Militancy Intensifies Along the Bangladesh-Myanmar Border

The predicament of Myanmar’s Rohingya people is taking on an increasingly international character as violence, perpetuated allegedly by Rohingya militants, flared on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border in October.

The Rohingya, who number about one million, are a highly persecuted Muslim minority group concentrated in Rakhine state in western Myanmar, although many have fled via the seas to neighboring countries. They are related ethnically to the Muslim Bengalis of Bangladesh.

It is a matter of considerable debate among scholars as to whether the Rohingya have been in Rakhine for generations or arrived from Bengal during British rule in Myanmar. Regardless, the Rohingya made up a significant portion of the population of Rakhine at Myanmar’s independence and are about 20 percent of Rakhine’s current population, rising to 40 percent if refugees are included. They are considered one of the most persecuted ethnic groups in the world and do not have citizenship in Myanmar, rendering them stateless.

Until recently, there has been militancy in Rakhine state among some Rohingya there. Myanmar is a hotbed of ethnic militias all over the country. Recent violence near the Myanmar-Bangladesh border suggests that militancy and radical Islamism have found takers among the Rohingya.

In the early hours of October 9, Rohingya militants, who may have come from Bangladesh, attacked three border posts in Myanmar, killing nine police officers. The attackers also made off with dozens of weapons and up to 10,000 rounds of ammunition. Since then, Burmese forces have killed at least 30 militants in Rakhine.

Bangladesh, for its part, pledged to assist Myanmar in its fight against terrorism and sealed its borders with Myanmar on October 10 in order to prevent militants from escaping. Furthermore, it apprehended two Rohingya militants within its borders and handed them over to the government of Myanmar. All this suggests that Rohingya are increasingly becoming radicalized through their stay in other countries. According to the government of Myanmar, the attacks in Rakhine were perpetuated by a hitherto unknown militant group known as Aqa Mul Mujahidin (AMM).

Aqa Mul Mujahidin is said to be led by a 45-year-old man known as Havistoohar, who hails from a small village in northern Rakhine. Myanmar’s government issued a statement alleging that Havistoohar had trained with the Taliban in Pakistan and has relatives living in Saudi Arabia.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the statement also said that he “frequently visits a village across the border in Bangladesh, where he receives funding from organizations in the Middle East,” adding that about five months ago, a “Pakistani national identified as Kalis traveled to Maungdaw and began training youths recruited by Mr. Havistoohar.”

Additionally, Bangladeshi news sources quoted Indian intelligence sources suggesting that AMM grew out of a previous group, Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami-Arakaan (HUJI-A), which has close ties with Pakistani militant groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba.

While the new government of Myanmar, under de facto leader and State Counselor Aung Sung Suu Kyi, has been trying to find ways to reconcile the Buddhists in Rakhine with the Muslim Rohingya, the intensification of militancy among the latter makes this more difficult. While it cannot be said with any degree of precision how many Rohingya actually support violent groups or acts, the very fact that such violence has been committed will make the Rakhine majority less likely to compromise with the Rohingya.

Above all, it is not particularly shocking that the Rohingya would be tempted to resort to armed struggle given the level of persecution they have suffered. However, what really threatens to inflame the region and draw the focus of neighboring countries such as India and Bangladesh is the global jihadist aspect of the new violence in Rohingya. Militant Islamist groups have, until recently, focused very little on the plight of the Rohingya. But this appears to now be changing.

Recently, global Islamist groups have brought much more attention to the Rohingya. In the April 2016 issue of Dabiq, the Islamic State’s magazine, a Bangladeshi jihadist Abu Ibrahim called on others to join him to help the oppressed Rohingya and support them in every possible way. He also warned that Bangladesh-based ISIS militants would attack Myanmar soon. Additionally, an al-Qaeda publication in South Asia called Al-Balagh urged Muslims to go down the path of jihad in Myanmar.

All this places the Rohingya in a very unfortunate situation. Many feel that if justice is to be served, they must resort to violence. But greater violence, especially linked to global Islamic militancy, will only make it more difficult to convince the government of Myanmar to deal with the Rohingya issue in a fair and reasonable way.

Additionally, while neighboring India and Bangladesh were previously committed to helping Myanmar find a peaceful and equitable solution to the refugee and sectarian crises in Rakhine, those states may grow less sympathetic if the Rohingya human rights issues were to become overshadowed by militancy.

Undoubtedly, the Rohingya are caught between a rock and a hard place. Rohingya leaders should attempt to steer their people away from Islamist militancy, as that will in no way help their cause and would likely trigger a harsh response from the Burmese government. Any training and weapons should be used at a bare minimum for self defense against potential atrocities by the Burmese military or Rakhine mobs.

More importantly, the government of Myanmar and Aung San Suu Kyi need to understand that they may need to sacrifice some of their popularity in the short term among Rakhine and Bamar Buddhists and ease the situation by holding back Buddhist mobs, granting the Rohingya citizenship, and allowing them to participate in the social life of Myanmar.

However difficult this may seem, the alternative is the continued alienation of Rakhine’s Rohingya that stands likely lead to more violence and militancy, turning a humanitarian crisis into a full-blown security crisis for the region.