Did Myanmar Junta Officers Join ARSA’s “Happy October 9 Day” Celebration in Bangladesh?

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Global Arakan Network October 30, 2025

In recent days on October 26, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) held an event titled “Happy 9th October Day-2025,” commemorating the group's founding in 2016, with ARSA spokesperson Shaikh Burhan in attendance. However, alongside him were individuals in full uniforms, their faces covered and wearing glasses, raising suspicions of external involvement.

More intriguingly, the announcer delivered a speech in near-perfect Burmese, devoid of any Bengali accent, suggesting a pre-planned script that diverged from ARSA's typical rhetoric of religious extremism and jihadist sentiments against non-Muslims; instead, the tone emphasized a "liberation struggle" and civilian protection.

Are They Burmese Junta Officials? (photocrd)

This development fuels speculation of covert coordination between Myanmar's junta (Naypyidaw) and Bangladeshi (Dhaka) intelligence officials, aimed at portraying ARSA as a more legitimate player in Myanmar's political landscape. Even prior to this, ARSA has committed atrocities against non-Muslim civilians in recent months, reinforcing widespread public opinion that the group is not a genuine ethnic force like other actors in Myanmar but rather a microcosm of global Islamic terrorism, seeking to establish a caliphate by killing or converting non-Muslims in northern Arakan.

It appears that Naypyidaw and Dhaka now share an understanding on managing Islamic militancy in northern Arakan to jointly pressure the Arakan Army (AA) for their mutual interests; however, escalating militant and terrorist activities along the border will only delay sustainable Rohingya refugee repatriation, ultimately benefiting the Myanmar junta's "divide and rule" strategy.

Dhaka's cunning maneuvers could prove counterproductive, undermining its own national interests while endangering Rakhine, Hindu, Mramagyi, and other minority groups, including refugees aspiring to return and live peacefully in Arakan. The international community and key stakeholders must exert greater pressure on both Dhaka and Naypyidaw to halt further civilian suffering in northern Arakan.