8/8/22, 9:18 PM New evidence shows how Myanmar's military planned the Rohingya purge The CIJA documents provide a snapshot of this bureaucracy of repression, including the creation in 2013 of a new Border Guard Police, a force charged with preventing “the dominance of Indians and Bengalis.” This new force was to be given upgraded weapons and vehicles to prevent immigration and implement “response  A Myanmar Border Guard Police o icer takes pictures of the remains of a burned house in Tin May village, northern Rakhine state, in July 2017. REUTERS/Simon Lewis plans in times of crisis,” according to a 2014 document from a military-controlled department. The border police were also to enforce “population control activities” against the Rohingya and conduct an educational campaign that would “increase public knowledge about the danger of migration movement of Indians and Bengalis.” The 2014 document emphasized the role of militias in various villages populated by taingyintha, members of officially recognized ethnic groups in Myanmar. These militias would serve as “the pillars for providing security to local ethnic people and the prevention of illegal immigration.” The document advocates for a “national project” that would push “Bengalis” who want to avoid inspection by the authorities to leave the country. It calls for a campaign resembling an operation in 1977 that drove out hundreds of thousands of Muslims. Such an operation “should be implemented as before, when the rise of ethnic mixing is detected,” the document says. “Everything in it points to this intention to engage in this kind of mass removal process.” Stephen Rapp, a former U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, talking about new evidence on the expulsion of the Rohingya An opportunity to implement these plans presented itself in the early hours of October 9, 2016. A group of Rohingya https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/myanmar-rohingya-warcrimes-investigation/ 17/34