Hundreds of eyewitnesses and victims such as Fatima, plus video evidence, indicate that Myanmar troops and police aren’t merely running amok. When raiding Rohingya villages, platoons appear to follow a playbook.

Step one: Accuse villagers of aiding extremists

This is a Myanmar government photo of alleged Rohingya extremists, who were captured in January with homemade rifles. (Myanmar government)

In Fatima’s village, the soldiers “came around 10 p.m., appearing out of nowhere,” she says. “They said our village is supplying food to militant groups.”

This is the grand pretext to the overall purge. Officially, these raids are called “clearance operations” to flush out “extremist individuals.”

This rationale hinges on a scrap of truth. In October, a Rohingya militant group emerged on YouTube to call for an armed uprising. Its debut attack struck three police outposts. The militants, armed with knives and slingshots, killed nine officers and looted a trove of rifles.

It’s possible, of course, that this militant cell could grow into a fearsome organization. It is coordinated by Rohingya emigrants in Saudi Arabia, according to the International Crisis Group.

But for now, the militants seem to be sickly and scattered. They have mounted no major attack for months.

Even the army admits that these “terrorists” often amount to guys with sticks and farm tools rushing suicidally at armed squadrons. Some have acquired guns — but they look like antiques from the 18th century.

This poorly armed group — commanding a few hundred men at most — has not liberated 1 inch of soil. But they’ve given soldiers a perfect excuse to prey on the other 1 million Rohingya.

Step two: Torch homes, destroy property

(Courtesy of Human Rights Watch)

At least 1,500 buildings in Rohingya-populated areas have been destroyed, according to satellite images commissioned by Human Rights Watch.

The real figure is likely much higher. Tens of thousands of refugees have fled arson attacks since November, when that estimate was presented. And more than half of all recent refugees interviewed by the UN say their own homes were torched.

“They didn’t just burn down houses,” Fatima says. “They grabbed the old men and tried to burn their beards off. They even shot our goats.”

Step three: Segregate the genders

Once a siege begins, villagers are often corralled into two groups: one for men, another for women.

This tactic — dividing the genders — has been reported by hundreds of escapees. It’s also evidenced by a mobile phone video, grudgingly verified by the government.

In the clip, police are seen rounding up about 100 Rohingya men, segregating them from the women. They force them to sit in the dirt — and then start kicking them in the face.

“This is actually the least violent type of abuse we’re documenting, appalling as it is. In a number of cases, soldiers have slit the throats of Rohingya men,” Smith says. “We’ve also received reports of babies thrown into fires.”

Warning: The following video shows graphic violence by Myanmar border police against Rohingya.

Fatima doesn’t know what happened to the women who were corralled in her village. At that point, she was hiding inside her family hut. She was discovered by three soldiers, who stripped her down and searched her body for gold. Then they took turns raping her.

Another woman from a nearby district — Noor, a 26-year-old mother — told me what happened after women were rounded up in her village.

“The soldiers pick out women who are young and beautiful,” Noor says. “They don’t care if you’re married or not. They don’t even care if your mother is watching.”

“From the larger group of women, they chose me and three others. All of us were raped. I didn’t want to allow this … but I watched them slit the throats of two women. I thought that, well, if we sacrifice ourselves in this way, at least we’ll enter jannah.” (Jannah is the Islamic conception of paradise.)

“You know, even if I was a man, I couldn’t have fought back,” Noor says. “All of us are helpless against the army. If you’re Rohingya, it hardly matters if you’re a man or a woman.”

Step four: Drive out the population

This is the natural outcome of all this death and arson. Homeless and humiliated, the Rohingya run for the border.

Throughout its history, the army has relied on mass rape to traumatize non-Buddhist populations. All of these stories will sound eerily familiar to Christians living in Myanmar’s remote eastern jungles.

But perhaps no group in Myanmar is reviled quite like the Rohingya. One political faction in Myanmar has for years stated that “inhuman acts may be justifiably committed” to eliminate them.

Even in Suu Kyi’s party, the Rohingya are derided as non-native “Bengalis” who don’t belong in Buddhist Myanmar.

As for Suu Kyi, the state counselor and de facto leader?

She is not merely indifferent to Rohingya suffering. She now oversees a propaganda machine that works to silence their pleas for help.