Need to prioritise eradication of terrorism

October 5, 2017

Starting from the early hours of August 25, over 30 security outposts in northern Rakhine State were severely destroyed in coordinated surprise attacks by ARSA extremist terrorists. As a result, many local nationals and residents were killed, injured and later relocated to safer places.

Yet, news on these actual events were not mentioned at all by UN senior officials and on the websites of international media agencies, whereas affairs of refugees fleeing Maungtaw to take shelter in the neighboring country were being discussed over and over again and spoken aloud almost always appearing at the top of the agenda. These affairs were actually due to the atrocious attacks and killings of ARSA extremist terrorists, but in the international media there were nonstop discussions about refugee affairs, completely ignoring the terrorist attacks. By seeing this, we may note with regret that most of the international media were sympathetic to the terrorists. At the present time, many places all over the world are being attacked by extremist terrorists. It is ironic that the countries which have been loudly speaking about refugee affairs are facing the dangers of these extremist terrorists themselves.

Recently, it was learnt that an overseas-based media company conducted an interview with the one who got involved in the attack together with ARSA extremist terrorists, from a refugee camp near the Bangladesh border. We would no longer like to claim that the media company was the one encouraging terrorism. But it is doubtful whether the camp was a refugee camp or a terrorist camp. In actuality, refugees and terrorists mingled freely in this refugee camp. Very recently, Bangladesh security forces seized some ARSA extremist terrorists together with weapons.

Across the world, extremist terrorists are being eradicated. But it can be assumed that terrorists are separately hiding, rather than they are being split. The Rakhine State affair of Myanmar is similar to these, so the Myanmar Government will systematically solve the problem with the spirit of humanitarianism. Accordingly, the United Nations and the international community should call for all communities to effectively deal with the dangers of extremist terrorists.

To our great sorrow, on October 1, while celebrating a music festival at Las Vegas, in Nevada State, USA, a lone gunman fired into a crowd, killing 59 innocent people and injuring over 500. On Sept 15 as well, there was a bomb-blast on board the London Sub-way train, injuring at least 22 people. Meanwhile, 84 innocent people were killed in the attacks of ISIS’s extremist groups in southern Iraq. In last May, over 20 people were killed in the bomb-blast at the stage show in Manchester, UK. In the recent attacks of terrorists, over 100 innocent were killed with nearly 100 people are missing.

These events are in fact the attacks of extremist terrorists. We firmly believe that the UN and all the nations of the world should make concerted efforts for the eradication of terrorism as a priority, so that further atrocious killings and displacements will not happen again.

Khin Maung Oo

Ref; The Global New Light of Myanmar