International Christian Concern, 8th July 2023
The Rohingya are among the world’s most oppressed groups. But within the Rohingya there is a subgroup who are the oppressed of the oppressed. They are the Rohingya Christians. The Burmese military violates them for being Rohingya, and then their fellow Rohingya violate them for being Christian.
Recent Rohingya Christian converts might be kidnapped and brought to a mosque for forced reversion to Islam. Or a Rohingya Christian girl might be kidnapped and then forcibly married to one of her Muslim kidnappers.
Christians might also have to contend with false accusations, ranging all the way up to accusations of murder, meaning people who are already destitute might have to pay legal fees to defend themselves in court.
The main culprit behind these abuses is the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a Rohingya rebel group that has carried out attacks against the Burmese military, as well as Rohingya Christians. More than half of Rohingya Muslims are in favour of ARSA attacks against Rohingya Christians.
Peter Saiful, who lives in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh, estimates about 70% of Rohingya Muslims support the anti-Christian attacks “because of Islamic scholars” who preach “hate speech against Christianity.”
Saiful acknowledges that “there are a lot of good Muslims,” but if they “raise their voice” then groups like ARSA “will kill them.”