Tensions between Myanmar, Muslim world rising: ICG

Brussels-based think-tank International Crisis Group has said that tensions between Myanmar and the Muslim world — including Malaysia and Bangladesh — are rising following Myanmar military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state since October 9.
In a post on its website on December 15, the think-tank said that Myanmar military employed disproportionate force and failed to adequately distinguish attackers from civilians.
It said that Myanmar state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi had said little publicly on the situation and had not travelled to the area or criticised the crackdown. 
‘The state media she controls have issued blanket denials of abuses, risking reinforcing the impunity of troops on the ground,’ it said. 
The group, however, blamed hardly known Rohingya-backed outfit Harakah al-Yaqin for the attacks on Myanmar’s three border police bases in Rakhine state on October 9.
This new armed group is overseen by a committee of ‘Rohingya émigrés’ based in Makkah in Saudi Arabia, the thin-tank said.
‘The current heavy-handed security response is very unlikely to dislodge al-Yaqin; rather, it is creating further despair and animosity among the population, which may further entrench violence,’ it said.
A security official in Dhaka who works on insurgency issue told New Age that they had learnt about a small group of Myanmar-based extremist outfit backed by displaced Rohingyas of 1990s. 
The official said that a section of Rohingya extremists in Myanmar was also involved in robbery of 11 rifles and 700 bullets on May 13, resulting into the death of an Ansar member in bordering Tekhnaf camp.
International Crisis Group also said that the main speaker in several videos released by Harakah al-Yaqin was identified as Ata Ullah, known by several aliases.
It said that Ata Ullah was born in Karachi in Pakistan to a Rohingya father and grew up in Makkah.
‘We found involvement of Rohingya in the attack on Ansar camp, but we are not sure about him [Ata Ullah],’ said inspector (investigation) Md Ashrafuzzaman , who is investigating the case relating to the attack. At least seven people were arrested in the case, he said.
A Rohingya source in Pakistan, however, told news agency AFP that Ata Ullah was ‘being funded by Abu Salman, head of the Rohingya community in Saudi Arabia.’
A Border Guard Bangladesh official said that they were aware of extremists’ regrouping in the other side of Bangladesh border but necessary steps had been taken.
At least 1,500 homes have been burned down — almost certainly by the military, according to satellite analysis released by Human Rights Watch on December 13. 
Some 30,000 have been internally displaced and 27,000 have so far sought refuge in Bangladesh, Crisis Group said.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net