Muslim communities accuse regime of stoking racial strife

By Admin 19 Apr 2024

DMG Newsroom
19 April 2024, Sittwe

Muslim communities have accused the military regime of creating racial tensions between the Arakanese and Muslim communities in Arakan State as it is losing ground in the western Myanmar state.

The regime has forcibly recruited Muslims in the frontier town of Buthidaung, and has been using Muslim conscripts to commit arson attacks and break-ins — moves that Muslim communities believe are intended to stir up racial hatred between Arakanese and Muslim people.

“We don’t assume that AA wants to see racial and religious conflicts in Arakan State. Looking at the history of conflicts, it is the governments that has created [conflicts] in successive periods. It is the Myanmar military that has attempted to provoke racial and religious conflicts. It has tried to create racial conflicts since the 2021 coup, not just now,” said a young Muslim man from Sittwe.

Junta spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun used junta-controlled state-owned media on Thursday to accuse the Arakha Army (AA) of inciting racial conflicts in Buthidaung Township.

“We have never created racial conflicts. If it happens, security personnel and government employees must be held responsible. So, we have never created conflicts, and we will never create conflicts,” said Zaw Min Tun.

The regime is trying to prevent conflicts between the ethnic and religious communities in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, said Zaw Min Tun.

But it is the regime that is provoking racial conflicts, said a Muslim man from Buthidaung Township, to prevent people of different racial and religious backgrounds from uniting against the regime.

“The regime is doing so because it fears that Muslims will have trust in the AA, and join the AA in rebuilding lives in Arakan State. The regime has been trying to incite hatred so that Arakan State will suffer from instability even after it falls to the AA,” he said.

AA spokesman U Khaing Thukha said that the regime has armed some Muslim militants in Buthidaung Township, and is using every trick in the book to cause instability and racial and religious conflicts.

On April 15, the office and the pharmacy of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in Buthidaung came under an arson attack. Medical and office equipment were destroyed in the arson attack, which also burned more than 200 houses in the neighbourhood, said MSF.

The regime and the AA are currently engaged in fierce fighting in Buthidaung Township, and the regime has brought in air and artillery support to defend its positions in the township.

An Arakanese man from Maungdaw Township said: “The Myanmar military has many battalions in Buthidaung. The regime is defending heavily to prevent the town from falling to the AA. At the same time, it is creating racial conflicts.”

Both Arakanese and Muslim communities have acknowledged that relations between the two communities have improved since the AA has sought to solidify its control of Arakan State after the 2021 coup.