By Ian Munroe

The Japan Times

October 16, 2016

As violence flares around the world's largest group of stateless people in Myanmar, an exile is pleading with Tokyo to come to their aid

It all began when Zaw Min Htut learned he was on a list. Back then, however, he had a different name: Luk Man Hakim.

For three years he had been studying at Yangon University — not law or political science, like he dreamed of, but zoology, one of the subjects he was allowed to enrol in as a noncitizen.

Although he was born and raised in Myanmar and could trace his family history in the country back several generations, Zaw Min Htut was stateless. In an attempt to change this situation for himself and others in the same predicament, he had become one of the leaders of an underground pro-democracy movement. And in December 1996, the protest leaders took the bold step of launching street demonstrations against the country’s military government.

Or, as Zaw Min Htut puts it, “I became in a very dangerous situation.”

He was used to dealing with trouble from officials of varying stripes. Growing up, he had learned that being Rohingya meant that he needed special permission to leave his village or access public services, and that often meant handing out bribes — including to school teachers if he wanted an education.

However, the gravity of his situation was becoming apparent. The police were rounding up the protest leaders and they had his name. Friends advised him not to return to his dormitory room, and then later warned him to leave the country altogether. If he was arrested, they said, his ethnicity could mean an early grave instead of a spell in prison.

For nearly a year after the student protests were put down, Zaw Min Htut hid out in the countryside and moved from one friend’s home to another, from one village to the next, desperately trying to figure out how to escape the ruling military junta.

“Sometimes I stayed in a construction site,” he says. “This was a very hard time.”

Fleeing by boat was an option with the help of smugglers, but getting to them would be a long journey overland and his distinctive South Asian looks would raise suspicion.

Instead, he was able to secure a passport on the country’s vast black market and made arrangements for border guards at Yangon International Airport to let him pass. His parents sold land they owned to muster the requisite $8,000.

And with that document in hand, he was able to board a plane for the first time and make his way to Tokyo.

Freedom, however, was still a long way off.

History of oppression

The Rohingya are a Muslim minority of South Asian extraction who trace their origin in Myanmar back more than 500 years and who began to identify as Rohingya in the 1950s, according to the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.

Their numbers have dwindled thanks to what experts see as a decades-long campaign to drive them out of the country, where they are viewed by some as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Many have fled in search of less oppressive living conditions but more than a million remain, mostly in Rakhine state, a sliver of land that juts southward from Bangladesh along the Indian Ocean.

Rohingya who live there today are subject to government restrictions on everything from marriage and childbirth to travel, which makes it difficult if not impossible to find work. They were also left out of the country’s 1982 Citizenship Law, making them the largest group of stateless people on Earth.

“It is not more than an animal’s life,” Zaw Min Htut says. “(Rohingya) don’t have any kind of rights.”

A wave of communal violence in 2012 saw around 300 people massacred, according to The New York Times, and most were Muslim. Thousands of homes were also burned to the ground. Human Rights Watch described the slaughter as ethnic cleansing.

A fresh exodus followed, as tens of thousands of Rohingya fled by boat. Many wound up stranded at sea and had to be rescued. Hundreds, perhaps thousands died. Most made their way to Indonesia, Malaysia or Thailand, where some were enslaved or preyed on by corrupt officials.

The aftermath of the bloodshed also saw around 140,000 Rohingya forced into squalid displacement camps where they continue to subsist, a few hundred kilometers west of the country’s tourist circuit, which is being thronged by growing numbers of foreign travelers.

As Myanmar takes steps to open its economy and democratize after a half-century of military rule, the new civilian government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD) is trying to deal with the problem. Although its de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has refused to use the word “Rohingya,” she has appointed former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to head an advisory commission on the situation.

Still, living conditions remain dire, according to Chris Lewa, who has been involved with rights issues in Myanmar for more than 20 years and runs a nongovernment organization dedicated to monitoring what’s happening to the Rohingya.

Lewa visited the displacement camps in Rakhine state in May, and says that after more than four years the temporary bamboo shelters are crumbling and the humanitarian aid that residents rely on to survive is dwindling.

Meanwhile, in northern Rakhine state, where the Rohingya are the majority, there’s been “an increase in human rights abuses rather than a decrease,” Lewa says by phone from Bangkok.

“They’re starting to harass the community even more by trying to say, ‘You’re not a citizen, you can’t do this, you can’t do that — you need permission,'” she adds. “So really, there is more oppression in the last few months under the NLD government than there was before.”

Legal marathon

When Zaw Min Htut landed at Narita Airport in early 1998 he was immediately detained. His travel documents said he was visiting Japan on business but he was suspiciously young and gaunt-looking after a year living on the lam in one of the poorest countries in Asia.

After being questioned by immigration officials for a few days and under threat of being put on a plane back to Yangon, he asked to apply for refugee status. His next two months were spent in detention at the airport, where he says he was fed convenience store meals for which he was told to pay about $800.

He was then transferred to Ushiku detention center in Ibaraki Prefecture, where he spent the next nine months, during which he was allowed outdoors one hour per week.

An immigration lawyer named Shogo Watanabe agreed to take on his case pro bono and, after a handful of attempts, had Zaw Min Htut freed. However, life in his adopted home was tough. On top of the language and cultural barriers he had no work permit, and was forced to rely on food and shelter from his uncle who, like him, had a refugee application pending.

“It was a horrible life,” Zaw Min Htut recalls. “I became very small.”

To make matters worse, immigration officials had issued a deportation order against him. With Watanabe’s help, he appealed the Justice Ministry’s decision to reject his application and, ultimately, became the first Rohingya in Japan to be granted refugee status.

Today, there are close to 250 Rohingya living in Japan, many of whom are children who have been born here, and most of whom reside in Gunma Prefecture.

Kei Nemoto, a professor at Sophia University who studies Myanmar’s modern history, says that like Zaw Min Htut, those who apply for refugee status often run into trouble supporting themselves because they’re barred from working while their cases are before the Immigration Bureau — a process that takes, on average, 30 months.

“This is a very, very inhuman system, isn’t it?” Nemoto says during an interview at his office. “The government is now checking your case but you have to wait, you can never work.”

Human rights groups have also taken issue with the approach, demanding that the central government grant work permits to Rohingya who are seeking asylum. However, the vast majority aren’t granted refugee status but something called “special permission to stay in Japan.” It’s a temporary designation that Nemoto says allows immigration officials to acknowledge that political conditions have forced someone to flee their home country without deeming them refugees. As a result, they aren’t granted the rights or travel documents to which refugees are entitled.

“Most of them struggled for a long time” to secure permission to stay in the country, Nemoto says of Japan’s Rohingya newcomers. “The Japanese government doesn’t want to give full refugee status easily.”

A call for help

Nowadays Zaw Min Htut can be found working at the two recycling yards he owns northwest of Tokyo, not far from where he lives with his Rohingya wife and three children. An affable 44-year-old who likes to talk and laughs easily, Zaw Min Htut has also made himself into a well-connected lobbyist — one of the few Rohingya in exile campaigning to end their persecution.

For years he has pressed bureaucrats in Tokyo to heed the plight of his people and relax the government’s immigration policies so that more Rohingya can make a life for themselves in Japan.

Despite the appalling conditions they face at home, however, Zaw Min Htut says very few other Rohingya have been recognized as refugees here.

He also argues that, as one of the largest donors of foreign aid to Myanmar, Japan is in a position to pressure its new government to stop discriminating against the Rohingya and grant them citizenship.

On a recent Saturday, he was at his office preparing documents for a meeting with officials at the Foreign Ministry, whom he hopes will raise the Rohingya issue with Suu Kyi during a visit to Japan that’s reportedly planned for next month.

“I feel it is my responsibility to do whatever I can,” Zaw Min Htut says, his voice growing louder, “because in Japan there are not many people interested in foreign affairs.”

Officials in Nagatacho, however, have been paying close attention to what happens in Myanmar. Since democratic reforms began there several years ago, hundreds of billions of yen worth of debt has been forgiven and officials pledged a further ¥100 billion in loans this summer.

A portion of the money that Japan donates to U.N. agencies operating in Myanmar also goes to help Rohingya who have been displaced in Rakhine state. However, the Rohingya aren’t a major concern for policymakers, according to Nemoto, because Japan’s main intent in Myanmar is to undercut the influence of an increasingly powerful Beijing.

“From the Chinese point of view, Myanmar is a very, very important country. They want to make Myanmar into a satellite state,” Nemoto says. “If the Myanmar government thinks Japan is a good friend, it may make some distance from China — that’s the goal.”

The Japanese government has also appointed Yohei Sasakawa, chairman of the Nippon Foundation, as a special envoy for national reconciliation in Myanmar.

Officials in Naypyitaw, the Southeast Asian country’s capital, convened a peace conference in August aimed at ending long-running conflicts with hundreds of ethnic rebel groups, but those efforts don’t involve the Rohingya.

Their plight, however, is related to a larger problem left by the military junta. For years, the former government used widespread prejudices against Muslims to help manipulate the Burmese public and deflect attention away from the country’s problems, Lewa says. Those attitudes persist and continue to be exploited by nationalist Buddhist groups.

“Anti-Muslim sentiment is hidden at the moment to some extent — but it’s very much there, so to me it’s also how the government is going to handle this,” she says.

Lewa points to an incident in July in which a mob burned down a mosque hundreds of kilometers away from Rakhine state.

“The authorities claimed they weren’t going to arrest anyone to avoid tension,” she says. “If the government does not take strong action to punish those creating this problem it’s going to continue.”

Meanwhile, the Annan commission faces its own challenges. When its members paid their first visit to Rakhine state last month, they were met with angry protests led by a local Rakhine Buddhist political party. Some lawmakers have been demanding that foreigners be removed. Rights groups have pointed out that it has no Rohingya members, and has only been given the authority to make recommendations.

Yet the specter of mass violence remains all too real. A large group of unidentified assailants killed nine border guards in Rakhine state on Oct. 9. Local authorities are blaming the Rohingya, and an unknown number of the stateless minority have reportedly been shot dead by security forces since the attack.

Zaw Min Htut says the military killed one of his second cousins on Tuesday, and many other Rohingya have been arrested.

He has requested an urgent meeting with officials from the Foreign Ministry and the U.S. Embassy to relay information he’s gathering from friends and family in the area.

“I want to use my freedom to secure their freedom,” he says, paraphrasing Suu Kyi. “But only international pressure can help the Rohingya. Myanmar’s government will never talk to me.”

By The Nation Editorial

October 16, 2016

The government and military will have to bear the blame if estranged Muslim community decides to take up arms

One can make a strong argument that the ongoing insurgent violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State has been in the making for some time now.

Just over a week ago, suspected Rohingya militants attacked three border posts, killing nine Myanmar police officers, The Global New Light of Myanmar reported. Official reports said 62 pieces of arms, 27 bullet cartridges and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition were stolen during the attack.

And then on Tuesday, the same government mouthpiece reported the death of four soldiers and one so-called culprit after troops were attacked "by hundreds of men armed with pistols, swords and knives".

A "clearance operation" by government forces encountered resistance from a group of villagers who were armed with guns, swords and sticks.

The Buddhist majority in Rakhine State - many would argue with the support of the state - has long oppressed the local Muslim Rohingya, who are dubbed "Bengalis" by the government and denied citizenship.

No group has claimed responsibility for the recent attacks, but two people who have been captured were Rohingya.

Interestingly, the central government has been level-headed in its response. A press conference was held during which an appeal for caution and restraint was urged. De facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi refrained from any accusations and reiterated her commitment to peace and stability.

Within days, high-ranking officials were dispatched to the conflict-ridden area to talk to local Muslim leaders.

There is real concern that the stolen weapons will be used against government troops and police at a later date.

There is also a serious danger of the repeat of the 2012 communal violence between Buddhists and Muslims that killed scores of people and displaced tens of thousands.

The level-headed response from the government was not an olive branch and most likely it would not be enough to bring permanent peace.

Myanmar has been dealing with more than a dozen ethnic rebel groups and armies all over the country and therefore, the government should understand the art of compromise.

The Rohingya seem to have concluded that Myanmar would not address their grievances unless they take up arms. The danger is the world could be witnessing the making of another armed ethnic army - one more to be added to Burma's long list of rebel forces.

The situation would not have descended to this level if Myanmar had been more even-handed in its treatment of the Rohingya. Instead of trying to understand the problems on the ground, Buddhist nationalist monk Wirathu was quick off the blocks, painting the clashes this past week as the work of Islamic jihadists.

Normally, it is Muslim terrorists who exploit such terminology. But this is a unique case of a Buddhist monk - referred to by Time magazine as "the face of Buddhist terror" - exploiting this Islamic concept of struggle for justice.

It is high time the Myanmar government did something about this conflict and set the record straight before the likes of Wirathu make this long-simmering crisis far worse.

Myanmar should know that there is a lot of sympathy for the Rohingya people among the world community - from Muslims and non-Muslims.

If the Rohingya do take to the path of armed resistance, undoubtedly there will be support for them. If the Mon, Karen, Wa, Shan, Chin, Kachin and other ethnic groups can take up arms against the Myanmar state, why can't the Rohingya?

The irony here is that all the other armed groups, at one time or another, wanted to break away from Myanmar. The Rohingya, on the other hand, simply want to be accepted as a part of the Myanmar nation.

By Dr. Habib Siddiqui

Asian Tribune

October 16, 2016

The situation inside the Rohingya villages in north-western Arakan state of Myanmar, bordering Bangladesh, is dire. Another genocidal campaign has been launched by the government. As we have seen before with the previous military regimes, the new government of Aung San Suu Kyi has its version of justification for its heavy handed treatment of the minority Muslims.

According to government reports in the state media, armed men believed to be from the long-oppressed Rohingya Muslim minority launched a coordinated assault on predawn hours of October 9, killing nine police, injuring five and making off with 48 weapons of various types and 6624 rounds of assorted ammunition, 47 bayonets, and 164 magazines. 

A statement from the office of Myanmar's President Htin Kyaw blamed the little-known "Aqamul Mujahidin" for the attacks around Maungdaw Township, a mainly Muslim area near the frontier with Bangladesh. "They persuade the young people using religious extremism, and they have financial support from outside," said the Burmese language statement.

Shortly after the attack, military moved in and cordoned off the towns and started its cleansing of one village after another. Activists claim the military is using the search for the attackers as a pretext for a crackdown on the Rohingya, whom rights groups describe as one of the world’s most persecuted peoples.

Reports of the latest attacks against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar may signal a new phase in the "genocidal situation", researchers at London's Queen Mary University have said.

Credible reports are emerging of extra-judicial killings, arbitrary arrests, and raids on Rohingya homes by Myanmar security forces, researchers at the college's International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) said.

As of last Thursday, October 13, an estimated 52 Rohingyas were shot dead and at least 100 Rohingyas were wounded very badly and more than 150 Rohingya peoples were arbitrary arrested including men and women by the Military and police forces; 84 Rohingyas were missing. As we have seen many times, the military also raped three Rohingya women inside their homes. At least three villages have been completely burnt down by the Myanmar military, making their residents homeless. Afraid of being shot dead by the feared army, many Rohingyas are also fleeing their homes. Many shops have been looted and gutted, and at least one mosque burnt down on 11 October, 2016 in Maungdaw by the military, police forces and the 969 Buddhist fascist group. 

The sudden escalation of violence in Rakhine state poses a serious challenge to the six-month-old government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who was swept to power in an election last year but has faced harsh criticism abroad for failing to tackle rights abuses against the Rohingya and other Muslims.

On October 14, after 12:00 a.m., some military personnel along with some Rakhine Buddhist civilians raided the market in the Ngakura village tract. They looted all the goods that they found. In the early morning, the military personnel called all the shopkeepers and asked them to shift their goods from their shops to other places wherever they wanted. As the shopkeepers came to their shops to shift their goods, they found no goods inside their shops and all the doors were broken.

At about 10 am, military personnel entered the village tract of Kyet Yoe Pyin and set fire to the whole hamlet, Lu Pann Pyin. Then they set fire to another hamlet called Ywar Ma. Some of the women from there who couldn't find a way to escape were shot dead while they were hiding inside their houses. They were left in homes and the military later set fire to them. It is estimated that nearly 500 houses are said to have been burnt down in both of these above mentioned hamlets.

At 11 am, some military personnel entered Zedi Pyin hamlet of Laung Don Village tract where they broke walls and other properties of the home of Sayid Amin. They ordered the nearby villagers to pack their belongings, their homes and move someplace else. Whilst on their way back they arrested Anam Ullah, a mentally disabled nephew of Sayid Amin. They took him to the Rakhine village of Laung Don Village tract where he was severely tortured and then was released as he was recognized as having mental problems at the end. As the military personnel ordered they moved to nearby villages but they think that their village will be burnt down as well in their absence.

In Laung Don Village tract, the military personnel were still said to have been roaming as of at 1 a.m., October the 15th. 

On October 14, at 10 a.m., some military personnel raided Aung Sit Pyin village tract and arrested 6 Rohingyas. Days earlier on October 11, 5 Rohingyas from the Say Tha Ma Gyi village were asked to report to Pan Lin Pyin military outpost. Upon arrival, they were then beaten by forces from Battalion 263, led by Lt. Col. Hlaing Min Htet. 

The military arrested 15 innocent Rohingya civilians including five children from Pha Wet Chaung village and they were later killed. “The military raids our village [Pha Wet Chaung]. They arrested 15 villagers including 5 children. Military took them with a truck to NaTaLa village. Later they all were slaughtered.” a Rohingya told RB News over the phone. 

Kyet Yoe Pyin village has been under attack by the military since Wednesday. As of Thursday, 162 houses have been burnt down into ashes and a market where more than 150 Rohingya shops run businesses have also been burnt to the ground. 

Pyaung Pyaik hamlet located in Nga Sa Kyu village was raided by the military. Before torching the houses, the military and NaTaLa villagers looted valuable things and cattle. They then torched 40 houses. Later in the evening more than 100 houses were burnt down. The military shot dead an elderly woman while torching the houses and they threw her into the fire. 

Some children and elderly were blocked inside their houses before they were set ablaze. They couldn’t escape from fire and many have reportedly died inside the houses. 

According to the RB News, on Thursday at 2 p.m. the military entered Tha Wun Chaung village and checked the household registration and count the heads house by house. They found a man who isn’t from that village. The man was taken by the military and later at 6 p.m. released. After 6 p.m. the military entered into Sabai Gone and Laung Dun Rohingya villages and set the houses on fire. An elder said “Many elderly, pregnant women, children are where the military are torching the houses. I am worried for them. I don’t know whether they are dead or alive. Now what I am seeing is this government is implementing the plan of the then president Thein Sein which Rohingyas will be kept in the camps and sent to third countries.”

According to the villagers, five helicopters were flying over villages for long hours. They said the military used launchers to kill innocent civilians.

Reports of killings and mass arrests have spread like wildfire on social media, stoking fear amongst the Rohingya, who remain the most persecuted people in our planet.

One local teacher, who did not give her name, said she had been hiding in a house along with some 20 other school staff and students in a village near one of Sunday’s attacks, too scared to come out because of the sound of gunfire. “We haven’t eaten for two days. The situation is not so good,” she told AFP from Ngakhura, around 42 kilometers (26 miles) from Maungdaw. “We heard fighting here and there. We do not dare to go out.”

Authorities have extended a regional curfew to between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m., while local education chief Khin Aung said about 400 schools have been closed for the next two weeks.

“Villagers tell us they are scared. Some witnessed killings by the army yesterday,” said Matthew Smith, chief executive of Fortify Rights, a non-profit human rights organization.

Fortify Rights has received reports of possible extrajudicial killings of Rohingya men in Maungdaw Township by Myanmar Army soldiers following the attacks on the police and called on the government, state security forces, and all parties in Rakhine State to respect human rights and uphold the responsibility to protect civilians.

According to information received by Fortify Rights, scores of Myanmar Army soldiers arrived in Myothugyi village, Maungdaw Township at approximately 6:30 a.m. on October 10. Fortify Rights received information of at least three killings of unarmed Rohingya men [Nagu (50), Noor Allam (55) and Noor Bashar (25)] in Myothugyi village on October 10 by military men. 

“They took three men...and killed them,” a Rohingya man in Myothugyi said. “They did not arrest the people, they just killed them.”

The New York Timesand Reuters reported allegations of seven deaths in Myothugyi village on October 10. Both outlets reported witnesses alleging that army soldiers shot at Rohingya as they ran away. 

It is worth noting here that the use of lethal force by state security forces against a civilian is only lawful when necessary to prevent loss of life and serious injury and when proportionate to the threat at hand. The U.N. Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials stipulates that the “intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.” The U.N. Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials requires officials to “use force only when strictly necessary and to the extent required for the performance of their duty.”

In situations of armed conflict, Article 42 of the Third Geneva Convention stipulates that the use of force “against those who are escaping or attempting to escape, shall constitute an extreme measure, which shall always be preceded by warnings appropriate to the circumstances.”

In all situations, under international humanitarian and human rights law, the authorities have a responsibility to protect civilians.

There are more than a million Rohingya in northern Rakhine State, nearly all of whom are denied citizenship and are stateless. For decades, the Government of Myanmar has strictly restricted Rohingya freedom of movement, preventing movement between villages, village tracts, and beyond.

In June, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights reported to the Human Rights Council that there was a “pattern of gross human rights violations” against Rohingya in Rakhine State that “would suggest a widespread or systematic attack against the Rohingya, in turn suggesting the possible commission of crimes against humanity.”

"Since the attack, we have documented several videos showing armed men – some had guns, some had sticks and swords – speaking the Rohingya language and encouraging volunteers to come and engage in armed conflict in Rakhine State," Matthew Smith from Fortify Rights told Radio France International (RFI).

"This is a very serious situation unfolding there. The government of Myanmar has commenced with what appears to be a very brutal crackdown, we're documenting allegations of extrajudicial killings.” "Essentially the Myanmar Army is moving into villages, suspecting all of the men and boys of being involved with this rather small group of armed men and committing a variety of human rights violations," Smith added.

Northern Rakhine state is "in effect an information black hole, and in situations where allegations of human rights violations are difficult or impossible to independently verify - because of state restrictive practices - the onus must be on the state to investigate or disprove those allegations", Penny Green, Professor of Law at Queen Mary University of London and Director of ISCI, said.

"We sounded the alarm in 2015 that what we saw amounted to the early stages of a genocidal process," Green said.

"Local sources now report a ramped up security and military presence, additional restrictions on freedom of movement, and a further limiting of access to food and healthcare. We are concerned that these latest developments may represent a new chapter in the persecution of the Rohingya, and a potentially more deadly phase of genocide. The fact that it's practically impossible to verify or confirm any of these reports underlines the intensity of Rakhine state's isolation from international view."

Myanmar government consistently denies international journalists and human rights organizations access to Northern Rakhine, ISCI said.

Green added that the merging evidence of indiscriminate violence by security forces mark a "disturbing yet entirely predictable escalation in the genocidal process".

Lately the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Stephen O’Brien, concluded his three-day mission to Myanmar. His trip took place shortly after the outbreak of violence in the northern part of Rakhine State and at a time of escalating armed clashes in Kachin. “The recent violence in Rakhine State is deeply troubling and the immediate priority must be to prevent further violence and to ensure the protection of all civilians. The situation is affecting all communities in Rakhine and has further disrupted the provision of health, education, and other essential services for some of the most vulnerable, particularly the Muslim communities who are not allowed to move freely.” 

“When I was in Rakhine State, I talked to people about their suffering and their inadequate access to essential services including health and education. All people in Rakhine State, irrespective of their ethnicity, religion or citizenship status, must have safe access to their nearest hospital or medical center, to regular schools and to livelihoods.” 

Around 140,000 Rohingyas are still living in displacement camps, four years after the outbreak.

Interestingly, while Suu Kyi’s government finger points young Rohingyas to be the perpetrators, a senior police officer in Rakhine State's capital Sittwe has claimed that the attacks had been planned by drug traffickers. “They want the areas to be unstable so that they can do their business easily,” the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he has no authority to speak to media, told Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.

Did the Tadmadaw had a hand in those attacks and then put the blame on the Rohingya as part of a sinister ploy for a ‘final solution’ of the Rohingya problem? I won’t be surprised if the answer is - ‘yes’. 

What is also so atypical is that the attacks came at a time when former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan is leading a commission that is looking into the conflict between the Rohingya and the Buddhists in the Rakhine state, which has seen more than several hundred thousand Muslims displaced by Buddhist violence since 2012. As we have seen, Annan’s commission was unwelcome by the racist Rakhines and many Buddhists that are affiliated with the fascist Ma Ba Tha. If we are looking for a beneficiary, it is these latter elements within the Buddhist society that benefit from the latest unrests inside the restive area, and not the Rohingyas. 

Knowing the past tactics and strategy employed by the previous regimes, the new government’s charges of terrorism against the Rohingya youths has to be taken with a grain of salt. As Myanmar dissident activist Dr. Maung Zarni has rightly pointed out in his blog: "Revving up the 'terrorism' allegations is killing three birds with a single stone: 1) it enables the military to scale up the slow genocide of the Rohingya in Northern Rakhine; 2) it diverts racist Burmese public's attention away from the military attacks on the Kachin and halted the anti-war protest momentum; 3) it forces Aung San Suu Kyi to relinquish her Kofi Annan Commission initiative as the military is in due course going to take over the Rakhine administration, partial or wholly, from the NLD puppets.” 

“In that light, the Statement issued by Htin Kyaw Office is not really credible or verifiable - beyond what it says,” says Dr. Zarni. “First, all governments lie, and Myanmar Government lies typically and most frequently. Second, routinely Myanmar Military Intelligence fabricates stories and evidence. Ask ex-Major Aung Lin Htut in Marilyn, who was chief of counterintelligence at Myanmar Embassy in Washington. He KNOWS. Dating back to 1950's in the midst of growing armed Communist movement, Myanmar Military Intelligence has a long history of fabricating "facts", manufacturing and planting "evidence", and extracting false confessions through torture. In the 1950's the Army's Psychological Warfare Publication called Myawaddy routinely published anti-Communist propaganda. It would publish pictures of beheaded Buddha images and damaged temples saying the Communists were responsible for these anti-Buddhist activities - whereas in fact the military would destroy them for photo-ops. 

It is like USA's Pentagon spending $480 million, to create anti-Muslim propaganda video-clips of terrorist groups that operate in the name of Islam such as Al Qaeda."

What’s needed is a real investigation that focuses on facts and not propaganda. “The biggest problem is that Myanmar fails time and time again to do real investigations,” Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch said in an email sent to Anadolu Agency on Friday. Thein Sein government had failed to do a credible investigation after violence in the area in 2012. “And it looks like they are going down the same failed path again,” Robertson said.

If the Rohingya youths have attacked the police barracks, a reasonable question is: why? Is it because they see no hope? Is it because of the daily dehumanization that they face in Suu Kyi’s Myanmar? Days before the attacks, several Rohingya women were reportedly raped by the police and border security forces from the northern townships. Could such appalling events trigger these attacks from the Rohingya youths who until this event had avoided any armed conflict with the government forces? Being abandoned by the rest of the world, do they feel that they are being pushed into the corner to embrace armed struggle? 

If the answer is – yes, it should be a wake-up call for the government of Aung San Suu Kyi. After all, when other ethnic minorities chose armed struggle, the Rohingya - who were the worst persecuted – had resorted to entirely peaceful means in their claims for recognition as a legitimate part of Myanmar’s society. [The exception was in the 1980s when the militant Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) was set up to fight for self-determination of its people. Small and largely ineffective, it had disappeared by 1994. So the Myanmar government’s current accusation against the RSO is bizarre, to say the least.]

Suu Kyi can stop this bleeding process by immediately stopping all military offensives against the Rohingya and recognizing the legitimate rights of the Rohingya people as Myanmar citizens. This basic right cannot be denied on the false premise that their community had been brought to the country from the Indian subcontinent by the British Raj. 

Her government must restore all basic freedoms, including freedom of movement, marriage, education, healthcare and peaceful-living, and to lift all aid restrictions in the Rakhine/Arakan State. Her government must end all forms of persecution and ghettoization of the Rohingya people and immediately rehabilitate and reintegrate all IDPs in their original places and properties. It must compensate the victims who had lost their homes and business. They must be empowered with a sense of belonging and not bewildered with a sense of utter hopelessness.

Following the footsteps of the previous regimes would be suicidal for Suu Kyi’s government.

Joint Statement 

16th October 2016

Save Rohingya from Annihilation

We, the undersigned Rohingya organisations express our serious concern on the continued military and police crackdown on the civilian population in Northern Arakan. 

Since 9 October, under the pretext of looking for attackers, the Myanmar military and police forces have been indiscriminately killing the Rohingya, torching and plundering their homes and villages. Two mass graves were found and about 100 Rohingya civilians were extra-judicially killed that included old men, women and children. At least 5 Rohingya villages were set ablaze destroying many houses or whole villages. 

The grave situation has caused many Rohingya to flee their villages. An estimated 5000 Rohingya have been internally displaced causing great humanitarian disaster. Due to curfew order and blockade, there is an acute shortage of food, medicine, and other essentials. The situation is exponentially worsening. It is a violation of international law and Geneva Convention.

Whilst these crimes against humanity have been manifestly committed by the joint armed forces with impunity, the authorities, as a part of an evil design, are spreading lies to the media that “Bengalis” -- a racial slur in reference to the Rohingya people—are burning down their own houses to leave the international community in a state of confusion. 

We are disappointed by the recent statement of the EU and request them to make an objective assessment of the situation on the ground and help the victims of human rights violations on humanitarian grounds. 

We also request the State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to intervene into the matter and put an end to the military crackdowns on the civilian population. 

In the face of the current humanitarian disaster, we urge upon UN with the international community:

(a) To provide full protection to the helpless Rohingya community in Northern Arakan;

(b) To provide the victims with necessary humanitarian assistance, including healthcare;

(c) To investigate the whole extent of the event and bring those responsible to justice.

Last not least, we are a peace-loving people believe in peaceful co-existence. And we demand a peaceful resolution to the crisis. 

Signatories;

1. Arakan Rohingya National Organisation

2. Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK

3. Bradford Rohingya Community in UK

4. Burmese Rohingya Community in Denmark

5. Burmese Rohingya Association Japan 

6. Burmese Rohingya Community Australia

7. Canadian Burmese Rohingya Organisation 

8. Rohingya Arakanese Refugee Committee 

9. Rohingya Community in Germany

10. Rohingya Community in Switzerland

11. Rohingya Community in Finland

12. Rohingya Community in Italy

13. Rohingya Community in Sweden

14. Rohingya Organisation Norway

15. Rohingya Society Netherlands

16. Rohingya Society Malaysia

For more information, please contact:

Tun Khin (Mobile): +44 7888714866

Ko Ko Lin (Mobile): +880 1726068413

Nay San Lwin(Mobile): +49 69 26022349

By Simon Lewis and Wa Lone

Reuters

October 14, 2016

By AFP

October 14, 2016

Sittwe (Myanmar) - Terrified residents were fleeing northern Myanmar on Friday, thousands leaving on foot and others airlifted out by helicopter, as troops hunted through torched villages for those behind attacks on police that have raised fears Rakhine state could again be torn apart.

Local officials believe hundreds of people from the area, home to many from the persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority, spent months planning attacks on police posts along the Bangladesh border that sparked the crisis this week.

Dozens of people have died in an ensuing military lockdown, sparking fears of a repeat of 2012 when sectarian clashes ripped through Rakhine leaving more than 100 dead and driving tens of thousands into displacement camps.

Troops and police have repelled multiple onslaughts on a security office by 50 "violent attackers" and captured a fifth suspect, state media reported on Friday.

Meanwhile families have streamed down the roads around Maungdaw town on foot, their worldly possessions stuffed into carrier bags and plastic buckets or strapped to the front of bicycle rickshaws.

Around 180 teachers, workers and residents were also airlifted out of the region at the epicentre of the crisis, while hundreds of government staff have poured into the state capital Sittwe.

On the ground in Maungdaw, an AFP journalist reported seeing clouds of smoke billowing from a village Thursday near charred remains of two dozen bamboo houses that the military said "terrorists" had torched the previous day.

Troops have killed 26 people since deadly raids on border posts Sunday, according to state media. Nine police died that night, and four more soldiers have lost their lives in ensuing clashes.

Witnesses say troops used Sunday's attacks as an excuse for a crackdown against them, gunning down unarmed Muslim civilians in the street. The military say they have been defending themselves from armed attackers.

Most residents in northern Rakhine are Rohingya, a stateless minority branded illegal immigrants from Bangladesh by many from Myanmar's Buddhist majority.

- Killings, burnings, arbitrary arrests -

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation issued a statement calling for calm, after receiving "disturbing reports of extra-judicial killings of Rohingya Muslims, burning of houses, and arbitrary arrests by security forces".

Rakhine state government spokesman Min Aung said the border post assailants had spent months plotting the raids, which were originally intended to hit as many as seven targets.

"There are about 200 to 300 currently in the group," he told reporters in Sittwe, declining to explain how he knew.

"According to our interrogations of those we have arrested, they initially planned to attack six or seven locations."

Authorities have given scant details of who was behind the assaults, though officials have publicly pointed the finger at Rohingya insurgents and privately blamed Bangladeshi groups across the border.

The military said late Thursday troops had captured a fifth suspect, along with a gun, ammunition and flags featuring the logo of the RSO, a Rohingya militant group founded in the 80s and long considered defunct.

The RSO vigorously denied the accusations in a message to AFP. Attempts to contact the sender went unanswered.

Videos showing armed men speaking the Rohingya language calling for jihad that have been circulating on social media -- which analysts said appeared to be genuine -- have raised concerns a new local militant group may have emerged.

The escalating unrest in Rakhine poses a major challenge for the country's new elected government, led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Nobel laureate has faced international criticism for not doing more to help the Rohingya, and on Wednesday she vowed to follow the rule of law when investigating the border guard attacks.

Jeddah—The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has expressed grave concern at the eruption of violence in Rakhine state following attacks by unidentified insurgents against Myanmar border facilities on October a which resulted in the deaths of several security personnel and insurgents. The OIC calls for a full investigation into the incident to determine the perpetrators in order to bring them to justice.

The OIC has received disturbing reports of extra judicial killings of Rohingya Muslims, burning of houses, and arbitrary arrests by security forces in Maungdaw Township and other villages in Northern Rakhine State. The situation has caused many Rohingya to flee their villages and the subsequent blockade in the region has also left many in the area facing acute shortages of food, water and essentials.

The OIC Secretary General, Mr. Iyad Ameen Madani appealed for calm and called on all stakeholders to apply maximum restraint, refrain from the use of violence and to avoid an escalation of the situation. He urged the Government of Myanmar to provide full protection to Rohingya people in Northern Rakhine state.

Mr Madani further expressed concern that the volatile situation and continued violence will only prolong the plight of Rohingya people and further polarise the Muslim and Buddhist Rakhine communities in the state. The Secretary General noted that it is only through dialogue and reconciliation with all members of society, including the Rohingya, that Myanmar could achieve true development and socio-economic progress.

The report published by Pakistan Observer on October 14, 2016.

RB News

Rohingya houses burning in Pyaung Pyaik hamlet in Nga Sa Kyu village on Thursday

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

Anadolu Agency

October 13, 2016

Deaths reported by military bring number of people killed since weekend attacks on police outposts in Rakhine to 39

YANGON, Myanmar -- At least 10 more men have been killed by Myanmar soldiers in response to an assault by armed attackers during military clearance operations in the troubled western state of Rakhine, official media claimed Thursday.

The latest reported deaths would bring the number of people killed since deadly weekend attacks on police station outposts in Myanmar's west to 39 -- including nine police, four soldiers and 26 men. 

The raided outposts were located in Maungdaw and Yathay Taung townships, two areas predominantly occupied by the country's stateless Rohingya Muslim population.

The army-run Myawady newspaper reported Thursday that people armed with guns, swords and sticks attacked troops who were searching near Kyetyoepyin Village on Wednesday for weapons stolen in the weekend raids.

“Ten dead bodies of armed attackers and a gun were found after the violent exchange,” it said.

According to the report, a group of armed men also attacked the staff quarters of No.1 border post near Kyikanpyin Village in Maungtaw Township on Wednesday.

The attackers then set fire to Warpaik Village in the township, destroying around 25 houses, before withdrawing in a southeast direction, it said.

A 74-year-old Rohingya man, however, accused the troops of discriminatory actions against villagers.

“They asked us where the attackers are hiding. We told them no one is hiding in our village,” he told Anadolu Agency by phone Thursday on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisals.

“An army captain shouted at us -- ‘Son of the b****. You are lying to us’ -- and ordered the troops to set our house on fire,” he said. 

The man, originally a resident of Warpaik who is now in Kyetyoepyin after his home was destroyed, added that around 50 houses were burned Wednesday in his village.

In the wake of the initial attacks on three police stations in Maungdaw and Yathay Taung -- both close to the Bangladesh border -- early Sunday, at least 39 people -- nine police, four soldiers and 26 men -- have been killed. 

On Tuesday, a senior police officer in state capital Sittwe underlined to Anadolu Agency by phone that the two men captured during the initial attacks were not from the area. 

“They are neither Myanmar nationals nor local Bengalis,” said the man, using a word to describe Rohingya that suggests they are illegal migrants from Bangladesh.

He declined to comment, however, if they were Bangladesh citizens. 

“It’s not the right time to disclose the country and organization they belong to,” said the officer, who asked not to be named as he did not have the authority to speak to media.

“They [the men] said local Bengalis helped them as they are angry over government plans to demolish mosques in the areas.”

Last month, Rakhine regional government pledged to tear down more than 3,000 religious structures, including 12 mosques and 35 madrasas (religious schools) built without permission in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships.

Later Tuesday, the central government asked Bangladesh for help with the investigation.

Since the attacks began, an overnight curfew (7 p.m. - 6 a.m.) has been imposed, around 400 government schools temporarily closed, and all border trade gates and crossings with neighboring Bangladesh shuttered.

Maungdaw and Yathay Taungare are still governed by a partial curfew (11 p.m. - 4 a.m.) placed since communal violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya broke out in mid-2012 in which around 100 people are reported to have died.

Rohingya advocacy groups have also voiced concern at what they claim is a violent crackdown on the Muslim minority group.

"Mass arrests are taking place," a statement released late Monday headlined Stop Killing Innocent Rohingya in Arakan (the British colonial name for Rakhine) said.

It claimed that following the attacks more than 10 "innocent" Rohingya were killed by Myanmar military forces and police and many Rohingya women had also been arrested.

Since mid-2012, Rakhine, one of the poorest regions in Myanmar, has been subject to incidents of communal violence between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya that have left nearly 100 dead and some 100,000 people displaced in camps.

On Oct. 3, Myanmar State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi called on Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states for support in solving the “complex situation” in Rakhine, home to around 1.2 million Rohingya.

Since her party's victory in the Nov. 8 election, Suu Kyi has been placed under tremendous international pressure to solve problems faced by Rohingya but has had to play a careful balancing act for fear of upsetting the country's nationalists, many of whom have accused Muslims of trying to eradicate the country's Buddhist traditions.

Suu Kyi has, however, enforced the notion that the root of many of the impoverished region's problems are economic, and is encouraging investment in the area, which in turn the National League for Democracy hopes will lead to reconciliation between the Buddhist and Muslim communities.

ARBITRARY EXECUTIONS IN RAKHINE STATE MUST BE INVESTIGATED

Date: October 12, 2016

Burma Campaign UK calls on the NLD-led government in Burma to establish an independent investigation into who is behind the killings of police officers in Rakhine State on October 9th, and into the subsequent killings of Rohingya villagers in the following days. The families of policemen killed and Rohingya villagers killed have the right to see the perpetrators face justice.

Burma Campaign UK has received reports of arbitrary executions of Rohingya villagers by Burmese Army soldiers, as have Fortify Rights and several media organisations.

A prompt and credible investigation is needed not just in the interests of justice, but also to establish the truth in order to help limit attempts by nationalists to exploit the situation to provoke more violence. An investigation could also help limit further executions by demonstrating a small degree of accountability for soldiers via an investigation exposing their actions, even if prosecutions are not possible without the consent of the military.

Burma Campaign UK is very concerned by the response of the international community to date. A statement on the situation by the European Union made no reference to reports of arbitrary executions. Silence on issues such as this simply reinforces the view of the military that it can act with impunity. The role of the European Union is not only to “stand with Myanmar” as they say in their statement, but also to stand with victims of human rights violations and against violations of international law.

A statement by the UN Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General on Myanmar was even more alarming, going so far as to praise the response, stating he “recognizes the prompt action and sober response of the security forces”, and also avoiding direct reference to reports of arbitrary executions.

A statement by UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar “expressed to the authorities her condolences for the death of the border guard police personnel and is deeply saddened by all loss of life”. Reports of arbitrary executions were only indirectly referred in the statement to as an “unfolding situation”.

None of the statements used the word Rohingya, a key demand of racist nationalists who are trying to deny the ethnic identity of the Rohingya as part of their efforts to drive all Rohingya people out of Burma.

The new crisis in Rakhine State highlights how the new NLD-led government is hamstrung and unable to comprehensively deal with many problems in the country, if it wanted to, by the military 2008 Constitution. It does not have direct control over the military, police and other security services.

The international community has been trying to present the situation in Burma as moving from being focussed on democracy promotion and human rights to one of consolidating transition, development, and technical assistance. The situation in Rakhine State and escalating conflict in eastern Burma expose how flawed this approach is. The military remain unaccountable, are blocking democratic reform, escalating conflict, and committing human rights violations including violations of international law.

The British government should reassess its provision of training to the Burmese Army in light of these latest reports of arbitrary executions by soldiers. The training was established with no preconditions on respect for human rights, no clear objectives and no evaluation of outcomes.

“A transparent and credible investigation is urgently needed into events in Rakhine State in the past few days,” said Anna Roberts, Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK. “While it is not yet clear exactly who was responsible for killing the police officers, it does seem clear that unarmed villagers have been killed in response. The Rakhine Commission was a welcome step but is largely looking at long term solutions and won’t even report until well into next year. The new crisis also highlights how action to address the crisis in Rakhine State needs to start now, including the lifting of all humanitarian aid restrictions.”

Burma Campaign UK

By Clea Broadhurst

Radio France International

October 12, 2016

A total of 29 people have died in Myanmar's Rakhine state in recent clashes between armed men and troops, according to state media. The military has been deployed to the region, near the border with Bangladesh, after nine police officers were killed on Sunday in coordinated attacks on three border posts

Most people in the area are Muslim Rohingya, a stateless minority people viewed as illegal immigrants by Buddhist nationalists even though many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

The government says that at least 250 people, presumed to be Muslims, launched coordinated attacks on three border police posts in Rakhine state over the last few days and has sent troops to the area.

These are the first major attacks since 2012, when sectarian violence in Rakhine killed more than 100 people and drove tens of thousands of Rohingya into displacement camps.

"Since the attack, we have documented several videos showing armed men - some had guns, some had sticks and swords - speaking the Rohingya language and encouraging volunteers to come engage in armed conflict in Rakhine State," Matthew Smith from Fortify Rights, a non-profit human rights organisation, told RFI.

"This is a very serious situation unfolding there. The government of Myanmar has commenced with what appear to be a very brutal crackdown, we're documenting allegations of extrajudicial killings. Essentially the Myanmar army moving into villages, suspecting all of the men and boys of being involved with this rather small group of armed men and committing a variety of human rights violation."

The authorities have extended a regional curfew to between 7.00pm and 6.00am and closed about 400 schools for the next two weeks.

Fears of return to 2012 violence

"For years now we've tried to fight for our rights, but the government has always wanted to wipe the Rohingya population out," Ro Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya activist who lives in exile in Germany since being banned from returning to Myanmar because of his political activities, told RFI. 

"That situation won't change, Rohingya will be more persecuted because they blame the Rohingya for these attacks. Their situation is worse than ever. And people who are depending on daily wages cannot any more, so now many people are starving, just because they cannot go to work, they cannot go from one village to another, they all are locked inside their own villages."

Witnesses have told him that at least 50 people were killed and several mass graves have been discovered.

"We are very concerned, and afraid of attacks that would particularly target the Rohingya civilians," Wai Wai Nu, a former political prisoner and cofounder of Yangon-based Justice for Women says. "There has been many hate speeches among the general population in Myanmar. Right now, we are worried that the situation could get worse than in 2012."

There are also concerns the military response could provoke a backlash, not only from the Rohingya but also from other Muslim ethic minorities in the region.

"The biggest potential problem is that we now have a well-organised, heavily armed Muslim groupd that will be fighting for its rights in Rakhine. That will be deeply destabilising," Tim Johnston, from the International Crisis Group, told RFI.

"Myanmar is a new democracy, its institutions aren't that strong, it has a number of other ethnic battles up on its north-eastern border and elsewhere, and this will make life a lot more complicated for the government. And one thing that we do really worry about is that it will provoke a backlash against Muslims, not just in Rakhine State, but across Myanmar."

Suu Kyi appoints commission

Myanmar's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, recently appointed a commission, headed by the former UN chief Kofi Annan, to find ways to solve the issue.

But it is difficult to know what is actually happening on the ground because the authorities are preventing access to the area.

For example, journalists can hardly enter Rakhine, a point that Matthew Smith believes should change.

"The government frankly has quite a lot to hide, in particular in Rakhine state," he says.

A report from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein in June talked of Rohingya suffering "arbitrary deprivation of nationality, severe restrictions on freedom of movement, threats to life and security, denial of rights to health and education, forced labour, sexual violence and limitations to their political rights".

"None of this coincides with the narrative of positive political change happening in Myanmar and we do expect the authorities to act urgenty in this case," Smith comments, adding that he is concerned that Annan explicity said the commission would not focus on human rights issues in Rakhine.

This alone raises the question of the very goal of the commission's work, he claims.