Govt Spreads Rumors to Spark Violence against Rohingya

Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters

RB News

September 21, 2017

Maungdaw -- Rumors among Rohingya people are ripe that clashes between the Burmese armed forces and the fighters from ARSA Resistance Group would break out in the heart of Maungdaw tonight (Sept 21) or at forthcoming nights.

The Burmese (Myanmar) government has rammed up numbers of troops in the downtown of Maungdaw and surrounding areas since yesterday evening triggering immense fears among the local Muslim Rohingyas.

Our sources have confirmed that the rumors stemmed from the government sources and have started spreading among the Rohingyas since 11:30pm (on Sept 20). The increase in numbers of the troops and the subsequent rumor-mongering are apparently intended to create panic among the remaining local Rohingyas and make them flee from the country.

The sources have further confirmed that the government is misusing some Hindus to make random calls to local Rohingya villagers to make the rumor go viral.

Since August 25, the Myanmar military have launched a scorched-earth operation against the entire Rohingya population under pretext of counter-insurgency operations carrying out mass-killings of over 3,500 Rohingya civilians; forcing nearly 500,000 Refugee exodus into Bangladesh; burning down over 200 Rohingya villages (i.e. 2/3 of Rohingya areas) in Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung Townships.

The UN Secretary General, the UN Human Rights Commissioner, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have unanimously described the plight of Rohingya as 'a Textbook Case of Ethnic Cleansing.'

[Reported by RB Correspondent; Edited by M.S. Anwar]

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