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Over 20,000 Rohingya Muslims have taken shelter in Bangladesh following the latest attack in Rakhine state since October 9 that killed around 100 people. People who have escaped the attacks are sharing horrific stories of murder and torture. After the military crackdown began, the Myanmar president’s office issued a statement claiming that some 400 members of Aqa Mul Mujahideen, a little-known Islamist militant group linked to al-Qaeda and RSO, had conducted the pre-planned attack. According to the ICG report, HaY is represented in northern Rakhine by Ata Ullah, seen in several videos released by the group. He was born in Karachi to a Rohingya father and grew up in Mecca. He is part of a group of 20 Rohingya who have international experience in modern guerrilla warfare and are leading operations on the ground in northern Arakan. Also with them is a senior Islamic scholar, Ziabur Rahman, a Saudi-educated Rohingya mufti with the authority to issue fatwas.
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The Crisis Group interviewed six persons linked to the armed group: four members in northern Maungdaw and two outside Myanmar. Separate discussions with them, as well as others involved in chat groups on secure messaging applications and analysis of videos released by the group have revealed a partial picture of its origins, structure and objectives. HaY would not have been able to establish itself and make detailed preparations without the buy-in of some local leaders and communities, the report adds. “The fact that more people are now embracing violence reflects deep policy failures over many years rather than any sort of inevitability.” The current violence is qualitatively different from anything in recent decades, seriously threatens the prospects of stability and development in the state and has serious implications for Myanmar as a whole, the ICG says. The government should ensure that violence does not escalate and inter-communal tensions are kept under control. It requires also taking due account of the grievances and fears of Rakhine Buddhists, the report says.
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The ICG has warned that the current use of disproportionate military force in response to the attacks, which fails to adequately distinguish militants from civilians, and denial of humanitarian assistance to Rakhine is unlikely to dislodge the group and risks generating a spiral of violence and potential mass displacement. The rights group says that the Myanmar government requires recognising first that the Rohingyas have lived in the area for generations and will continue to do so. Ways must be found to give them a place in the nation’s life. “A heavy-handed security response that fails to respect fundamental principles of proportionality and distinction is not only in violation of international norms; it is also deeply counterproductive. “It will likely create further despair and animosity, increasing support for HaY and further entrenching violence. International experience strongly suggests that an aggressive military response, particularly if not embedded in a broader policy framework, will be ineffective against the armed group and has the potential to considerably aggravate matters,” the report adds.
RSO's false claims
Prior to the recent attacks, even members and supporters at village level were not aware of the real name and referred to it by this generic phrase (and perhaps also “RSO,” which may be why the government claimed that old group’s involvement).Also read- Exclusive: Traffickers thrive on Rohingya crisis
After the October 9 attacks, Rohingya communities in Saudi Arabia, other Middle Eastern countries and Malaysia began to ask who carried them out. According to HaY, people associated with the RSO began to falsely claim responsibility and to collect donations on this basis from the Rohingya diaspora and large private donors in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. This, they say, was what prompted the group to reveal its name, show some of its faces on camera and prove that it was on the ground. The first video, circulated to Rohingya networks on October 11 and leaked on YouTube the next day, has the name Harakah al-Yaqin overlaid in Arabic script. In the second, uploaded to YouTube on 14 October, the group used this name and warned donors not to trust other groups claiming to be behind the attacks, saying that “some people tried to sell our movement and our community,” a reference to the RSO.
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Further videos were subsequently released, showing their continued actions in north Maungdaw and stating their demands.
Who they are
HaY was established and is overseen by a committee of some twenty senior leaders headquartered in Mecca, with at least one member based in Medina. All are Rohingya émigrés or have Rohingya heritage. They are well-connected in Bangladesh, Pakistan and possibly India. Some or all have visited Bangladesh and northern Rakhine State at different times in the last two years. The main speaker in the videos is Ata Ullah (alias Ameer Abu Amar, and, within the armed group, Abu Amar Jununi, the name mentioned in a number of the vid-eos); the government identifies him as Hafiz Tohar, presumably another alias. His father, a Muslim from northern Rakhine State, went to Karachi, where Ata Ullah was born. The family then moved to Saudi Arabia, and he grew up in Mecca, receiving a Madrassa education.Also read- Ansar man killed in Teknaf refugee camp attack
This is consistent with the fact that on the videos he shows fluent command of both the Bengali dialect spoken in northern Rakhine State and Peninsular Arabic. He disappeared from Saudi Arabia in 2012 shortly after violence erupted in Rakhine State. Though not confirmed, there are indications he went to Pakistan and possibly elsewhere, and that he received practical training in modern guerrilla warfare. Some 20 Rohingyas from Saudi Arabia (separate from the leadership committee), including Ata Ullah, are leading operations on the ground. Like him, they are thought to have experience from other conflicts, possibly Afghanistan and Pakistan. Some Rohingyas returned from the camps (official and informal) in Bangladesh before October 9 to join the group. A registered refugee from Nayapara camp in Bangladesh stood beside Ata Ullah in the first video; he disappeared from the camp the night of a May 13 attack on its guard post in which a commander was killed and eleven weapons stolen. Since October 9, several hundred young Rohingya men from Bangladesh have joined the fight. However, the main fighting force is made up of Muslim villagers in northern Rakhine State who have been given basic training and organised into village-level cells to limit risks of compromise. These are mostly led by young Islamic clerics (known as “Mullahs” or “Maulvis”) or scholars (“Hafiz”) from those villages. Though it does not appear to have religious motivations, HaY has sought religious legitimacy for its attacks. At its prompting, senior Rohingya clerics and several foreign clerics have ruled that, given the persecution Muslim communities face in Rakhine State, the campaign against the security forces is legal in Islam, and anyone opposing it is in opposition to Islam.
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Fatwas (religious rulings) to this effect were apparently obtained shortly after October 9 in several countries with a significant Rohingya diaspora, including Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. These have significantly influenced many Muslim religious leaders in northern Rakhine State to endorse HaY despite earlier feeling violence to be counterproductive. The group also has a senior Islamic scholar with it in Maungdaw, a Rohingya from Saudi Arabia, Mufti Ziabur Rahman, who brings religious legitimacy to operations and has authority to issue fatwas. Information from members and analysis of its methods indicate that its approach and objective are not transnational jihadist terrorism. It has only attacked security forces (and perceived threats in its own community), not religious targets, Buddhist villagers or civilians and family members at the BGP bases it hit on October 9.
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It has called for jihad in some videos, but there are no indications this means terrorism. Unlike all previous such insurgent groups (see above) and for unclear reasons, it does not include “Rohingya” in its name. Its stated aim is not to impose Sharia (Islamic law), but rather to stop persecution of Rohingyas and secure their rights and greater autonomy as Myanmar citizens, notwithstanding that its approach is likely to harden attitudes in the country and seriously set back those goals.
