The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army has denied any links to global terror groups, saying it would fight to keep groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda out of the Rakhine conflict.
“ARSA feels that it is necessary to make it clear that it has no links with Al Qaeda, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), Lashkar-e-Taiba or any transnational terrorist group,” the group announced on Twitter on Wednesday. “We do not welcome the involvement of these groups in the Arakan conflict. ARSA calls on states in the region to intercept and prevent terrorists from entering Arakan and making a bad situation worse.”
STATEMENT (14.9.2017): #ARSA
– On Humanitarian Pause
– Categorically Denies Allegations of Links with Transnational Terror Groups.#Rohingya pic.twitter.com/IpHSNd5qgO— ARSA_The Army (@ARSA_Official) September 14, 2017
The previous day, Al-Qaeda released a statement on the encrypted messaging app Telegram ordering Muslims around the world to support the Rohingya.
“Make the necessary preparations – training and the like – to resist this oppression,” the statement said.
ARSA has repeatedly sought to distance itself from global terror networks, insisting that it is only fighting for the rights of Rohingya people and that its targets are only Myanmar state agents.
Nonetheless, the Myanmar government has consistently tried to frame ARSA as part of the “eastward march” of global terror groups such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
Yesterday, Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay tweeted that ISIS was “already active in Asia” and was making its way to Rakhine State. On September 5, he also tweeted his endorsement of a tenuous report by Mizzima claiming that the Indian government has evidence that ISIS and Pakistan supported ARSA’s attacks on Myanmar police outposts on August 25, which sparked the ongoing military crackdown and humanitarian crisis.
Terror Threat : ISIS already active in ASIA. Al Qaeda Jund al-Tawheed wal Khilafah (JTK)#ISIS now #ARSA #Rakhinehttps://t.co/iEHzIzQ8k3 pic.twitter.com/ZUFf9kKgsK
— Zaw Htay (@ZawHtayMyanmar) September 14, 2017
The Myanmar government continues to refer to ARSA members as “extremist Bengali terrorists” and claims the group wants to impose Islamic rule over part of Rakhine State.
While allegations of links to jihadist groups remains unconfirmed, the International Crisis group has documented ARSA’s ties to Rohingya emigres in Saudi Arabia. ARSA’s commanders are also said to have been trained overseas.
Moreover, analysts warn that even if jihadist elements are not currently part of the Rohingya resistance movement, the trauma inflicted on Rohingya civilians by the Myanmar military and by squalid conditions in Bangladeshi refugee camps may make them vulnerable to recruitment and radicalization.
Apparently aware of the risk, ARSA said in its statement: “ARSA also wants it to be known to all states that it is prepared to work with security agencies to support counter-terrorism efforts in the region in order to prevent the infiltration of terrorist groups into Arakan.”
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