The recent spate of
persecution and exodus of Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar must have raised several
questions in the minds of Muslims all over the world and the human rights
organisations. The first question, besides so many others, is as to who the
Rohingya Muslims are and why are they being persecuted. The second question,
which agitates me more than anything, is that as to why only the Muslims,
wherever they may be, are targets of the terrorism or violence.
The Rohingya people,
historically known as Arakanese, are stateless people from Rakhine (previously
known as Arakan) State of Myanmar. The majority of an estimated 1.3 million
Rohingyas residing in Myanmar including 1.5 million refugees are Muslims and
Hindus being in minority. The Rohingya population are denied citizenship,
under the 1982 Burmese citizenship law and according to Human Rights Watch
report, the law “effectively deny to the Rohingya the possibility of acquiring
a nationality” despite the fact that their presence in Burma (now Myanmar)
could be traced to the 8th Century. They are restricted from freedom of
movement, state education and civil service jobs.
The persecution and
discrimination towards Rohingya gave birth to Harakah Al-Yaqin, currently known
as Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) after 2012 Rakhine State riots, to
“defend Rohingyas’ rights”. I am compelled to state that why it is so that
terrorism/violence has to be there wherever there are Muslim population.
You may notice that
the entire Middle East has been destabilised because of Daesh, originated from
Iraq, and now fighting along with Al-Qaeda against Syria. It has also started
to target Turkey which supported the military action against Syria.
The same Al-Qaeda or
Daesh working in Syria is now supporting militants in Myanmar. Is it really
coincidental? Of course not. It cannot be a coincidence and one has to
understand who is behind Al-Qaeda/ISIS worldwide? The West has accepted to have
engineered and supported Daesh in the beginning. Who do you think launched both
Al-Qaeda and Daesh with heavy weaponry? Mr Tony Blair is on record for having
admitted publicly that attack on Iraq and subsequent actions were a “mistake”
but I would like to term it as huge blunder which caused loss of innocent lives
and racked the working of a country all together.
The statement of
Yemeni Al-Qaeda leader actually drew my attention and I recall what happened in
the past during Afghan-Soviet war and post-war enabling USA to take over
Afghanistan. There is now no room to repeat the same mistakes and to allow yet
another war- zone like Afghanistan in Burma/ Bangladesh.
In the eyes of the
world, the conflict between Rohingyas and Buddhists seems to have raged in 2012
when ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) was formed following the atrocities
upon Rohingyas but the reality says otherwise. In reality, the episodes of
violence date back to Afghan War era when CIA needed Jihadi to fight the war
for them. These abandoned and isolated Rohingyas were an easy target for CIA.
They were trained with Afghan Jihadists and then pushed into fighting the
American war. Like Afghan Mujahedeen, the USA also dumped Rohingyasl at the end
of the war.
Furthermore, in
reality Al Qaeda has its strong links with ARSA (a newly formed Rohingya
militants group) and the statement given by Yemeni Al-Qaeda leader Khalid
Batarfi who announced support for Rohingya Muslims confirms it. In a video message
released by Al-Qaeda’s al-Malahem media foundation, Khaled Batarfi called upon
all Muslims in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Malaysia to support their
Rohingya Muslim brethren against the “enemies of Allah.”
Batarfi, who was freed
from a Yemeni prison in 2015 when Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)
seized the port city of Mukalla, also urged Al-Qaeda’s Indian Subcontinent
(AQIS) branch to carry out attacks. “So spare no effort in waging jihad
against them and repulsing their attacks, and beware of letting down our
brothers in Burma (Myanmar),” Batarfi said. This is interesting development
from Al-Qaeda leadership directing from Syria or Yemen who are already working
for their masters in the west against Syrian president.
The record shows that
militants from Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, China, Thailand, Burma,
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Somalia, Sudan and Middle East were recruited by CIA
and were given extensive military trainings. Later these so-called Jihadi
turned terrorists. It may not be wrong to say that all these militants are the
product of Afghanistan war and the desperate decisions which were made by
America in order to win that war.
Afghan war era
(1979-1992) was the time when deadliest terror groups of Taliban, Mujahedeen
and Jihadists emerged on the planet. The earliest groups of Rohingya militants
were formed in 1980’s namely the RSO (Rohingya Solidarity Organization) and the
AMM (AqaMul Mujahidin) who stood up to fight against the Burmese military for
their rights. The AMM had strong ties with Lashkar e Taiba as well as with the
Jaish e Muhammad (JeH). Aqa Mul Mujahideen (AMM) had originated from the
Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami-Arakan (HUJI-A), which was headed by Hafiz Abdul
Quddoos. He then recruited Hafiz Tohar and later Tohar became the chief of AMM.
HUJI-A, AMM, RSO and now the ARSA, all of them are reported to be have been
trained in Bangladesh by RAW. As Bangladesh owes its existence to Indian
intervention in 1971 that is why it has let Indian RAW use its border as
training camp for these Jihadists.
As a part of that
typical controversy against Pakistan, the international media portrays all of
these Jihadists and the leaders heading these groups to be of Pakistani origin.
But in reality all of them are being used against Pakistan. They were not
born here but deployed here by links of Kulbhushan Yadav, an Indian spy to
destroy the roots of Pakistan from inside. The recent arrest of Kulbhushan
Yadav in 2016 in Baluchistan is a proof of this international conspiracy
against Pakistan. The man himself confessed that many other agents like him
have been deployed by the RAW in Karachi and other territories of Pakistan to
spread a state of terrorism across the country. Karachi airport attack was done
by Burma terrorist. Qari Jamil is Burma born terrorist who was found involved
in Pakistan and there is head money of Rs0.5 Million. He however now is
operating in Burma and playing someone else game. I ask from the anti-Pak media
that who is Mohammed Jannuni? Not a Pakistani but Burma.
The terrorists from
Burma and Maldives got joint training with ETMI terrorists who are now being
used against China. It was Pakistan People’s Party’s government which arrested
20 ETMI terrorist of Chinese origin and handed over to China.
In the meantime we
should not forget the agenda of USA and India behind this massacre. China has
heavily invested in Myanmar for renovating and expanding the Sittwe seaport
besides having rights to “develop and exploit natural gas reserves in the
Arakan region”. We should also keep in mind that it is the Arakan region
(currently known as Rakhine State) where Rohingya people live. China has also
aided the construction of strategic roads along the Irrawaddy trade route
linking Chinese Yunnan province to the Bay of Bengal besides construction of
oil and gas pipelines stretching 2,380 km from Arakan (now Rakhine) coast to
China’s Yunnan province. This enables China to import oil from Middle East
“bypassing the Strait of Malacca”.
China also has been
strategic partner of Myanmar and since 1989 it has supplied Burma (now Myanmar)
with jet fighters and other military hardware. With its strategic presence in
Myanmar, China has its influence in the Bay of Bengal and in the Southeast
Asia. To counter the influence of China in the Indian Ocean, India took two
islands – one from Maldives – to place its strategic assets there. Similarly,
Bangladesh having a pro-Indian government provided its soil to RAW to train and
infiltrate militants into Rakhine State to instigate Rohingyas to oppose the
presence and building the oil & gas pipelines by China in their State but
this could not gain any momentum.
The US-India nexus to
oppose CPEC was a clear message both for Pakistan and China that both USA and
India were not in favour of China’s increasing influence in Pakistan and in the
region, in particular. On the other hand, USA as well as India were equally
perturbed over China’s increasing influence and presence in the Southeast Asia,
especially in Myanmar. The USA in collaboration with India has opted to repeat
the history again by dragging out the war for its own strategic interests in
Afghanistan to Myanmar by instigating war within, to counter the influence of
China. The main motto behind these clandestine activities of Indian RAW and the
CIA with Afghan Intelligence is to interrupt the emergence of CPEC corridor and
to contain China in Southeast Asia at the same time.
The progressive role
of China in the region is unnecessarily pinching India and the West from the
very first day of CPEC origin. India is strategically worried over China’s
access to Arabian Sea through Gwadar by way of CPEC and to the Bay of Bengal
through Rakhine State (where Rohingyas are inhibited) thus circling Indian
Ocean from both sides. India’s reservation also got proven when right after two
months of CPEC’s launch, Indian PM Narendra Modi called it “unacceptable”. The
USA collaborated with India to destabilise the Rakhine State in Myanmar just
because it sees China as a threat in the race of global superpower. The
US-Indian trained militants, under the title of Mujahedeen, were infiltrated in
the Rakhine State to wage a war to firstly, create a situation where China is
blocked in its commercial activities and secondly, to persecute already
alienated populace of Rohingya Muslims.
It is a perfect model
to sell to the world via Aung San Suu Kyi-Modi plan that allows the Al Qaeda
terrorists to hit the Myanmar’s national interests and blame the innocent
Muslims for that. It is a replicated model of Syrian, Iraq and Afghan
war. Now all terrorist from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan want to get to
Myanmar, apparently to support Rohingya Muslims but in reality more poor
innocent Muslims would be killed and more saviours from around the world will
reach this emerging war zone to further fuel the fire. It all needs to be
stopped and only Modi and USA can do the favour by pursuing international
forces like NATO forces by replicating Afghan war model.
The US does not seek
“regime change” in Myanmar, it seeks to disrupt Chinese interests, undo Chinese-Myanmar
ties, and if possible, place US military assets on China’s border. This
responsibility will be discharged by PM Modi in close coordination with State
councillor Aung San Suu Kyi. Nobody knows what transpired between PM Modi and
Ms Souchi during emergency trip of PM Modi. The world witnessed more innocent
Muslim killings after this visit of PM Modi.
On behalf of all the
people who are against this decade long Muslim genocide happening in Myanmar,
it is an appeal to the UNO to take notice of this massacre and do not ignore it
like Rwanda /Kashmir and Afghanistan. People from all over the world are
looking forward to have a coupon of justice from the UNO in this case, instead
of criminal negligence. The genocide must be stopped and the Rohingyas be given
their basic rights as respectable citizens of Myanmar.
Myanmar’s roughly 1.1
million Rohingya poses one of the biggest challenges to leader Aung San Suu
Kyi; winner of Nobel Prize, who is accused of failing to support the innocent
Muslim minority by protecting the vested interest of her western and Indian
masters. Myanmar officials accuse the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) of
burning homes but Rohingyas fleeing to Bangladesh say the Myanmar army is
conducting a campaign of arson and killings to drive them out.
Now it is important to
understand several key points regarding the crisis in Myanmar and how the war
is being instigated from external sources; “Rohingya militants” no more
represent the Rohingya people than the Islamic State represents the Sunnis of
Syria and Iraq. These “militants” are admittedly supported and directed from
abroad and do not represent a legitimate “backlash” against anti-Rohingya
violence and. The West and India does not seek “regime change” in Myanmar, it
seeks to disrupt Chinese interests, undo Chinese-Myanmar ties, and if possible,
place International military assets on China’s border.
In Myanmar, Suu Kyi’s
movement, anti-Rohingya violence, and alleged “backlash” all come accompanied
with very obvious and significant foreign-footprints. It is a testament to the
scale and complexity of manipulation the West is still capable of undertaking
and places in jeopardy not only the majority of the people in Myanmar –
Buddhist and Rohingya alike – who wish to live in peace, but the entire region
as the US attempts to continue its pursuit of regional hegemony. Why USA should
be having its policy for South Asia and Pacific Asia as it would be good for
American people to spend money for the welfare of USA rather than showing their
war skills at the cost of Billions of Dollars which can provide many homeless
and Jobless Americans.
It is an appeal to the
world and the UNO to understand the medium of the war and operations mentioned
above. It must be taken into notice that wherever there is trouble in some
region either Al-Qaeda, Daesh or Muslim brotherhood are Omni present. The world
must recognize this grave issue more pragmatically and every one must
contribute to put pressure to block this non stopped genocide of innocent
Muslims.
The article has been
published in ‘The News International‘ on 14 September, 2017
