Abrar Hussain: Rohin-gya militants, whose deadly attacks last year reportedly led to the ruthless Myanmar army crackdown that drove 700,000 refugees into Bangladesh, said it acted to “defend” the Muslim group from persecution.
AFP reports that it is still unclear whether the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) has any broad support after its role in sparking the humanitarian calamity that befell the Rohingya, one million of whom now languish in refugee camps across the border.
In a statement posted on Twitter, the militant group said yesterday it had “the legitimate right” to protect the Rohingya and ensure their “return to our ancestral land with safety and dignity”.
Thousands of Rohingya in Myanmar are estimated to have been killed in the military response to ARSA’s attacks on police posts last August.
Survivors entering Bangladesh’s refugee camps carried harrowing accounts of rape, mass killings and arson by the military and ethnic Rakhine villagers — acts the international community have likened to ethnic cleansing.
The army defended their action, claiming it was ‘proportionate’ to the terrorist threat posed by ARSA, a stance reiterated by Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who blamed the group for the crisis and spoke in praise of the military.
Thousands of Rohingya refugees staged protests in Bangladesh Saturday to mark the anniversary of the military crackdown in Myanmar.
Myanmar also alleges that ARSA massacred scores of Hindu villagers on the same day the military crackdown began, an accusation the militants have “categorically” denied.
But they have claimed responsibility for other attacks, including a January ambush which wounded two police officers and their driver.
¬-Souce: AFP