ABSTRACT
The Muslim Rohingya is latest of the multiple minority groups who inhabit the Buddhist Bamar-dominated Myanmar’s periphery to have been at the receiving end of the military’s scorched earth policy. A series of regime-labeled “counter-terrorism operations,” allegedly prompted by attacks of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), in reality have masked ethnic cleansing disproportionate to even the threat perception generated by the security forces. In reality, Rohingya resistance, far from being driven by externally assisted terrorist groups, is directly linked to the years of discriminatory policy of the military. And far from being providing a solution to the crisis, the ‘kill them all’ approach of the Myanmar military is creating a context that could, in fact, give rise to a more problematic phase of resistance, one that could be exploited by actual terrorist forces.
