Ten Arrested in Southern Maungdaw for Alleged Rebel Links

RB News

July 8, 2017

Maungdaw -- Sources say at least ten Rohingya civilians have been arrested in Southern Maungdaw for alleged links to rebels fighting against the Myanmar military in the country's western Rakhine state.

The military and Border Guard Police (BGP) jointly conducted raids on the village of Nurullah in Southern Maungdaw around 4:00am today (July 8) arresting at least 25 people and of whom, 15 were released later.

"They were accused to have connections with Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a rebel group operating in the region since last year. But the locals firmly believe that they are innocent people", said a human rights activist based in Maungdaw.

The victims arrested are:

1) Hafiz Idiris (27), s/o Hafiz Amanullah

2) Hafiz Abdul Hoque

3) Shah Alam s/o Iqbal

4) Yunose (School Teacher from Ye Bone Pyin, Padin village tract)

5) Jahangir (18), s/o Baser

6) Kifayat Ullah

7) Hafiz Nayeem

8) Hussain

9) Yahya Khan

10) And one more.

The victims are now said to have been transferred to and detained in the camp of the Border Guard Police Regional Command 9 in southern Maungdaw. 

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, earlier called Harakatul Yakeen or the Faith Movement, launched post midnight attacks on the Border Guard Police (BGP) Headquarter killing nine policemen, in October 2016. [The BGP has been responsible for wide and systematic abuses of the Rohingyas since it was formed and replaced its predecessor, NaSaKa (the former Border Security Force), in 2013.]

Since then, the joint forces of the military and the Border Guard Police have killed hundreds of people and raped women en masse, destroyed or partially destroyed at least 40 villages displacing more than 70,000 people and forcing at least 65,000 people to flee to Bangladesh as refugees. The human rights groups worldwide have widely condemned the atrocity crimes as a collective punishment on the civilians under the disguise of 'Region Clearance Operation.'

[MT Myo Naing Reports; Edited by M.S. Anwar]

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