Mass Graves Discovered In Myanmar Evidence Of Rohingya Persecution, Report Finds

An investigation by the Associated Press has confirmed the existence of at least five mass graves in Myanmar, all previously unreported, with burgeoning bodies of Rohingya Muslims who were systematically killed by the Myanmar security service in a bid ethnically cleanse the nation.

The report included a slew of interviews from more than two dozen refugees, currently residing in Bangladesh, who were forced to flee after encountering religious persecution that killed thousands of people in Myanmar.

Rohingyas were often described as the world’s most persecuted minority, who were subjected to heinous crimes inflicted by the Myanmar military. They are a Muslim ethnic group, who for several years lived in the predominantly Buddhist Myanmar. Rohingyas were denied citizenship in Myanmar since 1982 thus rendering them adrift, without a country.

In late 2016, the rapid increase in violence against Rohingya Muslims prompted them to flee to neighboring Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand. The refugees reported torture, arson and murder by Myanmar security forces.

The Myanmar government had denied the existence of the graves, acknowledging only one that contains the bodies of 10 terrorists in the village of Inn Din.

“It was a mixed-up jumble of corpses piled on top of each other,” said Noor Kadir, a 24-year-old firewood collector. “I felt such sorrow for them.”

Kadir along with 14 others was picking teams for soccer in the Myanmar village of Gu Dar Pyin when he was ambushed with a stream of bullets unleashed by the Myanmar military. By the time the firing ceased, only Kadir and two others survived. He recognized six of his friends amid the bodies in two massive graves only by the color of their shorts, the Associated Press reported.

The faces of the bodies were burned away with acid and bullets. Kadir risked his life to look for his four cousins for six days after the massacre. That’s when he discovered his teammates half-buried in the mass graves. Along with the bodies he also saw four plastic containers that contained acid.

According to report, it was quite difficult to determine the number of casualties in of Gu Dar Pyin as the government had cut off access to the region. Satellite images obtained by the Associated Press showed that the villages were desecrated by the military.

Survivors of the attack, who were interviewed by the Associated Press, claimed that the attack on their village was calculated by the military who didn’t just arrive with guns and grenades but also carried shovels and acid to dispose the body, thus leaving no trace of facial identity of the victims. Almost all the refugees who provided detailed accounts of the attack testified to have seen at least two mass graves at Gu Dar Pyin’s northern entrance, near the main road, where witnesses said soldiers herded and killed most of the Rohingya.

For days the Rohingyas in the area sneaked into the village and rescued survivors who’d been left for dead by the soldiers. Thousands in the area hid deep inside the village fearing persecution by the military with no food or water to sustain them. More than 20 infants died due to lack of food and water, reports said.