By Tun Khin

International Business Times UK

November 10, 2015

Many will describe the elections in Myanmar (née Burma) as a milestone, in which Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) won a huge majority on 10 November and put the country on the road to democracy after decades of brutal military dictatorship.

But for Myanmar's 1.3 million oppressed Rohingya, a Muslim minority, the poll has a less positive significance. It is the first time in the country's history that not a single Muslim candidate will be elected to parliament.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been rightly lauded internally for her role in ending military rule in Burma. As a human rights activist, I campaigned for her release in both the UK and the US Congress. She has been a tireless activist for human rights in Burma and her role in our history is unparalleled.

But I am sad to say that for the Rohingya, Suu Kyi's victory is hollow. Her silence on our plight has been documented well before this weekend's elections and it has continued during the campaign. Scared of losing votes amongst Burma's significant Buddhist majority, she has failed to stand up for us.

Given less attention in coverage of the elections has been the fact that as many as 800,000 Burmese Muslims had their temporary 'white' ID cards withdrawn ahead of the poll by the current government, meaning that they could not vote. Muslim candidates were not chosen as MPs by the NLD, and the plight of the Rohingya in the western Rakhine state has been totally absent from the campaigns of all parties involved. The world has met the genocide of our people with silence.

I am a refugee in Britain but my grandfather served as a parliamentary secretary during the democratic era and even at that time there were Muslims both serving in government and in the civil service. Rohingya have been voting in Burma since 1936, yet in 2015, as the world celebrates democratisation, bear in mind that if I were to return I could not vote, let alone stand a chance of taking an active role in government.

There is a genocide occurring in western Burma. Since the citizenship of Rohingya was first revoked in 1982, numerous human rights groups have documented massive violations against the Muslim population, which the government considers to be Bengali migrants.

As well as clashes with the Buddhist population that has left hundreds dead, Rohingya have been the target of a virulent campaign of hate and boycotts. As the international community says that this is a milestone, 1.3 million people are facing genocide.

We call again for a UN Committee of Inquiry which would support Aung San Suu Kyi and help her stop the genocide against the Rohingya. We are facing a situation where women and children are dying everyday, yet the international community talk only of democratic reform.

As for the elections, I am not optimistic. It has been forgotten in the coverage of recent days that even if the NLD are victorious, ultimate power will still lie with the army, which will have power over the military, police, and security apparatus. Will an inexperienced NLD politician be able to rein in the actions of war criminals and a repressive military? I doubt it very much.

Perhaps the elections are a welcome change and a step on the path to democracy. Or perhaps this is all part of a plan by the Union Solidarity and Development Party to transition Burma from direct military rule and pariah status to a new hybrid authoritarian state which is accepted by the international community.

Either way, we can only hope that Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD, when they finally attain their place at the table, do not forget us. Her new ruling party should immediately humanise the policies and practices towards the 1.3 million Rohingya people, take concrete steps to end decades of systematic persecution, and restore the full citizenship and ethnic rights of the Rohingya.

Tun Khin is a human rights activist and president of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK. Follow him at @tunkhin80.

Myanmar's 1.3 million Rohingya Muslims are classed by the United Nations as the most persecuted ethnic minority. Over 25,000 of the Muslim residents of the south-east Asian country have boarded boats and fled the country in 2015 alone.

Tun Khin, president of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, says Rohingya face horrific conditions in Myanmar. More than 230 people have been killed in religious violence in Myanmar since June 2012 and more than 140,000 have been displaced.

The army has carried out a catalogue of abuses against the Muslim ethnic minority group, including alleged massacres and a virulent anti-Muslim '969' campaign, which espouses hate and urges Buddhists to boycott Muslim businesses in the western Rakhine state.

In 2015 the military government revoked ID cards of Rohingya Muslims. A 2013 New York Times documentary showed the Rohingya – who hardliners say are Bengalis and not from Myanmar – in concentration camp-like conditions.

By Kukil Bora

International Business Times

May 22, 2015

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has estimated that more than 3,000 Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi migrants could still be adrift in the Andaman Sea. The latest estimate comes even as Myanmar reportedly carried out its first rescue of a migrant boat on Friday.

The U.N. agency said that it had evaluated media reports and information gathered from other sources to estimate that the current number of migrants still adrift in the sea could be over 3,000, or more that no one knows of, the Associated Press (AP) reported. The Malaysian navy said that four of its vessels are currently searching for any migrant boats that could still be stuck at sea.

In the last three weeks, over 3,000 people -- including Rohingya minority Muslims from Myanmar and several Bangladeshi economic migrants -- have landed in Indonesia and Malaysia. While the Rohingyas, who accuse Myanmar's government of religious persecution, are being offered a one-year temporary shelter by both countries, the Bangladeshi migrants face repatriation, AP reported.

On Friday, Myanmar, which had previously denied responsibility for the Rohingyas stranded at sea, conducted the first rescue of a migrant boat, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported, citing a Myanmar navy official. The country’s government said Thursday that it would provide search and rescue for “boat people” in its territorial waters.

The Buddhist country, which has refused to recognize the Rohingyas as its citizens, changed it stance on the issue after U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with officials in the capital, Naypyidaw, on Thursday, and urged the government to cooperate with regional partners to deal with the migrant crisis in Southeast Asia, CNN reported.

The U.S. military also said Thursday that it would help countries in the region to tackle the humanitarian crisis.

The Department of Defense “is responding to this crisis and taking this seriously. We are preparing to stand up maritime aviation patrols throughout the region and working with local partners to help with this issue,” Lt. Col. Jeffrey Pool, a Pentagon spokesman, told AP.

Earlier on Thursday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, speaking about the stranded migrants, said it was “basic human compassion” to give food to the hungry and medical aid to the sick, the Wall Street Journal reported.

By Romil Patel

International Business Times UK

May 16, 2015

By Gianluca Mezzofiore

International Business Times UK

January 29, 2014

Burmese police set fire to at least 70 Rohingya homes in the village of Du Char Yar Tan, where at least 48 Muslims were said to have been killed by a Buddhist mob amid renewed sectarian violence, it has been claimed.

Two eyewitnesses said that police burnt down the houses overnight. The village has been semi-deserted after the mob violence a week ago. Two hundred villagers were allowed to return in the area in the remote Maungdaw township in Rakhine state. 

"We are calling for an international investigation. Without protection, more Rohingya will die," Tun Khin, human rights activist and president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation in the UK, told IBTimes UK.

The Ministry of Information confirmed the incident on Facebook but blamed Muslim villagers who "burned their own homes".

The Burmese government has rejected international calls for a UN investigation into the recent massacre. Officials from the minister of foreign affairs denied that any Rohingya were killed but claimed that a policeman had been reported missing after he was attacked by Muslim villagers.

"We already have our own independent investigation commission, we don't need an international investigation," said deputy information minister Ye Htut, in response to US ambassador Derek Mitchell's call for international officials to be allowed in.

If verified, recent killings in the remote Maungdaw township in Rakhine State would be the deadliest incident since October 2012 and would bring the total death toll from religious conflict to 277 or more since 2012.

According to UN chiefs and human rights organisations, at least 48 people, many of them women and children, have been massacred in violence perpetrated by state security officials and local Rakhine residents.

'Like the Bosnian genocide'

The Myanmar government has flatly denied the killings, describing reports of a massacre as "misinformation" and accusing foreign media of distortion. Official government reports claimed that local police were threatened by an armed Muslim mob, but that there were no civilian casualities.

"An international investigation is the only way to establish the facts," Tun Khin told IBTimes UK. "The situation in Myanmar's Rakhine state is similar to what happened in Bosnia during the 1992-95 war."

Violence against Myanmar's Muslims has intensified over the past two years, incited in part by extremist monks and the virulently anti-Muslim '969' campaign, who espouse hate and urge Buddhists to boycott Muslim businesses.

Khin said that 1,000 members of the 969 Buddhist movement moved to Rakhine state from other parts of the country to allegedly start a hate campaign against Muslims.

Some people have been threatened by extremists and told "you have to leave, otherwise your fate is going to be like your other Muslim people", a Rohingya activist told IBTimes UK.

Others living as a minority in Buddhist areas have simply fled out of fear.

IBTimes UK's source described families moving from various towns across the country, with many now hiding from authorities and living illegally in Muslim areas of Yangon, afraid that they will be locked up or returned to their home towns.

Local Buddhists are also being threatened for associating with Muslims. The political activist described extremist monks as "like the mafia", exerting powerful influence over local communities.

"They say 'if you do business with the kalar [racist slur for Muslims] we will brand you as a traitor to the nation, to the religion and to the community'."

International Business Times UK

January 28, 2014                                                  

A Muslim woman sits near a mosque in Yangon (Photo: Reuters)

Muslim women react to the loss of their homes which were burnt down in violence in Pauktaw village outside of Thandwe in the Rakhine state (Photo: Reuters)

Buddhist monks and other people protest against a visit to Myanmar by a high-level delegation from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (Photo: Reuters)

A Muslim man searches for any belongings left behind in his burnt home at Thapyuchai village, outside of Thandwe in the Rakhine state (Photo: Reuters)

Portraits of Aung San Suu Kyi and her father Aung San are seen in a National League for Democracy branch office that was thrown into disarray during violence at Shwe Lay village, outside of Thandwe in Rakhine state (Photo: Reuters)

By Gianluca Mezzofiore

International Business Times UK

January 23, 2014

Buddhist authorities have allegedly ordered a round-up of all male Rohingya, including children over the age of ten, in areas surrounding the Myanmar village of Du Char Yar Tan (Duchidaran) where at least 40 Muslims were killed and several hundred displaced in renewed sectarian violence.

Rights groups have confirmed that Rohingya men and boys have gone into hiding to avoid mass arrests in the Rakhine state's village.

"These arbitrary detentions broaden the scope of the human rights violations in the area and should be immediately brought to an end," said Matthew Smith, executive director of Fortify Rights.

"There needs to be accountability for this wave of horrific violence in Maungdaw Township but mass arrests of Muslim men and boys are not the way."

Du Char Yar Tan is the site of the suspected killing of a police sergeant and subsequent revenge attacks against Rohingya Muslims by state security forces. The incident took place on the night of 14 January when Rakhine authorities entered the village and started shooting people directly.

Tun Khin, human rights activist and president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation in the UK, told IBTimes UK that access to the area is still forbidden for residents, humanitarian organisations, independent observers and the international and national media.

"The military are taking the dead bodies away from the village before the aid agencies and the international community steps in," he said. "The UN needs to go there before they clean all bodies. Why the international community stays silent?"

Myanmar's central government and Rakhine state government officials have denied that any violence took place in the Maungdaw Township and they accused Rohingya "mobs" of attacking police.

"The government should immediately provide unfettered humanitarian access to the area and grant access for national and international media," said Matthew Smith. "The authorities can't defensibly speak the language of human rights reform while sealing off the site of yet another massacre in Rakhine State."

The killing rampage against Rohingya started when a group of 23 Muslims from another township were travelling through Maungdaw with the intention of fleeing the country.

They encountered a group of Rakhine Buddhists who allegedly abducted eight of the Rohingyas. On 11 January, local Rohingya allegedly discovered a fresh grave with body parts in the area.

In the violent confrontation that followed between Buddhist residents and Rohingya villagers, a police sergeant was abducted and allegedly killed by Rohingya.

The incident prompted another operation by riot police and Buddhist residents who entered the village and brutally attacked Rohingya who had not yet fled. Muslim-owned properties in the village were looted.

The Rohingya have never been granted citizenship in Myanmar and a 1982 law excluded them from the list of officially recognised minorities.

Sectarian tension between Rakhine state's 800,000 Rohingya and their Arakanese Buddhist neighbours exploded in June 2012 after allegations that a gang of Rohingya men had raped an Arakanese woman. The Muslims were lynched in response, sparking days of rioting.

International Business Times UK

January 16, 2014

Alfred Joyner
International Business Times
June 7, 2013

Religious violence in Burma between the Buddhist majority and other ethnic groups, such as the Rohinga Muslims, has existed for decades if not centuries. However over the last 12 months what's been classed by both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as a wave of ethnic cleansing has been sweeping across various townships in the Rakhine state on the country's west coast.

The United Nations estimates are that around 140,000 people have fled widespread oppression and brutal violence to makeshift refugee camps, with many dying unnecessarily. But while the international community has praised President Thein Sein for his steps towards improving democracy in Burma, they have turned a blind eye to the growing violence and persecution against the Muslim minority in the country.

In an exclusive documentary short, IBTimes UK investigates the hidden genocide currently occurring inside Burma.

Mark Farmaner is director of London-based human rights organisation Burma Campaign UK. He explains how the government has dealt with the country's multi-ethnic makeup since independence in 1948.

"Burma is a predominantly Buddhist country but it is not [an entirely] Buddhist country. It is made up of many different ethnic groups, many ethnic minorities and many different religions," he says.

"This is what goes to the root of why there has been a dictatorship and human rights abuses and incidents like what is taking place in Rakhine state and Kachin. The vision of the central government of Burma since independence has been that Burma is a Burmese Buddhist country and they try to impose and 'Burmanise' the rest of the ethnic minorities and religions in the country."

Martine Flokstra has been in Burma for the past few months as part of the work done by Médecins Sans Frontières, which has been providing aid and healthcare in the country for the last 22 years.

Speaking via Skype, she says: "The majority of people are still living in makeshift camps, meaning straw, wood, rice bags and plastic sheeting, on rice paddies and areas which are prone to be flooded".

"There are people starting to flee during the night to other camps because they were very afraid for the upcoming rain and storms."

IBTimes UK exclusively revealed the sinister actions of 45-year-old Buddhist Monk Ashin Witharu who, fresh from serving a nine-year jail term for inciting anti-Muslim prejudice, has crept back into the spotlight after sending his sermons of hate around the world through social media.

Foreign correspondent Gianluca Mezzofiore explains that the videos form part of an apartheid-like campaign in the country.

"His videos have been uploaded on YouTube and followed by thousands of people. The videos encourage people to boycott Muslim businesses and communities," he says.

"In these videos he warned Buddhists against Muslims, accusing them of raping Buddhist women. He claims that they've taken over, they're too rich, and that through their mosques they're planning foreign influence on the country."

Tun Khin is a Rohingya Muslim from Burma and president of London-based Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK. He condemns the inaction of western government to impose sanctions on Burma and says that it is critical more aid is provided.

"Well firstly, the international community have to take action immediately to provide humanitarian aid in all the areas of Rakhine. Other Rohingya are facing a restriction of movement. They can't buy food, they can't go to hospital. They have to provide humanitarian aid to protect the Rohingyas," he says.

"Secondly the international community has to support the UN Commission of Inquiry. Crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing is taking place in our country against the Rohingya's. There needs to be justice and accountability to bring those perpetrators to justice."

Zoya Phan knows the reality of extreme violence and fear. She's Burmese-born and from the Karen ethnic group. As a young girl, she and her family were forced to flee from vicious attacks on the village she called home.

She tells IBTimes UK that Britain and the rest of the international community need to be more forthright in their condemnation of Thein Sein's current regime of religious persecution, and hopes that one day a fair and equal multi-cultural society in Burma can be established.

"I can't believe that the British government and the rest of the EU countries turned a blind eye against this situation in Burma and prioritised trade and investment," she says.

"What we need to see in Burma in the future is where everyone can have freedom of expressions. Not just some people in central Burma but everyone, regardless of our race, our ethnicities, our gender, our religion. Everyone is equal and should be treated equally."

Athena Yenko

International Business Times

May 16, 2013

Women pass their time in a Rohingya internally displaced person (IDP) camp outside of Sittwe (Reuters)

Gianluca Mezzofiore
International Business Times
May 15, 2013

Myanmar authorities have attempted to force Rohingya refugees in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, to move closer to beach areas as the cyclone Mahasen approaches the exposed coast.

Sources speaking to IBTimes UK said that Rohingya Muslims refused any attempt to relocate as the cyclone, which has already killed at least seven people and displaced 3,881 in Sri Lanka, nears. 

The Myanmar government planned to move 38,000 internally displaced people, but many refused fearing the authorities’ intentions. 

Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya living in Germany with contacts in Sittwe, claimed that Rohingya “were forced to go” but only five families agreed. “100% confirmed that the authorities are forcing Rohingya refugees in Sittwe to move to the beach,” he said. “State Chief Minister warned today that will take serious action and President Office Minister Aung Min also told the same like at meeting in Yangon today.”

His report was confirmed by Aung Aung, a Rohingya living in a refugee camp in Sittwe. 

In reality, they evacuated only Rakhine, not #Rohingya, Rakhine authority has been trying to send all #Rohingya to the beach
— Aung Aung (@Aungaungsittwe) May 15, 2013

Rakhne authority wants to move all #Rohingya living in the huts to Pa Lin Pyin near the sea
— Aung Aung (@Aungaungsittwe) May 15, 2013

Mark Farmaner, of the Burma Campaign UK, confirmed to IBTimes UK that he heard reports of Rohingya forced closer to the beaches but was unable to confirm it. “Rohingya are still not being moved [to safety],” he said. 

Hla Maung said he lost his mother and two young daughters during the clashes between Muslims and Buddhists. 

He told the BBC: "I lost everything ... I don't want to go anywhere. I'll stay here. If I die, I want to die here," he said. 

At least 192 people were killed in June and October last year in sectarian clashes between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya. Reuters reported that people at a camp near the sea by Hmanzi Junction near Sittwe said they would rather prefer to die in the storm than evacuate. 

Farmaner said he is particularly concerned about the cyclone hitting Bangladesh. There are up to 250,000 Rohingya living in southern Bangladesh, many of whom fled from Myanmar in the early 1990s complaining of abuses by the army. 

UN says storm expected to make landfall in Chittagong: “In its strongest force, the cyclone will be hitting area where hundreds of thousands of refugee are stacked,” he said. “There are people very vulnerable in terrible condition and we’ve not heard any attempt by Bangladeshi government to move them. 

“Refugee living in official camps are already not in a very good condition. Those who live in unofficial camps, made of makeshift shelter, are in an appalling condition,” he added. 

About 140,000 people were displaced in June and a second wave of violence in October in western Rakhine state. 

Burma Campaign UK says the international community “applied the most low-level diplomacy” and failed to put pressure on the Burma government, who did nothing to prevent the crisis. 

“It’s already a humanitarian crisis but it will become an humanitarian disaster. Lives will be lost. If the international community had put pressure on Burma that could’ve been avoided.” 

Burma Campaign UK called on the British government and international community to take action to force President Thein Sein to allow unrestricted humanitarian aid, and stop violating international humanitarian law. 

At least 50 Rohingya Muslims were feared drowned on Tuesday when boats evacuating them from the path of the cyclone capsized off western Burma. 

In 2008, Cyclone Nargis killed more than 130,000 people in Myanmar.

Gianluca Mezzofiore

International Business Times

April 8, 2013

Burma Campaign UK criticises President Thein Sein for oppressive policies against minority Muslims

Myanmar's government has violated at least eight international laws with its treatment of the Rohingya Muslims, one of the world's most persecuted minorities, according to a British-based advocacy group. 

Burma Campaign UK slammed the progressive president Thein Sein for policies of oppression applied exclusively to the Rohingya. The minority group is considered stateless under Burma's citizenship law of 1982. 

Legal constraints render it "almost impossible" for the Rohingya to be recognised as citizens of the country. "This violates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and international norms prohibiting discrimination of racial and religious minorities," says the report.

Many Burmese consider Rohingya as unwelcome migrants from Bengal. The state-run press refers to "locals" differentiates between "locals" ie Arakan Buddhists and "Bengalis" to indicate Rohingya. Rohingya are denied access to education and employment and face "unacceptable restrictions on movement, marriage, and reproduction", adds the report. 

Following outbreaks of sectarian violence and repeated calls by UN authorities, the government has established a 27-strong commission to investigate trouble in Rakhine state - home to many Rohingya - but Thein Sein has ruled out reforming the 1982 Law and Medecins Sans Frontiers has faced restricted access to camps where Rohingya are displaced. 

Many ministries in the government have disputed the right of Rohingya to be in Burma at all. That gives "official legitimacy to those committing acts of violence" and allows them to continue doing so with impunity, said Burma Campaign UK. 

"World leaders need to take off their rose-tinted glasses and start making policy based on international law and promoting human rights," said Mark Farmaner, director. 

"Burma's treatment of the Rohingya violates international law. The international community must hold President Thein Sein accountable for the policies and actions of his government." 

The group has called on the British government and the international community "to provide a combination of pressure and of assistance, both in terms of humanitarian assistance and in terms of expertise" to reform the citizenship laws. 

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Gianluca Mezzofiore

International Business Times

April 6, 2013

Buddhist Monk Saydaw Wirathu, the self-styled "Burmese bin Laden", has rejected claims that his 969 nationalist campaign was behind violence in central Myanmar's city of Meikhtila against Muslims. 

In an interview with Irrawaddy website, Wirathu blamed "kalar" - a scornful term for Muslims - for the Meikhtila sectarian riots that left at least 20 people dead. "They were carrying knives, sticks and other weapons and attacked the Burmese," he said. "When the crowd heard that one monk was killed during the unrest, they went to the kalar quarter without weapons. Only one Burmese person out of ten carried a stick from the ruined houses, and no other weapons. [...]So, the planned attacks came from the Muslim quarters." 

Wirathu, who has led numerous vocal campaigns against Muslims in Burma and was arrested in 2003 for distributing anti-Muslim literature, denied that the 969 campaign was responsible for the unrest. "People blame 969, saying it is involved in the atrocities because they cannot find the real culprits. [But] the 969 leaflets were not found and no one distributed it in Meikthila," he argued. "The 969 campaign was made the culprit, but actually it is innocent as it only represents the special attributes of the Buddha."

The numerology of 969 is derived from the Buddhist tradition in which 9 stands for the special attributes of Buddha; 6 for the special attributes of his teaching or Dhamma and 9 for the special attributes of the Sangha or Buddhist order. 

In a controversial video that emerged on YouTube, Wirathu called for a national boycott of Muslim businesses in Myanmar. Buddhist monasteries have been distributing anti-Muslim leaflets for months, according to reports. Wirahtu himself was arrested in 2003 for distributing anti-Muslim leaflets and has often stirred controversy over his Islamophobic activities.

According to the Democratic Voice of Burma, Wirathu played an active role in stirring tensions in a Rangoon suburb in February, by spreading unfounded rumours that a local school was being developed into a mosque, 

An angry mob of about 300 Buddhists assaulted the school and Muslim-owned businesses and shops in Rangoon. The 969 symbol was found spray-painted on damaged cars and Muslim buildings in other Myanmar areas after the Meikhtala riots. 

The monk also criticised Aung San Suu Kyi and her National league for Democracy (NLD) for not doing enough to protect Buddhists in Myanmar. "I have been supporting Daw Aung San Suu Kyi through the years, but she was not a reliable leader during the Rakhine State [sectarian] unrest," he said, referring to last year's clashes between Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Burmese. 

"Nearly every NLD township office is operated by Muslims," he continued. "So I said the symbol of the NLD peacock is becoming a symbol for Muslims.[...] They are not very reliable in supporting the public in the case of the Arakan State riots. They don't stand on the side of the public. 

"They don't issue a specific statement to say that Rohingya [Muslims] are not a recognized national minority [in Burma] and they should condemn the killing of Arakanese [Buddhists] by Bengalis [Muslims]," he continued.

Gianluca Mezzofiore

International Business Times
March 26, 2013

Buddhist Monk Saydaw Wirathu, the self-styled "Burmese bin Laden", has called for a national boycott of Muslim businesses in Myanmar in a controversial video that emerged on YouTube. 

Wirathu, who has led numerous vocal campaigns against Muslims in Burma and was arrested in 2003 for distributing anti-Muslim literature, urges Burmese people "to join the 969 Buddhist nationalist campaign" and "do business or interact with only our kind: same race and same faith". 

"Your purchases spent in 'their' (Muslim) shops will benefit the Enemy," says Wirathu. "So, do business with only shops with 969 signs on their facets". 

The numerology of 969 is derived from the Buddhist tradition in which 9 stands for the special attributes of Buddha; 6 for the special attributes of his teaching or Dhamma and 9 for the special attributes of the Sangha or Buddhist order. 

In the footage filmed from Mandalay's Ma-soe-yein teaching monastery, Wirathu accuses Muslims of entertaining ties with the military junta that ruled Myanmar for five decades. The apartheid-like speech stirred shocked reaction on Twitter, with users calling the monk a "neo-Nazi" inciting anti-Muslim pogroms in Burma. 

Wirathu played an active role in stirring tensions in a Rangoon suburb in February, by spreading unfounded rumours that a local school was being developed into a mosque, according to the Democratic voice of Burma. An angry mob of about 300 Buddhists assaulted the school and Muslim-owned businesses and shops in Rangoon. The monk said that his militancy "is vital to counter aggressive expansion by Muslims". He has also been implicated in religious clashes in Mandalay, where a dozen people died, in several local reports. 

Sectarian clashes erupted this week in the central Myanmar city of Meikhtila, where mobs of Buddhists, some led by monks, have attacked a Muslim neighbourhood leaving at least 20 people dead. 

"Buddhist monasteries have been distributing leaflets that were critical of Muslims on various things, and that has been going on for months" said Burma Campaign UK's director Mark Farmaner. He maintains there were individual reports, around 10, of monasteries around Rangoon and in the Rakhine state distributing anti-Muslim leaflets. 

Muslims in Myanmar represent the 4 percent of a total population of 60 million, according to government census. However, according to the U.S. State Department's 2006 international religious freedom report, the country's non-Buddhist populations were underestimated in the census. Muslim leaders estimate that as much as 20 percent of the population may be Muslim.

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