ROHINGYA MILITANT GROUP DENIES MASSACRING HINDUS IN RAKHINE
MILITANTS fighting against the Tatmadaw army of Burma (Myanmar)
have rejected allegations of mass killings of Hindu civilians in Rakhine State
amid a large-scale humanitarian crisis.
The Arakan Rohingya
Salvation Army (ARSA) released a statement on Wednesday saying it
“categorically denies” its members had been engaged in violence against
civilians, as has been alleged by the Burmese military and some Hindu refugees
in Bangladesh.
Violence broke out in Burma’s northern Rakhine on Aug 25 after ARSA
attacked around 30 police and military outposts. Many in the international
community have condemned what they see as a disproportionate response from the
Tatmadaw.
The United Nations said on Tuesday that more than 480,000 people have now fled Burma into Bangladesh in the past month, bringing the total number of refugees there to over 700,000.
ARSA said in a statement posted to Twitter that its combatants had
not “perpetrated murder, sexual violence, or forcible recruitment in the
villages of Fakirabazar, Riktapara, and Chikonchhardi in Maungdaw on or about
25 August 2017.”
The Burmese government posted images to Facebook earlier this week of dozens of corpses which it claimed were Hindu victims found in mass graves near Maungdaw killed by the “extremist Bengali terrorists” of ARSA.
According to a local doctor quoted by the government,
the victims’ bodies “were found with their throats slits while their hands were
tied and were blindfolded.”
ARSA said in its statement that it “also expresses its
deepest sympathy for all victims of persecution, murder, war crime, genocide,
ethnic-cleansing, and other crimes against humanity, irrespective of ethnic or
religious background as perpetrated by the Burmese army and/or any other party
to the conflict.”
Human Rights Watch meanwhile accused Burma of “playing politics with the dead” through its release of the images and accusations against ARSA, which it said were not independently verified.
“While Burmese authorities have put on a stage-managed tour to the
Hindu village in question, as well as Rohingya villages unaffected by the
recent violence, they have denied access to independent monitors to the mass
graves and the rest of northern Rakhine State,” said the New York-based group
in a statement.
“The government’s quick conclusion on ARSA’s guilt contrasts
sharply with its own unwillingness to credibly investigate countless alleged
crimes committed by its own forces against Rohingya Muslims.”
International aid organisations on Wednesday again
called upon Burma to allow them to access Rakhine State to allow them to assist
affected populations, where currently “almost no” humanitarian aid was being
provided at present.
The public statement signed by 18 non-government
organisations including Oxfam and Save the Children said that while Burma’s de
facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi had announced in a ‘diplomatic briefing’ on Sep
19 that a humanitarian mission would be led by the Red Cross in Rakhine State,
it expressed that they were “very concerned” that it would be insufficient to
meet the “enormous humanitarian needs” across the region.
Moreover, the aid organisations said that 120,000
internally displaced persons residing in camps in central Rakhine since
violence in 2012 are heavily reliant upon assistance which has been “severely
curtailed” since renewed clashes broke out on Aug 25.
“We repeat our call to all actors to cease the spread of misinformation
and unfounded accusations against humanitarian organisations that risks the
safety of our staff and hinders the provision of life-saving assistance,” it
said.
The Burmese government has repeatedly accused NGOs of working with
terrorists.
Comments
Post a Comment