Naung Min Thu, Narinjara News, 22 March 2025
Hindus have urged Bangladesh to hand over Ataullah, the head of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) terrorist organization, to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecution regarding his involvement in the killing of over 100 Hindus in Kha Maung Seik village in northern Maungdaw Township during August 2017.
U Maul Ni, a Hindu leader from Maungdaw district, informed Narinjara News, "We Hindus deeply appreciate the Bangladesh government for apprehending the leader of the ARSA terrorist group. We insist that the ARSA leader, who mercilessly murdered innocent Hindus, be handed over to the ICC and held accountable."
On August 24 and 25, 2017, ARSA murdered 113 Hindus, comprising women and children, in Taung village and Yebaw Kya Hindu village, both situated in the Kha Maung Seik village tract of northern Maungdaw Township.
U Ragu Nay Myint, leader of the Hindu Aid Association (Yangon), emphasized that 23 children were among the casualties, with 14 of them being under 8 years old.
Reports show that 290 individuals lost their lives in the assault, comprising Hindus as well as individuals from ethnic communities like Mro, Khami, Chak, Daingnet, and Arakanese.
The Hindu leader also expressed his desire for ARSA leader Ataullah, who was behind the rape of nine young Hindu women and their forced conversion to Islam, to be taken to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to receive justice.
"We seek justice for the victims," stated U Maul Ni. "We have recorded the violent murders of 113 innocent Hindus, along with the coercive conversion and assault of 9 young women, and have presented these records to the United Nations and the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission. With the arrest of the ARSA leader, we call on those responsible for handling these cases to keep seeking justice. We urge the Bangladesh government to submit the ARSA leader to the ICC.”
Prominent ARSA leaders, such as Ataullah, were detained by Bangladeshi security personnel on March 16 and 17 in a town close to Dhaka.
A report from Amnesty International (AI) released on May 23, 2018, verified that ARSA murdered 53 Hindus, in an execution-style manner, predominantly children, in the Kha Maung Seik village tract in northern Maungdaw.
“Our recent field investigation provides crucial insight into the predominantly underreported human rights violations perpetrated by ARSA during the grim recent history of northern Arakan State,” stated Tirana Hassan, Crisis Response Director at AI, at that time.
U Myat Tun, the director of the Arakan Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Association, stressed that justice will be achieved only if the ICC looks into and penalizes everyone accountable for the war crimes that occurred in Maungdaw district in 2017.
“We, the Arakan Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Association, applaud the detention of ARSA leaders and members responsible for the massacre of over 100 Hindus in northern Maungdaw Township. We think the ARSA leaders ought to be prosecuted at the ICC. This will guarantee a just trial and justice for the Hindu families impacted," stated U Myat Tun.
The unrest in 2017 resulted in a military crackdown by Myanmar, prompting more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to escape to adjacent Bangladesh, with thousands losing their lives during the operation.
At present, six people, among them the detained ARSA chief Ataullah, are undergoing interrogation by Bangladesh police following a 10-day remand linked to two cases.
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