go out from your house?” the
police captain asks. Visibly cowed, and after hesitating for a few seconds, the
translator replies with a tentative “no”. Turning to us, Kyaw Aye Hlaing says,
“You see? They don’t respect women’s rights!”
He dismisses the translator with a brusque gesture.
Assuming what he says is true; the translator may have
good reason for preventing his wife from leaving her home. In February, the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights released a
report on abuses in Rakhine during the preceding months, gathered from hundreds
of interviews with refugees in Bangladesh. Fifty-two of the 101 women
interviewed reported having suffered rape or sexual violence at the hands of
the security forces.
At the end of our tour with the Maungdaw police, we stop at
a bridge that marks the limit of their jurisdiction. Two kilometers away, in
the darkness and under the responsibility of the Border Guard Police, lies Myo
Thu Gyi. Kyaw Aye Hlaing gives his account of why the security forces attacked
the village one day after the October 9 assault on security forces: “We have
known for years that this village is full of extremists. It was a very
troublesome village during the violence in 2012.”
And thus the fate of Myo Thu Gyi was sealed.