Islamic militants take aim at Myanmar

Islamic militants take aim at Myanmar
By Jacob Zenn

After decades of isolation under military rule, Myanmar is opening to foreign investment and forms of democracy for the first time in a generation. The reform process, however, is now being attended by unanticipated consequences and influences, both internally and from abroad, that could undermine the country's new trend towards openness.

Recent sectarian fighting between Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar's western Rakhine State has caught the attention of militant Islamists in South and Southeast Asia. Since May, the amount of jihadi propaganda directed towards Myanmar, a country previously unknown in the world of jihadi antagonists, has surged as perhaps thousands of Muslim Rohingyas have been forced to flee the country.

Tensions between the ethnic Rohingya and Rakhine populations



in Rakhine State were mostly kept under wraps under Myanmar's previous ruling military junta. Violence erupted on May 28 after an ethnic Rakhine woman was raped and murdered allegedly by three Rohingyas in Rakhine State, and the government was unprepared for the inter-ethnic violence that soon transpired.

A cycle of violence between the two groups has since resulted in widespread arson attacks and hundreds of murders. Perhaps thousands of the 800,000 Rohingyas living in Rakhine State have recently fled to Bangladesh, which many Myanmar citizens claim is the Rohingyas' true homeland.

The violence occurs at a time of growing regional instability in the pivot area where South and Southeast Asia meet, namely the areas along the Myanmar, Bangladesh, and India's Assamese borders. At the same that Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhist Rakhines clashed in Myanmar, fighting erupted between Muslims and Hindus in India's Assam State.

Since mid-July, more than 30 people have been killed and 150,000 displaced in Assam as riots devolved into open conflict between indigenous tribes such as the Bodos and Muslim settlers in the state's Kokrajhar and Chirang districts. As in Myanmar where the Rohingyas are considered illegal Bangladeshi settlers, the Muslims targeted in Assam are accused of being ethnic Bengalis from Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has the highest population density of any country and is woefully ill-equipped to deal with an influx of refugees from Myanmar and India. Bangladesh is home to a population of 160 million people in a country the size of the US State of Iowa, which in contrast has a population of only three million people.

Bangladesh also has its own homegrown problems with Muslim extremist groups, including the Hizb ut-Tahrir, which authorities banned in 2009. The head of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), Yasin Bhatkal, is believed to be hiding in Dhaka and Chittagong, Bangladesh's two largest cities, allegedly with the help of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency.

The Bangladesh government now runs the risk of being perceived by militant Islamists as selling out fellow Muslims, a sentiment expressed in a recent surge of jihadi propaganda condemning it for not doing enough to help the inrush of refugee Rohingyas.

As is often the case with jihadi statements, the videos and essays propagated by militant Islamists about recent events in Myanmar are more rhetoric than substance. Playing up the victimhood narrative, they apparently hope to incite the global Muslim community, or ummah, and win new recruits to their wider cause against enemy "infidel" governments and countries.

While secular Bangladesh has been a target of Islamists for years, Myanmar is apparently a new member of the "infidel" club of countries that propagandists threaten in response to its treatment of the Rohingyas. Given the Myanmar military's ongoing challenges of trying to pacify internal insurgencies, including a major unresolved conflict in northern Kachin State, it is likely unprepared to raise its counter-terrorism capabilities to prevent a possible retributive plot against the country.

The most recent militant statement to target Myanmar came from Lebanon's Hezbollah, which on July 23 said in an official statement:

"The regime-owned killing machine relentlessly works on striking Muslims in different regions, with Rohingya at the forefront...This is a new racial purification trend against Muslims."

On July 20, the Taliban released a more vitriolic statement saying:

The Muslims of [Myanmar] have been facing such oppression and savagery for the past two months never previously witnessed in the history of mankind.

Mercilessly burning children, women and men like toasting sheep on fire is not only against every known law but something no man with any conscious can ever accept but unfortunately the Muslims of [Myanmar] are targets of such a gross crime. Not only that, but they are also being expelled from their lands, forcefully ejected from their homes, their wealth is being usurped and their honor looted while the whole world turns a blind eye to their plight.

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, besides considering this crime a black scar on the history of mankind, calls on the government of [Myanmar] to immediately put a stop to this savagery and barbarism and halt such heart rending historical violations against humans and humanity. They should realize that this is not only a crime against the Muslims of [Myanmar] but against all humankind and especially an unforgivable crime against the entire Muslim world…[1]

On July 16, The Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF), the European propaganda arm in support of al Qadea and other radical Islamic organizations, issued a recent question and answer essay called "The Genocide against the Muslims in [Myanmar]" on the jihadist website al Fidaa:

Why did this genocide begin? The Buddhist Rakhine killers placed the dead body [of the raped and killed Rakhine woman] near a Muslim village without any knowledge of the murder. The Buddhist Rakhine and Burmese (Myanmar) authority accused Muslims of killing the woman. As a result, three innocent Muslim youths were arrested. One was beaten to death, and the other two were sentenced to death by the court. The government has shown the world that they created a fake issue to instigate a real event against Muslims.

How did this genocide start and what happened afterwards? On June 3, 2012, eight Muslim pilgrims along with one escort, one bus helper, and one woman were killed by a Rakhine mob in Taungup township in southern Arakan [Rakhine] State. Five others escaped the massacre…The gang of Rakhine terrorists stopped the bus, which had the license plate 7 (Ga) 7868, at an immigration gate, and called, "Come down all, if there are any foreigners," while holding lethal weapons…Then, they started to beat the Muslim pilgrims and dragged them from the bus to the road, where an organized gang of more than 300 Rakhine terrorists beat the Muslims until they died. The gang had been standing at the immigration gate, but no authorities came out to stop the massacre. [2]

These messages and interpretations of events are starting to cause regional ripple effects. On July 13, 300 members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT) in Indonesia threatened to storm the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta. One protest leader said over a loudspeaker: "If embassy officials refuse to talk with us, I demand all of you break into the building and turn it upside down … Allahu Akbar … Every drop of blood that is shed from a Muslim must be paid back. Nothing is free in this world … FPI is ready to wage jihad … Go to Myanmar and carry out jihad for your Muslim brothers."

On July 6, the al-Faruq Foundation for Media Production released an Arabic-language video called "Solidarity With Our Muslim Brothers in Arakan (The Tragedy of [Myanmar])" on the Ansar al-Mujahideen Forum. The propaganda film includes a historical narrative focusing on Muslim victimhood played over images of brutalized Rohingyas, although some of the images appear not to have come from the recent violence. The video's narrative includes a passage that says:

They steal the money of the Muslims and they steal their crops and they prohibit the Muslims from communicating with people from other countries. They also prevent the marriages of Muslims and they put a lot of obstacles in the way of Muslim marriages. This is not all as there is a lot of injustice that you can't even imagine and all forms of torture. So where are the defenders of the human rights in the 20th century and where the people who fight for freedom and democracy. This awful silence indicates the acceptance and supporting of this because it is Muslim blood that is being shed and since it is a Muslim blood, then the blood is cheap like the blood of Muslims of 'Arakan', Palestine, Kashmir and Chechnya and everywhere else.

These and other statements have put the Rohingyas' plight on the radar of many Islamist militant groups. While their propaganda is directed at militants from all regions, some of the groups who have issued statements on Myanmar are clearly trying to recruit disenfranchised Rohingyas to their radical causes.

They have a potential galvanizing figure. One ethnic Rohingya, Abu Zar al-Burmi, is believed to be the mufti, or religious scholar, for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan based in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. Without roots in any nation, as Rohingyas are not allowed citizenship in Myanmar or Bangladesh, al-Burmi has promoted the creation of a global Muslim community which exists without respect to international borders.

The growing inter-religious fighting and spillover humanitarian crises in Rakhine and Assam States is exerting new pressures on Bangladesh, Myanmar, and India. As the violence spirals and governments fail to restore order and dispense of justice for crimes committed, the situation could quickly become a new regional, if not international, security dilemma.

For their part, Islamist militants have shown they are prepared to exploit the plight of the Rohingyas for their own radical purposes, while neither Myanmar nor Bangladesh have demonstrated they are able to manage the crisis at a local or national level. Should the crisis escalate and become an effective recruiting tool for transnational Islamist militant groups, the international community will one way or another eventually be dragged into the mire.

Notes:
1. Statement of Islamic Emirate regarding the bloody tragedy of the Muslims of Burma, July 20, 2012.
2. The Genocide Against the Muslims in Burma, Jihadology, July 16, 2012.
3. Solidarity With Our Muslim Brothers in Arakan (The Tragedy of Burma), Jihadology, July 6, 2012.


Jacob Zenn is a political risk analyst and legal adviser based in Washington, D.C., who focuses on militant groups in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and Nigeria. He can be reached at zopensource123@gmail.com.

(Copyright 2012 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)


http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/NG27Ae04.html

Welcome to Mr Quintana's visit to Rakhaing State

     Welcome to Mr Quintana's visit to Rakhaing State

and Urge to issue a real report

We All Rakhaing do warmly welcome Mr. Quintana's visit to Rakhaing State (Arakan) in Western Part of Burma.   At the same time we wish that the real report on what had happened in the Rakhaing State(Arakan) in the last few weeks should be presented to the international Community.

The situation in the Rakhaing state (Arakan) in Western Myanmar remains tense since 8-June's fierce attacks.  Hundreds of Buddhist villagers' homes were set ablaze and villagers were killed by the so-called Rohingya attackers.  These people are illegal immigrants from overpopulated Bangladesh. 

Sir, Let me explain to you why I use the term illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. When the nation of Bangladesh was established in 1971, it's population was only 65 million but now in 2012 it reached 170 million.  Because of this population explosion, there is no longer enough space in their motherland and Bengali Muslims from Bangladesh are immigrating illegally into two of her neignbours, namely India and Burma, by crossing the porus border either secretly or due to the corruption of border authorities.  The recent communal riots with blood bath in the Indian State of Assam is another evidence.

In the border town Maungdaw in Burma the so-called 'Rohingyas' are the majority.  They requested the authorities to make a Friday praying at the mosque and they guaranteed that they neither would make any demonstration nor any march.  Hence, their request was permitted.  However, when they came out from the mosques they started attacking Buddhist Rakhaings (Arakanese), set fire on the houses, Buddhists temples, monasteries and killed innocent people, including children, women, old and weak people.  Some women were sexually abused before they got killed.  It was reported by several media and several eye witnesses who testified to what happened.

These Bengali illegal immigrants (the so-called Rohingyas) had firearms and some modern weapons carried from the otherside of the border. Many Arakanese (Rakhaings) were shot dead by Bengali illegal immigrants (the so-called Rohingyas) and also by Rohingya militias who were trained inside Bangladesh by the Islamists.  This was admitted even by the foreign minister of Bangladesh Ms. Dipu Moni. The precise death toll is unknown, but is rising daily. We Arakanese (Rakhaings) have issued urgent appeals for international intervention to prevent “genocide” and ethnic cleansing in Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Yathedaung Townships even Sittway, capital of Rakhaing State ( Arakan) because many Rakhaing (Arakanese ) had faced the similar destiny in 1942 to 1962 and had to leave their villages. In this way, Rakhaings (Arakanese) unfortunately became a minority in their native soil, Arakan or the  Rakhaing Land.

We therefore strongly urge the international community to protect our people from illegal Bengali immigration and also to find out the root of the cause why the natives, that means Arakanese or Rakhaings has to become minorities in their own land!

Several reports about the communal riots in the Rakhaing State (Arakan) hit the headlines of international news channels, many of which claimed and still claims that Rohingya Muslims were attacked by the Buddhist villagers. This, however, is not true. In fact, most reports on Rohingya riot are fabricated, well-planned and deceptive. Rohingya advocates have successfully bribed some foreign-based media groups of Myanmar and let them produce fabricated and horror stories about how Rohingyas were and are oppressed by the government of Myanmar. In order to attain sympathy for the Rohingyas, they even use social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to spread false information using faked photos such as:

1.               Tibetan monks helping Chinese earth quake victims was labeled as Burmese Buddhist monks killing the “poor Rohingyas”

2.               The photo of Thai police arresting the Muslim rioters in Kra peninsula was reported as Burmese armed forces killing the “poor Rohingyas”

3.               The photo of Indonesian police watching the illegal “Boat People” was faked as  Burmese armed forces killing the “poor Rohingyas”

4.                The photo of a Tibetan burning himself as a protest against the Chinese rule was given as a 'Rohingya' was burned alive and all Burmese are watching. However, these liars totally forgot that there was a Tibetan flag wrapped around that man's body and the face of a Tibetan is totally different from that of a Bengali (a so-called Rohingya)

5.               In reality the native Rakhaing (Arakanese) are losing  their homeland step by step because of these well-planned activities of the illegal immigrants.

We all Rakhaing (Arakanese) would therefore like to request Mr. Thomas Quintana to give a true story and correct report to United Nations and the whole world.  We also request you to show a sympathy to our helpless Rakhaing people.

Furthermore, we like to urge that more assistance and support should be provided to every victim regardless of race and religion.  Many Arakanese had a feeling that they are neglected and discriminated by UN and other NGOs.

At the same time we all Rakhaing (Arakanese) would like to send our warm message of graditude to the Burmese government, UN, and Care Myanmar who are planning to rebuild the houses that were destroyed by so-called Rohingyas  in Maungdaw Township in Arakan State.

        Our short requests are as follows:

1.           To study the cause from the root, why the Rakhaing (Arakanese) had to become the minority in their native towns Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Yathedaung  in Northern Arakan or the Rakhaing Land.

2.           Although there are many kinds of foreigners living in Arakan or Rakhaing State, why the only racial riots broke out between the native Rakhaings (Arakanese) and the illegal settlers, Bengali Muslims who named themseves 'Rohingyas'?  As a parallel case, I would like to request you to study the recent racial riots in the Indian state of Assam!  There too, this is happening because of illegal immigration from overpopulated Bangladesh.

3.           To urge international communities to help helpless Rakhaings (Arakanese) and try to solve this biggest issue as soon as possible because we do not want to face any similar problem in our own land in the future.

          Sincerely

        Ran Nin Soe(Coorninator)
        Burma Campaign Holland

    

BANGLADESH'S WARNING OVER POSSIBLE TERRORIST REFUGEE THREAT

BANGLADESH'S WARNING OVER POSSIBLE TERRORIST REFUGEE THREAT
Sheikh Hasina met Foreign Secretary William Hague earlier today to discuss the situation

Saturday July 28,2012
By Ted Jeory

THE Prime Minister of Bangladesh has warned of possible terrorist connections among the thousands of Muslim refugees trying to enter her country from neighbouring Burma.

Sheikh Hasina said in an interview with the Sunday Express that her government had passed on concerns about a number of unidentified “incidents” to the authorities in Burma where there have been clashes between Buddhists and Muslims.

The recent fighting, which has seen dozens killed, has been taking place in the western Burmese state of Rakhine.

Thousands of Rohingyas, whom the UN describes as a persecuted Islamic minority group in Buddhist Burma, have tried to flee to Bangaldesh, a secular country of 160 million mainly Muslims.

Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League government has been turning them away at the border, angering campaign groups Human Rights Watch and Amnesty.

ì
Sheikh Hasina met Foreign Secretary William Hague earlier today to discuss the situation
î

However, she told the Sunday Express that the international community should investigate why so many are fleeing.

She met Foreign Secretary William Hague earlier today to discuss the situation.

In her interview with the Sunday Express, she said she was concerned about the activities of Jamaat e Islami, an Islamic fundamentalist political party that has a powerbase near the border with Burma and which has previously been accused of terror links, allegations it denies.

She alleged: “Jamaat e Islami is very much involved in terrorist activity, there’s no doubt about it and everybody

SEARCH UK NEWS for:


knows that.

“As for refugees, we have a large number trying to get into our country, which is already over-populated.

“How many can we take it? We don’t want any refugees coming to Bangladesh. “The international community should try and find out why these refugees want to come.”

Asked if she was concerned that Jamaat e Islami might be encouraging some refugees, she said: “We have some intelligence reports about it.

“My government has talked to our ambassador in Myanmar (Burma) and they have informed them about some incidents and our intelligence people and law enforcement agencies are enquiring about it.

“We are trying to find out the reality.”

Sheikh Hasina, who attended Friday night’s Olympic opening ceremony, also praised Britain and Scotland Yard for helping in the fight against terrorism.

She came to power in 2008 after several years of rule by the military and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, whom
she accused of being soft on terror.

She said: “Our position is a zero-tolerance to terrorism. Many people were killed between 2001 and 2006 but but since we formed our government we will not allow anybody to use our soil to launch any type of terrorist activity.”

“But once a previous government encouraged them or nursed them, you cannot stop them overnight.

“We have good relations especially with the British. We have a Joint Task Force on Counter Terrorism and they are training our people and that is really very helpful and I really appreciate that.”

She also thanked UK taxpayers for the £250million of foreign aid sent from Britain every year, cash she says is
helping her vision to make Bangladesh a “middle income country” by 2021.

She already has a large-scale infrastructure improvement programme in the country and is also working with neighbouring Nepal, India and Bhutan about a massive tourism drive in the region.

She said: “We have the world’s longest naturally sandy beach (at Cox’s Bazar).

“We want to develop that with lots of beautiful tea gardens areas, so there is a very good possibility to develop this.”

In her meeting with Mr Hague today, the Rohingyas crisis was raised alongside other issues, including trade, migration co-operation and climate change.

Mr Hague said: “The strong roots between our two countries are reflected in our trade relationship where the UK is the largest cumulative investor in Bangladesh.

“I welcome our co-operation on a range of international issues not least climate change, where Bangladesh plays an important role.”

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/335850/Bangladesh-s-warning-over-possible-terrorist-refugee-threat

Hasina warns of possible terrorist threat from Myanmarese refugees

Hasina warns of possible terrorist threat from Myanmarese refugees
IANS India Private LimitedBy Indo Asian News Service

London, July 28 (IANS) Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has warned of possible terrorist connections among thousands of Muslim refugees trying to enter her country from neighbouring Myanmar.

In an interview with the Sunday Express, Hasina said that her government had passed on concerns about a number of unidentified "incidents" to the authorities in Myanmar where there have been clashes between Buddhists and Muslims.

The recent fighting, which has seen dozens killed, has been taking place in the western Myanmarese state of Rakhine. Thousands of Rohingyas, described by the UN as a persecuted Islamic minority group in Myanmar, have tried to flee to Bangaldesh.

Hasina's Awami League government has been turning them away at the border, angering campaign groups Human Rights Watch and Amnesty.

She, however, told the Sunday Express that the international community should investigate why so many were fleeing.

"As for refugees, we have a large number trying to get into our country, which is already over-populated. How many can we take it? We don't want any refugees coming to Bangladesh.

"The international community should try and find out why these refugees want to come," she said.

Asked if she was concerned that Jamaat-e-Islami could be encouraging some refugees, she said: "We have some intelligence reports about it.

"We are trying to find out the reality."

The Bangladeshi prime minister, who attended late Friday night's Olympic opening ceremony, also praised Britain and Scotland Yard for helping in the fight against terrorism.

Hasina met British Foreign Secretary William Hague earlier Saturday to discuss the situation.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/hasina-warns-possible-terrorist-threat-mynmarese-refugees-173728974.html

fake properganga by so called Rohingya terrorist

http://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2011/02/09/the-bomb-exploded-in-the-7-star-restaurant-next-to-the-shwe-tadar-guest-house-near-the-friendship-bridge/

Ba Sein's facebook page and original photo

http://newshopper.sulekha.com/indonesia-myanmar-ships-of-misery_photo_649883.htm

http://www.kaladanpress.org/v3/

The international media groups have been unfair to Myanmar and to the Rakkhine victims of the Rohingya attack. It is obvious that the Rohingyas are the attackers. Why would the majority Rakkhine leave their homes, and get their properties torched if they were the attackers? I strongly feel indignant by how the photos of artifice are flooding the world media. I am miffed by how the photos of what is really happening in Arakan State are published nowhere on the world media channels.

Muslims Killing in Burma and our Social Media / Islamic Parties

http://farazahmed.com/muslims-killing-in-burma-and-our-social-media-islamic-parties-1010.aspx

Muslims Killing in Burma and our Social Media / Islamic Parties

Faraz Ahmed July 14, 2012 65

In now a days people are posting pictures with captions like Muslims killing in burma, Muslims slaughted by Buddhists in Burma..

I have search reality of few pics and found following:

A picture shared on facebook:

I have found original version here:

http://www.tibetancommunity.be/news/chinaquake.html

This picture was taken in 2010 regarding Earthquake in China and tibetians community help and rescue in China. Now Islamic political parties and some other elements are sharing this image as Muslims killing / slaughter in Burma.

A view of another widely spreaded picture with caption of “More then 1000 people killed in Burma” which also has a fake caption.

Original Image and Website:

This picture is of year 2004 nearly 8 years old about riots in Thailand.

http://tarikh100.blogspot.com/2011/11/blog-post_5836.html

One more image is spreading on social media with logo of Jamat-e-Islami having caption “terrorists of Budhism of Burma kills 500 Muslims”

Well this image is also one of incident occur in Thiland (2nd January 2009)

http://merhrom.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/end-human-rights-violations-towards-stateless-rohingya-refugees-by-thai-government/

A view of images shared in this article:

One more image spreaded on Social Media regarding Muslims Killing in Burma

This picture is also misleading original picture was from Riots in Thailand and taken in 2003:

http://www.islammemo.cc/zakera/moslimoon-mansioon/2003/01/30/1134.html?lang=en-us

One more misleading image shared on facebook with caption “A Muslim was burned in Burma and Journalist are Taking pictures instead of saving him “

The original image was taken when Chinese president visit India:

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/320319/20120327/tibetan-activist-fire-protest-chinese-president-photos.htm

By sharing all these doesn’t mean that Muslims aren’t killed in Burma but what I mean is we are sharing everything without verification and authenticity of image.