Myanmar: Rohingya Crisis Risks Opening Door to Islamists
| Publisher | Jamestown Foundation |
| Publication Date | 27 September 2017 |
| Cite as | Jamestown Foundation, Myanmar: Rohingya Crisis Risks Opening Door to Islamists, 27 September 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/59cb67084.html [accessed 21 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Link to original story on Jamestown website
A military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar's Rakhine state has created a refugee crisis for the country's neighbors and risks establishing a new jihadist rallying point in Southeast Asia.
The latest violence in Myanmar began in August, after fighters with the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) staged a series of attacks on police and army positions. An ARSA spokesman claimed the attacks were retaliation for abuses by the security forces (Asia Times, August 28). The military response has been severe and indiscriminate — including setting fire to peoples' homes — prompting more than 400,000 Rohingya to flee over the last two months (al-Jazeera, September 17). Myanmar's elected leader, the Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Su Kyi, has failed to reign in the military — something she may not in fact be able to do — nor has she condemned the violence, something she certainly could.
In the meantime, jihadist networks are attempting to use the situation to their advantage, including al-Qaeda, which posted a call on Telegram for Islamists in South Asia and the Philippines to take up arms in support of their "Muslim brothers," according to the SITE intelligence group.
ARSA, formerly known as Harakah al-Yaqin, initially encouraged this kind of messaging, but appears to have watered down its Islamist rhetoric, aiming instead for greater international appeal (The National, September 13). Abu Ammar Junoni, better known as Hafiz Tohar, the group's reported leader, has issued a statement denying ARSA has links to al-Qaeda or other international Islamist terror networks (Dhaka Tribune, September 14). That is difficult to judge, but Tohar previously appeared in a YouTube video in which he called for a jihad on Myanmar (see Terrorism Monitor, March 10).
Islamic State (IS) has had its eye on the Rohingya for a while. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, announcing his group's so-called caliphate in 2014, included a reference to the situation in Myanmar as he enumerated the "crimes" being perpetrated on Muslims (Middle East Eye, July 5, 2014).
As they shelter in poor conditions in camps in Bangladesh, it is possible some Rohingya will build links with IS militants in the country. India says there are those among its own Rohingya refugee population — estimated at 40,000 — who already have, though it also accuses them of having links to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (Times of India, September 18). India says Rohingya militants are already organizing in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Mewar and Jammu, and is keen to re-settle the refugees elsewhere, although it is unclear where they could realistically be sent.
The disorganized humanitarian situation needs to be addressed and the violence in Myanmar ended as a matter of principle, but it has other benefits — a weak international response will only allow the Rohingya's plight to be coopted by violent Islamists.
