reviving the

courageous
hearts
 reviving the courageous hearts
______________________________________________________
a report by arakan rohingya salvation army

1
describing history of rohingya genocide, their resistance movements
and emergence of arsa (ref no: arsa/rp/01/2019)
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5

1.0. BRIEF HISTORY OF ARAKAN 6

2.0. PRECURSOR TO ROHINGYA GENOCIDE 9

• 2.1. Arakan under the Great Britain: 1942 Massacre of Arakanese 10

Muslims and Aftermaths
• 2.2. Burma after Independence: Beginning of Rohingya Genocide 12
• 2.3. 1978 Exodus: “Operation Dragon King” 13
• 2.4. 1991 Refugee Exodus: Operation Pyi Thayar 15
• 2.5. 1993 Refugee Repatriation-Rohingya Post 15

3.0. BRIEF HISTORY: ROHINGYA ARMED RESISTANCES AGAINST 17

BURMESE TYRANTS

4.0. FINAL STAGES OF GENOCIDE 21

• 4.1. Political Transition in Burma: Preludes to 2012 Violence 22

• 4.2. The 2012 Violence 22

5.0. ROHINGYA RESISTANCES IN RESPONSE TO 2012 VIOLENCE 25

• 5.1. Rohingya Resistances and the 2016 Violence 26

• 5.2. Pre-planned in 2017: Largest Violence since 1942 28

6.0. BACKGROUND: COMMANDER – IN –CHIEF OF ARSA 31

7.0. ROHINGYA IN ARAKAN: BEFORE AND AFTER ARSA 35

• 7.1. Fighting Human Trafficking 36

• 7.2. Curbing Illicit Drug Trades 38
• 7.3. Containing Dowry Syndrome 39
• 7.4. Child Abuse 41

8.0. FUTURE ASPECT 43

• 8.1. Final Notes 44

3
BIBLIOGRAPHY/REFERENCE LIST 46

ANNEX I 49

ANNEX II 50

ANNEX III 51

ANNEX IX 56

ANNEX V 59

ANNEX VI 60

ANNEX VII 63

ANNEX VIII 67

4
 executive summary

The slow-burningExecutive Summary

or hidden Genocide of Rohingya is no longer hidden from the world. It has been well
planned and executed by the successive governments or military regimes of Burma, now called Myanmar, as
a matter of State’s Policy. The study of Rohingya existence and eradication of their population from their
ancestral homeland clearly indicate the Genocidal Intent of the Terror State, Burma.

The Genocidal process had begun well before the 1942 Rohingya massacre, led by Buddhist monks and
Burma and Rakhine ultranationalist leaders who titled themselves as Thakin (Master), resulting in deaths of
hundreds of thousands of (Rohingya) women, children and men. The Burmese governments have carefully
crafted the genocidal process by inciting fear, spreading hate propaganda, institutionalising discriminations,
means of dehumanisation and committing waves of mass killing and forced expulsion of Rohingya People.
The Burmese Terrorist Army Chief, Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, admitted on 1st September 2017 that
Rohingya is an unfinished business from WWII, once again indicating their Genocidal Intent.

Over the last seven decades, various groups of Rohingyas’ resistance movements, both armed and unarmed,
started in response to the Burmese Genocidal government’s atrocities against their people, and to defend their
lives and properties. Some groups have even laid down arms in good faith based on the government’s promis-
es to restore the legitimate rights of Rohingya people. All the promises were later bluntly denied by the
successive terrorist regimes and rather, they continued to gradually destroy the Rohingya people as a whole.

Along the struggles for freedom from persecutions and survival for their existence, the Rohingya people have
always shown their desire to achieve their goals in peaceful manner. In doing so, they have mostly sought the
help of international community and taken part in the Burmese political process, whenever opportunities
were presented. Especially, contributions of the Rohingya Politicians during Parliamentary Democracy
during PM U Nu’s time, in 1990 and 2010 elections were significant. However, during 2015 election,
Rohingya’s were wilfully denied participation in the election process.

Came in 2012, the Burmese terrorist government led by the tyrant former President Thein Sein orchestrated
one of the worst ever genocidal violence in the history of Rohingya. As the existence and human rights of the
Rohingya people were not protected in the country, as a last resort, (ARSA) stood up against the Burmese
genocidal tyrants in response to the genocidal violence. ARSA will continue its resistance to defend the
people from the genocidal military in line with the right to self-defence under International Law; and until all
the legitimate rights of the Rohingya people and their native ethnic status are restored in Burma.

5
0.1. brief history of arakan
Arakan (now changed to Rakhine state officially) is an occupied state of modern-day Myanmar located in
the western coastal side of the country. Like other ethnic groups of people living in the state, Rohingya is
indigenous to the land of Arakan. Their forefathers have settled in Arakan since peopling began in the region.
They have genealogical link to with the Hindu and Mahayana Buddhist people of ancient Arakan kingdoms,
under (South Asian) Chandra dynasties, of Dhanyavadi and Vaishali (or Vesali/Wesali) periods. They belong
to Indo-Aryan linguistic group of people of the Indian subcontinent speaking an Indo-European language and
hence, are genetically closely related with the sub-continental people.

“The Burmese do not seem to have settled in Arakan until possibly as late as the tenth century A.D. Hence,
earlier dynasties are thought to have been Indian, ruling over a population similar to that of Bengal. All the
capitals known to history have been in the north near modern Akyab.”1 (Hall, 1968, p. 389) (*Burmese here
is inclusive of Rakhines.)

Forefathers of existing South Asian population of Arakan or modern day Rohingya people professing Hindu-
ism, (Mahayana) Buddhism and Animism (at the time) ‘came into contact with Islam through Arab traders
around 8th century A.D.’2 (Abdurrahim, 1963, p. 37) and majority of them accepted the faith of Islam after-
wards. Over the time, the existing local South Asian (or Indian) population (accepting the faith of Islam) have
mixed with Arabs, Persians and people from other parts of the world arriving in Arakan for trade, commerce
and other purposes; and settling there. However, the Rohingya people still overwhelmingly carry South Asian
(or Indian) ancestry.

The forefathers of the people known as Rakhine ethnic group — a branch of Burman (Burmese) race accord-
ing to the late renown Burmese Historian Dr. Than Tun4 — were the last significant group to have entered
Arakan through a Mongolian invasion around 957 A.D.5 and therefore, ending existing Indian Chandra
dynasty of Wesali (Collis and Bu, 1925, p. 486) and destabilizing existing local population. That led to a
rapid and momentous political and cultural revolution in Arakan during (early) 10th century A.D. (U Aye
Chan, 1975-1976) and creating a new ethnic population now known as Rakhine who are closer to the Burman
(Burmese) with an ethnic admixture of original south Asian inhabitants of Arakan.

In 1406, Burmese forces from the kingdom of Ava invaded the Launggret, a Rakhine kingdom during the
Lemro period of ancient Arakan, and deposed its King Min Saw Mon (alias Narameikh Hla). The king fled
to Gaur, the capital of neighboring Bengal, for asylum. After 24 years in exile, in 1430, with the help of
Bengal sultanate, King Min Saw Mon ascended back to his throne and carried a Muslim title name as King
Suleiman Shan. As such, the golden era in the history of Arakan, Mrauk-U (Patthar Killa) Kingdom, began.6
(Topich, William J. & Leitich Keith A., 2013, p. 29)

______________________________________________________
1. Hall, D.G.E. (Daniel George Edward), 1968, A history of South East Asia, 3rd Edition, London: Macmillan, London and New
York: St. Martin Press
2. Abdurrahim, M., 1963, Social and Cultural History of Bengal, Vol. 1, Karachi
3. Dr. Than Tun, 2004, 80th Birthday Bulletin, Open Letter to Than Tun, Rakhine Thahaya magazine, Yangon
5. Collis, M (Morris) and Bu, S.S. (San Shwe), 1925, Arakan’s Place in the Civilization of the Bay, Journal of the Burma Research
Society 15
6. U Aye Chan, 1975-1976, Assessment of Rakhine History, Rakhine Tasaung Magazine, Rangoon
Topich, William J. & Leitich Keith A., 2013, The History of Myanmar, Greenwood: An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, Santa Barbara,
California

7
Though King Min Saw Mon and other successive kings were Rakhine (Theraveda) Buddhists, they all carried
Muslim title names, the Persian language was adopted as the official language and Coins bearing the Kalimah
(the Islamic confession of Faith, See Annex: I ) were used officially as a part of the pre-conditions by the
Sultan of Bengal. Rohingya Muslims played key roles not only in the Administrations, the hybrid Bud-
dhist-Islamic Courts, the Army but also in the Trade and Commerce. Therefore, both Rohingya Muslims and
Rakhine Buddhists peacefully co-existed side by side until the Burmese King Bodaw violently invaded
Arakan, expelled its people towards Bengal and incorporated it with Burma proper in 1784.

After the first Anglo-Burmese war from 1824 from 1826, the British forces annexed and occupied Arakan
and put it under their administrations. After waging three wars with Burmese, the British finally took control
of whole Burma in 1884. When the British was giving independence to Burma, they made Arakan a part of
the Union of Burma and handed over the faith of its people, —Rohingya, Rakhine and others— in the hands
of cruel Burmese ultranationalists.

Come today, the Burmese terrorist military and government are on the course of destruction of the Rohingya
as a whole and committing Genocide. Burmese want to own their homeland but disown them.

8
2.0. precursor to rohingya
genocide

Rohingya children stand outside shelters at Nayapara refugee camp in 1993. © UNHCR/Caroline Gluck
2.1. Arakan under the Great Britain: 1942 Massacre of Arakanese Muslims
and Aftermaths
On 1 September 2017, Myanmar army Chief Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said it was an unfinished business
from World War II making reference to the 1942 violence during WWII in which Burmese ultranationalists
and Rakhine extremist colluded to destroy the population of Arakanese Muslims such as Rohingyas, Kamans
and others; and thereby, clearly revealing Burmese intent to destroy the Rohingya population.

When the Japanese advanced into Arakan in 1942, (Rakhine) Buddhists instigated cruel measures against the
Muslim population. Thousands of Muslims (their exact number is unknown) were expelled from regions
under Japanese rule in which Buddhists constituted a majority. The Muslims fled to eastern Bengal, to North
Arakan, seeking refuge in territories under British military rule. As they fled, many were killed or died of star-
vation. For their part, Muslims conducted retaliatory raids from British controlled territories where they
were the majority, particularly in the vicinity of Maungdaw.7 (Yegar, 2002, p.33)

From early 1930s throughout 1939, members of a nationalist body of young Burmese middle class and
University Students called Dou-bama Asi-ayoun (Our Burma Association who titled themselves as Thakins
(Masters) took a prominent role in a wave of serious anti-Indian rioting in Rangoon and other parts of
Burma.8 (Baylyn and Harper, 2005, p.9) In the violent riots targeting both Hindus and Muslims of Indian
origin, hundreds of people were killed. Eventually, during Second World War, 500,000 Indians were chased
out of the country by the elements of Thakin movement and young nationalists of Burma Independence
Army.9 (Smith, 1997, p.101)

The anti-Indian hate quickly turned into anti-Muslim hate due to the fact that most of the Muslims in Burma
were of Indian descends and the violence quickly spread to the Arakan state, the native of Rohingyas or
Arakanese Muslims, from Burma proper through the Rakhine Thakin ultranationalists. This anti-Indian
hatred turning into Anti-Muslim hatred was compounded by the unfolding Japan-British War. In the war,
local Rohingya Muslims sided with British forces; and Burmese and Rakhine Buddhists sided with the Japa-
nese forces invading the country upon invitations by the Burmese Thakins. It created hostility for Rohingya
Muslims in Arakan State and they became a common target of Burmese and Rakhine ultranationalists.10
(Jilani, 1999, p.131)

As the British forces withdrew from Burma or Arakan in early 1942, an administrative vacuum was created
and later, administrative authorities reached to the hand of a Rakhine ultranationalist U Kyaw Khine and
others.

______________________________________________________
7. Yegar, M, 2002, Between Integration and Secession: The Muslim Communities of Southern Philippines, southern Thailand and
Western Burma/Myanmar, Lexington Books
8. Baylyn, C and Harper T, 2005, Forgotten Armies: The Fall of British Asia, 1941-1945, The Belknap Press of Harvard University
Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts
9.Smith, M, 1997, Burma: The Challenge of Change in a Divided Society, Macmillan Press Ltd in Association with ST Antony’s
College, Oxford
10. Jilani A, 1999, The Rohingyas of Arakan: Their Quest for Justice, 1st Edition, Taj Library

10
In effect, the Rakhine ultranationalists and extremists easily got control of the arsenal and weapons left
behind by the British forces. Taking advantage of the situation, the Burmese and Rakhine Thakins colluded
against Arakanese Muslims (Rohingyas and others) and began massacring them in order to eradicate them.
The violence considered as the worst ever in the history of the local Arakanese Muslims started on March 28,

1942, from Chanbilli and Lambaissor villages in Min Bya Township and later spread throughout Arakan. It
killed more than 100,000 Rohingyas, according to the local Muslim accounts, and forcing thousands of them
from the South of Arakan to the North and the East Bengal and hence, permanently creating clear demograph-
ic divides in Arakan as Muslim Majority north and Buddhist Majority South. Thereafter, from 1942 to 1945,
Rohingya took control of Maungdaw, Buthidaung and part of Rathedaung; and ruled the regions under an
administration called Peace Committee.11 (Jilani A, 1999, p.134)

In May 1942, the British established Voluntary Force known as V-force, a reconnaissance, intelligence-gath-
ering and guerrilla organization, against Japanese forces during the Burma Campaign in World War II. The
Rohingyas were recruited as members of the V Force (See the Logo in Annex II) as the British prepared to
re-conquest Burma. The Rohingya proved to be very loyal to the British army and with their help playing a
very crucial role, the British eventually took over Arakan again and then, whole Burma. Regarding Rohing-
ya's loyalty and generosity, British Army Captain Anthony Irwin in his Burmese Outposts wrote:

“Yet they (Arakanese Muslims) have come back with us and fought, and died with and for us. I sometimes
wonder any other people in like circumstances can tell the same of story of loyalty and patience as can these
Mussulmen Arakanese.”12 (Irwin, 1945, p.23)

“They are living in a hostile country and have been for hundreds of years and yet they survive. They are
perhaps to be compared with the Jews. A nation within a nation, the apple tree hating growth of mistletoe, but
not being able to destroy it. They are stoic to a degree. No amount of bullying will make them talk against
their will. Bully them and they will shut up like clams. Be kind to them and treat them as human beings and
they will prove loyal and immensely hospitable.”13 (Irwin, 1945 p.25)

When the British retook over Burma, the Rohingya, for their part, also handed over the administration of
Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Part of Rathedaung under Peace Committee to the British in 1945. In return for
their loyalty and generous help towards the British, according to the local Rohingyas, the British was said to
have promised them to make the (Mayu) region autonomous for them.

______________________________________________________
11. Jilani A, 1999, The Rohingyas of Arakan: Their Quest for Justice, 1st Edition, Taj Library
12. rwin, A, 1945, Burmese Outpost, Collins
13. Ibid.

11
2.2. Burma after Independence: Beginning of Rohingya Genocide
Burma achieved independence from Great Britain in January 1948. Rohingya was not given any autonomous
region but their destiny was left in the hands of hostile and cruel Burmese and Rakhine ultranationalists.

Shortly after independence, the Burma Territorial Force (BTF), levies (auxiliary force) originally established
in 1945 under Burma Police Act14 (Myoe, 2009, p.76) composed of hostile Burmese and Rakhine Buddhists,
began indiscriminately killing Rohingya people, raping their women and burning their villages to ashes. The
old Rohingya folks still alive today tremble hearing the name of the BTF. Such was the degree of terror and
pains caused by the BTF to the Rohingya population. The violence by the BTF and other Burmese forces
continued throughout early 1950s and expelled 250,000 Rohingyas to the neighboring East Bengal, the then
east Pakistan, in 1951.15 (Times of London, 1951) In an open letter to the Leaders of the Burmese govern-
ment, Arakan Muslim Conference for the first time described their violence and atrocities crimes against the
Rohingya Muslims as GENOCIDE in 1951.16 (Arakan Muslim Conference, June 1951) (See Annex III)

Rohingya Muslims of Arakan, due to the political exclusion and getting subjected to the extreme measures of
cruelties during and after Burma Independence, put up armed resistance to the BTF and other Burmese
forces. The resistance movement was led by a young Rohingya singer Jafar Hussain popularly known as
Jafar Kawwal from Buthidaung Township known to outsiders as Mujahid rebels and to the locals as Furuki-
ya. In a short span of time, they pretty much took control of Maungdaw, Buthidaung and parts of Rathedaung.

The resistance group split into various factions later onward but their resistance continued throughout 1968.17
(Jilani A, 1999, p.168) In 1961, a major Mujahid rebel group led by Robiullah chose to lay down their arms
before the Burmese government as they promised them to fulfill all their demands for ethnic rights, political
rights and other human rights. Brigadier General Aung Gyi, a member of General Ne Win’s 4th Burma Rifles
rising up to Brigadier General, Vice Chief of Staffs, and number two in the Union Revolutionary Council led
by General Ne Win’s 1962 military coup18 (Ullah, 2016), during his speech on the eve of the ceremony to
honor the surrendering Mujahid rebels, said “we categorically recognize Rohingya as Ethnic minority.”19
(Khet Yay Magazine, 1961, p.25 and p.26)

However, soon after Dictator Gen. Ne Win seized power from Prime Minister U Nu through a coup d’état in
1962, he nationalized the economy and confiscated most of the properties and businesses of Burmese Indians.
He ordered large-scale expulsion of the Burmese Indians from the country numbering approximately
300,000. Along with that, the situation of the ethnic Rohingya Muslims became worse than ever. General
New Win planned out details and established the roadmap to destroy the Rohingya people as a whole. During
his time, he carried out operation after an operation targeting the Rohingya population.
______________________________________________________
14. Aung Myoe, M, 2009, Building the Tatmadaw: Major Armed Forces Since 1948, Institute of South East Asian Studies, Singa-
pore
15. Times of London Correspondent, 1951, Muslim Refugees in East Bengal, Times of London, Karachi, 26 December
16. Arakan Muslim Conference, 1951, STOP GENOCIDE of Muslims Who Alone Stand In-Between “COMMUNISM” and
“DEMOCRACY” IN ARAKAN, Open Letter to the Burmese Government and the Democracy, Alethankyaw District Akyab Arakan
Burma, June 1951
17. Jilani A, 1999, The Rohingyas of Arakan: Their Quest for Justice, 1st Edition, Taj Library
18. Ullah, A, 2016, Brigadier General Aung Gyi and Rohingya Ethnic, Rohingya Vision TV, 30 May. URL: http://www.rvi-
siontv.com/brigadier-general-aung-gyi-and-rohingya-ethnic/
19. Khet Yay Magazine, 1961, Speech by Brigadier General Aung Gyi at Mujahid Rebels Surrender Ceremony, Mayu Special Issue,
Ministry of Defence, Union of Burma, 4 July

12
One of the worst operations carried out against the Rohingya under the dictatorship of General Ne Win was
Naga Min (Dragon King) Operation in 1978. For the second time in the history of Rohingya, the RPF
(Rohingya Patriotic Front) in its compendium described the atrocity crimes against Rohingya as GENO-
CIDE.20 (RPF, 1978)

2.3. 1978 Exodus: “Operation Dragon King”

The Naga Min (Dragon King) operation was carried out by the Burmese immigration and military authorities
in 1978 to expel the Rohingyas from the country with a false motive of national effort to register citizens and
screen out foreigners prior to a national census.21 (Elahi, 1987, p.231) Operation King-Dragon marked the
military’s first organized attempt to discredit the Rohingya as Indigenous native people to Arakan, Burma.

By May 1978, more than 200,000 Rohingya had to flee towards Bangladesh and this is reportedly in record
that the Burmese Military had forcibly expelled them with widespread Army brutality; execution, rape and
approximately Rohingya were thrown to detention, etc.22 (Smith, 1991, p.241) An estimated 10,000 Rohing-
ya died in Bangladesh refugee camps between May to December of 1978, through starvation and malnutri-
tion.

Followed by the agreement made between the governments of Burma and Bangladesh through the mediation
of United Nations, in which Burma recognized the Rohingya as LAWFUL RESIDENTS (of Union of
Burma).23 (Repatriation Agreement, 1978) (See Annex IV). Rohingya refugees began to return home. In the
early months of the repatriation, only few refugees went back, but the number of returnees increased when
the Bangladesh government made the camp conditions unliveable and reduced Food Rations.24 (Smith, 1991,
p.241) And within the year, more than half of the Rohingya voluntarily returned to Burma.

Historians characterize Operation Dragon King as a prelude to the 1982 Citizenship law. The contentious law
established a list of ethnic groups eligible for citizenship. The law excluded the Rohingya, left them without
access to public services and limited their freedom of movement (including their livelihood).25 (Reid, 1994,
p. 13-14) The late ultranationalist Rakhine historian Dr. Aye Kyaw, made it unequivocally clear, the 1982
Law was primarily intended to exclude Rohingyas from Citizenship eligibility by requiring the non-existent
documentation to prove their residency before the first Anglo-Burmese War.26 (Aye Kyaw, 2012)

______________________________________________________
20. RPF (Rohingya Patriotic Front), 1978, Genocide in Burma against The Muslims of Arakan, Rohingya Patriotic Front, Arakan
(Burma)
21. Elahin, K Mahmoud, 1987, The Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh: Historical Perspectives and Consequences," In John Rogge
(ed.), Refugees: A Third World Dilemma, (New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield)
22. Smith, M. (Martin) , 1991, Burma: Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity, London and New Jersey: Zed Books
23. Repatriation Agreement between the Government of Burma and the Government of Bangladesh, 1978
24. Smith, M. (Martin) , 1991, Burma: Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity, (London and New Jersey: Zed Books)
25. Reid, T (Tony), 1994, Repatriation of Arakanese Muslims from Bangladesh to Burma: 1978-79 [Arranged Reversal of the Flow
of an Ethnic Minority," Paper presented to the 4th International Research and Advisory Panel Conference,] University of Oxford,
January
26. gggAye Kyaw, 2012, Burmese Language Interview to Irrawaddy News Magazine. [The late Aye Kyaw was a Monash Universi-
ty-trained Rakhine historian, who served on the Citizenship Drafting Committee established by ex-General Ne Win, the then
despot. He emphatically stated that the new Citizenship Act was aimed specifically at de-nationalizing and disenfranchising
Rohingyas, whom he considered the British colonial-era agricultural “coolies” from Chittagong, East Bengal.] http://www.-
mei.edu/publications/waves-genocidal-terror-against-rohingyas-myanmar-and-resultant-exodus-1978#_edn14
13
"1978 Refugee Exodus after King

Dragon Operation (Credit:

UNHCR/B. Gymsembergh)
2.4. 1991 Refugee Exodus: Operation Pyi Thayar

Operation Pyi Thayar [Operation Delightful Nation] was a Military operation conducted by the Myanmar
Armed Forces in Northern Arakan that took place between 1991 and 1992.27 (Hodal, 2012) The flow of
Rohingya exodus from Arakan to Bangladesh started in 1991 and 1992, when more than 250,000 Rohingya
had to flee themselves from unlawful killing, enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrest, forced labor, religious
persecution, rape and sexual violence at the hands of the Burmese army and the flow continued till the end of
1990s.28 (HRW, 1993) (Lambrecht, 1995)

Later, with the assistance of UNHCR and non-governmental relief agencies, the government of Bangladesh
sheltered the refugees in nineteen camps located at Cox's Bazar in the country. The Rohingya repatriation
started in September 1992, which was disrupted by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and other Humanitarian
Organizations for the previous reports of forced repatriation.29 (HRW, 1993)

Then in December 1992, UNHCR agreed a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Bangla-
deshi government and in May 1993 began to interview refugees individually in order to ensure that the Ban-
gladeshi authorities were respecting the principle of voluntariness. But due to the survey that revealed that
less than 30% Rohingya wanted to repatriate, so, the process was delayed till July 1994.30 (HRW, 1993)
However, in the time span of 1993 -1997, nearly 230,000 refugees returned to home. Then in 1997, the Ban-
gladeshi authorities sought to return as many refugees as possible before the deadline, where they forcibly
repatriated more than three hundreds of Rohingya across the Naf River into Burma.31 (AI, 1997) Since then,
till today, more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees have been living as undocumented refugees in Bangladesh.

2.5. Rohingya Post 1992-1993 Refugee Repatriation

Nevertheless, even after the return of many Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh following the repatriation
agreement, the persecutions and atrocities against the Rohingya people in Arakan have continued. In early
1990s, the Burmese junta created a new armed force called Nasaka, a border guard force, specially designed
to target the Rohingya population. The Rohingya people were persecuted more than ever under that oppres-
sive apparatus, Nasaka. Till its abolishment in July 201332 (Aurther, 2013) and replacement with Border
Guard Police (BGP) later, Nasaka carried out countless atrocities and crimes of Genocide against the Rohing-
ya
______________________________________________________
27. Hodal. K (Kate), (20 December) 2012, "Trapped inside Burma's refugee camps, the Rohingya people call for recognition", The
Guardian. [Retrieved 25 September 2017]. URL: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/dec/20/burma-rohing-
ya-muslim-refugee-camps
28. (a) HRW (Human Rights Watch), (Oct 9) 1993, "Bangladesh: Abuse of Burmese Refugees from Arakan," Vol. 5, No. 17. (b) Curt
Lambrecht. C (Curt), (March 1995), The Return of the Rohingya Refugees to Burma: Voluntary Repatriation or Refoulement?,
(Washington, DC: US Committee for Refugees), March 1995. For a discussion of the repatriation from 1992 to 1995
29. HRW (Human Rights Watch), (Oct 9) 1993, "Bangladesh: Abuse of Burmese Refugees from Arakan," Vol. 5, No. 17 https://ww-
w.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/BANGLADE93O.PDF
30. Ibid.
31. AI (Amnesty International), Sept 1997, MYANMAR/BANGLADESH: ROHINGYAS - The Search for Safety, (London), p. 4.
https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/160000/asa130071997en.pdf
32. Aurther, M, 2013, Sudden Abolishment of NaSaKa Institution and its Aftermaths, Rohingya Blogger, 12 July http://www.ro-
hingyablogger.com/2013/07/the-sudden-abolishment-of-nasaka.

15
 Rohingya Women Rounded Up

by Burmese Military and

Immigration Officials. Credit:

SCRIBD - Maung Zarni

people: right from marriage restrictions, population control, travel restrictions, tortures, arbitrary arrests and
unlawful detentions, rapes of women, extrajudicial killings, forced labors to money extortions, including
taxing on animals and plants belong to Rohingyas.

In 1994, as the members of RSO (Rohingya Solidarity Organization) rebelled against Burmese (Myanmar)
armed forces especially in the vicinity of Maungdaw and Buthidaung, the Burmese forces rather chose to go
after unarmed Rohingya civilians: killed them indiscriminately, tortured them and subjected them to enforced
disappearances, instead of going after RSO members. The Burmese forces subjected the Rohingya villagers
to forced labors and arbitrary arrests and unlawful detentions.

In Akyab (Sittwe) in February in 2001, some Rakhine miscreants attacked local Rohingya residents and the
Burmese junta backed the extremists. Dozens of Rohingyas were killed and many of their properties were
destroyed. The persecutions and atrocity crimes against Rohingyas continued, in covert or overt form, until
the violence in June 2012 considered to be the beginning of the full-fledged Genocide.

Rohingya after Fleeing Killings

in Burma during Operation Pyi

Thayar in 1991 (Credit: Edith

Mirante/Project Maje)

16
3.0. brief history: rohingya
armed resistances
against burmese tyrants

Mohammed Jafar Habib alias BA Jafar, the Father of modern Rohingya armed revolutionary movements
Being put to serious task of maintaining their existence since Burmese independence, the Rohingyas were
compelled to put up resistances to the brutal Burmese. As such, their human rights and existence were (are)
not protected by laws in Burma (Myanmar), the Rohingya people have sporadically chosen to rebel against
the Burmese tyrants as endorsed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights whereas it is essential, if man
is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that
human rights should be protected by the rule of law.

Post 2000 CE, almost all Rohingya armed resistance movements that operated along International border
chose a different paths of struggles for freedom, ethnic rights and other human rights of Rohingya, while
some remnants of RSO were declared defunct. Armed resistance movement leaders such as Mr. Nurul Islam,
Dr. Mohamed Yunus, Prof. Mohamed Zakaria and others embraced non-armed political movements and
activism especially in the western countries. Though their concerted efforts through activism and political
lobbyism created some awareness of the decades-long sufferings of Rohingya around the world, which is
laudable, nothing has really improved when it came to the plight of the Rohingya people back at home. Call
it inaction or failure by the United Nations or other powerful international bodies, the condition of Rohingya
was rather getting worse at home.

The Burmese oppressive and genocidal apparatus such as NaSaKa, Police, Hlon Hteinn (paramilitary force)
and Military Intelligence (MI) [abolished in Oct 2004 and later replaced with Sayapha (Military Intelligence
Service)] have been silently and yet effectively destroying the very existence of Rohingya. They carried out
all sorts of cruelties and oppressions against the Rohingya: from imposing restrictions on freedom of educa-
tion, movement, worship, expression; restrictions on livelihoods; restrictions on marriages; imposing popula-
tion control measures; and committing arbitrary arrests, unlawful detentions, money extortions, forced
labors, enforced disappearances, tortures to sometimes extrajudicial killings. In short, the Burmese armed
apparatuses unleashed reigns of terror and continued to commit most of the elements of Genocide against the
Rohingya population between the period of 2000 and 2012. Thousands of Rohingyas have fled their home-
land to escape from atrocities.

Some of the known armed revolutionery/resistance groups of the Rohingyas against the Burmese tyranny
since Independence of Burma are as follows:33

______________________________________________________
33. Jilani A, 1999, The Rohingyas of Arakan: Their Quest for Justice, 1st Edition, Taj Library

18
 A major faction led by
Robiullah surrendered
Mujahid party before the Burmese
founded by Jafar In later years, it split army in 1961 and
Hussain alias Jafar into many factions other small factions
Kawwal (1948-1949 continued their
resistance throughout
1968

Mr. Nurul Islam &

Rohingya Dr. Mohamed
Dr. Yunus
Independence Mr. Nurul Islam Yunus joined RPF
RIF name prepared to leave
Force (RIF) joined RPF in in 1975.
changed into RPF in Aug in
[formed in 1964, 1974. RPF leadership
Rohingya Patriotic 1978.
led by Master RPF leadership restructured
Front (RPF) [in RPF leadership
Sultan & restructured & again & led by
1973, led by B.A. rearranged: B.A.
Mohammed Jafar led by B.A. Jafar B.A. Jafar, Mr.
Jafar & Shuna Ali Jafar, Shabbir
Habib alias B.A. & Mr. Nurul Islam Nurul Islam & Dr.
Jafar Hussain &
Mohamed Yunus
Mostafa Jabbar

RPF divided into

two in July 1982

RPF
RPF
led by Shabbir
led by B.A. Jafar
Hussain

19
 Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) formed in 1982. Led
by Mv Saiful Islam, Dr. Mohammed Yunus & Mr. Nurul Islam

RSO divided into two factions in 1986

RSO temporarily
led by Mv. Saiful RSO led by Mr.
Islam and then, Nurul Islam
Dr. Yunus

RSO led by Dr. Yunus divided into factions in 1995

RSO led by Dr. Yunus RSO led by Prof.

Mohammed Zakaria

RPF led by Mr. Arakan

Shabbir Hussain Rohingya ARIF, RSO (Dr. Arakan Post 2000, ARNO
& Islamic Front Yunus) & RSO Rohingya abandoned armed
(ARIF) formed in (Prof. Zakaria) National resistance and
RSO led by Mr.
1987 led by Mr. all three Organization other remnants of
Nurul Islam
Nurul Islam and merged in Dec (ARNO) RSO were declared
merged in June Mr. Shabbir 1998 formed. defunct by experts
1986 Hussain

20
 4.0. final stages of
genocide

Inside Aung Mingalar, a Rohingya quarter of Sittwe, the capital of Burma's Rakhine State. The area, the

scene of sectarian riots in June 2012, is now surrounded by checkpoints. Image: Adryel Talamantes
4.1. Political Transition in Burma: Preludes to 2012 Violence

Came 2010, it was a landmark year in Burmese history not because it was a real democratic transition but
because the decades-long military regime or junta chose to establish a quasi-civilian or puppet government
that would remain under their firm grip. Nothing much needs to be talked about Myanmar's faux democracy
or her kind of civilian government and parliamentary system. Perhaps the former despot Snr. Gen. Than Shwe
learned from the falls of many dictators from power around the world and felt a need for his military junta
with a dressing in the form of a (puppet) civilian government that will guarantee him a safe retirement and
escape from accountability of all the atrocities crimes he had committed.

Thein Sein, another despot from the gang from retired despot Than Shwe, won election held in late 2010
through a visibly sham election process reconstruct it as Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP),
another military-backed political party. He, then, created a puppet civilian government as planned, in their
words a democratic government. Although the civilian government is constitutionally bound to bow before
the military, the military did not want even slightest sign of democracy to progress afterwards and therefore,
began to take all extreme and violent measures to maintain its supremacy in the country. On the other hand,
there were continuous protests by the Rakhine people at home and abroad against Chinese Economic Projects
in Kyaukphyu and other parts of Arakan. All these need to be contained or there was a need to divert their
attention to quell the protests against the projects.

Therefore, the Burmese military, military-proxy Buddhist monks and other military-controlled machineries
began campaigns of psychological manipulations on general Burmese public of through hate speech and
propaganda and hence, triggering fear among them. They again chose to scapegoat the Rohingya, the weakest
minority in the country, for their selfish ends. They began portraying the native Rohingya people as illegal
immigrants from Bangladesh, people who were considered as Lawful Residents by General Ne Win govern-
ment in the 1978 Repatriation Agreement; and threats to Buddhism and National Sovereignty. Consequently,
the Burmese public, majority of whom had not even known an ethnic minority with an identity Rohingya
even existed in the country, has suddenly begun viewing them as illegal immigrants and threats to their Bud-
dhist religion.

4.2. The 2012 Violence

Then, on May 28, 2012, a Rakhine woman named Ma Thida Htwe was allegedly raped and murdered by three
Rohingya boys in Kyauk Nimaw village in Rambre island of Arakan state. Dr. Maung Zarni, a Burmese schol-
ar human rights activist said“the rape narrative of the Rakhine woman - the late Ma Thida Htwe - raped by
Bengali men was patently false, but spread by President Thein Sein's men the likes of Major Zaw Htay (Hmu
Zaw), Colonel Ye Htut (now deputy information minister) as a trigger event to set the fire of genocidal hatred
towards the Muslims. Ma Thida Htwe was NOT raped but was simply murdered - the doctor who examined
her body told Ko Zaganar [a popular comedian], in no uncertain terms, that there was absolutely no
evidence of rape on Ma Thida Htwe's dead body. The doctor was forced to sign the medical report which
claims falsely she was raped. The rape story was spread by government agents on the social media and was

22
used as a launching pad to start waves of mass killings against the Rohingya and the Muslims across Burma
or Myanmar.”34 (Siddiqui, 2015)

However, the three young boys were subsequently arrested and charged. But the state-led propaganda against
the Rohingyas and other Muslim groups did not stop. On 3 June 2012, government backed thugs gruesomely
massacred 11 Muslim pilgrims in ‘Taung Goup’ Township on their way back to Rangoon from Than Dwe
Township of Arakan state. State-owned Television and Newspapers demeaned the murdered victims labeling
them using derogatory slur Muslim Kalar, further instigating the country’s Burmese and Rakhine Buddhist
citizens against the Rohingya and other Muslim groups in Burma.

On Friday June 8, 2012, a huge crowd of Rohingya Muslims in Maungdaw gathered in the Central Mosque
to offer prayers for the 11 murdered pilgrims. As they were prevented from offering prayers, they staged a
protest. The Burmese armed forces waiting in stand-by position shot into the crowd and created a chaos out
of a non-violent situation. Then, all hell broke loose for the Rohingya people once again.

On the same day (Friday), Major Zaw Htay or Hmuu Zaw, the director of President's Office under Thein Sein,
incited violence through his Facebook post in Burmese, which he called his personal opinion. (Following is
its approximate translation.)

"(Giving my personal view.)

It’s been learnt that Rohingya terrorists from the so-named Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) have
crossed into the country with arms. That means Rohingyas from foregin countries are entering the country.
Since our troops has recieved the information in advance, we will annihilate them. (I) believe we have been
already doing it.

We don't want anyone to tell us anything such as humanitarian sympathy and human rights, regarding that.
Besides, we don’t want anyone, under the garb of saints with loving-kindness, to lecture us on peace and
justice. We don't want them to shout at us with their (so-called) good talks.

(Visit Maungdaw and Buthidaung regions in Rakhine State. Our native people are eating dirty food; living
insecure lives on their own land. I feel very hurt because of that. Aftrer all, it’s our nation; it’s our land!)
(I am telling this to all.) I am directly referring and telling this to all Political Parties, Members of Parlia-
ment, Civil Societies; and all those who become satisfied only when they can oppose (any good thing) and
those who can eat and sleep well when they can criticize the President and (his) Government.”35 (Hmuu Zaw,
2012) (See Annex V.)

From that day onward, Burmese military, security forces and paramilitary forces in collaboration with Rakh-
ine Buddhist extremists led by Rakhine National Development Party (RNDP) Chairman U Aye Maung
carried out large scale violence against the Rohingya people and arson attacks on their villages across Arakan
state. Within days and nearly by 10th June, the violence spread to Akyab (or Sittwe), Pauktaw, Kyauktaw and
others. They have indiscriminately shot Rohingya villagers to dead and summarily executed them. Thou-
sands of Rohingyas were killed. They committed mass rapes of Rohingya women in many villages across
Maungdaw and Buthidaung. Hundreds of people including children were arbitrarily arrested and unlawfully
imprisoned. (Many have died in the prison in later years)
______________________________________________________
34. Siddiqui, H (Habib), 2015 (Mar), Letter From America: ‘Hidden Hands’ Behind Communal Violence in Myanmar - I told you
so, Asian Tribune: http://asiantribune.com/node/86661
35. Hmuu Zaw alias Major Zaw Htay, Director of then President Office (and now State Counselor Office), 2012,
Facebook Post on his former account named “Hmuu Zaw”, 8 June
23
Within days from June 10, they burnt down almost all Rohingya villages in Akyab and Pauktaw Townships
displacing over 140,000 Rohingya people. These violently displaced Rohingya people have been, since then,
living in squalid IDP (Internally Displaced People) Camps and there has been no sign of resettling them to
their original villages. Only one Rohingya quarter, Aung Min Galar, survived from the onslaught of arson
attacks by Burmese armed forces and Rakhine extremists. The Aung Min Galar quarter has been ghetto-ed
since then.The world has pressed the Burmese faux civilian government led by Dictator Thein Sein to stop
the violence but he doubled it down. According to a post on the President Office’s website on July 12, 2012,
Thein Sein he urged Mr. António Guterres, former head of UNHCR and now Secretary General of UN,
during his visit to Naypyitaw, to resettle the whole Rohingya population to third countries.

Thein Sein said “we will take responsibility of our ethnic nationals but it is impossible to accept those
Rohingyas who are not our ethnic nationals and had entered the country illegally. The only solution is to
hand those illegal Rohingyas to the UNHCR or to send them to any third country that would accept them."36
(Telegraph, 2012)

After destructions of Rohingya quarters and villages in Akyab, Pauktaw, Maungdaw and Kyauktaw,
wide-spread attacks on the Rohingya slowed down from late July 2012 afterwards. Once again on October
21, they triggered a similar large scale violence in other Muslim minority townships such as Kyaukphyu (a
hotspot for Chinese seaport, gas and other economic projects), Myebon, Min Bya, Than Dwe and Myauk Oo.
Hundreds of people were shot dead and their residences and houses were razed under arson attacks. This
time, the victims were not only Rohingya Muslims but also Kaman Muslims who are still considered Myan-
mar native citizens. Some of the violently displaced people built camps nearby safe areas, while majority of
them fled to the IDP camps in Akyab and Pauktaw.

Since then, the Rohingya people in Arakan have been economically crippled and all their access to liveli-
hoods severed to the extent that they have had to rely on the UN and other foreign assistances for their surviv-
al. Their freedom movement has been confined. Every aspect of Rohingya’s lives has been severed and their
situation has got to the worst stage in the history. After a visit to Arakan state in February 2013, the former
UN Human Rights Rapporteur Thomas Quintana compared the conditions of the Rohingya in one IDP camp
with Open Prison. In short, it was a hidden genocide unfolding for decades coming out open.

Lack of aid, protection, and facing violence and abuses forced tens of thousands of Rohingya to flee to the
neighboring countries by sea since June 2012 with hopes of reaching to a safe haven. In that search, several
thousands of Rohingya reached the shores of Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and many more
thousands have disappeared in the deadly seas.37 (UNHCR, 2016) According to UNHCR report in 2016 more
than 168,000 Rohingya have fled Burma since 2012 and Burma created a regional refugee crises in the neigh-
boring countries.38 (UNHCR, 2016)

Later in 2015, between the merging border of Thailand and Malaysia nearly 200 Rohingya mass graves were
discovered, who were either killed by human traffickers or died due to intolerable dreadful journey.39 (Guard-
______________________________________________________
ian, 2015)

36. Telegraph Report (republishing AP Report), 12 Jul 2012, UN refugee chief rejects call to resettle Rohingya, Telegraph:
https://www.telegram.com/article/20120609/NEWS/306099946
37. UNHCR Report, 2016, Mixed Movements in South-East Asia, UNHCR Regional Office for South-East Asia: https://unhcr.ata-
vist.com/mm2016
38. Ibid.
39. Guardian Report, June 2015, Malaysia migrant mass graves: police reveal 139 sites, some with multiple corpses, Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/25/malaysia-mgrant-mass-graves-police-reveal-
139-sites-some-with-multiple-corpses
24
5.0. rohingya resistances in
response to 2012 violence

Rohingya refugees wading while holding a child after crossing the Naf River from Myanmar into Bangla-

desh in Whaikhyang on October 9, 2017. Credit:AFP

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” — John F.
Kennedy

The Rohingya elders have tried both means of struggles, armed and non-armed (peaceful), to liberate their
people from oppression and slow-burning genocide. Their elders who had put up armed resistance against the
Burmese tyrants had to abandon their armed movements due to regional pressures and changing global
geopolitical climate. Therefore, they began their resistance movements against the Burmese tyrants in
non-armed political movements and peaceful activism. The period from 2000 to 2015 marked the longest
period for non-armed peaceful resistance of Rohingyas against the Burmese military regime.

However, in the absence of armed resistance, the brutal Burmese military terrorist regime got a freer hand to
plan and execute final stages of Genocide against the Rohingyas. The Burmese terrorist military – that do not
understand human and diplomatic languages – began to carry out large scale genocidal violence in June 2012
and later.

Therefore, as Rohingya’s existence and human rights were not protected in the country, as a last resort,
(ARSA) rose up against the Burmese genocidal tyrants IN RESPONSE TO the Genocidal Violence they
unleashed from June, 2012, onward. In their struggles for existence and survival, they have always made sure
not to harm unarmed and unconcerned civilians and their properties. Their enemy is their oppressor: the
brutal Burmese terrorist military-government.

5.1. Rohingya Resistances and the 2016 Violence

Everything has a limit. So has human tolerance. Nearly seventy five (75) years of persecution and genocide
counting from 1942. The world has not simply done enough to save Rohingya, one of the most peace-loving
and peaceful people. Rohingya could no longer take persecutions and genocide imposed on them by the
Burmese tyrants with their hands folded in their chests.

The crying voices of their children, their mothers, their sisters and their parents went unheeded and their
plight went unaddressed even after an upturn of Genocide that started in June, 2012. Thus, ARSA rose up
against the Burmese genocidal military and other armed forces in Maungdaw Township on October 9, as it
was destined to. And ARSA is a homegrown resistance movement with no links to foreign insurgent groups
and ARSA’s rebellion against the Burmese tyrants as a last resort, armed with weapons in their reach, is well
within their very human right as the Burmese tyrant paid no heed to their legitimate demands for equal human
rights in Burma.

However, as the genocidal Burmese military and security forces have unleashed reigns of terror once again.
They went for unarmed and innocent Rohingya civilian population in Maungdaw, Buthidaung and
Rathedaung under the label of clearance operation revealing their genocidal intent. The brutal military oper-
ation left nearly 5000 Rohingnya killed after 9th Oct 2016, hundreds of women raped and over left 300, 000
displaced with thousands of them later fleeing to Bangladesh.

Following the horrible rapes on the Rohingya women, a racist Rakhine MP from Myebon Constituency Aung
Win on November 7, 2016, passed a filthy comment on Rohingya women by saying ‘they are very dirty. The
Rohingya women have very low standards of living and poor hygiene. They are not attractive so neither the
local Buddhists men nor soldiers are interested in them.”40 (Time, 2016)
______________________________________________________
40. Kumar, N. (Nikhil), Dec 2016, Reprisals, Rape, and Children Burned Alive: Burma's Rohingya Speak of
Genocidal Terror,TIME Report: http://time.com/4596937/burma-myanmar-rohingya-bangldesh-refugees 26
-crimes-against-humanity/
HRW Satellite Images Show 430 Burned Buildings revealed in late October 2016 and hundreds of rape
accounts were reported by the Rohingya females, who survived from mass military rapes.41 (HRW, 2016) In
2016, United Nations official said Myanmar is carrying out ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims, after
accounting stories of gang rapes, tortures and murders from among the thousands who have fled to Bangla-
desh.42 (HRW, 2017)

ARSA’s Commander-in-chief & Soldiers in a discussion in 2016. File Photo

______________________________________________________
41. Human Rights Watch (HRW) Report: Nov 2016, Satellite-Based Damage Assessment of Affected Villages in Maungdaw
District, HRW. URL: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/supporting_re-
sources/hrw_burmadestruction_assessment_10nov2016_v3.pdf.
42. Human Rights Watch (HRW) Report, Jan 2017, Burma: Events of 2016, HRW. URL: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/-
files/burma_2.pdf
27
5.2. Pre-planned in 2017: Largest Violence since 1942
Post ARSA’s rise up against the terrorist Burmese military and
ARSA’s Soldiers during their Security Forces in October and November 2016, ARSA has invest-
Training Sessions. File Photo ed its resources more in community capacity building, social
services and other empowerment initiatives, which will be
described in details in upcoming sections. Armed Actions against
the Burmese terrorising armed forces was the last resort of action.

Once again, taking advantage of instable situation created in Arakan

after June 2012 and unavoidable defensive attacks ARSA conducted
on the Burmese terrorising armed forces on October 9, 2016, the
Burmese terrorist regime squeezed and suffocated the Rohingya
civilians in Arakan forcing ARSA once again to respond to them
inevitably.

At one night of 27 July 2017, in a mysterious case, two Rakhine

men from Chaung Ywa village Rathedaung went out for foraging
food in the mountain were said to have disappeared. The local
Rohingya villagers of Zeydi Pyin were accused of killing them and
three villagers were subsequently killed by the Rakhine Buddhist
extremists on July 29. From August 1, Rakhine extremists from
neighboring villages besieged Zeydi Pyin. Barricades were erected
at all the entry roads to Zeydi Pyin, besieging the village

entirely and causing the villagers go on starvation. From August 4, the

Burmese terrorist forces joined the siege put up by the Rakhine
extremists and began conducting raids on villagers’ homes. The siege,
raids and violence were later extended to neighboring Rohingya
villages. This was a precedent to a new phase of massive round of
violence.

ARSA was NOT involved in killings of six Mro Buddhist tribal

people in South Maungdaw on 3 August 2017 and so, released official
statement clearing the matter three days after. But with no evidence,
the Burmese terrorist regime and its propaganda media outlets kept
shifting the blame on ARSA.

On 9 August 2017, citing this killing of the Mro tribal people as a

security concern, Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Chief of the Burmese
terrorist military, held a meeting with Rakhine extremist leaders from
Arakan National Party (ANP) led by U Aye Maung, one of those who
orchestrated massive genocidal violence on June 2012 and later. A
day after the meeting, the Burmese terrorist regime led by Snr. Gen.
ARSA’s Soldiers during their
Min Aung Hlaing and Daw Aung San Kyi decided to send its one of
its elite battalions LID33 (Light Infantry Division 33, notorious for its Training Sessions. File Photo

brutalities and savageries in their offensive attacks against the ethnic

28
groups in other parts of Burma or at least Daw Aung San Suu Kyi did not oppose it if it was a unilateral deci-
sion by Min Aung Hlaing) to northern Arakan. LID 33 would be joined by another elite savage battalion
called LID99. Both of these LIDs are linked with Min Aung Hlaing and operate under his direct command.43
(Reuters, 2018) All these heavy military build-ups with heavy artilleries were to be used against unarmed and
innocent civilians and create violence out of a stable situation. All these were premeditated and executed well
before August 25. They systematically suffocated the local Rohingya communities. The ARSA members and
fighters were cornered to the very end through covert operations by the Burmese terrorist military leaving
ARSA with no option but to respond. It is important, here, to note that ‘ARSA acted against Burmese terrorist
armed forces in response to decades-long genocidal killing of Rohingya and contiual covert operations by the
Burmese terrorist forces against the ARSA,’ not that they responded to ARSA’s defensive attacks. Therefore,
it is very important for the world leading media to change this false narrative Burmese Military carried out
Operations in Response to ARSA Attacks, a narative that creates a perfect pretext for the Burmese terrorist
military committing and justifying genocide for decades.

So, it happened. ARSA had to inevitably launch raids on the Burmese terrorist army and BGP, the most brutal
oppressive apparatuses in Arakan carrying out atrocity crimes, in ARSA’s defence, on August 25, 2018.
ARSA, a homegrown resistance movement still at its developing stage, has utilized its best capacity to protect
all the unarmed and innocent civilians from the Burmese military’s onslaught that began after August 25.
However, the Burmese terrorist military with bigger military advantages and high-end weaponries went after
the Rohingya population and went on to exterminate them.

In its report released on 22nd May 2018, Amnesty International alleged that members of ARSA massacred
scores of Hindu civilians in northern Maungdaw on 25th Aug 2017 morning. ARSA called the Amnesty Inter-
national accusations are unjustifiable — patently false in its statement and urged the group to share their
witnesses, evidences and findings with the credible International investigation mission or agency. (Read the
statement in Annex VI)

In the initial month, a report from the Doctors without Borders (MSF, Dec 2017) quoted “at least 6,700
Rohingya, in the most conservative estimations, are estimated to have been killed, including at least 730
children below the age of 5.”44 According to several authentic sources, through this operation Burmese terror-
ist army burnt down nearly 300 villages, executed more than 25,000 Rohingya women and adolescents raped,
19,000 women and made 34,000 children turned into orphans.

______________________________________________________
43. Lewis, S., Siddiqui, Z., Baldwin, C., & Marshall, A. R.C., Jun 2016, Tip of the Spear: The shock troops who expelled the Rohing-
ya from Myanmar, A Reuters Investigation: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/myanmar-rohingya-battalions/
44. Doctors without Borders (MSF), Dec 2017, MSF surveys estimate that at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed during the attacks
in Myanmar, MSF Press Release: https://www.msf.org/myanmarbangladesh-msf-surveys-esti-
mate-least-6700-rohingya-were-killed-during-attacks-myanmar

29
Beside killings and rapes, around 43,000 Rohingyas survived bullet wounds, 36,000 were hurled into fire and
nearly 116,000 Rohingya (mostly men) were beaten up by the Myanmar authorities.45 (Daily Star, Aug 2018)
After military killed thousands of Rohingya, many families could not trace the dead bodies of their relatives
and families. Rohingya who fled the massacre accounted the mass graves they witnessed and the decompos-
ing bodies. Later those were investigated by news agencies like AP (exposing Gu Dar Pyin massgraves) and
REUTERS (exposing Inn Din massacre) in villages of northern Arakan (Rakhine). 46 47 (AP, 2018) (Reuters,
2018) The horrific operation wiped out 800,000 again to the camps in Bangladesh. This made Rohingya
population around 1. 3 million along with arrivals of 2016.In a recent report released by Human Rights
Council, 6 military generals were referred to International Criminal Court after Rohingya encountered 70
years of Rohingya genocide.48 (IIFFM of UNHRC, 2018)

PHR documented the wounds of this Rohingya man at Balukhali refugee camp

in Bangladesh. He was shot from behind by the Myanmar military while fleeing

his village. credit: Physicians for Human Rights

______________________________________________________
45. Daily Star Report (republishing Reuters report), Aug 2018, Killing of Rohingyas: Death toll could be up to 25,000, Daily Star:
https://www.thedailystar.net/news/frontpage/killing-rohingyas-death-toll-could-be-over-10000-1622392
46. Neuman, S (Scott)., Feb 2018, AP Investigation Details Shocking Massacre, Mass Graves Of Myanmar Rohingya, AP Investi-
gation: http://www.wnpr.org/post/ap-investigation-details-shocking-massacre-mass-graves-myanmar-rohingya
47. Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo, Lewis S. (Simon) & Slodkowski A. (Antoni), Special Report: How Myanmar forces burned, looted and
killed in a remote village, Reuters Special Report: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rakhine-events-spe-
cialreport/special-report-how-myanmar-forces-burned-looted-and-killed-in-a-remote-village-idUSKBN1FS3BH
48. IIFFM (Independent International Fact Finding Mission), Sep 2018, Report of the Independent International
Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, UN Human Rights Council, Thirty Nith Session:
http://www.rvisiontv.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/A_HRC_39_64.pdf

30
 6.0. background:
commander-in-chief of arsa

Commander-in-chief of ARSA. File Photo

ATTAULLAH Abu Ammar Jununi, the Commander-in-Chief of ARSA, was born in 1978 from the
Rohingya refugee parents seeking refuge in Karachi after fleeing the Burmese violence against the Rohingya
in Arakan in early 1950s. Passionate and visionary from his childhood, he got his preliminary education in
the city and pursued religious education in Saudi Arabia.

In his life and career as a religious scholar, he has mostly spent his time leading prayers in mosques and orga-
nizing the Rohingya people to work collectively for their cause to end the decades-long Genocide of Rohing-
ya in Burma. In his childhood, his passionate parents used to proudly tell him about their lives in Arakan and
the country. And that has led him to study more about the history of his country of origin -- rather his ancestral
land where he legitimately belongs to -- Arakan in Burma.

Hearing the stories of abuses and persecutions of his relatives remained in Arakan by the Burmese genocidal
regime, his worries for the Rohingya people of Arakan have increased and hence, more affection for the
people and the land. As such, he often used to console his friends and fellow Rohingyas when they were down
with sorrows and hopelessness due to the inhumane atrocities against the Rohingya by the Burmese army. In
such situations, he always consoled them not to lose hope and advised them to refrain from disappointment.
He has always been hopeful that a day will come the Genocide against the Rohingya people will end. And
there will be a way for their freedom from unending cycle of oppression.

However, he was about 35, yet he saw no one rising to take a strong stance to give the Rohingya freedom
from the long-term oppression in the hands of brutal Burmese tyrants. Then, it came to a turning point. In
2012, when the genocidal Burmese government and terrorist military along with Rakhine extremists collabo-
ratively committed brutal massacres of the Rohingya people, burned down their villages displacing more than
140,000 people, raped innumerable women and expelling thousands of them towards Bangladesh border.

The state-sponsored violence shattered the existing hope of the Rohingya diaspora of reuniting with their
family members in Arakan into pieces. Back in 2012, what the diaspora heard daily was their family mem-
bers, relatives and loved ones being killed by the Burmese terrorist armed forces in Arakan. The reports of
inhumane sufferings of his relatives and others in Arakan motivated him to help them end the sufferings and
boosted his spirit of fighting for their due legitimate rights.

Even a person like him, known for consoling others to be patient could not help himself but to try all available
means to salvage the Rohingya from the brutal Burmese tyrants after hearing their horrific sufferings. Such
was the degree of horrific atrocities carried out against them in 2012! Initially, he wanted to establish civil/po-
litical organizations as other already existing Rohingya organizations in order to bring unity among the
Rohingya and make them stand for their own fundamental and legitimate rights as one voice.

But, later, as the Burmese genocidal regime said to expel the whole Rohingya population from the country
and proposed the then UNHCR Chief Antonio Guterress to resettle them in third countries in July 2012, he
felt that armed resistance against the Burmese terrorist armed forces was/is a compelling need on the way to
achieving freedom and justice for his people. As it happens in every revolutionary movement, his own
Rohingya people and organizations were unable to grasp his vision and said they were not in the position to
defend, as they thought it was an impossible mission.

Despite many abortive attempts, he knocked everyone’s door and tried to convince people, but the most
people failed to understand the need to defend. Those many unsuccessful attempts made him realize that no
one would understand until they witnessed it first and felt its importance.
32
 ARSA’s Soldiers walking in a

queue. File Photo

So, he decided to leave his family and stable employment along with his
beloved aging mother behind, and set out on his mission of fighting for the
rights of the Rohingya and salvage them from Genocide. And thus in 2013,
he set his feet on the soil of his own land, Arakan, and started his mission of
salvaging the Rohingya from the edge of extermination.
7.0. rohingya in arakan:
before and after arsa

ARSA’s Soldiers during their Training Sessions. File Photo

For decades, Rohingya have been deprived of all their fundamental and legitimate rights, persecuted and
demoralized by creating a fearful environment. People have been rampantly killed and tortured; arbitrarily
arrested and imprisoned; and women have been raped and dehumanized. Restrictions on access to livelihood
and economic opportunities, marriages, travel, religious prayers and construction/repairment of religious
buildings have been imposed; and discriminatory and arbitrary taxation imposed on their domestic animals
and livestock. Denied of higher education; continuous threats, intimidation, harassment; and the list of the
atrocities against the Rohingya on-going.

Such continuous physical and psychological abuses have been aimed at changing thinking process, attitudes
and behavior of the Rohingya people; and to make problems out of non-issues and existing problems worse.
As a result, over the decades, these genocidal persecutions and psychological warfare have led to the rise of
various sets of serious social and economic problems among the Rohingya people.

Black propaganda by the Burmese genocidal government of labeling ethnic Rohingya people as Bengali
interlopers (since late 1990s) has far-reaching negative psychological impacts on not only Rohingya people
but also on general Burmese. Some of the Rohingya has begun feeling that they no longer belonged to their
own land and the Burmese citizens viewing the Rohingya to be truly interlopers. As psychologically
enslaved, the Rohingya has also felt that being persecuted is their fate.

Rohingya women, molested or raped by the Burmese terrorist armed forces, have often been socially margin-
alized (like in many other communities around the globe). They have usually struggled when it comes to their
marriages. Furthermore, enforced disappearance, arbitrary imprisonments and extrajudicial killings by the
Burmese terrorist military have, over the decades, significantly decreased the ratio of male population against
that of female population in the Rohingya Community (in Arakan). On the other hand, Human Traffickers
have mostly preyed the men, jobless or denied of access to livelihoods, and lured them to leave Arakan to
search means of income elsewhere abroad, compounding the problem of demographic imbalance. These
altogether created huge demands for men, exaggerating the extent of an existing socioeconomic problem in
the community: the Dowry System. That is ‘a woman has to pay a huge amount of dowries, in monetary
terms or assets, to a man whom she is marrying.’

Deprived of access to livelihoods or economic opportunities by the Burmese genocidal regime for decades,
most of the Rohingya people have struggled to make their daily ends meet and find a means for their survival.
They have often been robbed and their money extorted by the Burmese terrorists armed forces and authori-
ties. That being coupled by the deprivation of education on the other hand, some Rohingya people have fallen
prey in the hands of the Drug Lords in Myanmar to carry out their transnational illegal activities. Over the
years, this Drug Trafficking –involving these Rohingyas being exploited in the illegal trade– has grown in
size and become an issue really challenging to the Rohingya Community at large and to the Government of
Bangladesh.

Therefore, psychological enslavement, dowry system, human trafficking, drug peddling, child abuses and
other seriously challenging socioeconomic problems among the Rohingya originating from decades-long
genocidal process by the Burmese terrorist regimes would have only got worse had not ARSA stepped up to
challenge and curb them since its emergence. ARSA has reinforced the people the sense that they are the
owner of the land and they are masters on their own right. And it has served the people by trying to stop social
injustices and give them justice in their best capacity. It has helped the poor people, the orphans and the
differently-abled people among many other social works.

35
However, because of the sensitivity surrounding ARSA, much theie important social services given to the
Rohingya people over the years, to bring the social reforms and uplift the society psychologically, morally
and socially, have been largely in the absence of wider public knowledge.

7.1. Fighting Human Trafficking

Human trafficking was/is one major problem challenging the whole Rohingya community in Arakan. Profi-
teering human traffickers have always sought to exploit the desperate situation of the people for decades.
Since the state sponsored violence in 2012, the human trafficking issue have worsened, where thousands of
Rohingya denied access to livelihood and subjected to genocide in Arakan seeking for safe haven were
deceived and trafficked to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and others.

Although many thousands successfully reached their destinations but many perished in deadly sea journey,
while others became victims in the hands of human traffickers. In many cases, people who could not manage
to give the full amount to the traffickers for their journey to Malaysia were kept as captives, made slaves and
many women and girls were, reportedly, sexually and physically abused before selling of the sex industries
in the region.

On the other hand, facilitating human trafficking was/is yet another tool for genocidal Burmese regime to
depopulate the Rohingya people in the country and deport them neighboring nations. The Burmese authori-
ties cooperate with the human traffickers by smoothening exit sea-route and land-route for them to conduct
their criminal activities. In return, those traffickers bribed the Burmese authorities and terrorist armed forces
and sometimes, even they often lure the Rohingya people to leave the country (on behalf of the human
traffickers) to take this deadly sea journey. At a time the movement of the ordinary Rohingya citizens were
confined within their respective townships/areas, these human traffickers were allowed to roam free in many
townships across Arakan state to look for their potential victims.

Thus, after ARSA's emergence in Arakan, it took a strong stance against those human trafficking agents and
syndicates. It effectively worked on the grassroots level to create awareness of the deadly risks involving in
the sea journeys to Malaysia and Indonesia through Thailand, and educated them to understand that.

It was not an easy task to convince the common Rohingya not to fall in the traps of the human traffickers and
embrace the sea journeys, especially because their homeland had been in apartheid condition and they were
subjected to Genocide; and they thought leaving their homeland was the only easy way (out) from their living
hell in the open prison: Arakan.

Gradually, with ARSA’s persistent and consistent hard-works in cooperation of some educated people on the
awareness creation, the message not to take deadly journeys and risk their lives in the process reached to the
people. They were more informed to take their own decisions whether or not to take these journeys. They
became clearer on the importance of living in their own land and deal with problem themselves rather than
running away from them, unlike in the past.

36
 Rohingya victims pass food

supplies dropped by a Thai

army helicopter to others

aboard a boat drifting in Thai

waters off the southern island

of Koh Lipe in the Andaman

sea on May 14, 2015. Credit:

AFP

In effect, as less people were willing to take the deadly journeys and due to crackdown by the Thai author-
ities, human trafficking has significantly decreased, though it did not completely stop. However, ARSA
has earned many enemies in the circle of the human traffickers and their associates, well-connected with
the authorities and the powerful/rich people in Myanmar and in the Region, in the process of its fight
against human trafficking.

37
7.2. Curbing Illicit Drug Trades:

Myanmar has been the world's largest opium producer and largest in the production of Ya Ba or Methamphet-
amine, which is particularly produced in the golden triangle area bordering Myanmar, Laos and Thailand and
surrounding region. The criminal Burmese military generals and members of other armed forces have them-
selves involved in conducting and controlling much of the drug trafficking networks. Using the money
earned from the illicit trade, the Burmese military purchase weapons among many other things, while some
observers suspect that much of these illegal monies are deposited in the bank accounts set up in one of her
friendly countries, considered as an economic powerhouse in the region.

The men were held after 1.88 million tablets said to be worth around US$2.8 million were found in a military

vehicle in the town of Maungdaw on Oct 1, 2017. Credit: REUTERS

On the lower level, Burmese policemen, intelligence officers, administrative officials and some Rakhine
elite businessmen are much involved in trafficking drugs all the way from eastern Myanmar region into
its western state, Arakan. In one particular spot in the chain of this illegal drug trade, some members of
the Rohingya community - desperate, rendered jobless and denied access to livelihoods - are involved as
drug carriers i.e. trafficking drugs from Arakan into Bangladesh for their drug-lords who are military
officers, policemen, intelligence officers and Rakhine elites. [It is very important to understand that these
transborder drug peddlers are not only Rohingyas but also Rakhines; and hardly are any Rohingyas
anywhere in a position to CONTROL any part of this drug-trafficking chain.]

38
Since late last decade, involvement of some Rohingyas in the drug trafficking chain has really become a
daunting challenge to the Rohingya community at large, destroying them in multiple fronts: psychologi-
cally, economically, socially and to some extent physically. Sudden rise of one section of the society in
wealth earned from illicit drug trade created a huge income gap among them. And that, in turn led others
to abandon their available traditional ways of livelihood for this illicit means, in attempt to reduce the
increasing economic imbalance, leading to more socioeconomic problems. As some young members of
the society began to consume drugs deteriorated their health, adding further woes to the existing prob-
lems.

After the ARSA's rise as a resistance movement, one of the daunting challenges it faced while bringing
reforms in the Rohingya society was fighting against the illicit drug trade involving highest ranking
Burmese military officers and others. It was risky and extremely difficult. However, ARSA moved ahead
and took the challenge head on irrespective to the back lashes it would face from the Burmese officials
and their collaborators later. Initially, they broke the chains of drug dealers and burnt down their drug
consignments. During its fight against illegal drug trades, ARSA successfully broke many of the influen-
tial drug rings.

This incurred them i.e. the drug-lords and their carriers huge losses, with some of them eventually
becoming enemies of ARSA and joining hands with the brutal Burmese regime (against ARSA). These
drug dealers, some of whom were Rohingyas living in Myanmar, Bangladesh and in South East Asian
region, affected by the ARSA's actions against the drug trafficking, have become indulged in character
assassination of ARSA. They are educated-to-some-degree, wealthy, powerful, influential group of
people in Myanmar and the Region committed in acts to destroy its credibility through spreading rumors
and propaganda.

However, as its Commander-in-Chief has, in the past, several times urged the Rohingya people in Myan-
mar and across the globe to abstain away from indulging in such illegal drug businesses and consump-
tion, ARSA is determined to continue its war against them.

7.3. Containing Dowry Syndrome:

Dowry system had never been a serious challenge among the Rohingya communities in Arakan till some
thirty years ago, although it is a deep-rooted sociocultural issue in the communities/descends of Indian
subcontinental people including the Rohingya. However, over the decades, especially post 1990s, the
Burmese genocidal regime has increasingly persecuted the Rohingya people on multiple fronts of their
lives: from extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, tortures to forced labor.
Most of the victims of these atrocity crimes have been overwhelmingly men, leading more men to flee
their homeland Arakan to seek safe haven elsewhere.

This has resulted in significant decrease of the number of male population against that of the female
population, creating more demands for men, in Arakan. Plus, there have always been concern for girls'
parents to marry them off as soon as they come of age due to constant fears of rape by the Burmese terror-
ist armed forces and political insecurity around them.

39
 Shofika Begum, 18, shows decoration on her hands on the day she marries Saddam Hussein, 23, both Rohingya

refugees, at the Kutupalong camp near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, December 11, 2017. Credit:

And these problems, compounded by the lack of economic opportunities and education as a result of
decades-long denial of the right to higher education, have led to the rise of yet another serious socioeconom-
ic problem among the Rohingya communities: the Dowry nearly emerging arrangement or a system in
which a bride has to bring an amount of property or money to her husband on their marriage.

Over the years, the amount of dowries that a bride has to give to her potential husband have increased as the
parents, increasingly worried about finding a good partners for their daughters, were ready to pay any
amount of dowries for their marriages. While many families sold off their properties to give as dowries,
some others took loans for that. However, this situation has made the marriage extremely difficult for girls
or women belonging to the poor families. Therefore, many male members of these poor families left their
homeland in their efforts to work elsewhere abroad and manage dowries for the marriages of their daughters
or sisters, creating more shortage of men in the community at home. It exaggerated the problem and created
a situation where the females were seen as burden and liability for the family.

To combat this unhealthy and corrupt practice, ARSA has worked on the grassroot levels by visiting door to
door, in villages where this practices were common. It has formed separate groups to create awareness about
the evil consequences of this practice and educate the people that it is against the morality, the teachings of
the religion and the international norms. It has encouraged the men in the community to exploit all the means
of livelihoods whatever remains available under the condition of Genocide at their homeland, instead of
leaving for any other countries, as one way to tackle this huge section of the dowry problem.
40
When it was deemed necessary, though it was not the best way to deal with the problem, ARSA convinced
certain members of the community to abandon this shameful practices of dowry, who were, initially, unwill-
ing. It took a greater patience and perseverance to slowly make the people aware and make them feel respon-
sible for such counter-productive practices. ARSA has enlightened them with the knowledge that they
were/are harming their own community and destroying lives of mostly the poor people by practicing dowry.
As a good result, ARSA has witnessed thousands of cases where the parties in marriages not practicing dowry
anymore. Also, this reduced the gap of social inequality among the Rohingya at home and helped them see
one another as equals.

Though practice of dowry has significantly decreased, it still exists in certain sections of the communities or
certain areas of Arakan and ARSAcontinues to combat it with its best capacity.

Having said that, it is impossible to completely eliminate the corrupt dowry system from the Rohingya com-
munity under the current hostile political condition and ongoing Genocide. For that, the government of
Myanmar has to fulfill Rohingyas' Demands, end the Genocide, serve them Justice and create a political
situation favorable to them.

7.4. Child Abuse:

Various forms of social abuses against children exist in different societies across the world. The Rohingya
have not always been like they are today. Extreme poverty, as men being the sole bread winners for their fam-
ilies, coupled with rendering them without education in the Rohingya societies in Arakan as a result of
decades-long systematic oppression by the Burmese genocidal regime, have forced/force the poor families to
engage their children in works, such as in farming, fishing and firewood collecting, to make their daily ends
meet, instead of enrolling them in schools and allowing them to enjoy their childhoods. On the other hand,
along with the adults, children are also often subjected to forced labors and beatings by the Burmese coloniz-
ing armed forces.

Children, in effect, begin suffering psychologically at their early age and lose their childhoods. They are
exposed to more emotional and physical abuses from their parents or elders when they fail to perform the
works assigned to them. While struggling to support their families and in inability to handle the pressures
from that, they lose their potentials to become someone of their wish and hence, their future. Moreover, there
has always been a fear surrounding Rohingya parents for the security/future of their daughters as they are
occasionally subjected to Rape by the Burmese terrorist military and policemen, leading them (the parents)
to marry off their daughters in a hurry. The underage marriages among the very young couples lead to the rise
of domestic abuse cases as they continue to live together but are unable to adjust each other, compounding
damages to the future of the community at large.

This is a sensitive and delicate issue in the community and when mishandled, it could have been counter-pro-
ductive. And therefore, it was one of the biggest challenges ARSA has faced since it started to work on bring-
ing social reforms and improve the society. ARSA has created Groups for Awareness on grassroots level in
various areas to bring the people into realization about the negative consequences of engaging them in labor
works instead of enrolling them in schools. It has repeatedly made the people aware how children can shape
their future if they are treated well and be exploited by the Burmese genocidal regime if they are not provided
education by utilizing all the means available.

37
41
It has set up a number of groups of volunteer teachers to provide education to young children when they are
denied access to the government schools. Similarly, it has fought and still been fighting among illiteracy
among adult men and women through training and education classes.

In the educational classes ARSA has conducted for adults in the community, it has educated the community
members time and again that domestic abuses are internationally prohibited and through religious classes
they are not allowed in the religion, either. Instilling the sense of the importance of the education of children
and maturity of a couple before settling them down in marriage, ARSA has always urged their fellow commu-
nity members to refrain from solemnizing underage marriages among an extremely young couples. ARSA
further conducted women empowerment programs for the women settled down in marriages too early in their
lives.With the knowledge that the child abuses and other forms of abuses will not be eliminated overnight
under the current condition against the Rohingya people, ARSA's fight against all kinds of abuses go on with
its best capacity.

A victim of forced labour speaks during a Reuters interview in a village at Buthidaung township in northern Rakhine

state June 10, 2015. CREDIT: REUTERS

42
8.0. future aspect

ARSA’s Soldiers during their Training Sessions. File Photo

Future aspects of ARSA hold various goals in both social and political arena of Rohingya community. Its
first and utmost priority is to defend its people from the aggressors and tyrants in the Burmese genocidal
government and terrorist military. And it will continue to do so until all the demands made by the Rohingya
are fulfilled and their deserving rights restored with justice and dignity.

ARSA will not stop its resistance movement in various forms, both armed and unarmed, so long as the Geno-
cide against the Rohingya is not stopped and perpetrators of Genocide are not brought to justice through trials
at International Criminal Court (ICC) or other International Crime Tribunals.

Along with Rohingya’s legitimate struggles for their liberation, due rights and justice, ARSA vows to abide
by the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and will continue to refrain from any activities going against
the IHL. It will continue this rightful fight in line with the right to exercise self-defence prescribed in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Finally, one of its ultimate future goals is to restore the Rohingya peoples’ ancestral rights and return their
dignified, peaceful and prosperous lives, and continue to give them the rights to live like any other citizens
of this country, and this world.

8.1. FINAL NOTES...

The planned persecution of Rohingya was first detected as Genocide in 1951, when a large number of people
took refuge in neighbouring East Pakistan, modern day Bangladesh. And once again, the same Genocide
term was used by the Rohingya Patriotic Front (RPF) in its compendium which vividly described the atrocity
crimes against the Rohingya people during the 1978 Dragon Operation. The brutal operation had expelled at
least two hundred fifty thousand Rohingyas as refugees into Bangladesh. After each incident, the internation-
al community pressured the Burmese government (of the time) to accept the Rohingya refugees back to their
native land i.e. into the country. Unfortunately, during the repatriation processes, the international community
and respective authoritative bodies had neglected to look into what the Rohingya people wanted. They
ignored the need to secure the native Rohingya with their native rights (which is much more than mere
citizenship in Burma) and other fundamental Human rights including Life Security in their ancestral home-
land.

The Burmese government has, gradually, but consistently, implemented its plan to eradicate the whole
Rohingya population form the face of Arakan. As a result, the World has witnessed hundreds of thousands of
Rohingyas fleeing Arakan in small groups, families and individually in search of safety for their life else-
where, in addition to mass exodus in 1991, 2012, 2016; and the largest being in 2017. Even after the 2012
state-sponsored massacre of Rohingyas, the International Community has failed to take any concrete action
against the Burmese genocidal government and protect the Rohingya people from Genocide. For this reason,
home-grown revolutionery/resistance groups like ARSA emerged to fight against Burmese government’s
inhumane oppressions and genocide. Therefore, it is now necessary to create a Secure/Protected homeland
for the Rohingya people.

If the International Community and responsible International bodies continue to ignore the plight of Rohing-
ya people and fail to bring the Genocide Perpetrators to Justice, the ARSA is, genuinely, concerned that the
world would witness more loss of human lives and potentially unending conflicts in the region. Like any

44
other Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAOs) in Burma, the ARSA will continue its fight to end the Genocide
and liberate its Rohingya people.

Decades of systematic genocidal violence campaign have crippled Rohingyas physically and dismantled
psychologically. The ARSA has revived the courageous hearts; awakened the brilliant minds; and instilled
revolutionary spirit. The revolutionary seed that awakening movement has sowed is being nurtured by the
Rohingya people and it will only continue to grow.

The ARSA is determined to continue its struggle and fight to end the Genocide; and for freedom from
persecution for freedom from persecution, justice and legitimate human rights, according to ARSA's Code
of Conduct and in line with the International Law. The ARSA will not give up until the last breath or until
all its demands are fulfilled.(See Annex: VII)

COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
ARAKAN ROHINGYA SALVATION ARMY (ARSA)

45
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July http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2013/07/the-sudden-abolishment-of-nasaka.
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Myanmar - I told you so, Asian Tribune: URL: http://asiantribune.com/node/86661
- Hmuu Zaw alias Major Zaw Htay, Director of then President Office (and now State Counselor Office),
2012, Facebook Post on his former account named “Hmuu Zaw”, 8 June. (See Annex V)
- Telegraph Report (republishing AP Report), 12 Jul 2012, UN refugee chief rejects call to resettle Rohing-
ya, Telegraph. URL: https://www.telegram.com/article/20120609/NEWS/306099946
- Guardian Report, June 2015, Malaysia migrant mass graves: police reveal 139 sites, some with multiple
corpses, Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/25/malaysia-mi-
grant-mass-graves-police-reveal-139-sites-some-with-multiple-corpses
- Kumar, N. (Nikhil), Dec 2016, Reprisals, Rape, and Children Burned Alive: Burma's Rohingya Speak of
Genocidal Terror, TIME Report: http://time.com/4596937/burma-myanmar-rohingya-bangla-
desh-refugees-crimes-against-humanity/
- Lewis, S., Siddiqui, Z., Baldwin, C., & Marshall, A. R.C., Jun 2016, Tip of the Spear: The shock troops
who expelled the Rohingya from Myanmar, A Reuters Investigation: https://www.reuters.com/investi-
gates/special-report/myanmar-rohingya-battalions/

47
- Daily Star Report (republishing Reuters report), Aug 2018, Killing of Rohingyas: Death toll could be up
to 25,000, Daily Star: https://www.thedailystar.net/news/frontpage/killing-rohing-
yas-death-toll-could-be-over-10000-1622392
- Neuman, S (Scott)., Feb 2018, AP Investigation Details Shocking Massacre, Mass Graves Of Myanmar
Rohingya, AP Investigation: http://www.wnpr.org/post/ap-investigation-details-shock-
ing-massacre-mass-graves-myanmar-rohingya
-Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo, Lewis S. (Simon) & Slodkowski A. (Antoni), Special Report: How Myanmar
forces burned, looted and killed in a remote village, Reuters Special Report: https://www.reuters.com/arti-
c l e / u s - m y a n m a r - r a k h i n e - e v e n t s - s p e -
cialreport/special-report-how-myanmar-forces-burned-looted-and-killed-in-a-remote-village-idUSKBN1
FS3BH

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Annexes

Annex I

49
Annex II

50
Annex III

51
52
53
54
55
Annex IV

56
57
58
Annex V

59
Annex VI

60
61
62
Annex VII

“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful”

Date : 10 March 2017

Ref No: ARSA/PR/01/2017

PRESS RELEASE

Rohingya is an ethnic, indigenous and native to Arakan (Rakhine), has been there
for several thousand years even before the nation called modern day Burma
(Myanmar) came to exist in the world maps.

Arakan takes pride of several independent Kingdoms which had nothing to do

whatsoever with the Burmese Colonial Empire from the first day of the world until
1784 in which the Burmese King, Bo Daw Phaya Maung Waing, invaded and
colonised Arakan with brutal military offensive attacks.

Rohingyas have always been subjected to Genocide and Crimes against Humanity
committed stage by stage by the successive Burmese regimes and governments
for decades since 1970s in attempting to exterminate them totally from their native
land, Arakan.

Nowadays, the international community begins to witness that the successive

Burmese regimes and governments have been committing Genocide and Crimes
against Humanity against Rohingya community for decades.

In view of that, the United Nations recognises Rohingya community as the most
persecuted people in the world and also acknowledges that persecutions of
Rohingya community by the successive Burmese regimes and governments
amount to Crimes against Humanity.

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We were hoping that situations of Rohingya community would improve to a certain
degree of satisfaction when Aung San Su Kyi led National League for Democracy
(NLD) party formed the government in the early 2016.

It becomes clear that Aung San Su Kyi led government is not in any capacity to
change the situation in any way while they themselves are being held as political
hostages by the Burmese brutal Junta to bargain political leverage at the
international arena especially with UN, US, EU and etc.

Therefore, in current Burmese political landscape, it is also essential to deal with

Commander-in-chief Ming Aung Hlaing (constitutionally installed King of Burma)
who is the mastermind of on-going atrocities faced by Rohingyas.

We were also hoping that international community would take necessary measures
including sending peacekeeping forces into Arakan State, as it is morally
responsible, to protect Rohingya community from being subjected to Genocide as
well as Crimes against Humanity which are recognised as international crimes in
the Statute of the International Criminal Court.

We would like to express our sincere thanks wholeheartedly to international organi-

zations (namely, the UN, OIC, EU, ASEAN) and recent numerous international
delegations to Arakan State (especially to Ms. Yanghee Lee, the UN Special
Rapporteur) for their tireless efforts to save humanity, and welcome for more inter-
national initiatives in various sectors inside Arakan adequately in the future.

Nevertheless, it is very unfortunate that Rohingyas are still locked up in various

concentration Camps across Arakan without any proper access to essential needs
for survival as humans and endless persecutions continue as usual against
Rohingya community and destructions to their ancestral villages, places of worship,
properties of public importance and private properties.

Therefore, We [ARAKAN ROHINGYA SALVATION ARMY (ARSA), which was

initially known as the FAITH MOVEMENT] come forward to defend, salvage and

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protect Rohingya community in Arakan with our best capacities as we have the
legitimate right under international law to defend ourselves in line with the principle
of self-defence.

We, in doing so, declare loud and clear that our defensive attacks have only been
aimed at the oppressive Burmese regime in accordance with international norms
and principles until our demands are fulfilled.

We do not associate with any terrorist group across the world.

We do not commit any form of terrorism against any civilian regardless of their
religious and ethnic origin as we do not subscribe to the notion of committing
terrorism for our legitimate cause.

We, as it has been proven, assure the safety and well being of all ethnic
communities, their places of worship and properties in Arakan State.

We also seek political, financial, technical and logistics supports and assistances
from any member of legitimate international community to strengthened our
legitimate cause in accordance with international norms and principles.

We hereby demand, in accordance with international human rights norms and

principles, that the Burmese Junta regime and the government must:

1) Reinstate the Indigenous Native Ethnic Status of Rohingyas;

2) Issue them the Citizenship identity cards;
3) Allow immediately to resume international humanitarian relief works in
all affected areas;
4) Initiate and expedite the UN led international independent investigation
and enquiry team into Arakan;
5) Hold all the perpetrators of acts of violence accountable for the crimes
that they have committed;

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 6) Allow all bona fide Rohingya refugees and diasporas around the world
to return safely to their native land, Arakan;
7) Restore their rights to freedom of movement, freedom of assembly and
freedom of association;
8) Remove all restrictions to form political parties and participate in politics;
9) Allow them to practice their religious rites and cultural ceremonies;
10) Allow all Rohingyas from IDP Camps across Arakan to return to their
places of origin immediately under the supervision of international
observation;
11) Release all the Rohingya arbitrary detainees nationwide without delay;
12) Stop using Rohingyas as forced labourers and human shields at all
time;
13) Rebuilt their places of worship and other public as well as private
buildings which were destroyed throughout the violence at the expense
of the Burmese government;
14) Return all ancestral lands and titles that were unlawfully confiscated and
grabbed from Rohingyas;
15) Allow Rohingyas to participate in trade and commercial activities;
16) Allow their children to have full access to proper education without any
let or hindrance;
17) Allow them to serve in public services proportionately;
18) Refrain from interfering in marriages and family planning of Rohingyas;
19) Restore their rights to enjoy other rights and privileges that are accorded
to all indigenous natives of Burma;
20) Provide adequate legal and administrative measures to accomplish all
the above mentioned demands.

COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF
ARAKAN ROHINGYA SALVATION ARMY (ARSA)
END

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Annex VIII
reviving the
courageous
hearts