Security forces were alert there; ARSA was too but not to
massacre civilians, is fighting for rights.
It is too shock to read the reports of Rights group, Amnesty
International https://t.co/Zrrypt0vSa ,
mentioned about 99 Hindus have been killed by ARSA in northern Rakhine state of
Myanmar on August of 2017.
A part of the report glared fabrication by the date on
top 25-8-2018, is creativity as usually Myanmar’s brutal government used to.
“I do not think the ongoing discussion; over Rohingya Refugees
repatriation will be affected. The Amnesty International’s claim of Rohingya
insurgents killing of Hindu civilians is nothing logical. Nobody believes it.”
- AH Mahmood Ali, Bangladesh Foreign Minister said.
The reports are based on Myanmar’s brutal Army and
government as usually they used to blame on ARSA but they have denied it as
well. https://lnkd.in/gqdTtdJ
According to sources on due time, there was 17 dead
bodies with beard, women were not in SARIS. SARIS are dress of Hindu women in
Myanmar. https://t.co/IaQqIjJh0r
The massacres in question, in which about a hundred
Hindus were killed in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state on 25 August 2017, were
first reported last September, 2017.
Evidence was based on mass graves and eyewitness accounts
of survivors who joined Rohingya Muslims in fleeing to Bangladesh to escape a
Myanmar army crackdown.
But testimonies of who was responsible have been
inconsistent, with some giving credence to the government position in blaming
the armed group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA).
Others did not, though, and some critics of the
government have gone so far to claim the massacres were false flag attacks, set
up to look like the work of the armed group.
After nine months of research, first in Bangladesh and
more recently in accessing some southern parts of Rakhine state, Amnesty
International argues it has gathered enough evidence to point the finger at
ARSA.
“We’re very aware that the testimonies have at times
conflicted with each other to other organisations, but to us, they have largely
stayed the same over this time,” says Laura Haigh, who researched and authored
the report.
The report offers six arguments of ARSA’s culpability,
including corroborating descriptions of attackers and their movements.
“The physical descriptions are largely consistent, and
they match the descriptions of ARSA attackers in other parts of Rakhine state
on the day during the attacks,” Haigh says.
“All of the women that we spoke to said that they heard
the fighters speaking in the Rohingya dialect, which again for us points to the
fact that this is the ARSA group,” she continues.
“And we spoke to other villagers who confirmed the
military were not in control of this area on the days of these attacks.”
Questions over Amnesty's evidence about ARSA
Critics have questioned the solidity of the rights
group’s arguments, saying they are not based on any new evidence.
“Why would you assume that witnesses in Myanmar could
talk freely?” asks documentary filmmaker Shafiur Rahman @shafiur, who has been working
with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. “They have changed their stories various
times, and why wouldn’t they change their stories under pressure in Myanmar?
“And let’s look at the second point, which is the
description of the ARSA fighters. If they are government forces, and the idea
was to create a false flag attack, then they would go in as ARSA fighters.”
Little is known about ARSA, its goals and its membership.
Myanmar’s government says ARSAs are terrorists supported
by Islamists abroad, while the group claims to be defending long-persecuted
Rohingya Muslims.
It denied responsibility for the massacres, but did claim
responsibility for attacks on security personnel around the same time, which
triggered the military crackdown that led some 700,000 Rohingya people to flee
into Bangladesh.
“The report lends credibility to the long-held Myanmar
government line that the Rohingya represents an existential threat to the Hindus
and others in Rakhine state,” Rahman says.
“This feeds into this story about ARSA, this Islamic
organization that wants an independent Rakhine state and so on. There’s no
evidence for any of this.”
Calls for access to Rakhine state
One thing Amnesty and its critics do agree on is the need
for the Myanmar government to open access to Rakhine state to international
investigators.
“Our calls in publishing these findings is for that
access, we think it is important for international investigators to get up
there to establish the full extent of abuses by ARSA and of course crimes
against humanity by the military,” Haigh says.
“Ultimately, those responsible for crimes in northern
Rakhine state, whether it’s the Myanmar military or whether it’s the armed
group ARSA, must be held to account.”
Rahman agrees with the need for access, though sees
Amnesty’s call for access all the more reason to question the report.
“What investigation is necessary if you’ve already
pinpointed who the culprit was?” he asks.
“I think [the report] was a major mistake, based on a
shoddy investigation, based on conclusions which are not categorical, and which
really endangers an extremely vulnerable population.”