Buddhist-Rohingya conflict in Burma spells trouble for India
Source: The Sangai Express / Agencies

New Delhi, July 08 2013: The Bodh Gaya blasts have brought to the fore a growing terror linkage � between Pakistan-based terror groups and disaffected Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

Whether the blasts have a Rohingya footprint or of groups sympathetic to the cause, even the Indian Mujahideen, these gro-wing terror links have strong security implications for India.

"There are long-standing relations between Bangladesh-based Islamist groups, which used to be happy hunting ground for the ISI, and the Rohingyas.

These were connected by Bangladesh-based groups like HuJI (B).

But these activities have come down in the past few years.

However, given the conflict in Myanmar, it would be easy to activate such links by Pakistani terror groups.

Blasts like this have the dual purpose of attacking Buddhist shrines, and in India," Ajai Sahni of the South Asia Terrorism Portal said.

Not too long ago, Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Saeed was quoted as warning India about its assistance to Myanmar.

"Indian government is working in cahoots with Burmese government to wipe out Muslim population of Burma," he said.

"It is also an obligation on the whole Muslim ummah to defend the rights and honour of Rohingya Muslims in Burma" .

The Buddhist-Rohingya conflict in Myanmar has created a widening zone of in- stability in the region, stretching beyond Myanmar to Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia.

The majority Buddhists of Myanmar have repeatedly attacked Rohingyas, a Bengali- speaking Muslim minority community who are treated by Myanmar as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Bangladesh rejects them as Myanmarese, with the result that they are nobody's people.

Even Aung San Suu Kyi has been silent on the issue, drawing criticism from the west.

Rohingyas are not a part of the 135 recognized ethnic gro-ups in Myanmar, which com- plicates the issue.

In recent times, Rohingyas have found themselves as asylum seekers in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Me-anwhile, the Islamic world has taken up cudgels on the Rohingyas' behalf, mounting a diplomatic offensive against Myanmar in international forums.

In June and October 2012, there was sustained violence in Myanmar's Rakhine province (which has Sittwe port, crucial to Indian interests) which displaced 100,000 Rohingyas.

In March this year, anti-Muslim riots in Meiktila, central Myanmar, left 40 dead and thousands without homes.

Time magazine recently put 48-year-old Buddhist monk Wirathu as the "face of Buddhist terror".

The magazine was banned in Myanmar.

Wi-rathu's 969 Movement is aim- ed at preventing Buddhists from engaging in businesses with Muslims, and protect Myanmar from a "Muslim threat." Local level violence and intimidation are the tools employed.

For their part, radicalized Rohingyas too have taken help from Islamist organizations in Pakistan, including the ISI.

Intelligence available with India shows that in recent months, both LeT and other groups have actually ta-ken across Rohingyas to Pak- istan for training.

Security experts predict this could get much messier in the coming months and years.

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