By Nadeera Dickwella . Photo Credit Al Jazeera

Economic disparities, social injustice, ethnic discrimination create perfect breeding grounds for groups with extreme ideologies to sustain , grow and expand. If the issue has a religious connotation , the external influences and attention from international players become unavoidable. The more such a situation prevails , lawlessness becomes the order of the day any local conflict could develop first into a regional then into an international crisis eventually. This is what is unfolding in the Rakhine province in Myanmar. Commonly known as the Rohingya refugee crisis has now reached another far reaching dimension. A terrorist group expanding their footprints from the local theahters to a transnational level. The group is known as ARSA or the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army also known as Harakah al-Yaqin in its Arabic name which stands for the Faith Movement. Like many other insurgent groups before them , ARSA has chosen the path of violence for a just cause, a noble one indeed. The below is a quote from the Eurasia review.

” it is fighting on behalf of more than a million Rohingya, who have been denied the most basic rights, including citizenship, in Myanmar; as well as against the ‘inhuman’ condition of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh “The statement maintains that the only viable option for the safe repatriation of the Rohingya people is the establishment of a ‘Safe Zone’ under the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ (R2P).

(https://www.eurasiareview.com/04072023-bangladesh-myanmar-expanding-menace-of-arsa-analysis/ )

Undoubtedly the Rohingya crisis is a human tragedy which is a culmination of decades long ethno-religious issues. The conflicting interest of an ethnic minority that had historical disputes with a ruling ethnic majority is the core of Rohingya’s ongoing status quo. There is absolutely no argument that the grievances of the Rohingyas are real and the conditions in the refugee camps are appaling. Minority being muslims and the majority belonging to Buddhists won enough attention from a diverse section of international players. What started as a voice of dissent against the government crackdowns, injustice and discrimination soon developed into a full fledged armed resistance group.

At the beginning the group tried its best to project themselves as a true liberation movement distancing them from the jihadist terror groups. Yet when the military started to handle them with a heavy hand , when the group grew into prominence with attacking the Myanmar security forces there were other factors at play. The funding which came through contraband trading , collections from sympathizers and deprived refugees in camps soon grew into usual lucrative methods used by traditional terrorist groups. Those include drug trafficking , human trafficking and other criminal dealings. The moment of truth was the donations from wealthy donors based in Saudi Aabia’s Makkah and Jeddah. Those funding came through undisclosed persons to Saudi bank branches available in the areas with refugee camps. It is a well known fact that the fundings from the said region was instrumental factors in prolonging conflicts of Afghanistan , Syria , Iraq and many other hotspots. There were even suggestions that implicated the Myanmar state as the alleged , undisclosed funding to bankroll ARSA. By sustaining them the state gets to negate every allegation against it with regards to how it deals with the crisis. If history is evident , nurturing a monster always ends up by the feeding hand becoming the ultimate victim. Look no further than the Mujahideen and their affiliated Al Qudia who were funded by the Amercians in the Soviet Afghan war ending up blowing the world trade center. Whether the allegation against the state of Myanmar is unfounded or otherwise, the terror organization keeps growing by day. Although ARSA had long denied their affiliations with other crossborder , transnational jihadist terror groups, now those are well documented facts.

From fighting the Mynamri security establishments it has now gone completely rouge killing innocent civilians of other faiths. Targeted killings of Christians, Hindus and Buddhists not sparing the kids have been attributed to heinous crimes committed by ARSA. As customary for any terror movement including the now defunct notorious LTTE, the members of ARSA made sure that any dissent voice , moderates or anyone who was against their violent method was met by a bullet. Silencing the rational, peace loving voices is part and parcel of the Terrorists globally. Despite certain reports done by media outlets, organizations and individuals trying to whitewash the atrocities of ARSA , now the threat they pose as another deadly Jihadi force is a foregone conclusion.

The head of the organization Ataullah abu Ammar Jununi, known commonly as Ata Ullah has a Pakistani origin. There have been many reports incriminating the Pakistani intelligence arm the ISI having a close knitted relationship with ARSA. ISI is known to have harbored, sponsored such groups to advance the state’s geopolitical agendas throughout history. The danger of a terror group whose mission now seems to be murdering anyone opposing them as well as ethnic minorities with links to a powerful intelligence apparatus of a state is more than troubling news. India , Bangladesh, Maldives are already battling islamic terrorism. Sri Lanka was struck by the atrocious eastern bombing allegedly done by islamists with links to ISIS movement. Pakistan and Afghanistan are home to all the big terror brands with a very heavy transnational presence. In South Asia, only Bhutan and Nepal are spared so far. In a number of East Asian countries islamic terrorist groups have sprung to prominence and most of the governments are having their lone battles in keeping their population safe. The extent ARSA is coordinating with regional and non-regional Jihadi groups is not entirely clear. But it keeps growing in strength by numbers , wealth, influence and the increased acts of violence.

Make no mistake that the presence of a Jihadist movement in a conflict region must not be used as a pretext to deny the rest of the law-abiding civilian population of their rights. The vulnerable communities have to be protected at all costs and human dignity must prevail. However the threat of terrorism has to be acknowledged as real and regional cooperation to combat that has to be seek. Unless the South Asian states come out of the closet and call a spade a spade , ARSA has the potential to become the next ISIS that will be used by international players with vested interest to destabilize the region’s security and derail its growth. Let the world be wise enough to see that Ata Ullah is no saviour of a repressed community but an Al Bagdadi in the making.