Amnesty International: Rohingya Militants Massacred Hindus in Myanmar

The other side of the story, for a change

By Daniel Uria  |  (UPI)

Rohingya Muslim militants massacred 99 Hindu citizens in Myanmar, including 45 whose bodies were found in a mass grave near Yebawkya village, according to an Amnesty International report. Photo by Nyein Chan Naning/EPA

A group of Rohingya Muslim militants killed nearly 100 Hindu civilians in a series of attacks in Myanmar, according to an Amnesty International report.

The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army killed 99 Hindu people in one, or possibly two massacres, in August 2017, Amnesty International concluded after reviewing dozens of interviews and photographic evidence.

"Our latest investigation on the ground sheds much-needed light on the largely under-reported human rights abuses by ARSA during northern Rakhine State's unspeakably dark recent history," Amnesty International Crisis Response Director Tirana Hassan said.

Under-reported is right. MSM only reports one side of a dispute anymore. They pick one side and vilify the other. 

The ethnic cleansing committed by Myanmar's military was inhumane and unforgivable, but perhaps can be understood a little better in the context of Islamic invasion. This is how Buddhist Myanmar has always seen the Rohingyas, whether Muslim or Hindu, they threatened the Buddhist way of life. Islam is a threat to existing social constructs everywhere they land. Europeans are only just beginning to see this. Burmese have seen it for decades.

On Aug. 26, ARSA members attacked the Hindu village of Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik, rounding up 53 people before they robbed, bound, and blindfolded them and took them to the outskirts of the village where they were executed.

Twenty men, 10 women, and 23 children, including 14 under the age of eight were killed.

The same day, all 46 of the Hindu men, women, and children in the neighboring village of Ye Bauk Kyar disappeared, according to the report.

The bodies of 45 people from Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik were found in mass graves in September, while the 46 bodies of those from Ye Bauk Kyar haven't been found.

Amnesty International's report also highlighted "an unlawful and grossly disproportionate campaign of violence by Myanmar's security forces" in response to attacks by ARSA fighters on about 30 Myanmar security posts on Aug. 25.

I hate that word, 'disproportionate'! They use it against Israel all the time as though Israel should tolerate Palestinian terrorism and respond by slapping their wrists. 

Militant Islam is a cancer! If you have a cancer would tell your doctor that you don't feel too bad so just perform 'proportionate' surgery? 'No need to be 'disproportionate' and remove the whole cancer, just enough to get by for a few more months!' 

This is the situation Myanmar faced and responded to so violently. It is also the situation Europe will find itself in within a few generations, if not sooner.

"ARSA's appalling attacks were followed by the Myanmar military's ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya population as a whole. Both must be condemned - human rights violations or abuses by one side never justify abuses or violations by the other," Hassan said.