Burmese Police Stages Interview with Rohingya Cleric after Landmine Explosion
RB News
September 23,
2017
Buthidaung -- The Burmese (Myanmar) Border Guard Police
(BGP) staged an interview with a Rohingya cleric in northern Buthidaung on
Friday (Sept 22) afternoon after a landmine explosion occurred in the premise
of the 'Fir Saab' Islamic Religious Institution in the morning.
The interview –
with an influential cleric named 'Mv Qutub Uddin' conducted by the BGP
themselves and posted on the Facebook page of the Office of the Burmese Army
Commander In-Chief -- looks fake, forced and pre-decided in which the BGP had
him blame ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) for the landmine plantation and
attempting to destabilize the region.
Regarding the
staged video interview with the cleric, a villager commented "the
religious leader was one of the villagers who fled from the village to escape
from mass-killings by the Burmese military. He was forcibly brought back to the
village by the BGP for the video interview because he's an influential
religious person. Even you can feel when you watch the video carefully that he
was feeling uncomfortable; and being forced and directed on what he had to say."
Locals believe that the Burmese army have planted the anti-personnel landmine which exploded accidentally.
"The Burmese
soldiers have encamped at the religious institution site twice. One infantry
unit numbering around 30 troops used the building for 1 week from August 29 and
another did for 4 days from September 10", said a local villager to RB
News.
Another villager
said "the Burmese military summoned some villagers from neighbouring
villages for a meeting at the religious site on September 19. That is a
2-storey building. Some military held the meeting with the villagers at the 1st
floor and some other remained at the ground floor. I suspect they planted the
landmine meanwhile. No armed groups have come or done any activities
here."
Nobody was
injured or killed in the landmine explosion yesterday morning. We reported
briefly about the landmine explosion on twitter at around 12:30pm (Myanmar
Time) on Friday and later it was reported by the (Myanmar State Counsellor)
Information Committee and the Office of the Burmese Army Commander In-Chief by
shifting the blame on ARSA.
A human rights
activist based in Maungdaw said "when you have explosive materials, it's
not difficult to make landmines. So, that is even easier for the Burmese
soldiers to make. So, shifting the blame on ARSA just on the basis that the
landmines were hand-made is pretty amateurish. This could be another attempt by
the Burmese military to target civilians and their properties in the name of
operations against ARSA.
"Besides, I
don't see any reason why ARSA, who are Muslims, would plant landmine inside the
premise of an Islamic Religious Institution. The whole incident seems conspired."
Amnesty
International and CNN News have reported about targeted plantation of anti-personnel
landmines by the Burmese military amidst Rohingya areas in northern Arakan.
Amnesty
International: Myanmar Army landmines along border with Bangladesh pose deadly threat to fleeing Rohingya
[Reported by RB
Correspondent in Buthidaung; Edited by M.S. Anwar]
Please email to: editor@rohingyablogger.com to send
your reports and feedback.
