Militant Group Responsible for Rohingya Advocate’s Murder, Say Bangladeshi Police – The Diplomat

ASEAN Beat | Politics | Southeast Asia

Bangladeshi police have accused the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Military (ARSA), a Islamic Rohingya rebel group, of ordering final yr’s homicide of the Rohingya activist Mohibullah, confirming fears of the group’s attain inside the refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh.

Mohibullah, the pinnacle of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen within the Kutupalong refugee camp outdoors the city of Cox’s Bazar final September.

The advocate’s household instantly suspected the involvement of ARSA, an rebel group in Myanmar’s Rakhine State that can be lively within the refugee camps which can be dotted round Cox’s Bazar.

Yesterday, BenarNews revealed an article quoting from a police report in regards to the homicide, which pinned the assassination on ARSA chief Ataullah Abu Ahmmar Jununi. The report claimed that Ataullah was displeased with Mohibullah’s rising recognition inside the camps, and that he believed the ARSPH stood in the way in which of its operations.

In accordance with the police report, which was submitted to a court docket in Cox’s Bazar district on Monday, Bangladeshi police have charged 29 “rogues” with the killing, all of them ARSA members, of whom 14 stay at giant. ARSA denies any involvement in Mohibullah’s homicide.

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Kutupalong and the opposite camps round Cox’s Bazar are dwelling to round 1 million Muslim Rohingya, most of whom fled Myanmar in August 2017, when the Myanmar army launched a brutal offensive within the northern a part of Rakhine State, razing villagers and driving some 745,000 individuals into Bangladesh. ARSA, whose assaults on Myanmar police outposts supplied the casus belli for the Myanmar army’s “clearance operation” has since change into a dominant pressure within the loosely policed refugee camps round Cox’s Bazar, and is accused of operating narcotics and murdering political opponents.

The police report merely confirms what many had suspected about ARSA’s involvement within the killing of Mohibullah. Again in 2019, Reuters reported that the advocate was dealing with growing opposition from militants and non secular conservatives inside the camps, together with members of ARSA, which is often known as Harakah al-Yaqin, “the motion of the religion.” In accordance with BenarNews, the police report marks the primary official admission by Bangladeshi authorities that ARSA is current inside the refugee camps, one thing that it had beforehand denied, regardless of all of the proof on the contrary.

The homicide was possible motivated partially by disagreements over how finest to advocate for the Rohingya refugees. Whereas teams like ARSPH favored incremental steps towards enhancing the situation within the camps and dealing towards the voluntary repatriation of Rohingya communities to Rakhine State, and garnered appreciable assist from overseas governments and worldwide establishments consequently, the ARSA advocated a tougher line towards the Myanmar authorities.

“Ataullah Abu Ahmmar Jununi couldn’t settle for the management of Muhib Ullah,” the report acknowledged. “He requested Muhib Ullah to cease the operation of his group to advertise the repatriation of the Rohingya. However he didn’t hear.”

The police report additionally suggests the chance that non-public jealousies weighed into the equation. In accordance with the police report quoted by BenarNews, Ataullah requested Mohibullah to hitch ARSA and that he rejected the provide. One other researcher has also pointed to the possible past connections between Mohibullah and ARSA, suggesting a bigger backstory to the grim incidence.