The authority in Maungdaw district in cooperation with Rakhine extremists has been attempting to create unrests in the Rohingya region by misleading the higher authority with purported misinformation and propaganda since last few days, according to the reliable sources.

Firstly, the Rakhine (Magh) have spread rumors that Rohingya students in Maungdaw Township would protest against the ban on their access to tertiary education. And then, they have spread another blatant rumor that ISIS members are sneaking into the region.

Therefore, around 200 military and police personnel were deployed at the Maungdaw Football Stadium. And the security has been tightened with the deployment of the military and the Border Guard Police in other places such as northern Maungdaw and northern Buthidaung townships.

“We abide by the laws and orders of the country. And these are rumors and propaganda that the extremists in the Maungdaw Administration and the Rakhine extremists so that the reconciliation initiatives being taken by some concerned quarters for co-existence between Rakhine and Rohingya fail. We fear that Hindu people, sister community of ours, who are our look-alikes, will be used in the disguise of Rohingya Muslims as the protesters to create unrests in our region” said an elder Rohingya in the Maungdaw township.  

As expected, 20 Hindu students holding some banners gathered at the football stadium around 8:30AM yesterday and started protesting in disguise of Rohingya students. Then, the authority took photographs of the paid protesters in their protesting positions. They also took photographs while in the positions of the Border Guard Police dispersing the protesters and chasing them for arrests.

What the paid protesters were made to demand are “we are Rohingya people. We are not Bengalis. If the government can’t grant us the status of Rohingya, we demand them to consider something for us etc.”

Similarly, Hindu people were used by the authority for their political interests. They were paid or forced to act for cameras and portrayed as if Rohingyas were creating unrests at the beginning of the violence in June 2012.

These latest signs of the possible unwanted unrests in the Rohingya region have been growing since the visit of the leader of 969 Terrorist Gang, Monk Wira Thu, to Maungdaw. Therefore, according to the latest reports, there will be operations by the Military and the Border Guard Police along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border and the security along the border have been severely tightened.