Recently the Burmese military Junta has tried to link Rohingya freedom fighters to the Taliban. The reason may be to regain US support via the terrorism angle and divert attention away from recent Amnesty International and Shan NGO reports documenting systematic human rights abuses against ethnic nationalities. As the Junta did in the past, it may also be a design to justify its campaigns of terror and ethnic-cleansing against the peaceful living Rohingyas and to further intimidate and terrorise the Muslim population of the country.… but, of course, only the junta knows the real aims of its latest rhetoric because it is led by the very secretive “gang of three” generals.
This latest statement by the Junta is another example of its destructive approach to ending the civil war in Burma. By demonising the entire ethnic nationalities like the Rohingya, it hopes to secure international support at the expense of peace of the people of Arakan.
For more than five decades the Rohingyas have been struggling for the restitution of their rights and freedom but it receive no attention or positive response from the Government. Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) is the continuation of the Rohingya people’s struggle for peace, justice, equality, democracy and human rights. We are not part of any other struggle outside our country. We are committed to remain a community within Arakan, and to working with other pro-democracy groups in order to achieve a free and peaceful democratic Arakan. We are also committed to having peaceful and mutually beneficial relations with Bangladesh and a future free and democratic Arakan will never again drive out its citizens to create a burden on Bangladesh.
It is to stress that ARNO has no link with Taliban and is not supported by any terrorist group. We are fighting on our own. ARNO welcomes support from any group worldwide as long as they respect our goals and especially our vision of tolerance and respect for all religions and human rights for all in Arakan. ARNO will continue to work with National United Party of Arakan (NUPA) and our Rakhine Buddhist allies to achieve our vision of a diverse, tolerant, multi-ethnic, multi-religious Arakan society.
Let one thing be clear, no matter how much military and political pressure or torture the Burmese Junta subjects our people to, we at ARNO will never participate in any activities that are destructive to our Arakan or take part in any activities that are not steps towards our goal of a democratic, free, independent Arakan with religious freedoms for all and human rights for all.
The international community is well aware that due to “state terrorism”, hundreds and thousands of Rohingyas have already been perished while many more have left their historical homeland of Arakan for their lives. The nature of the crisis facing Rohingyas are well documented in recent reports by Human Rights Watch, MSF, Amnesty International, FIDH and other human rights and humanitarian organisations and nothing more needs to be said.
Central Executive Committee
Arakan Rohingya National Organisation
Arakan.
Arakan Rohingya National Organisation
Arakan.
Dated: 11 August 2002