"There are several hypocritical attempts ans steps taking by the government in Arakan to deceive the visiting UN Special Rapporteur, Mr. Tomas OjeaQuintana about the actual situation of Arakan and to cover up the crimescommitted against Rohingyas.
Attempt 1
The authority are forcing the leaders of Rohingyas in Maung Daw and Buthidaung to say to Mr. Quintana that they are in peaceful situation and government has only arrested those who involved in the violence.
Attempt 2
The authority are clearing all the blocks to show that people can move freely and forcing Rohingyas to re-open the remaining businesses.
Attempt 3
Until two days ago, Rohingyas were not allowed to do their lifeline cultivation of crop rice. Now, the NaSaKa in Maung Daw are forcing Rohingyas to start their cultivation and subsequently taking photographs of them.
Attempt 4
NaSaKa is behaving as if they are giving some food rations. The foods given to Rohingyas are taken back by NaSaKa after the completion of their photographic sessions.
Attempt 5
Authorities in Sittwe are repairing few remaining Mosques and painting them.
Attempt 6
Authorities and Rakhine leaders are visiting the Rohingya camps, persuading Rohingyas and calling them as if their brothers.
Attempt 7
The government also ordered all people to attached the postcards with the symbol "NSK" to their the shirts." Rahim from Maung Daw reported.
In short, authorities in Arakan commanded all Rohingyas and Rakhines that they must, though externally, show solidarity and live like friends from 1st August to 5th August. This pseudo-solidarity and peacefully living together for five days is certainly an attempt to deceive the visiting UN Special Rapporteur, Mr. Tomas Ojea Quintana. C'mon, tyrannic regime and extremist Rakhines! Don't be afraid to show your true faces. Don't try to
deceive the world.
Moreover, according to one of the internal source, the police custodies in Maung Daw and Buthiduang have become Burmese Version of Nazi Extermination Camps where many Rohingyas arrested and locked up are being killed through tortures and various other means. The Rohingyas including under-aged ones are kept without water for days. When they are given foods, it is not on the plates but on the ground. Then, their hands are tied with ropes and they are forced to eat using their mouths. Besides, authorities of the custodies frequently put SALT into wounds of Rohingyas resulted from the tortures. Whoever dies is buried inhumanely wherever possible. Therefore, it is quite similar to how Jews were treated in Nazi's extermination camps.
Furthermore, it has been known to the world that the monks in Rakhine state are restricting Rohingyas' access to foods, rations and medication. The monks boycotted 22 Rohingyas villages in Kyauktaw township. No Rohingya from these 22 villages are allowed to go out of their villages in search of foods and making them (Rohingyas) die by starvation inside their villages. To add more horrors, according to a reliable source from Maung Daw, about 2
to 3 Rohingyas per day (including children) are being slaughtered in "Allu Daw Bray (Byay)" monastery opposite to the government hospital in Maung Daw. During the raids by the police and Lunthin (security guards) which are made up of Rakhines, hundreds of Rohingyas were arrested. Some of them were killed on the spot, some have been kept and being tortured in police custodies and some were handed over to the concerned monastery to
be slaughtered. The people who are not allowed to inflict pains even on insects, whose religion teaches Metta (loving-kindness), are slaughtering human beings. Unbelievable! These people who are hiding behind saffron might not be Buddhists. They might be influenced more by Hitler than Buddha himself.
Meanwhile, arresting of educated Rohingyas and their religious leaders continues in Buthidaung and Maung Daw.
The people of the world regretted and mourned after the holocaust of six millions Jews. Then, they decided and took oath to not let happen such kind of atrocities, ethnic cleansing, genocides and the crimes against humanity take place on the earth again. Yet, it is taking place against Rohingyas in Arakan state of Burma. Do come forward to save them before it
is too late.
Compiled by M.S. Anwar
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| After the violence, some Rohingya took shelter in school compounds such as this one, in Maungdaw |
Muslims in Burma's western Rakhine state have been subjected to attacks and arbitrary arrests in the weeks since communal violence erupted, Amnesty International says.
A state of emergency was declared in Rakhine in June after deadly clashes between Buddhists and Muslims.
Since then, hundreds of people have been detained in the areas where Muslim Rohingya people live, a spokesman said.
The government has dismissed the allegations as "groundless and biased".
Win Myaing, a government spokesman for Rakhine state, told the Associated Press news agency that the claims are "totally opposite of what is happening on the ground", adding that the region was calm.
But although communal violence has eased since the unrest in June, violations by the security forces appear to have increased, rights groups say.
A state of emergency was declared in Rakhine in June after deadly clashes between Buddhists and Muslims.
Since then, hundreds of people have been detained in the areas where Muslim Rohingya people live, a spokesman said.
The government has dismissed the allegations as "groundless and biased".
Win Myaing, a government spokesman for Rakhine state, told the Associated Press news agency that the claims are "totally opposite of what is happening on the ground", adding that the region was calm.
But although communal violence has eased since the unrest in June, violations by the security forces appear to have increased, rights groups say.
'Rohingyas beaten'
Amnesty accuses Burmese security forces as well as ethnic Rakhine Buddhist residents of assaults, unlawful killings of Muslims and the destruction of property.
"Most cases have meant targeted attacks on the minority Rohingya population and they were bearing the brunt of most of that communal violence in June and they continue to bear the lion's share of the violations perpetrated by the state security forces," Amnesty researcher Benjamin Zawacki told the BBC's Viv Marsh.
Chris Lewa, director of The Arakan Project, which focuses on Rohingyas in the region, also told our correspondent that hundreds of Rohingya Muslims had been arrested, with allegations that some had been beaten and even tortured.
"Shortly after the main violence... then we start seeing a new phase of, I would say, state-sanctioned abuses, where especially in Maung Daw... we heard on a daily basis about mass arrests of Rohingya," Ms Lewa told the BBC.
What sparked the violence in June?
The rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman in Rakhine in May set off a chain of deadly religious clashes.
Why was a state of emergency declared?
A state of emergency allows the introduction of martial law, which means the military can take over administrative control of the region.
Who are the Rohingyas?
The United Nations describes Rohingya as a persecuted religious and linguistic minority from western Burma. The Burmese government, on the other hand, says they are relatively recent migrants from the Indian sub-continent. Neighbouring Bangladesh already hosts several hundred thousand refugees from Burma and says it cannot take any more.
Reports from the group's network of sources in the area, mostly Rohingya, also said that authorities allowed Rakhine youth to assault Rohingyas in custody. The group also alleges that Burmese authorities took part in looting of shops and homes belonging to Rohingya.
The Burmese authorities denied similar allegations made by Amnesty International.
Some of the Rohingya Muslims arrested were held in connection with violence that erupted in Rakhine on 8 June, the day on which, observers say, violence was largely carried out by Rohingyas. The Arakan Project also says that some Rakhine, particularly those found with weapons, were arrested.
It is difficult to verify any of the information provided by such sources, as journalists cannot access the area.Long-standing tension
Violence between Buddhists and Muslims flared after the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman in May, followed by an attack on a bus carrying Muslims.
Communal unrest continued in parts of Maung Daw as Muslims attacked Buddhist homes. Reprisal attacks then targeted Muslim homes and communities. The attacks left many dead and forced thousands of people on both sides to flee their homes.
There have been long-standing tensions between Rakhine people, who are Buddhist and make up the majority of the state's population, and Muslims, many of whom are Rohingya.
Many Rakhine Buddhists have said that much of the violence in June was carried out against them by Rohingya groups. Rohingyas say they have been forced to flee because of the violence.
Earlier this month, Burma's President Thein Sein said the "solution" for the Rohingya was deportation or refugee camps.
source here
Amnesty accuses Burmese security forces as well as ethnic Rakhine Buddhist residents of assaults, unlawful killings of Muslims and the destruction of property.
"Most cases have meant targeted attacks on the minority Rohingya population and they were bearing the brunt of most of that communal violence in June and they continue to bear the lion's share of the violations perpetrated by the state security forces," Amnesty researcher Benjamin Zawacki told the BBC's Viv Marsh.
Chris Lewa, director of The Arakan Project, which focuses on Rohingyas in the region, also told our correspondent that hundreds of Rohingya Muslims had been arrested, with allegations that some had been beaten and even tortured.
"Shortly after the main violence... then we start seeing a new phase of, I would say, state-sanctioned abuses, where especially in Maung Daw... we heard on a daily basis about mass arrests of Rohingya," Ms Lewa told the BBC.
What sparked the violence in June?
The rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman in Rakhine in May set off a chain of deadly religious clashes.
Why was a state of emergency declared?
A state of emergency allows the introduction of martial law, which means the military can take over administrative control of the region.
Who are the Rohingyas?
The United Nations describes Rohingya as a persecuted religious and linguistic minority from western Burma. The Burmese government, on the other hand, says they are relatively recent migrants from the Indian sub-continent. Neighbouring Bangladesh already hosts several hundred thousand refugees from Burma and says it cannot take any more.
Reports from the group's network of sources in the area, mostly Rohingya, also said that authorities allowed Rakhine youth to assault Rohingyas in custody. The group also alleges that Burmese authorities took part in looting of shops and homes belonging to Rohingya.
The Burmese authorities denied similar allegations made by Amnesty International.
Some of the Rohingya Muslims arrested were held in connection with violence that erupted in Rakhine on 8 June, the day on which, observers say, violence was largely carried out by Rohingyas. The Arakan Project also says that some Rakhine, particularly those found with weapons, were arrested.
It is difficult to verify any of the information provided by such sources, as journalists cannot access the area.Long-standing tension
Violence between Buddhists and Muslims flared after the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman in May, followed by an attack on a bus carrying Muslims.
Communal unrest continued in parts of Maung Daw as Muslims attacked Buddhist homes. Reprisal attacks then targeted Muslim homes and communities. The attacks left many dead and forced thousands of people on both sides to flee their homes.
There have been long-standing tensions between Rakhine people, who are Buddhist and make up the majority of the state's population, and Muslims, many of whom are Rohingya.
Many Rakhine Buddhists have said that much of the violence in June was carried out against them by Rohingya groups. Rohingyas say they have been forced to flee because of the violence.
Earlier this month, Burma's President Thein Sein said the "solution" for the Rohingya was deportation or refugee camps.
source here
Myanmar’s President Thein Sein says Rohingya Muslims must be expelled from the country and sent to refugee camps run by the United Nations.
The UN says decades of discrimination have left the Rohingyas stateless, with Myanmar implementing restrictions on their movement and withholding land rights, education and public services.
Press TV has conducted an interview with Ghulam Taqqi Bangash, professor at the SZABIST University, from Islamabad, to further discuss the issue. The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: Perhaps you can give us a history fact check. Who are the Rohingya Muslims since, perhaps, many are not aware of them? And if you could tell us about their past and also the fact that they have been marginalized for some time now.
Bangash: Yes. Historically, they belong to three different countries. Some came from China, some from very old times from Bangladesh, and some from a third country but that is history.
Now they stand as such, as you see, they are being eliminated. This ethnic cleansing is absolutely an international tragedy. This has been going on for the last 30 years but nobody knew about it. The persecution was there but it was not of such a huge scale as it is now.
Now the problem is that the government says that these people do not belong to Myanmar. This is something which is not acceptable. It is an international tragedy. It is something that those people belong to Myanmar and Bangladesh.
They say that they are Bangladeshis; this is absolutely incorrect. Part of them were Bangladeshis in the sense that, well, they were not Bangladeshis, they were Pakistanis, in the real sense, when we go back to history before the independence of Myanmar in 1948.
This is absolutely incorrect that they are outsiders, that they must be thrown out. This is ethnic cleansing and the Myanmar government is lucky in the sense that the Muslim world, the majority of the Muslim peoples around the world do not know about this tragedy.
We in Pakistan, for example, have always respected and always treasured, we feel proud of the Buddhist traditions in Pakistan. Right here in the suburban area of Islamabad, we have a huge Buddhist civilization, monasteries and all Buddhists are welcome to Pakistan and everywhere. People from around the Buddhist world come here.
But this is very strange. It’s a paradox for me to know that the Buddhists who were historically so peaceful people, they were non-violent, most of their history they were non-violent, and now certainly this is a huge shock. It is a catastrophe!
Not owning them, that is the government and even this Nobel prize winner, the lady [Aung San Suu Kyi] is so criminally silent about the problems of this minority in Myanmar. This is not acceptable.
The more Muslims know about this around the globe, the more there will be problems for the Myanmar government.
Press TV: Every fact that not only you have presented but our previous two guests have presented brings up the simple question -- Why? Why has this happened? Why has this been going on for such a long time? And why, for example, hasn’t the UN accepted them? Isn’t this their job? It’s odd for them not to want to serve these refugees, for example, and in addition not to put efforts as to accommodate them otherwise. It just seems very strange, the whole situation and then, for example, for the UN to react this way.
Bangash: You see, the problem is that southeast Asia is becoming much more inconspicuous on the economic map for the United States of America. The Americans actually want to coax them, not only Myanmar but the other countries -- that is Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, all these countries -- so that they do not have better relations with the People’s Republic of China. That is a part of the problem.
Recently, the American Secretary of State has, you see, the sanction issue. They should rather strengthen the sanctions against Myanmar until this problem should be solved but they are not doing that.
The Americans want to have better military ties with the government which the international journalist community including your good self very much know that the election was not fair.
Of course, there are internal problems, other problems which contribute, that the system is antiquated, it is very old, including the banking system, the labor community, the economic isolation. All those aided to the miseries of the [different] communities in Myanmar including Buddhists and the Muslims.
This does not mean that one should be so criminally silent about the plight of this ethnic cleansing.
Now the situation is that more and more people -- because the journalist community, although it is not as free as it should be, now at least they can write, although they are punished and several cases have been lodged against them in the courts. Still, now the situation for the journalist community is better in Myanmar.
In the coming days, what I can predict is that more and more Muslims around the world will know about this, and the situation can become very grave. For us in Pakistan, if the Pakistani public knows about this, then there will be problems in Myanmar, because that is something which we do not want.
Source here
A Rohingya Muslim woman and her family members, who had tried to cross into Bangladesh to escape communal violence in Myanmar, cry in a coast guard station in southern Bangladesh on June 19, 2012, before being sent back to Myanmar.
Amid Myanmar’s plans to eject its Rohingya Muslim minority, which the United Nations calls one of the world’s most-prosecuted people, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says it will help the internally-displaced in the country to return to their homes.
“UNHCR is scaling up its presence in Myanmar. We're, today, in seven states and we'll be working hard…to give our contribution to the peace-building process…,” the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres said in the city of Yangon in southern Myanmar on Thursday, Reuters reported.
"UNHCR, together with the broader humanitarian communities, will be involved in the delivering of human assistances to the populations of internally displaced, but also helping and cooperating with the government in the preparation of return to the areas of origin," he added.
Since June, hundreds of members of the nearly-one-million-strong Rohingya Muslim minority have been killed and tens of thousands of others among them displaced in the west of the country due to a wave of communal violence.
On June 3, 10 Rohingya Muslims were killed when a mob of ethnic group, known as Rakhines, who are mostly Buddhists, attacked a passenger bus in the western Myanmar Rakhine state that borders Bangladesh.
According to a group of UK-based NGOs, from June 10 to 28, 650 Rohingya Muslims were killed, 1,200 went missing, and more than 80,000 others were displaced as a result of rioting, arson, and a cycle of revenge attacks in the western state.
The NGOs also accused Myanmar’s Army and police “of playing a leading role in targeting Rohingyas through mass arrests and arbitrary violence.”
On July 6, Human Rights Watch said that some within Myanmar's security forces had carried out "mass round-ups" and other abuses against the Muslim minority.
"While the Burmese Army has largely contained the sectarian violence, abuses by security forces against Rohingya communities appear to be on the upsurge in recent weeks," the rights group said, using Myanmar's colonial-era name.
Over the past two years, throngs of ethnic Muslims have attempted to flee by boats in the face of systematic oppression by the government.
The government refuses to recognize them. They say the Rohingya are not native and classify them as illegal migrants, although, they have lived in Myanmar for generations.
Referring to the minority, Myanmar’s President Thein Sein told Guterres, "We will send them away if any third country would accept them…This is what we are thinking is the solution to the issue."
MHB/MN/HN'
Source here
Sittwe
A victimised Rohingya, Maung Oo from Sittwe on 9th July 2012 reported that Rakhines in the downtown of Sittwe were celebrating and throwing success parties for being able to drive out almost all Rohingyas from the urban areas to the rural areas. How could you celebrate as such for being able to kill some human beings and wipe them out of their places? I suspect you people being humane enough. It was further reported that in regard to this, when asked to Dr. Aye Maung, the leader of Rakhine National Development Party (RNDP) by some foreign media in BBC Burmese Service and other media in Burmese Language, he blatantly lied by replying "It is Rakhine Tradition to do so for the lives and properties we have lost." What kind of tradition is it in which people should laugh, dance, drink etc (which Rakhines were doing) for the losses of lives and properties instead of mourning for the deceased and the lost properties? "The reported stability achieved in Sittwe is a lie because all of the Muslims were either looted or destroyed. And Rakhines suffered to the minimum degree. Therefore, with the help of the government, they are restarting their businesses. And they are calling it stability while our people are living without shelter and starving to death." he further asserted.
One more victim from Sittwe on 10th July 2012 reported on the condition of anonymity that around 50 Rohingyas (Majority were men) were killed who were trying to come back to Sittwe from Sandama, Miyoorkul and Anarai. These are the people who left their houses in Sittwe Town seeking the safe places when the violence erupted. Since they were facing severe starvation in Sandama, Miyoorkul and Anarai (where they took refuge), they begged authorities to either solve crises or safely send them back their original places. But the authorities did fulfil neither. In their inabilities to bear up anymore starvation, they attempted to come on their own. Consequently, they were killed near to a forest on their way back home reportedly by the members of RNDP.
Moreover, the victim spoke his heart out about their vulnerable situation. (Crying!!!!). He said that RNDP and their allies in the region are spreading lies about the situation in Sittwe and triggering Rakhines towards Racial riots. RNDP is making all the efforts so that neither Myanmar Higher Officials nor International Humanitarian Workers can meet them (Rohingya Refugees). As a result, they can't explain their homeless and vulnerable situation and express their crises to the world. Whenever someone from the government or International Humanitarian workers come to Sittwe, they (leaders of RNDP) take them to show some minimum losses Rakhines suffered. Besides, they gather a lot of Rakhines including the people from Arakan Liberation Army (ALA) (who were brought into Sittwe by RNDP) and show them as though real refugees.
He further anxiously exclaimed that thousands of his people were forced to leave their houses during the time of the violence against them. They are uncertain that whether or not they will have their places back (even though the mosques, houses and everything there were destroyed and made them into plain lands by using bulldozers). If not, what will government do to them? They are desperate to know that. And on 10th July 2012, a NaSaKa camp is being established at GoyllaDil and there are already NaSaKas numbering 250. Since NaSaKas are expert in torturing people, they believe NaSaKas are being brought to torture them. They are extremely worried that what they will do if NaSaKas start torturing them at a time when they are already ousted from their houses, have no food to eat and no place to take shelter. Besides, he dishearteningly said that they don't know how they can tell the world about real situation and express their crises. Furthermore, he firmly said that they have been living there for generations and never betrayed the nation. Instead, they have done whatever they could to help the country. Yet, they have been targeted and made preys by RNDP and looked down by the government. They want to plead United Nation, Human Rights Organizations and the President of the country and all concerned people to send someone to whom they can express about their vulnerable situation.They begged all the people who are concerned about humanity to take every step whatever possible to solve their grave humanitarian crises.
Rathedaung
Rohingya Women and their children in Anauk Pyin Village of Rathedaung are in grave trouble as they have been being constantly harassed, raped and tortured by the Military and Rakhine extremists since there are hardly any Rohingya men in the village. Most of their men were arrested by the authority and taken to Sittwe prison after the riot took place on June 16, 2012. No news about them since then. "On 15th June 2012, local Rakhines in Rathedaung surrounded Anauk Pyin village in the evening. Thus, on the spot, some Rohingya leaders informed the news to the Buthidaung military camp. But the military went there in next morning (i.e. on 16th June 2012). As a result, during the night, the fight went on between Rakhines and Rohingyas as Rohingyas had no choice since Rakhine had already surrounded their village. Both sides had the losses of lives. But when the Military got there in the morning, they shot at the few dead bodies of Rakhines and arrested 162 Rohingya men accusing that they had shot Rakhines with their guns and branding them as terrorists." an eyewitness (who has escaped the terrible incident) reported. Hardly any people in the world could have imagined that such kinds barbaric and inhumane human can still exist today. Whether one believes or not, this is what is going on in Arakan.
Maung Daw
A. Faisal from Southern Maung Daw on 9th July 2012 informed that some Military and Rakhine Extremists (also in Military Uniform) raided Sainda Village in southern Maung Daw. They started firing Guns at the villagers. Therefore, Rohingya men from the village ran away so as to save their lives. Then, they looted Rohingyas' houses. Simultaneously, 30 Rohingya Girls were forced to come out of their respective houses. Choosing 15 most beautiful girls among them, the Military and Rakhine terrorists forced them to take off their scarfs from their heads and to wrapthem around their waists. Then, these 15 Rohingya girls were made labors to carry the things which were looted from their own houses and were being taken to the forest. Hearing the crying voices of helpless Rohingya girls, Rohingya men who were hiding, in the end, could not bear up the injustices being carried against their girls. They tried to chase the Rakhine Terrorists and Barbaric Military away. On the other hand, NaSaKa in the region came to know that they (Military and Rakhines) were doing all such barbaric acts without their permission. NaSaKa drove them away to the forest.
What one can realize by this incident is that on the ground and in reality, torturing and killings (of) Rohingya people, looting their properties, rapes against Rohingya girls etc are conspired by the extremist Rakhine Leaders without the permission of the higher authorities or officials of Myanmar. And it is really shocking that this kind of barbaric, inhumane and insulting act are taking place in Arakan while the rest of the world is watching on.
Besides, during a census check by NaSaKa and Immigration Department Goona Fara of Shuja Village, 20 Rohinhgya men were arrested. After sometime, NaSaKa separated some 8 people among them from whom NaSaKa thought that they can extort huge amount of money. The remaining people numbering around 12 were handed over to the police in Maung Daw. The reason why they were arrested is not known. There has been no news from them since then as reported by Rahim from Maung Daw on 10th July 2012.
On 11th July 2012, the same man from Maung Daw mentioned that some 7 trucks loaded with Military and NaSaKa raided Laamar Faara of Nuwaa Faara of Quarter 5. Subsequently, around 8 Rohingya men were arrested and taken to unknown locations. By this means, the government with the supports of local Rakhine gangs have been trying to exterminate Rohingyas (human beings) who have been living there for generations.
Compiled by M.S. Anwar (RB Correspondent)
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| The latest news from Burma's new media |
The media, the military and the Arakan conflict
The emergence of free media in Myanmar after six decades of oppression is not going the way anybody expected just weeks ago, and the trend is ominous.
The new publications are openly partisan, nationalist and aiding a deadly war against the already disenfranchised Rophingya minority in the troubled Arakan state alongside the government, nationalist ethnic Rakhines and Buddhist Burmese.
Chiang Mai University in Thailand is organizing a forum for Thursday on Burma’s evolving media landscape, featuring as speakers Aung Zaw, the chief editor of the Irrawaddy, and Mon Mon Myat, co-founder of Yangon Press International. It should be just in time to take on some profoundly disturbing questions about the course the media is taking.
Ironically the newly freed media, especially domestic and Burmese language journals, are saving the domestic image of the infamous military by framing the Arakan conflict as the nation versus foreign invaders – Rohingyas, although they have existed in the area for hundreds of years. That is leading Burma’s citizenry to call upon the military to protect race, religion, and nation, regardless of the military’s 60 years of oppressive rule.
At the outset, it should be mentioned that the media started calling the Rohingyas “Bengali”, “foreign invaders” and “illegal immigrants” as soon as the conflict broke out on June 8. It started framing the conflict as an attack on the nation by “Bengali” foreigners, placing everyone on the same side vis-Ã -vis the Rohingyas.
Since day one of the conflict, domestic Burmese journals have competed with each other to update the news, often with little basis in fact. The most prominent agencies are The Weekly Eleven, The Voice Weekly, The Yangon Media group, 7Days News, and Popular Myanmar News. The Dhaka-based Narinjara news has been crucial in the anti-Rohingya campaign.
Their reporting is contradictory to international standards. The International Federation of Journalism is opposed to discrimination against any race and religion. It condemns the use of the media as a tool for propaganda, or for promoting intolerance and conflict. The Burmese media rather have done completely the opposite: they have fueled the conflict.
On their Facebook pages, they distribute information that is neither confirmed nor substantiated. For example, The Voice Weekly, a publishing arm of the popular scholarly institution, Myanmar E-gress, posted one sentence-information that there was a bell ring in front of a Buddhist temple; its online audience were anxious to know what just happened. It also posted unconfirmed information that Rohingyas had just poisoned a water pond. The audience was upset and commented, “Kill them all”. The journal consistently refers to Rohingyas as “Bengali Rioters.”
Almost every 5 to 10 minutes, the media update news indicating how many Rakhine villages have been burnt, how many people have been beaten and killed by Rohingyas who are foreigners, illegal immigrants and invaders.
Every single piece of news reported is exclusively about the victimhood of Buddhist Rakhines. The media never quote Rohingya sources, which said tens of people – men, women and children – are being killed, and that houses and mosques were being burnt down.
The media also distributes reports indicating that the security forces have successfully prevented groups of Rohingya trying to enter towns and cities. There was no clarification over whether these groups were refugees running away from the riots or were engaging in violence.
The legitimizing idea of their position is based on nationalism and national security that Bengali invaders are attacking western Myanmar and ethnic brothers and sisters.
When photos are posted, they are about Rohingya youth attacking neighbors. Photos of Rakhines even burning down huts and holding swords are shown as simply self-defense.
The media has also attempted to provide nationalistic coverage to international communities. The Weekly Eleven, the most nationalist media outlet at the forefront of the anti-Rohingya campaign, distributed its English news to international agencies. The Journal reportedly celebrated upon Asian News Network’s publishing of its news.
The Weekly Eleven also accuses foreign media as “presenting biased reports on the clashes between Rakhine people and Bengali Rohingyas to destroy the image of Myanmar and its people”.
Thomas Fuller, however, responded in the New York Times that “In one sign that passions are running high, the Website of the Eleven Media Group, a publisher of one of the country’s leading weekly newspapers, displayed a string of hateful comments about Muslims from readers.”
The conflict in Arakan state puts more internationalized media such as the Burmese services of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Voice of America (VOA), and Radio Free Asia (RFA), as well as the Irrawaddy and Democratic Voice of Myanmar (DVB) in a difficult position.
Many of their reporters are against the Rohingyas. Yet, bounded by international standards, they cannot support anti-Rohingya campaigns openly, which leads anti-Rohingya campaigners to accuse these organizations as corrupt and selling the country to foreigners.
But who won the seat in this conflict?
The government and the military are gaining popularity among many hundreds people who are being delusional. This is reflected in the activities of Hmuu Zaw, an ex-Major and currently a senior staff from the President’s Office.
Since the riots are taking place in the remote areas of the country where journalists cannot reach immediately, he is one major player feeding negative narratives to the media. He frequently updated the Arakan situation on his Facebook account. The Burmese journals quoted them.
Quickly earning popularity, Hmuu Zaw effectively distributes government agenda and motivating messages among his 9,909 subscribers and 5,004 friends on his Facebook. The very idea Hmuu Zaw is propagating is all about national security. His explicit messages indicate that without acting effectively, the country’s sovereignty will be undermined. The government is trying its best not to let that happens.
During his visit to the US on 4 July, 2012, he wrote: “Today meeting with Human Rights Watch, Myanmar delegation gave the clear message, if some countries including US, can accept Rohinja (Stateless people), we can transport them by ships or others. We can understand the human rights but we need to emphasize the National Security.”
People wrote comments, supporting and praising him. Up to 10 July, 921 people “like” this status.
Earlier, one reporter from Yangon-based weekly Kumudra Journal, named HinnYadana Zaw who won National Press Awards, posted on her wall that she “completely supports, likes and encourages Hmuu Zaw”.
At a more institutional level, the Burmese government – including the military and police - is gaining popularity. In the name of protecting the nation and sovereignty, the military has been called upon to take control of the burning state.
One Facebook user commented to Hmuu Zaw’s above status, “The government has already fulfilled the very desire of the entire Burmese. It’s ok not to have electricity for 24 hours, not having low consumer prices, or not getting rich yet. It’s already the most loved government for kicking out dog Bengalis”.
To sum up, the Arakan riot is like a Burmese saying “killing two birds with one stone”. Not just two, but three birds: Rohingyas are down, the military is back in, and foreign and internationalized media are portrayed as unreliable.
(The author is a freelance reporter from Myanmar.)
Source here
By Farrukh I. Younus
Freelance Writer - United Kingdom
Like many I watched with joy as Aung San Suu Kyi spent two weeks traveling Europe. Throughout her house detention she won numerous awards including the Nobel Peace Prize, and while in England as well as meeting the likes of the Dalai Lama, she spoke of how her memories when studying in England helped her through her political detention.
Returning to Burma, she was greeted by chanting crowds, a mark of a true political heroine. Yet despite this, her silence on the continued persecution of the Rohingya makes her complicit in their persecution.
The Rohingya are a community of 800,000 living in the Arakan region of Burma. According to the United Nations, they are amongst the most persecuted minorities; and aside from occasional reporting, their plight, particularly in current days, remains poorly reported.
When a Buddhist woman was raped and murdered, suspicion and rumor was directed to the Rohingya community prompting hundreds of Buddhists to drag 10 Rohingya from a bus, murdering them: another cycle of violence erupted.
While some news outlets have touched on this subject, the general silence means that grassroots organizations such as Restless Beings are amongst those championing awareness via social media. Amongst their concerns is the shameless way the Bangladeshi government has turned away Rohingya who have escaped seeking refuge: men, women and children, who upon arrival are fed, before being sent back, while crying, begging, pleading not to be returned to an environment where mosques are being burned.Where children are murdered in front of their parents… where…
While Suu Kyi, the third child of Aung San - considered the father of modern-day Burma - received a standing ovation at Westminster Hall in London, asking for help to deliver, 'better lives, greater opportunities, to the people of Burma who have been for so long deprived of their rights to their place in the world;' speaking of the Rohingya, she said that she 'didn't know' if they were Burmese citizens.
If as some opine, in her desire to lead the people of Burma, she has adopted this position of uncertainty to appeal to the wider Burmese community - many of whom view the Rohingya as foreigners. Then I fear, despite her accolades of peace, and her rapturous reception here in Europe, as she now travels freely, she remains, mentally, a prisoner under house arrest.
There can be no worse head of state than one who dismisses and ignores the plight of 800,000 of her countries residents. And I fear His Holiness the Dalai Lama's words, when meeting Suu Kyi, "I have real admiration for your courage," no longer reflects the woman I once read of and admired, who in her silence on Rohingya persecution is a heroine no more.
Farrukh I. Younus holds a master's degree in international business management and works in the emerging telecommunications industry across Europe and Asia.
Freelance Writer - United Kingdom
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| Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese opposition politician |
Like many I watched with joy as Aung San Suu Kyi spent two weeks traveling Europe. Throughout her house detention she won numerous awards including the Nobel Peace Prize, and while in England as well as meeting the likes of the Dalai Lama, she spoke of how her memories when studying in England helped her through her political detention.
Returning to Burma, she was greeted by chanting crowds, a mark of a true political heroine. Yet despite this, her silence on the continued persecution of the Rohingya makes her complicit in their persecution.
The Rohingya are a community of 800,000 living in the Arakan region of Burma. According to the United Nations, they are amongst the most persecuted minorities; and aside from occasional reporting, their plight, particularly in current days, remains poorly reported.
When a Buddhist woman was raped and murdered, suspicion and rumor was directed to the Rohingya community prompting hundreds of Buddhists to drag 10 Rohingya from a bus, murdering them: another cycle of violence erupted.
While some news outlets have touched on this subject, the general silence means that grassroots organizations such as Restless Beings are amongst those championing awareness via social media. Amongst their concerns is the shameless way the Bangladeshi government has turned away Rohingya who have escaped seeking refuge: men, women and children, who upon arrival are fed, before being sent back, while crying, begging, pleading not to be returned to an environment where mosques are being burned.Where children are murdered in front of their parents… where…
While Suu Kyi, the third child of Aung San - considered the father of modern-day Burma - received a standing ovation at Westminster Hall in London, asking for help to deliver, 'better lives, greater opportunities, to the people of Burma who have been for so long deprived of their rights to their place in the world;' speaking of the Rohingya, she said that she 'didn't know' if they were Burmese citizens.
If as some opine, in her desire to lead the people of Burma, she has adopted this position of uncertainty to appeal to the wider Burmese community - many of whom view the Rohingya as foreigners. Then I fear, despite her accolades of peace, and her rapturous reception here in Europe, as she now travels freely, she remains, mentally, a prisoner under house arrest.
There can be no worse head of state than one who dismisses and ignores the plight of 800,000 of her countries residents. And I fear His Holiness the Dalai Lama's words, when meeting Suu Kyi, "I have real admiration for your courage," no longer reflects the woman I once read of and admired, who in her silence on Rohingya persecution is a heroine no more.
Farrukh I. Younus holds a master's degree in international business management and works in the emerging telecommunications industry across Europe and Asia.
July 8, 2012 (#AU011)
PRESS RELEASE
OIC Calls on to End Violence in Arakan and launcha Probe to Slaughtering of Rohingya
On behalf of the Rohingya community worldwide, the Arakan Rohingya Union wholeheartedly welcomes the statements by HE Secretary General of Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, calling on the Government of Myanmar to immediately order a probe to the massive slaughter of Rohingya people in Arakan (Rakhine) State, Myanmar.
Additionally, the Arakan Rohingya Union also welcomes HE Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu for his relentless efforts in reaching out to the leader of the National League for Democracy, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to help stop the violence and facilitate the process of bringing peace to Arakan State.
The Arakan Rohingya Union stresses that the government of Myanmar must adhere to core values of democracy and human rights during this important period of democratic reforms, and must not allow violence against Rohingya ethnic minority by Rakhine mobs or Burmese police, Lon Htein, and Nasaka forces in Arakan State. The Government of Myanmar must put an immediate stop to the massive arrests of hundreds of innocent Rohingya men and the serious violations of dignity and honor of Rohingya women by the Burmese forces.
The Arakan Rohingya Union is committed to working closely with OIC and will continue to serve as a resource organization to provide support to the OIC’s immense efforts to help end the violence and bring peace to Arakan State in Myanmar.
Sincerely,
It was reported on anonymity from Molwi village of Sittwe that yesterday at around 11:30 pm, a joint group of military, police and Rakhines in military uniforms went to Hashif village and raped many Rohingya girls. Subsequently, 14 Rohingya girls died.
“NaSaKa in Prampuru village of Maungdaw are demanding 500,000 Kyats per head to release the people arrested in these days. They are threatening that they will kill the people arrested if the remaining members of respective families cannot fulfill their demand” said by Aman from Prampuru. “Therefore, many people are in too difficult situation to fulfill their demands” he added.
On July 6, a Rohingya man from Quarter 2, known as Haarifara village in Maungdaw was arrested, beaten and tortured almost to death by police. Then police threw him at a place near to Hindu village Quarter 4 thinking that he already died. Fortunately, he remained alive and was founded by some people with severe wounds in his body. They picked him up and took to their place. It was reported that his situation was almost to death.
A report sent by A. Alam from Shikdar village that yesterday a Rohingya man was arrested from Bohmuu village in Maungdaw by police and taken to unknown location. His family members are extremely worried about what has been being happened with him.
“Three trucks loaded with police, military and security forces tried to raid Maung Ni village again. Since people had already known about the raid, people in the village could escape to the nearby villages” said by Rahim from Maung Ni village.
Military and NaSaKa in Bagonna and Nurulla villages are constantly threatening to kill the villagers if they don't fulfill their demands such as money, rations, cattle and so on. Many houses were looted. The people in the villages are living under continuous fear of being killed as most of them are facing difficulties to fulfill the demands of mililary and NaSaKa.
Today, Rohingyas are extremely harassed, severely tortured and ultimately being massacred by the evils in the military and some extremist Rakhines who are just manipulating the peaceful religion Buddhism to achieve their own purposes. The edict not to kill or inflict pains on others is integral to Buddhist thought. If they are really Buddhists, how can they commit the crimes against humanity being carried out against Rohingyas who are recognized as one of most persecuted people on the planet and a group of human beings who have high possibility of extermination as described by UN and HRW respectively. Therefore, international communities and peace-loving people in Myanmar, save Rohingyas and do a favor to humanity. Do not simply believe what you see and hear from the state and local media.
Compiled by M.S. Anwar (RB Correspondent)
STATEMENT PREPARED BY BURMESE ROHINGYAS LIVING IN AUSTRALIA
Ref : OFF /11/06/BRCA-003
Date: 11th June 2012
We, the Muslim community members of BRCA (Burmese Rohingya Community Association in Australia ) have made this statement in relation to the barbaric massacre of ten Burmese Muslims in Tongoup Township and genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Arakan state .
It is very obvious that these racial riots took place on 8th June ,2012 is due to the ignorant to the rule of law in Arakan state that was orchestrated by the authorities in Arakan state.While the general human rights situation in Myanmar is far from satisfactory, the Rohingyas suffer from specific deeply persecutory polices targeting them. The vast majority of Rohingyas are effectively denied Myanmar citizenship; subjected to severe restrictions on freedom of movement; marriage; forced labor; forced evictions; and extortion and arbitrary
taxation. Other ethnic nationalities in Burma are not subjected to the same extent to such restrictions and human rights violations. The combination of all these practices makes it almost impossible for Rohingyas to enjoy their right to an adequate standard of living. Therefore Rohingyas have developed antigovernment sentiments.
Download full Statement here
Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu called on the Myanmar government to order an immediate probe into the slaughtering of Rohingya Muslims as well as to bring those responsible to justice. He also urged the government to take necessary steps to ensure the legitimate rights of the minority Muslims and put an end to the suffering they have been experiencing for years. Ihsanoglu’s appeal came in the midst of the pan-Islamic body’s hectic efforts in the global arena to find a quick solution to the crisis, according to an OIC spokesman.
He said: “The secretary-general is making intensive efforts at global level to exert pressure on Myanmar to take steps to end the ordeal of the Rohingya community. Efforts are under way through the offices of OIC in Geneva, New York, and Brussels to facilitate international intervention in the issue.”
The spokesman said the OIC is in touch with the United Nations, UN Human Rights Council, European Union and other international organizations to halt the worst humanitarian crisis in Myanmar.
Ihsanoglu recently sent a letter to Myanmar’s pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi urging her to help end the violence against the Rohingya community.
Sources Here:
Outcasts ... a man weeps after his arrest in Bangladesh. Photo: AP
The recent brutal religious violence in Burma's western Arakan state has cast a shadow on the country's democratic progress. Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds of homes destroyed as Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims clash near the Bangladeshi border in the country's worst sectarian violence in decades.
Even more shocking than the violence has been the public outpouring of vitriol aimed at the Rohingya, the stateless minority group at the centre of the conflict.
Considered ''illegal Bengali immigrants'' by the government, they are denied citizenship and are widely despised within Burmese society. Anti-Rohingya views have swept both social and mainstream media, seemingly uniting politicians, human rights activists, journalists, and civil society across Burma's myriad ethnic groups.
''The so-called Rohingya are liars,'' one pro-democracy group said on Twitter. ''We must kill all the kalar,'' another social media user said. Kalar is a racial slur applied to dark-skinned people from the Indian subcontinent.
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Burmese refugees, who themselves have fled persecution, gathered at embassies around the world to protest against the ''terrorist'' Rohingya invading their homeland. Even the prominent student leader Ko Ko Gyi, who played a key role in the 1988 democratic uprising, lambasted them as impostors and frauds.
No doubt Burma's nascent media freedom has played a key role in stirring up religious tensions. Vast swaths of inflammatory misinformation are circulating inside Burma, with mainstream media largely accusing al-Qaeda and ''illegal Bengali terrorists'' of staging the violence in a bid to spread Islam in Asia. Many allege that the Rohingya are burning their own houses to attract attention.
One newspaper published a graphic photograph of the corpse of Thida Htwe, a Buddhist woman whose rape and murder - allegedly by three Muslim men - instigated the violence, prompting the President, Thein Sein, to suspend the publication using censorship laws.
These are the same papers that in recent months have openly criticised the government for the first time since a nominally civilian administration took over last year.
Ironically, this freedom has also led to a virulent backlash against foreign and exiled media, who have reported on the plight of the Rohingya, described by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted groups.
Following the latest violence, a number of online campaigns have been set up to co-ordinate attacks against news outlets that dare to report on the Rohingya's plight. Angry protesters rallied in Rangoon this week, brandishing signs reading ''Bengali Broadcast Corporation'' and ''Desperate Voice of Bengali''.
The latter was a reference to this reporter's employer, the Democratic Voice of Burma, the Norwegian broadcaster that has made a name for itself among many Burmese as one of the most reliable sources of information about their country.
Recently the broadcaster faced the biggest attack on its website in its history, and its Facebook page is still under constant assault from people issuing threats and posting racist material.
As the International Crisis Group explains, the violence is both a consequence of, and a threat to, Burma's political transition.
The ongoing crisis illustrates the need for Burma to embrace not only independent, but also responsible and inclusive, journalism. To facilitate this transition, the government must take concrete steps to address the underlying dispute about the Rohingya. The sheer level of racism against them in Burmese society, enforced by a government policy of discrimination and abuse, lies at the core of the matter.
A politician from the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party has called for a ''king dragon operation'', the name for a 1978 military operation run by the dictator General Ne Win to stamp out the Rohingya population from Northern Arakan state.
Meanwhile, reports of army complicity in attacks on Muslim homes are growing after a state of emergency was declared last month. The immigration minister, Khin Yi, has again reiterated that ''there are no Rohingya in Burma,'' while Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy continues to carefully sidestep the hot-button issue.
State media has also fanned tensions by using the racial slur kalar in their official appeal for calm after 10 Muslim pilgrims were murdered to avenge Htwe's death.
While the government has taken ostensible steps to calm the violence, including publishing a retraction for the racial slur, it is far from sufficient. Neither is invoking draconian censorship laws a viable solution.
There must be a rational public debate on the future of the Rohingya minority in Burma.
The issue is sensitive and complex, but it cannot be ignored. Political leaders, especially Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi, along with the international community, have an obligation to drive this process. A failure to do so threatens to unravel Burma's democratic reform at a time when it cannot afford to regress.
Sources Here:
While the current rate of cooking oil is 1700 Kyats, military are selling cooking oil to the Rohingya at the rate of 4000 kyats as Rohingya are not able to move freely to buy the essential things. Rohingya have to buy the essentials through Rakhine by paying very high price.
In another incident, it was said that 30 lakh worth of Rohingya goods are taken away from the camps by military personals and kept in front of the Akyab Myudaw KengMa (the City Hall).
Source via : Mohammed Siddque (UK)
Maungdaw Township:
Yesterday, 15-family list from Balu Khali village and Wark Pyin village under the Pawet Chaung village tract of Nasaka area No.5, were taken away by Nasaka yesterday over the accusation that the family list owners went to nearby a Natala village to set on fire recently. The villagers were asked to choose the family lists within five days with money. The villagers have to pay at least Kyat 500,000 to one million per list; otherwise, it will be burned down. The family list is very important for Rohingya people, so the villagers will collect the money by any means, said a village elder.
In Maungdaw Town, the police officer U Than Tin, U Thai lin Soe and Sergeant U Hla Myint accompanied by some Rakhine youths went to the Rohingya villages and asked to meet with them to pay money otherwise, they will set fire the houses. This group is led by U Than Tin, the police officer of Maungdaw town police station. He also boasted to the villagers that he is above the law, and no one is there to punish him. He asked money from one villager at least 5,000 to 10,000. He actively participated in the recent incident against the Rohingya community by looting goods and money from the Rohingya villagers and arresting innocent Rohingya villagers to extort money. Villagers and town dwellers have not been allowed to go out from their homes to buy rations and medicines. Many children, pregnant women, and many Diabetic patients, and some heart diseases people will die soon for the lack of medicines and food scarcity. When the villagers went to go to the market to buy food and medicines, on the way, Hluntin, police and Rakhine youths looted the goods and the villagers were also tortured severely. So the villagers do not dare to go out of their homes, said an elder from the town.
The sectarian riots between Rakhines and Rohingys have been taken place in Maungdaw Township since June 8 and tomorrow July 8 will make one month period. Though the State of emergency and curfews have been imposed in Maungdaw, Akyab (Sittwe) and other areas in Arakan State, the concerned authorities are still doing only against the Rohingya community with the collaboration of Rakhine youths. Why the state of emergency is imposed only to Rohingya community?, asked a local elder.
The Rohingya community across the Arakan State urged the Home minister of Naypyidaw through the Kaladan Press Network to look the matter deeply, said a youth.
Buthidayung Township:
Some arrested people from Maungdaw Township since June 8, were sent to Buthidaung Jail. It is learnt that on July 5, at night, some of the arrested people were sent to Buthidaung boat Seik (jetty) with eight trucks to transfer them to Sittwe Jail. It will be very difficult to the relatives of the arrestees to advocate them, said a trader from Buthidaung.
The police and Hluntin with the cooperation of local Rakhine racist youths locked the Rohingya community in their homes without ration and medicines. It is a critical issue for the Rohingya community. This matter is not informed to the Thein Sein’s government. Why they keep mum?, said a businessman.
Source Via KPN
_________________________________________________________________
Hafez Salim with other three Rohingya from Ashika Para were arrested by Nasaka (Burma’s border security force) after checking the family list today at about 9:00pm, according a villager on condition of anonymity
Similarly, Mohamed Alam (35), son of Mohamed Ismail was also arrested by Nasaka three days ago, was severely tortured in Nasaka area No.6 and became very serious where he was unable to pay the Nasaka demand money 2.5 million for release, he said.
Similarly, Mohamed Alam (35), son of Mohamed Ismail was also arrested by Nasaka three days ago, was severely tortured in Nasaka area No.6 and became very serious where he was unable to pay the Nasaka demand money 2.5 million for release, he said.
Yesterday, 15-family list from Balu Khali village and Wark Pyin village under the Pawet Chaung village tract of Nasaka area No.5, were taken away by Nasaka yesterday over the accusation that the family list owners went to nearby a Natala village to set on fire recently. The villagers were asked to choose the family lists within five days with money. The villagers have to pay at least Kyat 500,000 to one million per list; otherwise, it will be burned down. The family list is very important for Rohingya people, so the villagers will collect the money by any means, said a village elder.
In Maungdaw Town, the police officer U Than Tin, U Thai lin Soe and Sergeant U Hla Myint accompanied by some Rakhine youths went to the Rohingya villages and asked to meet with them to pay money otherwise, they will set fire the houses. This group is led by U Than Tin, the police officer of Maungdaw town police station. He also boasted to the villagers that he is above the law, and no one is there to punish him. He asked money from one villager at least 5,000 to 10,000. He actively participated in the recent incident against the Rohingya community by looting goods and money from the Rohingya villagers and arresting innocent Rohingya villagers to extort money. Villagers and town dwellers have not been allowed to go out from their homes to buy rations and medicines. Many children, pregnant women, and many Diabetic patients, and some heart diseases people will die soon for the lack of medicines and food scarcity. When the villagers went to go to the market to buy food and medicines, on the way, Hluntin, police and Rakhine youths looted the goods and the villagers were also tortured severely. So the villagers do not dare to go out of their homes, said an elder from the town.
The sectarian riots between Rakhines and Rohingys have been taken place in Maungdaw Township since June 8 and tomorrow July 8 will make one month period. Though the State of emergency and curfews have been imposed in Maungdaw, Akyab (Sittwe) and other areas in Arakan State, the concerned authorities are still doing only against the Rohingya community with the collaboration of Rakhine youths. Why the state of emergency is imposed only to Rohingya community?, asked a local elder.
The Rohingya community across the Arakan State urged the Home minister of Naypyidaw through the Kaladan Press Network to look the matter deeply, said a youth.
Buthidayung Township:
Some arrested people from Maungdaw Township since June 8, were sent to Buthidaung Jail. It is learnt that on July 5, at night, some of the arrested people were sent to Buthidaung boat Seik (jetty) with eight trucks to transfer them to Sittwe Jail. It will be very difficult to the relatives of the arrestees to advocate them, said a trader from Buthidaung.
The police and Hluntin with the cooperation of local Rakhine racist youths locked the Rohingya community in their homes without ration and medicines. It is a critical issue for the Rohingya community. This matter is not informed to the Thein Sein’s government. Why they keep mum?, said a businessman.
Source Via KPN
_____________________________________________
In a bulletin on the situation in violence-wracked Rakhine state, the UN said humanitarian staff have been held for "questioning" -- adding that Myanmar's government has failed to respond to queries about those detained.
More than 80 people were killed in a wave of communal violence between ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya that swept the state in June, forcing tens of thousands to flee as homes were torched and communities ripped apart.
"At the moment, some 10 UN and INGO (international non-government organisation) staff are kept in custody by the authorities of Rakhine state for questioning," said a statement from the United Nations humanitarian agency, OCHA.
The UN "has reported to the government the situation on several occasions and has requested the government for information about each detained staff member."
Six local staff from Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) were among those held, MSF confirmed in a statement to AFP on Friday, although one has since been released.
"We do not have full information on the reasons," MSF said. The medical charity temporarily suspended activities and reduced staff last month in its Rakhine state projects.
Although security forces have quelled the worst of the unrest, tens of thousands of people remain in government-run relief camps with the UN's World Food Programme reporting that it has provided food to some 100,000 people.
Ten Rohingya were killed on June 3 by a mob seeking revenge for the rape and murder of a local woman -- the apparent spark for the unrest.
Both sides - the Rohingya and the ethnic Rakhine - have accused each other of violent attacks.
A state of emergency is still in force over several areas and Human Rights Watch on Friday alleged that some within Myanmar's security forces have carried out "mass round-ups" and other abuses on Rohingya communities.
"While the Burmese army has largely contained the sectarian violence, abuses by security forces against Rohingya communities appear to be on the upsurge in recent weeks," HRW said, using Myanmar's colonial-era name.
"The mass arrests ongoing in northern Arakan (Rakhine) state seem to be discriminatory, as the authorities in these townships do not appear to be investigating or apprehending Arakan suspected of criminal offences."
Decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya stateless and viewed by the United Nations as among the most persecuted minorities on the planet.
-AFP/ac
SIR – While Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to Britain showed that some changes are taking place in Burma, recent events in western Burma indicate that there is still a long way to go.
In the past three weeks, sectarian violence between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya has resulted in hundreds of deaths, the destruction of at least 22 villages, and the displacement of at least 90,000 people. A humanitarian crisis is unfolding, out of sight of the international community because the media, human rights monitors and aid agencies have been denied access to the affected areas.
There is now an urgent need for international action. The priority must be to put pressure on the government of Burma to stop the violence and to provide unhindered access for aid agencies to all affected areas. More emergency aid is needed, and pressure on Bangladesh to allow refugees to flee across its borders is required.
While violence has been committed by both sides, the Rohingya are the primary victims, having faced persecution for years. Burma needs to revise its 1982 citizenship law, which does not recognise the Rohingya as citizens, even though they have lived in Burma for generations. Their statelessness leaves them vulnerable.
This crisis has consequences for regional peace and security, and for Burma’s reforms. It merits the urgent attention of the UN Security Council and the Secretary‑General. As a permanent member of the Security Council, Britain should ensure that this is placed on the agenda immediately.
Lord Alton of Liverpool
Baroness Cox
Baroness Jenkin of Kennington
Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead
Lord Steel of Aikwood
Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale
London SW1
Source here
By Dr. Bina D'Costa
Rohingya children are reflected in a fountain outside a mosque in the village of Gollyadeil north of the town of Sittwe on 18 May 2012. (Reuters)
By now the story has been told countless times in the wake of the recent rioting in western Burma where tensions between the areas’ Rohingyas and Arakanese communities boiled over last month. People were killed, houses destroyed, thousands were displaced and boatloads of Rohingyas crossing into Bangladesh were turned away.
The Rohingyas remain one of the most persecuted and vulnerable communities in the world. The group has been repeatedly portrayed as terrorists in both Bangladesh and Burma. The group cannot rightfully claim Burma as their own state while Rohingya men are perceived to be misogynist Muslims who threaten the ‘peace loving’ ethnically heterogeneous, but predominantly Buddhist communities of Burma.
During fieldwork on the Thai-Burma and Bangladesh-Burma border, I was deeply troubled by the vitriol attitudes aimed at Rohingyas. I have asked this question over and over again to activists and the political elite, including 88-generation political activists from Burma, why there was such profound tension and anxiety to include Rohingyas in the otherwise inclusive activism that literally framed Burma’s democratic movement.
The international humanitarian discourse on refugees provides some insights on how in the age of the ‘Global War on Terror’, refugees are no longer welcome and are seen as security threats. While citizens can be under surveillance and, at the same time ‘protected’ from outside threats, illegal immigrants, refugees, stateless residents and internally displaced people remain as threats, thus creating moral and ethical dilemmas for states.
Although it is poor practice as a member of the international community and detrimental for the global image to send away refugees, governments often claim that it is imperative for state security and for the protection of citizens. In this kind of security architecture, borders are strictly controlled and identity differences are accentuated and securitized.
Burma’s fractured narrative
A state that had gone through more than 60 years of conflict, during which more than 30 insurgent, non-state armed groups have actively fought against the Burmese government is bound to have multi-layered internal divisions and security anxieties.
The intense militarisation processes penetrated Burma’s everyday discourses including its social, economic, cultural and political systems, norms and priorities. The Tatmadaw’s strategies in the guise of modernisation, articulated as ‘Burmanisation’, was in effect a process of ‘homogenisation’ forcing out people whose appearance, religious belief, language and everyday practices reproduced their identity as the ‘other’ and, I would argue, the enemy within.
By deceptively producing the Muslims as the internal threat, the military regime sought to portray itself as the protector of its citizens. Ironically, while some of the other undemocratic and authoritarian practices of the Tatmadaw have been challenged, the regime had largely succeeded in wiping out the idea of including Rohingyas in a multiethnic, heterogeneous national consciousness. Through state-sponsored exclusion policies, Rohingyas were made aliens in their own land.
“The regime had largely succeeded in wiping out the idea of including Rohingyas in a multiethnic, heterogeneous national consciousness”
Key exclusion policies and strategies were implemented after the military coup resulting in the restriction of free movement in 1962; the promulgation of the Emergency Immigration Act designed to prevent people entering from India, China and Bangladesh in 1974; the census program, Nagamin, to check identification cards and take action against illegal aliens in 1977; and the 1982 Citizenship Law following the 1978 exodus when many Rohingyas returned or attempted to return to Burma.
The State Peace and Development Council repeatedly invoked its moral authority through the lens of national security and state sovereignty in dealing with Rohingyas. There is of course a historical context to it, which could perhaps be explained through the ‘good’ citizens model. A key source of anxiety had been the perceived disloyalty to the idea of a Burmese statehood by Rohingyas, such as when the political elite sought to be an independent state and made deals with the outgoing British Raj; when the community was divided in its support of the local and national political shifts; and when the armed resistance began.
Rohingyas taking up arms have generated a different source of anxiety under the pretext of the ‘war on terror’, unlike the other non-state armed groups such as the Karen National Liberation Army, which has roughly 3,000 to 4,000 troops, or the Shan State Army-South, which has between 6,000 and 7,000 troops.
The divided system in various ethnic states such as in Karen state, Shan state and Mon state in effect gives the control to the Tatmadaw and those insurgency factions, which have entered into recent agreements with the Burmese state. All these non-state armed actors claim to be the champions of their groups’ rights and hold the view that it is necessary to take up arms against Burma.
Similar to these groups, the Rohingya militant movement also claims to be the sole protector of the Muslim Arakanese/Rohingyas. Unlike the other armed groups, the sharp reactions to their claims also come from various democratic platforms of Burma.
One of the leading groups, the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) agreed to ban the use of anti-personnel mines and victim activated explosive devices and signed the Geneva Call Deed of Commitment for Adherence to a Total Ban on anti-personnel Mines and for Cooperation in Mine Action (DoC) on 5 December 2003.
A document that was leaked in early 2012 from 10 October 2002 claimed the ARNO had links with various terrorist networks. The ARNO was operating from Chittagong in Bangladesh and allegedly had contacts with groups on the Thai-Burma border. The document noted that the government of Bangladesh instructed the ARNO in May 2002 to move its bases from southeastern Bangladesh, which resulted in 195 Arakan Army members turning themselves in to the Burmese.
Over the last decade, the ARNO has significantly weakened in numbers and leaned towards moderate politics unlike some of the other splinter groups that attracted the more radical, extremist factions in the country.
For example, the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation that broke away from the Rohingya Patriotic Front in 1980s, and primarily operated across the border in Bangladesh, attracted a number of radical and militant Rohingya activists. RSO’s links with extremist groups in Bangladesh and associations with the international terrorist networks have been reported in media, which fuelled prejudice against all the Rohingyas.
According to reports, the Bangladesh Army in a few major operations almost disbanded the RSO as early as 2005. There are also a few small groups such as the Central Rohingya Jammatul Ulama, the Ittehadul Mujahiddial, the Rohingya Islamic Liberation Organisation and the Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front. These groups joined the Democratic Alliance of Burma in May 1992, which is virtually inactive now.
The Burmese and Bangladeshi authorities in reality take advantage of the global climate of fear and anxiety that have securitised the discourse concerning refugees, in particular Muslim refugees. This ‘refugees as threat’ perception matters when it comes to the Rohingyas because the discourse actually drives policies and public support of specific policies. Those who remained in camps in Bangladesh are particularly vulnerable, since the barbed wire camps had their unique violent everyday narratives while the host communities from outside perceived the camps as breeding grounds for militancy.
The misleading and prejudicial information fed by the hostile state and non-state actors and the media in both Burma and Bangladesh created an image of Rohingya militancy as a massive security threat which in reality is simply not accurate.
The massive presence of the security sector in the North Arakan state has seen an increase in sexual and gender-based violence. In particular, the Nay-Sat Kut-kwey Ye (NaSaKa), established in 1992, has systematically targeted the Rohingyas.
NaSaKa members and soldiers have targeted Rohingya girls and women and many of their attacks have been racially motivated. Various human rights reports also noted how race was one of the major instigators of sexual violence against Rohingya women and children.
The strict licensing system to restrict movements, deportation and forced labour, land grabbing and torture have made the living conditions harsh for Rohingyas in their own homeland. Racial hatred had been a huge factor in the human rights abuses perpetrated against Rohingyas.
During personal interviews taken over the span of the last few years, Rohingya refugees have talked about the use of derogatory and humiliating words by the security forces. The more refined officials use newly accepted terms concealed beneath other politically correct categories accentuating difference such as culture, ethnicity and religion.
A recent report states that in 2009, in an open letter to other diplomats Burma’s consul general in Hong Kong, who is now a UN ambassador, described the Rohingya as ‘ugly as ogres’ and compared their ‘dark brown skin to that of the fair and soft ethnic Burmese majority’.
What is really demoralising for human rights activism is that members of ethnic communities, who have been oppressed for decades by the military regimes, also despise the Rohingya.
Ko Ko Gyi, a prominent former political prisoner who was released in January, has said that the Rohingya should not be mistreated but stressed that they were not an ethnic group of Burma.
There are numerous political/human rights/women’s groups and activists who firmly believe that Rohingyas do not belong to their Burma. Burmese women’s networks, for example, which are champions of human rights and gender sensitive strategies often deliberately exclude Rohingya women’s rights activists following obstructions made by particular Arakanese women’s rights groups.
When I questioned activists on the Thai-Burma border why Rohingya activists were not included in their programs, one of the most common responses that I heard was that the Arakanese and Rohingya leadership needed to resolve internal issues first. The lack of political will for a variety of reasons and also to some extent the capacity of other ethnic groups to intervene had also compounded the problem.
All these events took place just when Aung San Suu Kyi was about to leave the country for her European tour on 13 June. Some criticised her for leaving Burma during such a sensitive period. Suu Kyi, during her trip in Thailand and in Europe, has stressed that the rule of law is necessary to bring stability in Burma.
Responding to a question on the citizenship issue of Rohingyas at the Oslo Forum, Suu Kyi pointed out: “We are not certain exactly what the requirements of citizenship law are…, If we were very clear as to who are the citizens of the country under the citizenship law and who qualify, then there wouldn’t be this problem… We have to have rule of law, and we have to know what the law is. We have to make sure that it is properly implemented”.
The citizenship question remains at the core of Rohingyas’ persecution, statelessness and insecurity. Sadly, the winds of change in Burma do not automatically signal a change in the question of legality and illegality for Rohingyas. Their lack of bargaining power and the deep resentment and racist attitude of various key stakeholders towards Rohingyas indicate that this is not going to be resolved on a priority basis in the near future by Burma’s leaders either.
While six boats carrying the distraught and traumatised refugees from Sittwe were stranded on the Naf River, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Dipu Moni stated in a parliamentary session that this was an internal issue of Burma, which was not persecuting the Rohingya and that Bangladesh had no obligation to provide humanitarian assistance because it was not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. She further stated that Bangladesh had to protect its national security.
Similar internal displacement was caused after communal violence erupted in Burma in 1942 that also spilled over into the whole of Arakan. The Buddhist Arakanese and the Muslim Rohingya were engaged in a bitter battle after which the Arakanese moved to the south and the Rohingyas to the north – including 22,000 who crossed the border to Bengal. The second wave of migration occurred following a nationwide census project, Nagamin, during which more than 200,000 fled across the border in Bangladesh.
From 1991 to 1992, more than 270,000 Rohingya refugees crossed the border from Burma. With them they brought their experiences of horrific violence, forced labour, rape, executions and torture.
Bangladesh initially welcomed the persecuted refugees. The country’s leadership viewed the issue as a short-term problem and wanted to resolve it through bilateral negotiations with Burma. The Bangladeshi government saw it as a moral boost to be offering assistance for once and not seeking it. Initially, the country welcomed the UNHCR, the Red Cross and various other international agencies to assist the refugees.
But soon, the strain on localities where the camps were constructed started to worry the ruling regimes. Over the last two decades, public support in Bangladesh has significantly decreased and subsequent governments have been less sympathetic to the refugees.
The recent anti-Rohingya xenophobic attitude displayed by Bangladeshis is primarily coming from the ultra-nationalistic front, which claims that the Rohingyas are being supported and armed by Jamaa’t-i-Islami, the party that questioned and violently opposed the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. Those who hold this view believe that the Rohingyas would also be used as a vote bank for the next election. Burmese propaganda also implied that the fleeing people were mostly Islamic insurgents added to the anxiety of the Bangladesh government.
This accusation took the consideration away from the inhumane condition of the Rohingya living into various camps, by making them a national security concern. The UNHCR viewed repatriation as the most logical response and in many instances resorted to involuntary repatriation of the Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh.
“The Burmese and the Bangladeshi government have strategically employed misperceptions, fears and prejudice to portray all Rohingyas as terrorists”
Rohingya children are reflected in a fountain outside a mosque in the village of Gollyadeil north of the town of Sittwe on 18 May 2012. (Reuters)
By now the story has been told countless times in the wake of the recent rioting in western Burma where tensions between the areas’ Rohingyas and Arakanese communities boiled over last month. People were killed, houses destroyed, thousands were displaced and boatloads of Rohingyas crossing into Bangladesh were turned away.
The Rohingyas remain one of the most persecuted and vulnerable communities in the world. The group has been repeatedly portrayed as terrorists in both Bangladesh and Burma. The group cannot rightfully claim Burma as their own state while Rohingya men are perceived to be misogynist Muslims who threaten the ‘peace loving’ ethnically heterogeneous, but predominantly Buddhist communities of Burma.
During fieldwork on the Thai-Burma and Bangladesh-Burma border, I was deeply troubled by the vitriol attitudes aimed at Rohingyas. I have asked this question over and over again to activists and the political elite, including 88-generation political activists from Burma, why there was such profound tension and anxiety to include Rohingyas in the otherwise inclusive activism that literally framed Burma’s democratic movement.
The international humanitarian discourse on refugees provides some insights on how in the age of the ‘Global War on Terror’, refugees are no longer welcome and are seen as security threats. While citizens can be under surveillance and, at the same time ‘protected’ from outside threats, illegal immigrants, refugees, stateless residents and internally displaced people remain as threats, thus creating moral and ethical dilemmas for states.
Although it is poor practice as a member of the international community and detrimental for the global image to send away refugees, governments often claim that it is imperative for state security and for the protection of citizens. In this kind of security architecture, borders are strictly controlled and identity differences are accentuated and securitized.
Burma’s fractured narrative
A state that had gone through more than 60 years of conflict, during which more than 30 insurgent, non-state armed groups have actively fought against the Burmese government is bound to have multi-layered internal divisions and security anxieties.
The intense militarisation processes penetrated Burma’s everyday discourses including its social, economic, cultural and political systems, norms and priorities. The Tatmadaw’s strategies in the guise of modernisation, articulated as ‘Burmanisation’, was in effect a process of ‘homogenisation’ forcing out people whose appearance, religious belief, language and everyday practices reproduced their identity as the ‘other’ and, I would argue, the enemy within.
By deceptively producing the Muslims as the internal threat, the military regime sought to portray itself as the protector of its citizens. Ironically, while some of the other undemocratic and authoritarian practices of the Tatmadaw have been challenged, the regime had largely succeeded in wiping out the idea of including Rohingyas in a multiethnic, heterogeneous national consciousness. Through state-sponsored exclusion policies, Rohingyas were made aliens in their own land.
“The regime had largely succeeded in wiping out the idea of including Rohingyas in a multiethnic, heterogeneous national consciousness”
Key exclusion policies and strategies were implemented after the military coup resulting in the restriction of free movement in 1962; the promulgation of the Emergency Immigration Act designed to prevent people entering from India, China and Bangladesh in 1974; the census program, Nagamin, to check identification cards and take action against illegal aliens in 1977; and the 1982 Citizenship Law following the 1978 exodus when many Rohingyas returned or attempted to return to Burma.
The State Peace and Development Council repeatedly invoked its moral authority through the lens of national security and state sovereignty in dealing with Rohingyas. There is of course a historical context to it, which could perhaps be explained through the ‘good’ citizens model. A key source of anxiety had been the perceived disloyalty to the idea of a Burmese statehood by Rohingyas, such as when the political elite sought to be an independent state and made deals with the outgoing British Raj; when the community was divided in its support of the local and national political shifts; and when the armed resistance began.
Rohingyas taking up arms have generated a different source of anxiety under the pretext of the ‘war on terror’, unlike the other non-state armed groups such as the Karen National Liberation Army, which has roughly 3,000 to 4,000 troops, or the Shan State Army-South, which has between 6,000 and 7,000 troops.
The divided system in various ethnic states such as in Karen state, Shan state and Mon state in effect gives the control to the Tatmadaw and those insurgency factions, which have entered into recent agreements with the Burmese state. All these non-state armed actors claim to be the champions of their groups’ rights and hold the view that it is necessary to take up arms against Burma.
Similar to these groups, the Rohingya militant movement also claims to be the sole protector of the Muslim Arakanese/Rohingyas. Unlike the other armed groups, the sharp reactions to their claims also come from various democratic platforms of Burma.
One of the leading groups, the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) agreed to ban the use of anti-personnel mines and victim activated explosive devices and signed the Geneva Call Deed of Commitment for Adherence to a Total Ban on anti-personnel Mines and for Cooperation in Mine Action (DoC) on 5 December 2003.
A document that was leaked in early 2012 from 10 October 2002 claimed the ARNO had links with various terrorist networks. The ARNO was operating from Chittagong in Bangladesh and allegedly had contacts with groups on the Thai-Burma border. The document noted that the government of Bangladesh instructed the ARNO in May 2002 to move its bases from southeastern Bangladesh, which resulted in 195 Arakan Army members turning themselves in to the Burmese.
Over the last decade, the ARNO has significantly weakened in numbers and leaned towards moderate politics unlike some of the other splinter groups that attracted the more radical, extremist factions in the country.
For example, the Rohingya Solidarity Organisation that broke away from the Rohingya Patriotic Front in 1980s, and primarily operated across the border in Bangladesh, attracted a number of radical and militant Rohingya activists. RSO’s links with extremist groups in Bangladesh and associations with the international terrorist networks have been reported in media, which fuelled prejudice against all the Rohingyas.
According to reports, the Bangladesh Army in a few major operations almost disbanded the RSO as early as 2005. There are also a few small groups such as the Central Rohingya Jammatul Ulama, the Ittehadul Mujahiddial, the Rohingya Islamic Liberation Organisation and the Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front. These groups joined the Democratic Alliance of Burma in May 1992, which is virtually inactive now.
The Burmese and Bangladeshi authorities in reality take advantage of the global climate of fear and anxiety that have securitised the discourse concerning refugees, in particular Muslim refugees. This ‘refugees as threat’ perception matters when it comes to the Rohingyas because the discourse actually drives policies and public support of specific policies. Those who remained in camps in Bangladesh are particularly vulnerable, since the barbed wire camps had their unique violent everyday narratives while the host communities from outside perceived the camps as breeding grounds for militancy.
The misleading and prejudicial information fed by the hostile state and non-state actors and the media in both Burma and Bangladesh created an image of Rohingya militancy as a massive security threat which in reality is simply not accurate.
The massive presence of the security sector in the North Arakan state has seen an increase in sexual and gender-based violence. In particular, the Nay-Sat Kut-kwey Ye (NaSaKa), established in 1992, has systematically targeted the Rohingyas.
NaSaKa members and soldiers have targeted Rohingya girls and women and many of their attacks have been racially motivated. Various human rights reports also noted how race was one of the major instigators of sexual violence against Rohingya women and children.
The strict licensing system to restrict movements, deportation and forced labour, land grabbing and torture have made the living conditions harsh for Rohingyas in their own homeland. Racial hatred had been a huge factor in the human rights abuses perpetrated against Rohingyas.
During personal interviews taken over the span of the last few years, Rohingya refugees have talked about the use of derogatory and humiliating words by the security forces. The more refined officials use newly accepted terms concealed beneath other politically correct categories accentuating difference such as culture, ethnicity and religion.
A recent report states that in 2009, in an open letter to other diplomats Burma’s consul general in Hong Kong, who is now a UN ambassador, described the Rohingya as ‘ugly as ogres’ and compared their ‘dark brown skin to that of the fair and soft ethnic Burmese majority’.
What is really demoralising for human rights activism is that members of ethnic communities, who have been oppressed for decades by the military regimes, also despise the Rohingya.
Ko Ko Gyi, a prominent former political prisoner who was released in January, has said that the Rohingya should not be mistreated but stressed that they were not an ethnic group of Burma.
There are numerous political/human rights/women’s groups and activists who firmly believe that Rohingyas do not belong to their Burma. Burmese women’s networks, for example, which are champions of human rights and gender sensitive strategies often deliberately exclude Rohingya women’s rights activists following obstructions made by particular Arakanese women’s rights groups.
When I questioned activists on the Thai-Burma border why Rohingya activists were not included in their programs, one of the most common responses that I heard was that the Arakanese and Rohingya leadership needed to resolve internal issues first. The lack of political will for a variety of reasons and also to some extent the capacity of other ethnic groups to intervene had also compounded the problem.
All these events took place just when Aung San Suu Kyi was about to leave the country for her European tour on 13 June. Some criticised her for leaving Burma during such a sensitive period. Suu Kyi, during her trip in Thailand and in Europe, has stressed that the rule of law is necessary to bring stability in Burma.
Responding to a question on the citizenship issue of Rohingyas at the Oslo Forum, Suu Kyi pointed out: “We are not certain exactly what the requirements of citizenship law are…, If we were very clear as to who are the citizens of the country under the citizenship law and who qualify, then there wouldn’t be this problem… We have to have rule of law, and we have to know what the law is. We have to make sure that it is properly implemented”.
The citizenship question remains at the core of Rohingyas’ persecution, statelessness and insecurity. Sadly, the winds of change in Burma do not automatically signal a change in the question of legality and illegality for Rohingyas. Their lack of bargaining power and the deep resentment and racist attitude of various key stakeholders towards Rohingyas indicate that this is not going to be resolved on a priority basis in the near future by Burma’s leaders either.
The Burma-Bangladesh border and its discontents
While six boats carrying the distraught and traumatised refugees from Sittwe were stranded on the Naf River, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Dipu Moni stated in a parliamentary session that this was an internal issue of Burma, which was not persecuting the Rohingya and that Bangladesh had no obligation to provide humanitarian assistance because it was not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. She further stated that Bangladesh had to protect its national security.
Similar internal displacement was caused after communal violence erupted in Burma in 1942 that also spilled over into the whole of Arakan. The Buddhist Arakanese and the Muslim Rohingya were engaged in a bitter battle after which the Arakanese moved to the south and the Rohingyas to the north – including 22,000 who crossed the border to Bengal. The second wave of migration occurred following a nationwide census project, Nagamin, during which more than 200,000 fled across the border in Bangladesh.
From 1991 to 1992, more than 270,000 Rohingya refugees crossed the border from Burma. With them they brought their experiences of horrific violence, forced labour, rape, executions and torture.
Bangladesh initially welcomed the persecuted refugees. The country’s leadership viewed the issue as a short-term problem and wanted to resolve it through bilateral negotiations with Burma. The Bangladeshi government saw it as a moral boost to be offering assistance for once and not seeking it. Initially, the country welcomed the UNHCR, the Red Cross and various other international agencies to assist the refugees.
But soon, the strain on localities where the camps were constructed started to worry the ruling regimes. Over the last two decades, public support in Bangladesh has significantly decreased and subsequent governments have been less sympathetic to the refugees.
The recent anti-Rohingya xenophobic attitude displayed by Bangladeshis is primarily coming from the ultra-nationalistic front, which claims that the Rohingyas are being supported and armed by Jamaa’t-i-Islami, the party that questioned and violently opposed the liberation war of Bangladesh in 1971. Those who hold this view believe that the Rohingyas would also be used as a vote bank for the next election. Burmese propaganda also implied that the fleeing people were mostly Islamic insurgents added to the anxiety of the Bangladesh government.
This accusation took the consideration away from the inhumane condition of the Rohingya living into various camps, by making them a national security concern. The UNHCR viewed repatriation as the most logical response and in many instances resorted to involuntary repatriation of the Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh.
“The Burmese and the Bangladeshi government have strategically employed misperceptions, fears and prejudice to portray all Rohingyas as terrorists”
Currently, there are 26,311 Rohingya recognised refugees living in various camps in border areas. Although the UNHCR is providing support to 21,716 of the Rohingya refugees living in camps, the Bangladeshi government has repeatedly denied UNHCR requests to set up self-reliance activities both inside and outside the camps. According to the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC), there are about 200,000 undocumented refugees.
Further, the increase in numbers of undocumented Rohingyas settled in Chittagong, particularly in the hills, have angered local communities.
Meghna Guhathakurta, a researcher studying the Rohingyas, noted in a personal conversation: “Rohingyas have come in (Bangladesh) anyway over the years and have (now) settled in Bandarban only because they have been chased away from the [plains]. The construction boom in Cox’s Bazar is one of the main attractions, so they would naturally want to settle in the [plains], but [after] meeting hostility in the host community they therefore are driven to the woods and hills.”
The Chittagong Hill Tracts, which is home to indigenous Bangladeshis, has yet to recover from its own experience of a protracted conflict that formally ended with signing of an accord in 1997. Continual human rights abuses, major displacements of indigenous communities and land grabbing by illegal Bengali settlers from the plains have produced multi-layered insecurities for its indigenous population.
Rohingya migration to the CHT adds to these insecurities as reports spread concerning the Rohingya’s involvement in illegal logging, drug trafficking and various unlawful activities. However, it is actually the security sector and the Bengali settlers who run these activities and take advantage of Rohingya labour in the CHT.
With regard to the legality argument, Bangladesh needs to adhere to international norms and laws. The Partition of India displaced millions from West Bengal and Bihar who took refuge in East Pakistan, which later became Bangladesh. An estimated 10 million people were forcibly displaced to India during its independence in 1971. A large number returned when it became independent. Since breaking away from Pakistan, it was the home of 300,000 Biharis who became stateless and were interned in 66 camps within the country, at least until 2007.
It has a large indigenous population, which were displaced during development projects and/or during the conflict in the CHT. Also, every year, thousands of people are internally displaced in Bangladesh due to floods and waterlogging. Thus, one could argue that its population has a variety of experiences of displacement and the nation-state had been built by refugees and a history of wars.
Yet, it doesn’t have any legal regime that could protect people who are refugees, internally displaced or stateless. As mentioned above, Bangladesh is not a signatory of the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol. However, it is party to a number of international human rights instruments, the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and International Conventions.
Bangladesh is bound to offer protection to the refugees by Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Article 22 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child; Articles 2, 3 (this is paralleled to non-refoulement of the 1951 Convention) and 6 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; Article 44 and 45 of the fourth Geneva Conventions. Most importantly, Bangladesh’s Constitution in its Preamble pledges to protect fundamental human rights of all.
Both the Burmese and the Bangladeshi government have strategically employed misperceptions, fears and prejudice to portray all Rohingyas as terrorists. Neither the states nor in many cases, the human rights and political activists from these states, separate armed groups activities from the plight of the civilian Rohingyas.
Following the forced migration in 1991 and 1992, both the states and, to some extent the UNHCR, provided inadequate information and suggested that it would make more sense to send the refugees back ‘home’.
Bangladesh ignored their stateless status in Burma and the UNHCR stated that refugees wouldn’t be any worse in Burma. As repeated events of desperate attempts by Rohingya refugees demonstrate, power inequalities, repatriation politics and the discourse of national security not only made the Rohingya community more vulnerable but also denied them the ‘right to have rights’.
- Dr Bina D’Costa, Fellow, Politics and International Affairs, School of Culture, History and Language, the Australian National University. She is currently working on a manuscript focusing on the edifice of political violence in refugee communities in South Asia.
Meghna Guhathakurta, a researcher studying the Rohingyas, noted in a personal conversation: “Rohingyas have come in (Bangladesh) anyway over the years and have (now) settled in Bandarban only because they have been chased away from the [plains]. The construction boom in Cox’s Bazar is one of the main attractions, so they would naturally want to settle in the [plains], but [after] meeting hostility in the host community they therefore are driven to the woods and hills.”
The Chittagong Hill Tracts, which is home to indigenous Bangladeshis, has yet to recover from its own experience of a protracted conflict that formally ended with signing of an accord in 1997. Continual human rights abuses, major displacements of indigenous communities and land grabbing by illegal Bengali settlers from the plains have produced multi-layered insecurities for its indigenous population.
Rohingya migration to the CHT adds to these insecurities as reports spread concerning the Rohingya’s involvement in illegal logging, drug trafficking and various unlawful activities. However, it is actually the security sector and the Bengali settlers who run these activities and take advantage of Rohingya labour in the CHT.
With regard to the legality argument, Bangladesh needs to adhere to international norms and laws. The Partition of India displaced millions from West Bengal and Bihar who took refuge in East Pakistan, which later became Bangladesh. An estimated 10 million people were forcibly displaced to India during its independence in 1971. A large number returned when it became independent. Since breaking away from Pakistan, it was the home of 300,000 Biharis who became stateless and were interned in 66 camps within the country, at least until 2007.
It has a large indigenous population, which were displaced during development projects and/or during the conflict in the CHT. Also, every year, thousands of people are internally displaced in Bangladesh due to floods and waterlogging. Thus, one could argue that its population has a variety of experiences of displacement and the nation-state had been built by refugees and a history of wars.
Yet, it doesn’t have any legal regime that could protect people who are refugees, internally displaced or stateless. As mentioned above, Bangladesh is not a signatory of the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol. However, it is party to a number of international human rights instruments, the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and International Conventions.
Bangladesh is bound to offer protection to the refugees by Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Article 22 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child; Articles 2, 3 (this is paralleled to non-refoulement of the 1951 Convention) and 6 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; Article 44 and 45 of the fourth Geneva Conventions. Most importantly, Bangladesh’s Constitution in its Preamble pledges to protect fundamental human rights of all.
Both the Burmese and the Bangladeshi government have strategically employed misperceptions, fears and prejudice to portray all Rohingyas as terrorists. Neither the states nor in many cases, the human rights and political activists from these states, separate armed groups activities from the plight of the civilian Rohingyas.
Following the forced migration in 1991 and 1992, both the states and, to some extent the UNHCR, provided inadequate information and suggested that it would make more sense to send the refugees back ‘home’.
Bangladesh ignored their stateless status in Burma and the UNHCR stated that refugees wouldn’t be any worse in Burma. As repeated events of desperate attempts by Rohingya refugees demonstrate, power inequalities, repatriation politics and the discourse of national security not only made the Rohingya community more vulnerable but also denied them the ‘right to have rights’.
- Dr Bina D’Costa, Fellow, Politics and International Affairs, School of Culture, History and Language, the Australian National University. She is currently working on a manuscript focusing on the edifice of political violence in refugee communities in South Asia.
Source here
During the raid by a joint group of Police, Lun-Htain (Security Forces), Sa-Ra-Pha (State Affairs Security) and local Rakhine extremists in Maung Ni village yesterday (04.07.2012), seven Rohingya men were mercilessly killed and approximately 40 Rohingya men were tortured almost to death and taken away to unknown locations. It was reported that all along the way, blood were falling like rains from the trucks loaded with Rohingyas. According to people in Arakan, the authorities have plans to do more such barbaric killings in other villages too.
This morning, NaSaKa arrested almost 30 terrified Rohingya men who were trying to escape the massacres and flee to Bangladesh with three small boats, while Bangladesh Border Security Guards arrested almost 10 Rohingya men with a boat in Bangladesh. It is said that NaSaKa kept these Rohingya men along the Naf river not allowing them to go back to their homes. More news on this situation are being followed. (Rahim reporting from Maung Ni village, a victim who escaped the terrible incident on a close shave)
Immigration department and NaSaKa of southern Maungdaw has started checking the census and counting the number of people in every family in every village. So far, three people were arrested in suspicion in Gojjondiya village of Pading. Some are afraid of going to NaSaKa for the check. Subsequently, NaSaKa are cancelling their names from the census list accusing that they ran away to Bangladesh. Worse still, it has been known that authorities have been arresting Rohingya men in each and every village and those who were taken away never came back. Therefore, during the NaSaKa check, they (NaSaKa) force the remaining members of their families to say that they left the country. When the people say they were arrested by the authorities, NaSaKa and police torture them.
During the raid at a part of Baggona village on 04.07.2012, several men were arrested and tortured both men and women in inhumane ways. A Rohingya man from Baggonna village reported that the way they are being tortured by the Burmese authorities is worse than the way Jews were done by Hitler's Nazis. He further mentioned that Nazis used to kill the Jews on the spot. But Burmese authorities are torturing Rohingyas by using different means until their ends. (Reported by A. Fais from Baggona village on 05.07.2012)
On 1st July 2012, a joint force of NaSaKa and Military raided Nurullah Village and arrested 40 Rohingya men. And these people have not come back yet. During the raid, almost 100 houses were looted and several women were raped. However, it is too difficult for one to know the exact number of women being raped as Rohingyas try to cover up such cases in fear of losing dignity and respect in the society. Besides, it is reported that Rohingyas are being hunted like animals by the the Military and Nasaka. (Reported by a Rohingya on condition of anonymity)
It is also reported that this plot to wipe out all Rohingyas from Arakan is supported by the Rakhine leaders in the country and abroad. They (the leaders of Rakhines) are saying "let's wipe out all these people. If International Court of Justice punish us for these killings, we (a few leaders of Rakhines) will plead guilty and take the punishments on behalf all Rakhine people. By no means, they (International Court of Justice) can punish all the Rakhines for the killings of these people." So, by this statement, it is very obvious that they have genocidal tendency and malicious propaganda against Rohingyas, who want to extinguish all Rohingyas from Arakan.
Therefore, this is the high time for international communities to a stand to either take any possible actions to save Rohingyas from being extinguished or help Burmese authorities and Rakhine mass murderers to wipe out all Rohingyas as quickly as possible because Rohingyas are no longer able to bear up the inhumane tortures at the hands of these evils in human forms.
Reports compiled by M.S. Anwar (RB Correspondent)
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