November
17, 2016
Four
detainees suspected of being involved in the deadly 9th October ambushes on
border police outposts in northern Rakhine claimed that they were forced to
undergo the terrorist training and then join with violent attackers and set
fire to their own villages.
The
suspects, who were arrested during the clearance operations by the government
troops and the border guards, made the claims while being questioned by the
authorities in accordance with the law.
The
testimony of the suspects revealed a systematic recruitment of members of the
Muslim community in the northern Rakhine State by foreign Muslim extremists
that was carried out by the intimidation and the threat of execution.
“They
said that they would shoot me or cut my throat and kill me if I did not do
their course. Twenty people from our village had to attend the course, which
was conducted at the back of the Mayin Mountain”, said Jarbuman, a suspect who
was detained from Pwintphyuchaung village on 12th November. “On the day the
fighting broke out, we fired to our villages and left. The group also had 10
guns and 10 swords”.
Mammud
Iserlan, another detainee from the same village, said that the Muslim cleric at
the local mosque acted as an organizer. The cleric told villagers that people
from Bangladesh would come soon and we need to cooperate with them to attack
the troops of the government, which would never recognize them as the Rohingya.
“He
also said that one person from each household had to join in the attacks.
Otherwise, all family members would be slashed at their throats.
They
also told us that we needed to shout words like ‘Muslim’, ‘Rohingya’,
‘Nakaburi’ and ‘Wutsforce’. Courses were conducted in the valley. They said
they waited a long time as they were promised the recognition of the Rohingya,
but that never happened. When the attacks broke out, we were at our village
with our swords. Some villages were set on fire by people who infiltrated from
Bangladesh and some local rogues. Villagers had to take to the streets with
swords when the attacks broke out”, Iserlan said.
Another
detainee, Eielhar, who was arrested in Yedwingone village, said that “Muslim
Bengalis set fire to the village on 13th November. I think about one hundred
houses were burnt down”.
A
fourth suspect, Sauduarmein of Kyaingchaung (North) village, said: “We were
gathering people with swords, slingshots and wooden clubs to rob the weapons of
the security forces. Before the night of the attacks, they took our elders into
the jungle. They also put fire on our village and went into the forest.”
The
interrogation of the detainees revealed that the violent attackers forced one
man from each local family to join with them under the threat of the slashing
death of their family members, according to the information committee of the
State Counsellor’s Office. The detainees told the committee and interrogators
that the local Muslim villagers were instructed to wait to attack the
government troops with swords and sticks. The detainees also said the arsons in
the villages were done by the violent attackers themselves, or by those under
their direction.
Ref; The Global New Light of Myanmar
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