ARSA Leader Ata Ullah and 9 Others Arrested in Bangladesh

Bangladeshi authorities have arrested ARSA leader Ata Ullah Abu Amar Jununi along with nine others, making a total of ten individuals, according to reports.

On March 16, Bangladesh’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) conducted a special operation in Narayanganj District, leading to the arrest of ARSA Leader Ata Ullah and his associates, as reported by Bangladeshi media.

Among those arrested were, the leaders of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), Mostak Ahmed, Salim Ullah, Ahmed Ullah, Amdashel, Manurujjaman, three women, and a child.

According to The Daily Star, ARSA leader Ata Ullah and his group were secretly gathering in urban areas to conduct meetings and plan subversive activities.

On March 18, the group was brought before a court and charged in two cases, with the court granting a 10-day remand for their interrogation.

Reports indicate that ARSA members have been secretly residing in refugee camps along the Bangladesh border, engaging in criminal activities such as murder, human trafficking, kidnapping, and extortion.

Furthermore, ARSA members have been operating along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, obtaining weapons from Myanmar’s military junta and collaborating with them in attacks against the Arakan Army (AA).

Human rights organization Fortify Rights has called on the Bangladeshi government to ensure that those arrested are held accountable for war crimes through proper legal processes.

According to Fortify Rights’ March 18 report, ARSA members have committed war crimes, including the killing, kidnapping, torture, and intimidation of Muslim refugees.

ARSA Leader Ata Ullah is a reckless amateur who has brought untold misery to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya after launching an insurgency in Myanmar.

But to supporters of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, their leader is an intrepid fighter who left a life of luxury in Saudi Arabia to defend the stateless group against overwhelming odds. “He’s very charismatic,” Richard Horsey, an independent analyst based in Myanmar, told AFP. “He inspires people. He speaks in a way that resonates with the grievances felt by that community.”

Ullah is believed to have ordered the deadly attacks by ARSA in Myanmar’s Rakhine state last month, provoking a ferocious offensive by security forces that has sent around 420,000 Rohingya fleeing to Bangladesh.

He first came to public attention last October when he announced his group’s arrival in videos posted online after launching deadly ambushes on Myanmar border posts in Rakhine state, long a hotbed of religious tensions between Muslims and Buddhists.

Multiple sources close to the leader told AFP that Ullah is in his early 30s and appears to oversee a rag-tag network of cells comprising lightly trained men armed with sticks, machetes and a small number of guns. In the videos, flanked by masked gunmen and dressed in casual attire, Ullah lists the crimes committed against the Rohingya by the Myanmar government, and promises to liberate the community from “dehumanised oppression”.