The conflict in Myanmar, which significantly escalated following the military coup in February 2021, is now entering its fourth year. The current situation is marked by rampant violence, a grave humanitarian crisis, and a sharp declining economy while the country experience profound instability.
The transition to military rule has encountered persistent resistance from armed groups and civilian networks. The recent surge in violence has resulted in nearly 3.5 million individuals being displaced within a single year.
The nation is currently confronted with significant challenges from various fronts which has exacerbated the hardships and persecution endured by its minorities, especially the dwindling Hindu population. The plight of Hindus in the country is only increasing with each passing day. On 31st December, a drone strike conducted by military junta targeted a Hindu temple in Phyu Township of Taungoo District in Bago Region, resulting in the deaths of seven civilians and wounding seven others, as reported by an official from the Phyu Township People’s Defense Force (PDF).
The incident transpired after several days of conflict in the vicinity of Zeyawadi town within Phyu Township, where hostilities between junta forces and resistance groups had been ongoing since 27th December. The PDF indicated that 19 junta soldiers lost their lives during these clashes. The drone attack specifically struck the temple situated in Ram Nagar village, within the Amae Khaung Village Tract, an area that had not previously experienced any fighting, according to the PDF representative.
An official stated, “This was a public area where Hindus live and worship. The junta dropped the first bomb by drone, and as people rushed to aid the injured, a second bomb was dropped, killing seven civilians on the spot.” Other reports said that the army conducted airstrikes and a drone assault in a minimum of five locations across the country during New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day and claimed the lives of at least 20 persons, including those who died in the temple attack.
The Myanmar Hindu Union issued a statement on 1st January and said that the junta forces intentionally targeted a civilian region. The organization characterized the assault as a severe infringement of human rights and international humanitarian law, labeling it an act of inhumanity. The declaration called upon human rights organizations, the international community, and global religious leaders to take decisive action against the junta, highlighting the necessity of holding it responsible for the violations against religious and ethnic minorities.
Meanwhile, Major General Alok Deb, former deputy director general of the Institute of Defense Studies and Analysis expressed, “One can only wait and watch to understand why this happened. This could have been a collateral damage inflicted in a war zone, but one is also reminded that the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) had in 2017 massacred some 99 Hindus in Rakhine state.”
During the attacks on Hindu villagers, the ARSA reportedly asserted that they regarded the unarmed Hindu minority and the Arakanese or Rakhine population as “the same.” It consistently alleged that few Rohingya Islamist factions, some of which are believed to operate from Bangladesh, have engaged in combat against them on behalf of the Myanmar army, executing numerous terror strikes targeting civilians.
A small community of Hindus lives in Rakhine and other regions of Myanmar. The volatile Rakhine province of Myanmar shares its southern border with areas predominantly inhabited by the Burman majority, while to the north, it adjoins Bangladesh’s Cox Bazaar and Mizoram in India. The majority of Rohingya Muslims crossed over to Bangladesh, however, a large number have infiltrated India as well along with Arakanese (referred to as Marma) and Zo.
The Hindu community residing in Rakhine has largely refrained from participating in the conflict. However, analysts have pointed out the army’s documented history of human rights violations. Reports from human rights organizations released last year disclosed that churches, Buddhist temples, and monasteries have been consistently struck by the Myanmar Air Force, while civilians have been subjected to massacres by the military amid the ongoing warfare.
Regular attacks on Hindus in Myanmar
A Rohingya armed faction, equipped with guns and swords, is accused of at least one, and possibly a second, massacre that took the lives of up to 99 Hindu men, women, and children, in addition to other unlawful killings and the abduction of Hindu villagers in August 2017, confirmed Amnesty International. The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) wanted to instill fear among Hindus and other ethnic groups through these violent acts. The incident received significant global attention and brought the atrocities against Myanmar’s Hindu community to the forefront.
On the morning of 25th August 2017, at approximately 8 am, ARSA launched an attack on the Hindu community residing in the village of Ah Nauk Kha Maung Seik, part of a group of villages referred to as Kha Maung Seik in northern Maungdaw Township. Armed individuals clad in black, along with local Rohingya villagers in civilian attire, targeted numerous Hindu women, men and kids. They proceeded to rob, restrain and blindfold the victims before escorting them to the hamlet’s outskirts, where they separated the men from the women and children. A few hours later, the terrorists executed 53 of the Hindus in a systematic manner.
Eight Hindu women and eight children were taken captive but spared after the assailants compelled them to consent to “conversion” to Islam. They were subsequently forced to escape with the terrorists to Bangladesh several days later, before being repatriated to Myanmar in October 2017 with the assistance of both Bangladeshi and Myanmar authorities.
Afterward, their condition deteriorated further as both the junta and the radicals targeted the marginalized community amidst the prevailing conflict. The unrest turned even more communal, with reports revealing that close to 5,000 houses owned by Buddhists and Hindus were burned in Buthidaung, a location just 25 kilometers from the Bangladesh border. The occurrence took place between 11th and 21st April, last year.
“These 5,000 houses were targeted as they belonged to Buddhists and Hindus. Most people had fled to safer zones so many houses were empty, but those who were left behind were pulled out and their houses looted and burnt in front of their eyes. Conscripts who include young boys from Rohingya camps in Bangladesh are being used for this exercise,” a source unveiled and added, “In 2018 census there were 3000 houses in Buthidaung. This number has increased more than threefold to 10000 as many people fled their homes from other areas to settle here. Over 50 per cent of residents are Muslims while the remaining are ethnic groups (Buddhists, Hindus).”
During the same month, a group of Hindus and Buddhists was taken hostage by Rohingya terror groups in Buthiduang, located in the Arakan state of Myanmar’s Rakhine region. A source conveyed, “With unrest and instability expanding to Buthidaung, the volatility has taken a new turn with Islamic terror groups working on behest of the military to kill and terrorise ethnic groups on the basis of religion. There are over 1600 Hindus and over 120 Buddhists who have been held hostage by them there at present.”
“Myanmar’s military regime provided basic military training to members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and Arakan Rohingya Army (ARA) to fight against the AA (Arakan Army),” the source highlighted as outbreak of riots driven by religious and ethnic divisions forced Hindus and other minority groups to escape in search of safety.
During May 2024, the Hindu and Rakhine populations found themselves confined in Buthidaung town due to severe clashes. A source mentioned, “The battles are intensifying on the ground in Buthidaung. Over 1,500 Hindus and 20 Rakhines are being prevented from leaving as the situation is unsafe there. Rohingyas are being trained as conscripts and they are being made to target people based on their religion and ethnicity.”
A joint letter was sent by two civil society organizations in Myanmar to the President and Prime Minister of India, in October 2024, urging prompt action in response to the “escalating difficulties” faced by Hindus in the neighbouring country. Their appeal included a call for the re-evaluation of the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) regulations to encompass Hindus from Myanmar.
Alongside President Droupadi Murmu, the Myanmar Hindu Union (MHU) and India for Myanmar (IFM) communicated a letter dated 22nd August 2024, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian ministries of External Affairs, Home and Defence. These organizations were established in 2021 in the aftermath of the coup and are dedicated to backing the National Unity Government (NUG), which operates in exile as a counter to the Myanmar military.
They requested, “As Hindus from Myanmar, we were born and bred in the country, but according to the Myanmar 1982 Citizenship Law, we are made to feel like aliens and second-class citizens. Furthermore, India’s OCI policy does not allow Hindus from Myanmar to become OCI holders. We urge the Indian government to reassess the OCI policy and include Hindus from Myanmar as eligible for this status, recognizing our historical and cultural connections to India.”
The Arakan Army, which gained control of nearly all of Rakhine state while countering the junta-led forces, also acknowledged the immeasurable sufferings experienced by Hindus and others, in December of last year. According to the outfit, terrorist factions were perpetrating violent acts near the Bangladesh border. Additionally, it suggested that a relationship has developed between the military junta and some of these radical groups.
A source from Arakan stated, “There are nearly 11 militant groups operating out of Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh which include the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO), Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), Arakan Rohingya Army (ARA). Hundreds of people have died due to their atrocities: killings, rapes, kidnappings and other kinds of torture.” Maungdaw and Buthidaung towns were most susceptible to such risk.
There were allegations that the RSO has ties with Al-Qaeda and Jamaat-e-Islami. A report by the Global Arakan Network (GAN) asserted that Islamists took advantage of the Muslim population in Maungdaw, using them as human shields and inciting them to combat the non-Muslim demographic, which included Buddhists and Hindus. The terrorists reportedly enlisted young orphans, some as young as six years old, from Rohingya camps in Bangladesh, with the intention of training them to engage in combat once they reach their teenage years.
The Arakan Army contended that Bangladesh allowed and neglected the rapid growth of these groups in its refugee camps. “Bangladesh’s support, both tacit and overt for Rohingya armed actors has facilitated the rise of militant groups at the expense of the moderate, non-violent Rohingya leadership.” There has been a surge in the actions of extremists factions targeting the local communities in the Rakhine region in the wake of the political turmoil in Bangladesh. Furthermore, there are allegations that the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus has been aiding them. Rakhine state shares a border of 270 kilometres with the country.
It is unsurprising that the new government of Bangladesh, which is complicit in brutal assaults on Hindus by in Bangladesh would intend to replicate the same against the Hindus of Myanmar. Bangladesh has experienced over 2,000 instances of violence, the majority of which have specifically targeted the minority Hindu community. The Hindus in Myanmar face a similarly bleak future, as they are oppressed by both the government and Islamist outfits.
Meanwhile, as Hindus in Myanmar are left to fend for themselves, the Rohingya Muslims have unlawfully relocated to India, where they exploit its resources and create more national security risks for the nation.
