There are lots of horrible ways to die but being hacked to death has to be one of the worst.
COX’S BAZAR, BANGLADESH — Sorry, but I am going to begin with Monty Python again! You have heard me write (too many times!) about Monty Python and the Holy Grail but there is a scene in that movie that directly ties in to today’s attack.
Of all the very funny, classic parts of that film (the trojan rabbit and the murderous one) the one which is probably best known is the ‘Black Knight’. King Arthur is stopped by a man all in armour astride a bridge who proclaims ‘None shall pass’. The two engage in a sword fight with Arthur sequentially cutting off all four limbs before he agrees to ‘call it a draw’.
This is of course satire and meant to be funny. Which it is. Very. Or at least in my opinion. Others may see any portrayal of violence as not something to be laughed at. To each their own.
Rohingya camp leader murdered in Bangladesh
The real use of violence such as dismemberment is anything but a laughing matter. Terrorist groups such as ISIS reveled in filming and posting beheading videos both to terrify audiences as well as to show off their brutality. There was nothing funny about ISIS.
That particular group was not alone however. On this day in 2018 the leader of a Rohingya refugee camp, Arif Ullah, was hacked to death by members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) in the Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh. The Rohingyas, of course, are a Muslim minority ethnic group in Myanmar which the government sees as illegal immigrants. The Myanmar army’s scorched earth policies have driven upwards of 700,000 Rohingyas into neighbouring Bangladesh.
The victim was dragged down from a bike, stabbed with sharp weapons and had his throat slit, according to Police Station Officer-in-Charge Abul Khayer.
Less than a week later three men were arrested in connection with the brutal murder. The ARSA is seen by many as a terrorist group. Its claims to fight on behalf of the Rohingyas is undermined by acts of this nature. It is not as if these poor Muslims have not suffered enough.
