WHAT IF THE BUDDHIST MINORITY OF BANGLADESH

ATTACKED 30 BANGLADESH POLICE AND ARMY OUTPOSTS

AND 60 MUSLIM VILLAGES WITH 7000 - 10,000 ASSAILANTS…
WHAT WOULD THE BANGLADESH ARMY DO?

By Rick Heizman, October 23, 2019

Imagine this scenario: one early morning, in the pre-dawn darkness, 30 Bangladesh police
and army outposts were attacked simultaneously, along with about 60 Muslim villages, by
7000 - 10,000 Buddhists shouting praises to Lord Buddha, with weaponry ranging from
automatic weapons, handmade bombs and landmines, swords, knives and clubs. And, their
goal was to kill or send fleeing every single non-Buddhist in the land, and to declare the land
an autonomous Buddhist State.

WHAT WOULD THE BANGLADESH ARMY DO?

I think there would be no doubt that the

outrage among the armed forces and the
general population would be so
uncontrollably massive that both the armed
forces and the general public would kill, or
attempt to kill, every single Buddhist in
Bangladesh. In other words, the response
would be far more egregious,
disproportionate, and severe than the
response of the Burmese Military.

WHAT IF THE SITUATION DESCRIBED ABOVE HAD HAPPENED IN INDONESIA?

Again, there is no doubt that the Indonesian

army and public would unleash genocidal
retribution upon the entire religious group of
the attackers. Look at how many hundreds of
thousands of Chinese Buddhists in the 1960s,
and East Timor Christians in the 1990s were
killed by the Indonesian army whose troops
were essentially all Muslim. And, importantly,
the Chinese, nor the East Timorese had NOT
attacked the Indonesians - at all.

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 WHAT IF THE SITUATION DESCRIBED ABOVE HAD HAPPENED IN CHINA?

Certainly the Chinese would crack down ferociously.

Families and relatives linked to perpetrators would
likely be imprisoned and subject to re-indoctrination.
China would react with harsh and authoritative
measures that would be tough enough to prevent
the terrorists from attacking again.

WHAT IF THE SITUATION DESCRIBED ABOVE HAD HAPPENED IN INDIA, WITH MULTIPLE
COORDINATED ATTACKS BY HINDU MILITANTS AGAINST MUSLIM VILLAGERS?

In India, a massive attack like this could easily

spin out of control very quickly and quite easily
spark a catastrophic conflict involving
hundreds of millions, much like what happened
during independence, in 1947, when the
partition of India, West Pakistan, and East
Pakistan (later Bangladesh) triggered massive
violence resulting in millions killed.

WHAT IF THE SITUATION DESCRIBED ABOVE HAD HAPPENED IN

MALAYSIA, THAILAND, VIETNAM, LAOS, OR CAMBODIA?

Similarly, the response would be the same, OR MORE LIKELY EVEN HARSHER than the
response of the Burmese Army.

I am not saying this to approve or excuse the actions taken, I would rather see NO killing and
suffering. However, I see a lot of naive finger pointing at the Burmese Military, and nearly
ZERO critical analysis of the situation from multiple viewpoints.

Imagine if the Burmese Military had not responded at all, or in any of the above situations, if
the armed forces of each respective country had not responded. What would have happened
then?

In the case of Myanmar, and all of the above scenarios, the primary duty of the armed forces
is to protect, rescue, and assure the people attacked, and to pursue and neutralize the threat

against them. Ideally the response to a major terrorist attack should be thorough enough to
prevent more terrorist attacks.

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As well, the focus should be on the primary aggressor, ie: ARSA which chose to attack the
security forces of Myanmar, and had the genocidal plan to kill or send fleeing every single
non-Muslim in the land, and to declare the land an autonomous Islamic State for Muslims
only.

Anywhere in the world, aggressors who attack Police and/or Army forces are ALWAYS going
to face SEVERE retaliation. I would think that even ARSA planners and leaders knew that,
but their Islamic ideology incurred them to be so inhumane to their own people. Ata Ullah
made the infamous (and intercepted) statement just after the August 25, 2017 attacks that
“even if one million ‘Rohingya’ die it is okay for the cause.”

Some may even say the Burmese Army did not respond decisively enough. (Once again, I
am not saying this to approve or excuse the measures taken, but one has to see and
understand unpleasant views.) Think about this: ARSA (then known as Harakah al-Yaqin)
staged its first major coordinated surprise attacks against the Burmese security forces in
October, 2016. The Army responded - as any country in the world would have to - BUT,
THEN, ONLY 10 MONTHS LATER launched MUCH bigger attacks with many more targets,
by many more assailants. If the concept of stopping a militant terrorist group from attacking
again by decisively destroying their ability to do so, then the Burmese Military failed
miserably. And that means it did not respond disproportionately enough - only 10 months
later ARSA attacked much more vigorously.

Terrorism and terrorist attacks, especially Islamic terrorism, is bloody, non-discerning,

frightening, unpredictable, and horrendous. And, Islamic terrorists often retreat into their own
villages and towns, and hide behind their own women, children, and others, drawing the
pursuing troops into often unavoidable situations of ‘collateral damage’. Islamic terrorists
very often play the victimhood game, ie: screaming ‘GENOCIDE’ after their own planned
genocidal ethnic cleansing fails - as with the Bengali Muslims / ‘Rohingya’.

So, the bottom line is:

In all of the above scenarios, armies have to respond quite quickly and harshly, to protect
and rescue the people in danger. Every country surrounding Myanmar would have reacted
similarly, and most of the countries surrounding Myanmar would have reacted even more
forcefully, severely, and disproportionately.

By Rick Heizman, October 23, 2019

Photos and Videos of Arakan at: arakan-reality.smugmug.com - go to Conflict videos

Photos and Videos of all of Myanmar at: rickheizman.smugmug.com

Papers at scribd.com/rheizman

Facebook: Rick Harmony Twitter: @RickHarmony

Email: rickmusic4@gmail.com burmafriend88@gmail.com

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