NEW DELHI: The rise and network of Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which operates on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, is seen by its observers as a reflection of its terrorist activities.
According to a report in German news agency DW, published on 13 February, the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar area are experiencing an increase in drug and other criminal activities, with the influx of outside groups.
There are media reports that extremist groups are trying to take over the camps.
In January, there were reports that about 40 Rohingya in Cox's Bazar camp were being trained by the Bangladesh-based Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).
The JMB, officially recognized as a terrorist group in Bangladesh, carried out a 2016 raid on a Holey Artisan coffee shop near the diplomatic district of Dhaka, killing 22 people. Most of the dead were foreigners.
The JMB was responsible for training 40 Rohingya, with a country from the Gulf and Malaysia providing $ 117,000, according to DW.
According to the report, Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was among those behind the training, and the Indian government has alerted Bangladeshi government officials and border security officials.
Siegfried O. Wolf, an analyst at the South Asia Democratic Forum, a Belgian-based group based in Brussels, has confirmed the possible involvement of ISI.
He said the ISI's main goal was to destabilize some countries in the region, with Afghanistan and India at the top.
Wolf says it would be better for Pakistan to choose its cross-border terrorism as a third country, as the international community is watching Kashmir.
As a result, the Rohingya in the camps have become a target for terrorist groups.
Abdur Rashid, a Bangladeshi security expert (former Brigadier General), told DW that there had been attempts to penetrate Rohingya in the past, but that Bangladesh had always prevented them from doing so.
Rashid, of the Dhaka-based Institute for Conflict, Law and Development Studies, said Bangladesh has so far helped India in such matters.
He added that Pakistan could "destabilize India" by supporting extremist groups (as mentioned earlier). But Bangladesh has said it will not do so.
Shahriar Alam, Bangladesh's deputy foreign minister, told DW that attempts to spread extremism in the camps had not been successful in the past.
ARSA has returned to the border and has intensified its military operations, according to senior Burmese military officials. In the refugee camps, ARSAs are active at night and disguised during the day.
In August 2017, ARSA raided police stations in northern Rakhine. This month marks the third year.
Tatmadaw spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun said ARSA members have been conducting more military operations since April.
In May 2020, a lieutenant colonel and a policeman were injured when ARSA sniped at border guards. In early June, the Tatmadaw claimed that two bodies and two weapons were found in a half-hour clash with ARSA near the village of Meedik between BP-34 and BP-35 on the Burma-Bangladesh border.
The military has seized ARSA temporary camps and interrogated Muslim refugees who have returned (both legally and illegally), but have said that ARSA has been active in the camps.
According to a DW report published on September 24, 2019, ARSA is active in the refugee camps. There were other drug and crime incidents in the camps.
Courtesy of Economic Times
