Following the defection of a few soldiers, the deployment of additional Myanmar troops close to the Bangladesh border is being perceived as a sign of another massacre of Rohingyas and other ethnic communities in Rakhine state.
There is discussion on the border that more Myanmar troops may desert after the two soldiers that deserted confessed to the horrors of genocide.
Various security sources in the border area believe that the operation could be resumed to quell the defection of troops and resist the Arakanese army. Rohingyas and Rakhines who are tortured for years may again be victim to the operations.
Colonel Fayzur Rahaman, Director Operation of Border Guard of Bangladesh BGB told Bangladesh Post, “We have learned that some Myanmar troops have taken up positions along the Naf River of the border along the Teknaf area of Cox’s Bazar. We are monitoring whether they have violated the international border law.
“Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called upon the Ambassador of Myanmar in Dhaka to find out why they are massing troops there. But they have not said anything so far, he added.
Filmed by the Arakan Army, an ethnic rival group in Rakhine in July and cited by Fortify Rights, an international right group last week, the two former soldiers, Myo Win Tun, 33, from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 565 and Zaw Naing Tun, 30, from LIB 353, said they were involved in killing more than 180 Rohingya women, men, and children in Taung Buzar and surrounding villages in Buthidaung and five villages in Maungdaw during military operations in late 2017. The former also admitted to committing rape in Taung Buzar Village.
Reacting angrily to the incident, the Myanmar army demanded the return of the two soldiers, accusing Arakan Army of extracting confessions from the soldiers forcibly.
Multiple videos and photos are already circulating on social media showing a total of four solders, including the two, confessing to their involvement in the genocide.
Sources confirm that the deserting soldiers are trying to reach the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague in Netherlands to make confessions.
These defecting soldiers are Rakhine people of Myanmar for which the Arakan Army rebel group is fighting. These people live in Shin and Rakhine states. After the Rohingyas in Rakhine, they are the largest ethnic population, numbering in thousands.
Panic has gripped the two communities since a new military deployment in Rakhine state last Saturday. After one million Rohingyas crossed the border and took refuge in Bangladesh as a result of massacre by army-police and Burmese in 2016 and 2017, there are still 5-6 lakh Rohingyas living in Rakhine.
The increase in the number of troops deployed by Myanmar since Saturday has caused renewed panic among the two communities in Rakhine state.
More than 2,500 additional troops, with heavy artillery are deployed along the Rakhine and Chin state border in western Myanmar, bordering Bangladesh.
Additional troops and weapons were suddenly deployed under the pretext of “suppressing” the Arakan Army, declared a “terrorist group” by the Myanmar government.
Security sources said two meetings regarding the security of Rakhine were held on Friday and Saturday (September 11-12) in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw. Senior officials of the Myanmar army were present. Accusing the Arakan Army for recent defection of soldiers, senior Myanmar Army officials decided to take further action.
The newly arrived soldiers first came to Maungdaw by boat. From there they spread by road to remote areas of Maungdaw and Brichidong.
Although these troops are located very close to the Bangladesh border, they are located on the other side of the international border, said Colonel Faizur Rahman.
Noting that Bangladesh is aware of the situation in Myanmar, Col. Faizur Rahman said security in the border areas has been strengthened. A round-the-clock patrol is currently underway to prevent any intrusion.
