By HTET NAING ZAW 10 August 2017
NAYPYITAW — The Arakan National Party (ANP) urged Myanmar
Army Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing to segregate Rakhine Buddhists
and Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township in the aftermath of
killings of ethnic Mro people in the south of the township.
Young Muslim men in
Maungdaw Township, Rakhine State
Htet Naing Zaw / The Irrawaddy
A seven-member ANP delegation visited the military chief
in administrative capital Naypyitaw on Wednesday to discuss local concerns and
called for heightened security measures in Rakhine State.
“Ethnic [Rakhine] villages are surrounded by Bengali
villages, so, we called for designating No-Bengali zones in the area,” U Khin
Maung Latt of the ANP, who was at the meeting, told The Irrawaddy.
The stateless Rohingya Muslim population of 1.1 million
in Rakhine is referred to as “Bengali” by many in the state and the government,
to infer that they are interlopers from Bangladesh.
Tension has been running high recently between the two
communities, who remain largely separated since inter-communal violence in 2012
and 2013 displaced around 140,000 people, the vast majority of them Muslim
Rohingya.
Myanmar Army-led security operations, in response to
attacks on border guard posts that killed nine police, drove 75,000 Rohingya
across the border to Bangladesh and “very likely” amounted to crimes against
humanity, according to the UN.
The commander-in-chief did not give a clear response to
the request, according to attendees.
ANP secretary U Oo Hla Saw, who was also present at the
meeting, said the party requested to meet the army chief as the military is
responsible for national security.
The ANP elaborated on the concerns of ethnic Rakhine
people and recent militant acts in the area, and the army chief seemed to be
keen to provide the best security he could for ethnic Rakhine people, he said.
“The army chief said he would fully protect ethnic groups
in Rakhine State and that he would take care of the routes that [immigrants]
use to come in illegally, and make sure the Mayu mountains are not used by
militants,” said U Oo Hla Saw, who is a Lower House member of parliament for
Mrauk U Township.
Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing’s Facebook page said the two
sides discussed further cooperation for stability and development in Rakhine
State.
The ANP delegation said the ruling party National League
for Democracy (NLD) and the army have different views on the Rakhine issue.
Also on Wednesday, the Upper House agreed to consider U
Khin Maung Latt’s proposal which urged the government to take action against
suspected militants in northern Rakhine State under the 2014 Counter-Terrorism
Law and help locals who have fled their homes because of recent killings in the
area.
Last week, six ethnic Mro—a sub-ethnic group of
Rakhine—of Kay Gyee village near the Mayu mountain range in southern Maungdaw
Township were found dead with gun and machete wounds. It remains unclear who
was responsible for the killings.
The State Counselor’s Office reported hundreds of ethnic
Rakhine from several villages had left their homes and moved to other villages
following the unrest.
Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing remarked that ethnic youth should
“cooperate” with security forces, according to ANP delegates, when asked about
providing arms for local people.
Also present at the meeting was deputy commander-in-chief
of defense services and army commander-in-chief Vice-Snr-Gen Soe Win and chief
of general staff (army, navy and air) Gen Mya Tun Oo. The ANP delegation was
headed by chairman Dr. Aye Maung.
The Myanmar government on Sunday, in its investigation
report into the Rakhine security operation, repeated rejections of accusations
of human rights abuses, calling reports of possible genocide “fabricated.”
The government continues to block a UN fact-finding mission
tasked with investigating alleged atrocities—including extra judicial killings,
arson, and rape—committed by Myanmar Army and police during the Rakhine
security campaign that began last year.
Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.