Family blames ARSA for killing Mohibullah

Family members and rights activists pointed towards Al Yaqeen group, also known as Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, for killing Rohingya leader Mohibullah in Ukhiya of Cox’s Bazar.

Unidentified gunmen entered Rohingya refugee camp at Ukhiya and opened fire on Mohibullah, chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, around 8:30pm on Wednesday, police said.

Mohibullah was taken to the health centre of Médecins Sans Frontières at the refugee camp where doctors pronounced him dead.

Police said they suspect the killing was a sequel to the internal grouping of Rohingya refugees. Security measures have been beefed up in the refugee camp areas after the killing.

Mohibullah’s younger brother Habibullah told The Business Post over phone that a group of 20-25 armed people stormed Mohibullah’s office when he was talking to his supporters after the Isha prayers.

“After dispersing his supporters, the group led by Master Abdur Rahim, Murshid and Lalu opened fire on Muhibullah. All of them are members of Al Yaqeen group,” he said while waiting for Mohibullah’s body at Cox’s Bazar General Hospital.

Rohingya refugees and international rights groups called for an investigation into the killing.

Leading rights activist Noor Khan Liton told The Business Post that he thinks ARSA, formerly known as Al Yaqeen group, might be behind the killing. Khan said when he met Mohibullah for the last time, the Rohingya leader had told him that ARSA was threatening him with life.

Masud Anwar, additional police superintendent of Armed Police Battalion, said they suspect the killing might have occurred due to the internal grouping of the Rohingya refugees.

He said after the killing, plainclothesmen and striking forces had been deployed at check points around the refugee camps.

“Nothing happened after the killing. The situation is calm. We hope, there will be no further trouble,” he said.

The murder triggered unusual gloom among the Roohingyas. “Our leaders are being killed one after another. If this continues, we will have no guardians,” said Nadir Hossain, a Rohingya refugee, and a resident of camp-10 in Ukhiya.

Another Rohinyga Ilias Hossain of Teknaf said Mohibullah’s leadership was vital for them. “He was a good leader. We won’t get someone like him. He did everything for the wellbeing of Rohingyas,” said Ilias.

The Amnesty International in a statement said the killing of the leading representative of the Rohingya sent a chilling effect to the entire community.

“The onus is now on the Bangladeshi authorities to expedite an investigation into his murder and bring all those suspected of criminal responsibility to justice in fair trials,” it said, calling for immediate action to prevent further bloodshed.

The Human Rights Watch said Mohibullah had served as a leader among the nearly one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, documenting the Myanmar military’s crimes against the Rohingya and advocating for the refugees’ rights in international forums and had faced death threats in recent years for his work.

“Mohibullah’s death undermines the struggle of Rohingya refugees for greater rights and protection in the refugee camps,”said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director of the organisation.

Before fleeing to Bangladesh, Mohibullah was a school teacher in Myanmar’s Rakhine State.

Mohibullah and several hundred volunteers founded the ARSPH in late 2017.

He became prominent as a representative of the Rohingyas during visits by high-level delegations to the camps, addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council about the plight of the Rohingyas in Geneva in 2019 and also met former US president Donald Trump.

Some 1.1 million Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh from the military crackdown in Myanmar that has been described by the UN as ethnic cleansing and possible genocide. International courts are investigating the Myanmar army for crimes against humanity.