THE EUROPEAN ROHINGYA COUNCIL
Date: 11 December 2015
Since the start of December, murders of Rohingya Muslims have increased suddenly creating fresh fears of large scale ethnic cleansing. The Rohingya population is small, and diminishing each day as increasing numbers of people flee Arakan. In such a small community, the murder of four people in a single week is creating panic and will hasten the exodus of the Rohingya people which serves the purposes of the military backed regime and their Buddhist nationalist allies.The government of Myanmar has long formulated a blueprint for a Rohingya free Arakan state. Since 2012, the plans for the final solution have been finalised by Thein Sein’s government. The first involved the riots that resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent Muslims. Since then, the government had relied on a subtler approach, a means of committing slow burning genocide designed to escape international uproar.
Following the riots, the entire Muslim population has been segregated, with more than a hundred thousand forced into squalid IDP camps where living conditions have been described as among the worst in the world. All Rohingyas have been forced into their designated zones and forbidden to leave that area. As work is almost non-existent in these zones, Rohingyas have been left without an income and many have been starving. Added to this was the complete denial of medical facilities. All these measures have been adopted to force the Rohingyas to leave Arakan without creating international media attention.
The only two livelihood options left for Rohingyas – – fishing and collecting wood has been targeted by security forces. In spite of chronic food shortages and the denial of medical care, almost a million Rohingyas have still managed to hang on to Arakan, though how long this will be possible in the face of a determined government is uncertain.
As even desperate measures have not been able to drive out many Rohingyas, it seems the government backed forces are once again committing murders to incite fear into the hearts of the Muslim populace. Arbitrary murders will exist side by side of the denial of livelihoods and medical care, as part of a plan to make Arakan Rohingya free. The government has truly adopted a multi-dimensional approach to eradicate this Muslim community, carefully designed to avoid international attention. It is very important to understand the sinister yet resourceful tactics being utilised by the government to figure out how the final solution is realised gradually throughout Arakan.
December murders
Below are the identities of the victims and a very short description of how they were killed.
1. Mohammed Musa, 25 from Quarter 4, Buthidaung Township was shot dead by the Myanmar Border guard Police-BGP at ‘Pha Wat Chaung village’s Check-post in northern Maungdaw. He was returning to Buthidaung from Maungdaw North on December 7. He was away for business along with some Rakhine friends who were not harmed by the BGP.
2. ‘Mohammed Harun Qasim’ 27 was mercilessly murdered by a mob in Pauktaw Township while he was on his way there to visit his relatives in the ‘Kye Ni pyin’ IDP camps on December 5. The victims head was smashed with rocks and blunt instruments. He is from Daiping in Akyab.
A corpse of a pregnant Rohingya woman was found near the Thammi Hla village of Buthidaung on December 2. The woman was partialy decomposed and it has not been possible to identify her.
3. Mohammed Hashim Jamal, 27was killed by a Rakhine gang near the same Thammi Hla village tract of Buthidaung. He was out fishing with other Rohinyas who managed to escape but with critical injuries. Jamal’s corpse was later found near the Thay Kan’ village. The victim hails from the ‘Zaykun Tan’ hamlet of, ‘Phaya Pyin Aung Pha’ village tract in Buthidaung.
For more information please contact;
Mohamed Ibrahim
General Secretary of the European Rohingya Council
+49 15209444880
Dr. Hla Kyaw + 316 86335624
