Burma is a multi-cultural society with multi-ethnicities. During its independence a feeling of awareness for an ethnic togetherness and comprehensive identity to form joint feelings for tranquillity and safety developed. On the basis of the agreed upon principle of ‘unity in diversity’, articulated by the father of the nation General Aung San, the ‘Union of Burma’ came into existence on January 4, 1948.

Burma is a country where various streamlets of culture and civilization join together. In a pluralistic society like Burma there must be a joint life on the diversity of cultures. But due to racism and racial discrimination, the culture of Burman majority is assumed as the national culture and on its margins, there are small cultures of the numerous ethnic groups and are assumed as non-national or inferior cultures. Regrettably, today Rohingyas are considered practising foreign way of life having no origin in Burma, despite the fact that the heyday of independent Arakan began with the Muslim civilization, which reached its zenith during the most glorious period of Mrauk-U, “the creation of a remarkably hybrid Buddhist-Islamic court, fusing tradition from Persia and India as well as the Buddhist Worlds to the east.”[1] On top of that “Arakan was virtually ruled by Muslims from 1430 to 1531.”[2]

‘Rohingya problem’ started in Burma from British colonial period onwards. There were violent anti-Indian (including anti-Muslim) riots in 1930-31 and again in 1938 in which several hundreds Indians and Muslims were killed in Burma. Muslim properties, shops, houses and mosques were looted, destroyed and burned under the campaign of ‘Burma for Burmese only’. Similar anti-Muslim sentiment blew up in Arakan too. In April 1942, armed Rakhine in connivance with Burmese nationalists carried out a pogrom in Akyab district and massacred about 100,000 unarmed Muslims. Bulk of the Muslims was internally displaced, and nearly 50,000 of them took refuge in the British held territories of Chittagong and Rangpur. The resultant damages were enormous causing serious demographic changes in North Arakan. The Muslim population in the alluvial Kaladan and Lemro deltas were depopulated to be populated by Buddhists. The hard-nosed hate mongers in Arakan have continued the hostility singing the mantra of Rohingya extermination. Martin Smith observes:


“In Arakan itself, there is little evidence of such communal flare-ups but as a result of these experiences, many Burmese nationalists and politicians have never really bothered to distinguish between Indians or Muslims in general and the indigenous Muslims of Arakan. The word commonly used to describe Muslims in Arakan is the pejorative word “Kala” or foreigner, which is exactly the same word commonly used to describe Muslims or Indians anywhere else they live in Burma (anti-Muslim prejudice is not just confined to Arakan today).”[3]

The successive Burmese governments have had pursued policies of exclusion and persecution against Rohingyas while some hardhearted Rakhine academics and politicians are engaged in racist and xenophobic plans to marginalize and exterminate them. With preoccupation of ‘Muslim phobia’ the former dictator Ne Win promulgated an oppressive Burma Citizenship law in 1982 in order to deprive the Rohingyas of their time-honoured citizenship and ethnic rights in Burma.

Despite some recent reforms towards democratization, the civilianized military government of U Thein Sein has so far shown no change of attitude towards Rohingya and has created a hostile climate in North Arakan. The government continues to treat them as aliens using this oppressive nationality law in a random manner. While the authorities and xenophobes reject or exclude Rohingyas, nevertheless their distinct South Asian physical feature, language and frontier civilization are a true manifestation of the ancient people of Indian Bengali Chandra dynasty in Arakan. Conversely, the Rakhines and no-one else are treated as natives of Arakan for being Buddhists in shared characteristics with the majority Burman, speaking an archaic form of Burmese. This favourable reception of ‘Rakhine only policy’ is a threat of Buddhistization through assimilation.

In the situation of Rohingya, the 1982 citizenship law promotes Burmanization or Rakhinization aims at exterminating the Rohingya population from Arakan. Let us examine this unjust nationality law.

Nationality:

Citizenship is same as nationality but the Burmese law uses the expression of citizenship and not nationality. Nationality is often described as the connecting link between the individual and international law. Nationality indicates the status of belonging to a particular state. Nationality or citizenship is the social and legal link between individuals and their democratic political community. By virtue of this, an individual may be entitled to certain benefits and obligations under municipal and international law. There is no accepted definition of nationality. As a general rule each state is free to define who its nationals are though this description can be circumscribed by specific treaties (eg Treaties concerning the elimination of statelessness). Thus article 1 of the 1930 Hague Convention on the Conflict of Nationality Laws stated that:

“….it is for each state to determine under its own law who are the nationals. This law shall be recognized by other states in so far as it is consistent with international conventions, international custom and principles of law generally recognized with regard to nationality.”

Thus the nationality law of a state is required to conform to international law, international human rights law, international conventions, customs and practices. The most important of these principles concerning acquisition of nationality are first, descent from parents who are nationals (jus sanguinis) and secondly, the territorial location of birth (jus soli). Nationality may also be acquired by marriage, adoption, legalization, naturalization (the proceeding whereby a foreigner is granted citizenship) or as a result of transfer of territory from one state to another. It should be noted that since international law recognizes the primacy of the state in this regard, the practice of acquiring nationality varies considerably.

Burma Citizenship Law of 1982 was the most restrictive citizenship law in the world promulgated by late dictator Ne Win’s BSPP (Burma Socialist Programme Party) regime on October 15, 1982. Unlike 1948 Citizenship Act, the 1982 law is essentially the principle of jus sanguinis and has repealed the Union Citizenship (Election) Act, 1948, and the Union Citizenship Act, 1948. Based on how one’s forebears obtained citizenship, Ne Win stratified citizenship into three status groups: full, associate and naturalized.

Full citizens are those belonging to one of the so-called 135 ‘national races’, who lived in Burma prior to 1823 -- just prior to the conquest of parts of lower Burma (Arakan and Tenassarim) by the British, or were born to parents who were citizens at the time of birth. Associate citizenship was only granted to those whose application for citizenship under the 1948 Act was pending on the date the Act came into force. Thus the associate citizens are those who acquired citizenship through the 1948 Union Citizenship Law. Naturalized citizenship could only be granted to those who could furnish “conclusive evidence” of entry and residence before Burma’s independence on 4 January 1948, who could speak one of the national languages well and whose children were born in Burma. Thus naturalized citizens refer to persons who lived in Burma before independence and applied for citizenship after 1982. Foreigners cannot become naturalized citizens unless they can prove a close familial connection to the country.

It is worthy of mention that the previous parliamentary government listed 144 ethnic groups in Burma. But Ne Win put only 135 groups on a short list, and then was approved by his BSPP regime’s constitution of 1974. The three Muslim groups of Rohingya (Muslim Arakanese), Panthay (Chinese Muslims), Bashu (Malay Muslims) and six other ethnic groups were deleted. It was an injustice founded on religious rancour and racial prejudice towards Muslims and smaller non-Burman groups, particularly against the Rohingya, who are not a manageable minority. Even the so called 135 ethnic groups are highly divisive splitting some of the national races into so many groupings. However, this creation of the military is unjustified.

Generally the 1982 citizenship law deprives most people of Indian and Chinese descent of citizenship. “However, the timing of its promulgation shortly after the refugee repatriation (from Bangladesh) of 1979, strongly suggests that it was specifically designed to exclude the Rohingya”[4] who had previously been recognized as citizens as well as a national race of Burma. According to Ne Win, “racially, only pure-blooded nationals will be called citizens.”[5] Shockingly, the Rakhine academic late Dr. Aye Kyaw was instrumental to the making of this discriminatory racist law under infamous Ne Win. He proudly claimed to have devised a mechanism to denationalize the Rohingya people.

The Rohingya are in a situation of permanent limbo. Burmese government recognizes them as neither citizens nor foreigners. But it has deliberately declared them non-nationals describing them as ‘illegal immigrants’ from Bangladesh’ while accepting them all at once as ‘Burmese residents’, which is not a legal status. Thus “the law made the Rohingya ethnic group a stateless one in the country, where they have been living for generation.”[6]

“In 1998, in a letter to UNHCR, Burma’s then Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt wrote: These people are not originally from Myanmar but have illegally migrated to Myanmar because of population pressures in their own country”[7] In February 1996, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Burma Professor Yozu Yokota quoted Lt. Gen. Mya Thinn, the then Home Minister (of SPDC) as saying “Muslim population of Rakhine (Arakan) State was not recognized as citizens of Myanmar under the existing naturalization regulations and they were not even registered as so-called foreign residents …Their status situation did not permit them to travel in the country…They are also not allowed to serve in the state positions and are barred from attending higher educational institution.” The government authorities and xenophobes time and again stated that “there is no race by the name of Rohingya”.

Now the term ‘Rohingya’ was stamped out from the list of Burma’s national races; and Rohingya language features to be non-national. On the other hand, a few Rohingya could speak the languages that the military regime recognized, and very few Rohingyas could fulfil these requirements. Whether one is citizen or not is to be decided by the single authoritarian body, Council of State not the court. “Moreover, the wide powers assigned to a government-controlled ‘Central Body’ to decide on matters pertaining to citizenship mean that, in practice, the Rohingyas’ entitlement to citizenship will not be recognized.”[8]


Rohingyas were not issued identity cards since 1970s. In 1989, colour-coded Citizens Scrutiny Cards (CRCs) were introduced: pink cards for the full citizens, blue for associate citizens and green for naturalized citizens. Rohingya were not issued with any identity cards which are very essentials in all their activities. “In 1995, in response to UNHCR’s intensive advocacy efforts to document the Rohingyas, the Burmese authorities started issuing them with Temporary Registration Card (TRC), a white card, pursuant to the 1949 Residents of Burma Registration Act. The TRC does not mention the bearer’s place of birth and cannot be used to claim citizenship. The family list, which every family residing in Burma possesses, only records family members and their date of birth. It does not indicate the place of birth and therefore provides no official evidence of birth in Burma - and so perpetuate their statelessness.”[9] By jus sanguinis rule and any accepted citizenship concepts, the Rohingya have to be issued no documents other than full citizenship cards. As a matter of fact, such issuance of white cards, many believe, has an adverse affect on their status.


1982 Citizenship Law violates the terms of international law

1982 citizenship law violates several fundamental principles of international customary law standards, offends the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and leaves Rohingyas exposed to no legal protection of their rights. The law has perpetuated the Rohingya citizenship crisis making them object of persecution and of discrimination which render them a very difficult life as stateless people in their native country, where they have absolute rights to be on an equal footing with all other citizens. Such persecution and discrimination constitute them a total disregard of the most elementary humanitarian principles and was contrary to the purposes of the United Nations. Burma, as an UN member state has obligation to follow the UN resolutions. One of such resolution unanimously adopted at 48th plenary meeting of the General Assembly reads: “The General Assembly declares that it is in the higher interests of humanity to put an immediate end to religious and so-called racial persecution and discrimination, and calls on the Governments and responsible authorities to conform both to the letter and spirit of the Charter of the United Nations, and to take the most prompt and energetic steps to the end.”[10]

In addition, the 1982 Citizenship Law offends, inter alia, the following laws of humanity:
Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) which states that “everyone has the right to a nationality” and that “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality”. But the “citizenship law declared the Rohingyas as ‘non-nationals’ or ‘foreign residents’”[11] rendering them ‘stateless’ in their own homeland, where they have been living for generations with a long history.

It is conflicting government’s obligation to fulfil the rights of the child as stipulated by Article 7(1) of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 which states that the Child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right to a name, and to acquire a nationality. The Burmese government ratified this convention in 1991 and is obliged to grant citizenship to Rohingyas.
Article 24(3) of the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR) 1966 also states, “Every child has the right to acquire a nationality.” But most Rohingya children were denied registration and recently more than 40,000 Rohingya children have been blacklisted reasoning that their parents had not married with official permission. “Under Myanmar's 1982 citizenship law, Rohingya children - both registered and unregistered - are stateless and hence, face limited access to food and healthcare, leaving them susceptible to preventable diseases and malnutrition. Many are prevented from attending school and used for forced labour, contributing to a Rohingya illiteracy rate of 80 percent. More than 60 percent of children aged between five and 17 have never enrolled in school.[12]

Article 9 of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEADAW), 1979 states: (a) States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their nationality… (b) States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men with respect to the nationality of their children. Burmese government ratified this convention on 22 July 1997. But Rohingya women and their children have been deprived of their Burmese nationality forcing them to live in servitude as stateless within Burma and refugees beyond its border -- wondering from place to place -- with ultimate aim of destroying this minority community.
Article 5(d) (iii) of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 1965 which states that States Parties undertake to prohibit and to eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, colour, or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law…[and to] the enjoyment of …the right to nationality. But the Rohingyas are discriminated against and exterminated from their ancestral homeland on ground of ethnicity and religion. They have been subjected to ‘systematic racism’. 

The law promotes discrimination against Rohingya and arbitrary deprivation of their Burmese citizenship. The deprivation of one’s nationality is not only a serious violation of human rights but also an international crime. The law does not oblige the state to protect stateless persons (i.e. victims of a serious human rights violation), thus largely ignoring state’s ‘obligation to respect the right to nationality’.

The law continues to create outflows of refugees, which overburden other countries posing threats to peace and tranquillity within the region. An estimated 1.5 million Rohingya disporas are in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, UAE, KSA, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, USA, UK, Republic of Ireland Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan etc. The Rohingya refugee issue with their boat people crisis has become a regional problem with international dimension.

In his report to the United Nations Prof. Yokota states: “The 1982 Citizenship Law should be revised or amended to abolish its over burdensome requirements for citizens in a manner which has discriminatory effects on racial or ethnic minorities particularly the Rakhine (Arakan) Muslims. It should be brought in line with the principles embodied in the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness of 30 august 1961.”

Citizenship concepts in Burma and the Rohingyas


The Nu-Attlee Agreement (Treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom and the Provincial Government of Burma, 1947) was very important as to the determination of the nationality status of the peoples and races in Burma. Article 3 of the Agreement states:

“Any person who at the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty is, by virtue of the Constitution of the Union of Burma, a citizen thereof and who is, or by virtue of a subsequent election is deemed to be, also a British subject, may make a declaration of alienage in the manner prescribed by the law of the Union, and thereupon shall cease to be a citizen of the Union.”

The Section 10 of the 1947 Constitution of the Union of Burma states “there shall be but only one citizenship though out the Union; that is to say, there shall be no citizenship of the unit as distinct from the citizenship of the Union.”

Citizens, as defined by the 1947 Constitution, are persons who belong to an "indigenous race", have a grandparent from an "indigenous race", are children of citizens, or lived in British Burma prior to 1942. Under this law, citizens are required to obtain a National Registration Card (NRC), while non-citizens are given a Foreign Registration Certificate (FRC). Citizens whose parents hold FRCs are not allowed to run for public office.

Who are indigenous races was defined in Article 3 (1) of the Burma Citizenship Law 1948, which states: “ For the purposes of section 11 of the Constitution the expression any of the indigenous races of Burma shall mean the Arakanese, Burmese, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Kayah, Mon or Shan race and such racial group as has settled in any of the territories included within the Union as their permanent home from a period anterior to 1823 A. D. (1185 B.E.). These two categories of people and those descended from them are automatic citizens. They did not require applying to court for naturalization. Rohingya are for all intent and purposes Arakanese and they are also a racial group who had settled in Arakan/Union of Burma as their permanent home from a period anterior to 1823 A. D. (1185 B.E.).

Therefore, the parliamentary government (1948-1962) had officially declared Rohingya as one of the indigenous ethnic groups of Burma. The declaration reads: “The people living in Maungdaw and Buthidaung regions are our national brethren. They are called Rohingya. They are on the same par in status of nationality with Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Mon, Rakhine and Shan. They are one of the ethnic races of Burma.”[13]

But Article 3 of the 1982 Burma Citizenship Law defines indigenous ethnic groups (Taing-Yin-Tha) stating “Nationals such as the Kachin, Karen, Chin, Burma, Mon, Rakhine or Shan and ethnic groups as have settled in any of the territories included within the States as their permanent home from a period anterior to 1185 B.E., 1823 A.D” are Burma citizens. Here the word ‘Rakhine’ replaced the word ‘Arakanese’ and is designedly attributed to the Buddhist Arakanese at the exclusion of the Muslim Rohingya Arakanese.

Unlike 1947 Constitution and 1948 Citizenship Law, 1982 Citizenship Law established three-tired system of citizenship (full, associate and naturalized), which is actually more a question of categorisation and discrimination, and is an instrument of oppression against Rohingyas and so-called non-indigenous racial groups. The category of associate citizenship tends to create high class citizens and low class citizens within a nation. In conformity with the generally accepted citizenship concept, associate citizenship should be abolished. All citizens whether full citizens or naturalized citizens should be constitutionally treated as equal in dignity and rights. No special privileges should be granted to any individuals or groups on grounds of ethnicity and religion.

Article 44( c) states an applicant for naturalized citizenship shall have “to be able to speak well one of the national languages.” This clauses pose very much oppressive tool towards anyone to denationalize the marginalized groups like Rohingya and to generate a lot of IDPs and refugees and it should be permanently deleted. Burma is an ethnically diverse country. There are people particularly those living in remote areas or isolated places of the country have no knowledge of Burmese and are unable to speak well one of the so-called indigenous languages. In the case of Hasan Ali and Meher Ali[14] their Lordships of the Supreme Court observed: “Today in various parts of Burma there are people who, because of their origin and isolated way of life, are totally unlike the Burmese in appearance or speak of events which has occurred outside the limits of their habitation, They are nevertheless statutory citizens under the Union Citizenship Act (1948)….Thus mere race or appearance of a person or whether he has a knowledge of language of the Union is not the test as to whether he is a citizen of the Union.”

Article 71 of the 1982 law states “Organisations conferred with authority under this law shall give no reasons in matters carried out under this law”. It is not at all compatible with democracy and human rights. It should be scrapped for good. Every action should be answerable to law and constitution.

Rohingya were never legally treated as aliens

Rohingyas were not subjected to any laws related to Registration of Foreigners before or after Burma’s independence such as the Foreigner Act (Indian Act III, 1846), the Registration of Foreigners Act (Burma Act VII, 1940) and the Registration of Foreigners Rules, 1948. During colonial administration Rohingya representatives were elected from North Arakan as Burmese nationals from national quotas. In 1946, as an indigenous people, General Aung San assured full rights and privileges to Muslim Rohingya Arakanese saying “I give (offer) you a blank cheque. We will live together and die together. Demand what you want. I will do my best to fulfil them. If native people are divided, it will be difficult to achieve independence for Burma.[15]

Rohingya exercised the right of franchise (the right of citizenship and the right to vote) in all elections held in Burma from British colonial rule up to the present such as, 91 Department Administration election (1936), Aung San’s Constituent Assembly election (1947), all elections during parliamentary rule (1952, 1956, 1960), Ne Win’s BSPP (Burma Socialist Programme Party) constitutional referendum and election (1974) and SLORC military multiparty election (1990), military SPDC’s constitutional referendum (2008) and its multi-party election (2010).

In post independence, during parliamentary rule, the Burmese government issued two kinds of Identity Cards: -- National Registration Cards (NRCs) to all Burmese residents and Foreigner’s Registration Certificates (FRCs) to all registered foreigners. As a matter of fact, as there was no citizenship certificate/card then, the NRC was the only ID generally used as a proof of one’s citizenship in Burma. NRC was first issued in 1952 starting from Maungdaw Township, where 96% population, at that time, was Rohingya. These NRCs are the same IDs issued to Rakhine and all other ethnic groups and citizens in the country. Under state programme, the immigration and national registration teams went round the villages, checked the family lists and took photographs of the inhabitants for the purpose of issuing NRCs. It was a bona fide document that allowed one to carry on all his national activities, without let or hindrance: -- to possess moveable and immovable or landed properties, pursue education, including higher studies and professional courses in the country’s seats of learning, right to work and public services, including armed forces, and to obtain Burmese passport for travelling abroad, including pilgrimage to Holy Makkah. Like all other NRC holders the Rohingya enjoyed all basic rights and privileges although serious discrimination existed since 1962 military takeover.

What citizenship status do the Rohingya have in Burma?

The Rohingya are sons of the soil of Arakan/Burma cannot be overruled. Yet the government with xenophobes are denying Rohingya’s existence in Burma. They used to say that “there were no people existed in Burma by the name of Rohingya; the word Rohingya was not in the history, the word Rohingya was never heard of… etc.etc”. It is a blatant lie and is a shame because the critics know that they are lying perfidiously. With hatred against this people, they may instead say that “there was Rohingya, recognized by the Burmese parliamentary government as an ethnic group on par with other ethnic nationalities of the country; but now we reject them to be a part of us simply because we don’t like them for their physical feature, language, culture and religion.” They are blind to see and are ostriches to face reality and recognise the truth. Following are some of the realities:

1. The word ‘Rohingya’ was not coined but a historical name for the Muslim Arakanese. There is still Muslim village in Akayab (Sittwe) city by the name of Rohingya para. The word was conspicuous in various annals and is in the pages of history. “It can be asserted, however, that one claim of the Buddhist school in Rakhaing historiography, that Rohingya was an invention of the colonial period, is contradicted by the evidence.”[16]

2. Rohingyas were an integral part of the Mrauk U Empire before Burman occupation of it in 1784. They were kingmakers who virtually ruled Arakan with sublime civilization.

3. During British colonial period part of their traditional homeland was recognized as ‘Muslim Area of North Arakan’.

4. In 1946, Genreal Aung San assured them rights and freedom on par with other people of the country as natives of Arakan as well as one of the indigenous nationalities of Burma.

5. Under Article 3 of the Aung San-Attlee Treaty (1947) and the First Schedule to the Burma Independence Act 1947, the Rohingya are citizens of the Union of Burma. They are also one of the indigenous races of the country under Section 11 (1) (II) and (III) of the 1947 Constitution.

6. The parliamentary government (1948-1962) had recognized ‘Rohingya’ as one of the indigenous ethnic nationalities of Burma.

7. Giving special significance on the indigenous status of Rohingya, the former first Pesident of Burma Sao Shwe Theik stated, “Muslims of Arakan certainly belong to one of the indigenous races of Burma. If they do not belong to the indigenous races, we also cannot be taken as indigenous races.”[17]

8. Rohingya were never legally treated as foreigners by the British colonial administration and all governments that ruled Burma from independence in 1948, in various shape and manifestation. They duly exercised the right of franchise in all elections held in Burma and voted their representatives to legislative bodies or parliaments and various levels of administrative councils.

9. There were Rohingya MPs. Minister, parliamentary secretaries, professionals, doctors, engineers, lawyers, academics, civil and military officers, and others who run for public office. It is noteworthy that citizens whose parents hold FRCs are not allowed to run for public office.

The above are some of the many facts which bear witness that Rohingyas are an integral part of Burma’s society, and are bona fide citizens like any other recognized ethnic groups or national races of the country. Rohingya issue is not a question of ‘illegal immigration’ that the government with the vested interests is pretending and trying to hoodwink the international opinion to justify Rohingya persecution. It is a case of intolerance deeply entrenched in ‘systematic racism’ and preoccupation of the ‘Muslim phobia’. The only solution for their due accommodation in the family of the Union of Burma solely rests on the will of the ruling government.

Last not least, arbitrary deprivation of Rohingya’s citizenship is an international crime. Nonetheless, the Rohingya problem is first and foremost to be resolved within Burma that requires effective international pressure. Again in the face of the exhaustion of all domestic remedies the international community is the only hope for the restoration of their citizenship with collective rights. It will be sagacity on the part of the ruling government to response to the outcry of Rohingya and international reaction without delay.


[1] Thant Myint-U , “ The River of Lost Footsteps”, Mackays of Chatham, plc, 2008, p.73.

[2] Ba Shin, “Coming of Islam to Burma 1700 AD”, a research paper presented at Azad Bhavan, New Delhi in 1961, p.4.
[3] Martin Smith, “The Muslim “Rohingyas” of Burma, Draft for Consultation at Conference of Burma Centrum Nederland, !! December 1995, p. 5.
[4] Chris Lewa, “North Arakan: An open prison for the Rohingya in Burma”, April, 15, 2009
[5] Speech by General Ne Win on 8 October 1982, provided in the Working People’s Daily, 9 October 1982.
[6] Abdur Razzaq Mahfuzul Haque, “A Tale of Refugees: Rohingyas in Bangladesh”, published by Centre for Human Rights, 1995, p.52.
[7] Chris Lewa, “North Arakan: An open prison for the Rohingya in Burma”, April, 15, 2009.
[8] Ibid.

[9] Chris Lewa, “North Arakan: An open prison for the Rohingya in Burma”, April, 15, 2009.

[10] General Assembly resolution 103(1) of 19 November 1946.

[11] The Times of India, “ Delhi plays reluctant host to Myanmar’s nowhere people”, Nandita Sengupta, May 26, 2012.

[12] IRIN news, “In Brief: 40,000 Rohingya Children in Myanmar Unregistered”, Bangkok, 19 January 2012

[13] Radio speech by Prime Minister U Nu, 25 September 1954 at 8:00 PM

Public speech by Prime Minister U Nu and Defence Minister U Ba Swe at Maungdaw and Buthidaung respectively on 3& 4 November 1959.
[14] Criminal Miscellaneous applications No. 155 and 156 of 1959 of the Supreme Court
[15] Prof. Dr. Aung Zaw, “Tineyin Muslims Sapyusasu Poggu-kyawmya-2” (Indigenous gazetted Muslim elite-2), (in Burmese), 20009, p.188.

[16] Dr. Michael W. Charney, Buddhism in Arakan: Theory and Historiography of the religious Basis of the Ethnonym” Forgotten Kingdom of Arakan Workshop, 23-24 November 2005, Bangkok, p.15.

[17] “The Rohingyas: Bengali Muslims or Arakan Muslim”, Euro Burma Office (EBO) Briefing Paper No.2, 2009. In Dr. San Oo Aung http://sannaung .wordpress.com 22 January 2008.

BROUK has received information from sources from Arakan that police and security forces are continuing to make mass arrests in Burma, and that Rohingya people are being tortured and killed in the process of these arrests. Last night a joint force of police, Lun-Htin (Security Forces), Sa-Ra-Pha (State Affairs Security), and military forces raided Maung Nir Village and ward 2 of Maungdaw Daw. They tightly encircled the entire village and the combined forces entered every house in search of Rohingya Muslims. During the raid the joint forces arrested at least 100 Rohingya’s. 3 Rohingya’s are reported killed and 8 wounded while they were tried to escape. The dead bodies and wounded people were taken away with the security forces trucks. We still do not know where the people were taken.

According our sources in Arakan , the joint forces ( in 10 Trucks) have also surrounded Kiladang village (Maungdaw South ), Udong Village and Myo Thu Gyi Village( Maungdaw) in the afternoon of 4th July. The villagers are afraid that the forces will raid their village tonight (Burmese time).In Sittwe, one Rohingya house was burned down in Bu May village yesterday. One Rohingya girl from (Nazeer Village Ward 5, Sittwe) was raped and tortured by three members of military forces (232-Batallion).

BROUK president Tun Khin said “During the state-sponsored violence many Rohingya were killed by police and security forces. According to people from detention camps near Sittwe, at least 10 Rohingyas are dying everyday because of lack of food, shelter and medicine. The Rohingya can’t go to the any other places till today as there is no protection for Rohingyas. Thein Sein’s regime is not protecting Rohingya, and instead arresting and killing the Rohingyas without any reason. It is time to act for international community to protect Rohingyas. Pressure must be applied on Thein Sein to stop the attacks and stop the arrests. International monitors must be allowed into the area, humanitarian agencies and must have free and unrestricted to access and assist all displaced people.” For more information, Please contact:

BURMESE ROHINGYA ORGANISATION UK (BROUK)

အာဏာဟာ ေသနတ္ေျပာင္းဝက သာလာျပီး အနုိဳင္ရသူေတြက (တရားဝင္) သမုိင္းေရးေနတဲ႕ကာလမွာ ကိုယ္ဖဲကိုယ္ခ်ဳိး ကိုယ့္ဥပေဒ ကုိယ္ထုတ္ထားတဲ႕အစုိးရတရပ္ ဆုိသူေတြက ရခုိင္ျပသနာကုိ သူတုိ႕ အၾကပ္အတည္းေတြ အတြက္ ထြက္ေပါက္တခု ဖန္တီး လုိက္ တယ္လုိ႕ ဆုိရမွာပါ၊၊ ရခုိင္ျပည္နယ္ကဘဂၤါလီနဲ႕ရခုိင္ျပ သနာဟာ အစုိးရ မဖန္တီးဘဲျဖစ္လာနုဳိင္စရာ မရွိေပ၊၊ ဘာေၾကာင္႕ဒီလုိေျပာနုိဳင္သနည္း၊၊ အစုိးရဟာကခ်င္စစ္ပြဲေတြေၾကာင္႕မ်က္နွာပ်က္ေနရခ်ိန္ အပစ္ရပ္ထား တဲ႕ တုိင္းရင္းသားေတြကလဲ ယုံၾကည္မွဳနည္းေန ခ်ိန္ ျပည္တြင္းက အလုပ္ သမား ဆနၵျပမွဳက လုပ္အားခေတာင္းတဲ႕ျပသနာ ဖေယာင္းတုိင္ထြန္းျပီး လွ်ပ္စစ္မီးေတင္းတဲ့ၿပသနာ။ လယ္သိမ္းခံရလို့ လယ္သမားေတြနဲ့ ေခတ္ပ်က္သူေဌးေတြၾကား ၿပသနာေတြ ကသူတို့နဲ့တိုက္ရိုက္ သက္ဆိုင္ေနတဲ့ အရာေတြၿဖစ္ေနပါတယ္။ တဖက္မွာလည္း ဒီမိုကေရစီကို အေၾကာင္း ၿပဳၿပီး လြတ္လပ္စြာေၿပာဆိုခြင့္၊စုေဝးခြင့္၊ထုတ္ေဝခြင့္ေတြ ပြင့္လင္းလာၿပီဆိုတာကို ေတာင္းဆိုသံ က်ယ္ေလာင္ လာတဲ့ကာလမွာတသက္လံုးတေသြးတသံထိမ္းသိမ္းလာခဲ့တဲ့လူ႔အခြင့္အေရးခ်ဳိးေဖါက္မွဳၾကီးကို ေခါင္းၿပဴထြက္မလာဘိုးအတြက္ သတိဆိုတဲ့ခ်ြန္းနဲ့ အုပ္ေနခဲ့ပါတယ္။


Document 1

Muslims in Myebon township are mixed of Rakhine muslim, Kaman and Rohingya and population make up around 700 people that size is just about 1% of total Rakhine population in Myebon. Their houses are situated in the Khataktin village of Taungbo Quarter.

Their houses were rounded up by Rakhine people who came from different areas during the time of violences occurred in Sittwe. However, their neighbour who have been lived together for decades are not agreed with any attacks upon muslims and prevented as much as they can. Due to such disputations, military were arrived on time and protected them.

One of their neighbour respected Rakhine leader explained outsider Rakhines those came to attacks muslims that these muslims people have been living with them for generations without any problems and they speak only Rakhine language either. They have already asked to pave away to out from Myebon, they will abandon everything if they could. But these muslim people have no place to escape. So, they would be died here but not alone and their houses within Rakhine village. Incase these few houses of muslims were torched, most of Rakhine houses beside them will be burnt down.

But some Rakhines set fire a muslim house which was only one in central area (Alay Baine) that caused 20 of Rakhine houses inlcuding that muslim house were burnt down since the beginning of violence.

Up to yesterday 2nd July, Rakhines those came from different regions are awaited to attack therefore military forcing are still protecting muslim. Despite native Rakhine leaders ask outsider Rakhines who came to attack to be leave, they said they will not leave unless at least cutting off of 30 muslim heads.

Based on various sources we received, it come to understand that the military forces deployed in Myebon, Kyauktaw and Sittwe are seem as not much abusive and somehow they are protecting muslims. They are much different from those deployed in Maungdaw, Rathedaung and Buthidaung townships.

Breaking news from MaungDaw and Sittwe
3/7/2012

On Monday in daylight, police, lone Htein, Nasaka forces routinely invaded into the Muslims Rohingyas villages; Maung Ni village, Ali village and Bomu Block. Soon they entered into the houses, they separated the elderly women, young ladies, and their children; elderly ones were absurdly beaten and some are still unconscious; young ones were first tortured and raped; and their children were being thrown away into the open raining spaces. Authorities are looting, damaging, destroying the belongings of Muslims Rohingyas as per their wishes in free hands. Mr. Bashir,68 years, and Mr.YasirHussein(f) Mohamed

Akbar,35 years from Block (5) were arrested and they are now in police custody. A man namely Putu, a brother of Than Tun who has been put in jail for 13 years since 2004, was bullied by the police to pay 5 million kyats as an extortion money, as per source. As more, the Mosque of Narundaung and Baguna village from Maung Daw Township were locked and ordered not to pray at all, in accord the villagers.

Sittwe,

A crowd of young girls, from Tantawli village, Sittwe Township, went for search of food desperately to Thetkaybyin village in which most are Muslim Rohingyas, a girl crowd was stopped not to enter into the village by the military on the way, snatching a beautiful girl by one of military unit to rape. Hamida, 20 years, daughter of Abdul Suvan was collectively raped by the three members of military unit which has been in charge for security. Having seen the scene by a fellow teenager, he hurriedly informed the case to the elderly people of the Thatkaypyin village; the in charge of the unit is on the process to take action of the rape committed by the soldiers. Though the situation has been calm a bit, the Rakhine authorities from Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung are randomly arresting, torturing the innocent civilians and some were being released after taking money and some were put in Buthidaung Jail without any reason. Muslims Rohingyas feel that restoration of law and order are not prevailed by the authorities, instead, the peace and stabilities of the populace have been destabilized by the police, Nasaka and Paramilitary forces.
.....................................

Other news links

1) Related photos (Rakhines enjoyed the sign of Nazi) at here

2) The sounds of gun-fires covered at- here

3) RFA video-  here

(Nazi and Fishing villages of Sittwe burning were covered in this video but RFA reporter (Kyaw Kyaw) misinformed that setting fires of Rohingya houses were by Rohingya themselves.)

4) Rohingya escaping and praying during the attacks in betweeen Aungmingala and Nazi villages of Sittwe- here

5) Government troops, ethnic Rakhine Buddhists go on a rampage ~ here


1) Bangladesh turns away Muslims fleeing Myanmar (8 boats- more than 300 Rohingyans on 11 June) Here

(Note: 300 Rohingyans mostly women and children those arrived by ten boats in Bangladesh shore are from Sittwe/Akyab city. They and other sources from Sittwe confirm that they were total about 30 boats departed from Sittwe-beach.) During they crossed the middle of the sea, the Burmese navy-ships followed to captured them and firing launchers to some. They saw some boats captured and some boats drowning.)

2) Some of Rohingya refugees land on Bangladesh soil (believe to be another 8 boats)
here

3) Bangladeshi officials on Monday intercepted an additional 128 Rohingya refugees-
here

4) Helicopters Fire on Rohingya Refugees- click here
(Helicopters open fire in the sea killed 3 of 6 boats load of Rohingya refugees fleeing sectarian violence from Sittwe.)

5) Over 100 suspected immigrants arrested on Gwa Island
click here

( A group of 130 Rohingya refugees those fled sectarian attacks were arrested in an island of Gwa township bordering with Irrawaddy Delta.)

Source : Habib (KL)

Source : ERT

According to Abu Ahmad, more than 1,000 houses were burned by unscrupulous ethnic Rohingya irresponsible blindly and violently murdered hundreds of people. Residents who want to make a complaint to the police in Myanmar even arrested and tortured. "The bottom line of the Rohingya people living in the midst of fear there.

Source : Maung Sein (Medan)

 

Government troops, ethnic Rakhine Buddhists go on a rampage

Burmese authorities have resumed a brutal crackdown on Rohingya minorities throughout Arakhan province, according to terrified sources in the villages who contacted Asia Sentinel, saying they are burning homes, beating women and children and arresting Rohingya males as the majority ethnic Rakhine go on a rampage, destroying and confiscating property.

The UN intervention is seemingly not effective,” said an exiled leader of the Paris-based National Democratic Party for Human Rights.

Scores of people are said to have died so far in the violence, which is being compounded by refusal to allow Rohingya access to relief supplies. At least four Rohingya in Sangadaung village were said to have died from starvation and exposure to the elements.

The reports are difficult to corroborate independently. The government has tightened press controls on reporting from the region which borders the Andaman Sea in western Burma, spurring the press freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders to issue a statement saying the government is continuing to restrict press freedom despite recent promises to end censorship.

“Until now, the government has been relaxing its abusive control of the media but, as it does not know how to assist the media in the new, rapidly emerging political and economic environment, it has reacted in an instinctive manner to what it regards as the excessive liberties the media are taking and has initiated at least three prosecutions since the start of the year,” the organization said on its website Friday.

The Rohingya, who are minority Muslims whose centuries-old origin is in India and Bangladesh, are continuing to face attacks and abuses by both authorities and the ethnic Rakhine majority in the province, the villagers say. Although Myanmar President Thein Sein has been attempting to promote ceasefires between government forces and ethnic minorities, it appears to have had little effect in the province.

Adding to the misery, the region has been inundated by heavy rains and flooding. Two homeless villagers were said to have drowned Friday in flooding of the Kaladan River. In all, scores of people have reportedly been killed on both sides since the violence began in early June. The violence abated in mid-June but has since resumed, the Rohingya say.

The Rohingya, who number about 1 million people in the Buddhist-majority Burmese country of about 55 million, have been persecuted for decades, both in Burma and in Bangladesh. They are a desperately poor people, even in a desperately poor country with per capita gross domestic product by purchasing power parity of only US$1,300 in 2011. In 1982 the then-dictator, Ne Win, declared them stateless.

As early as 1991, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights reported that thousands of Rohingya were fleeing to Bangladesh to escape alleged persecution by authorities in Rangoon, now known as Yangon. However, they are hardly more welcome in Bangladesh despite their Muslim kinship, as the Bangladeshis regard them as interlopers in an overcrowded and poor rural country and have periodically forced them over the border. In 1993, 30,000 refugees were reported by the UNHCR to have fled Bangladeshi camps to avoid repatriation to Burma.

They are seemingly unwanted everywhere although commendably Malaysia has taken in refugees. A year ago, it was discovered that Thai military officials were towing boatloads of refugees away from the Thai coast to leave them at the mercy of the elements.

Terrified villagers are managing to get news of the scale of violence out to exile groups outside the country, the source said. Yesterday, hundreds of military forces were reported to have descended on one village, taking away about 20 villagers and going from house to house, beating women and children and destroying virtually all household items, breaking dishes and looting gold and cash money. The source said that except for side walls of the flimsy structures, everything had been damaged “by stamping and pounding with guns.”

The violence, never very far from the surface, flared out of control in early June when a 27 year old Buddhist woman was raped and murdered, allegedly by Muslims. That triggered a savage retaliation, with a mob reportedly dragging 10 Muslims off a bus and murdering them. An estimated 1,500 houses have been burned down on both sides since the current round of unrest began, according to relief agencies.

Some 172 under-age Rohingya were detained in a military camp on Friday, the exile sources reported, after being tortured by Rakhine. Thirty of the group were removed and reportedly taken to an unknown location. One was said to have been killed and returned to his village, where he was buried. That afternoon, Rakhine were said to have attacked the home of a Rohingya leader in the Ambala area and looted it of goods and money as police and paramilitary forces looked on, the sources said.

Six international and local staff of international NGOs have been reported arrested including aid workers from the World Health Organization and Artsen Zonder Grenzen, the Dutch version of Medicins Sans Frontiers although Asia Sentinel has been unable to verify that.

On Friday, according to the reports, a 700 year-old mosque, the Myoatma Jarmae Mosque, was destroyed by ethnic Rakhine mobs. By the time military forces arrived after being informed of the violence, the structure’s walls and veranda had already been destroyed. Rohingya shops in the town of Kyauktaw were said to have been seized and looted Thursday by municipal authorities.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, established in Burma after the devastation of Tropical Storm Nargis in May 2008, which killed as many as 100,000 people, reported that the United Nations World Food Program has provided 725 tonnes of food commodities such as rice, pulses, oil and salt to more than 92,000 affected people in the townships of Sittwe, Pauktaw, Maungdaw, Rahtedaung and Buthidaung. However, refugees charge, the aid supplies are only being delivered to Rakhine families and deliveries have not been made to homeless Rohingya.

Written by Our Correspondent , Asia Sentinel

Photo: SIDQ

The ethnic cleansing and human rights atrocities against the Rohingya in Burma over the past 3 weeks, we urge the Bangladesh government to open its borders to provide refuge and shelter for the stateless Rohingya. They have faced violence and persecution on their own home soil and have been told they are not citizens of Burma because of their ethnicity and because they choose Islam as their religion. Bangladesh has been sending back hundreds of refugees who are escaping the violence and we are urging the Government to open its borders.

The Demonstration organized by Restless Beings and BROUK today at Bangladesh Embassy at 28 Queens Gate, London SW7 5JA

Latest news report from the region : here

Stop those vile practices of RNDP and other Rakhines immediately. 

Provide adequate domestic protection to the Rohingyas without delay. 

Stop rape, arbitrary arrest, extortion and ransom, theft, looting and damaging of Rohingya’s properties by army, Lon Htin, Nasaka, Rakhine militia or police at once. 

Release forthwith all Rohingyas arrested under false and concocted charges. 

Stop seizure of Rohingyas’ shop, properties, IDs and documents and return to the owners all that have been confiscated. 

Stop forced labour of the traumatised Rohingyas to build houses for the Rakhines.
Ensure complete freedom of religion, including Friday congregational prayers.


Request to UN and international community:

Request U.N, international community, OIC, EU, ASEAN, USA, UK and Burma’s neighbours to do away with the policy of apartheid against the Rohingyas in Burma.
Request for independent news media to monitor the actual situation in Arakan.
To make independent and impartial investigation into the violence in Arakan.
To extend necessary humanitarian assistance to the victims and displaced people.

Request to Bangladesh Government:

1. To consider providing temporary shelter and protection to the Rohingya refugees fleeing violence and persecution in Burma on humanitarian ground.

2. To try for a permanent solution of the ‘Rohingya problem’ in cooperation with OIC and international community.


Signatories:


Arakan Rohingya National organisation (ARNO),
Burmese Rohingya Association Japan (BRAJ)
Burmese Rohingya Association Deutschland (BRAD)
Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT)
Burmese Rohingya Community in Australia (BRCA)
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK)
National Democratic Party for Human Rights (In Exile)
Rohingya Community in Norway (RCN)
Rohingya League for Democracy (Burma) (RLDB)



For more information, please contact:



Aman Ullah +880-15584 86910
U Hla Aung +33 - 629 258 793
U Tun Khin +44- 788 871 4866

Download here
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1 June, about 17:30pm: Hundred of military forces rounded-up the Nurula village and took away about 20 villagers. During the operation, the military entered house to house and damaged every household tolls and dishes and then looted golds and cash, beaten women and kids, The source said that except from side walls everything had been damaged by stamping and pounding with guns.

30 June, Kaladan Press report : One of Na-Sa-Ka forces took away Rohingyans on 16 June, Aklas-22 s/o Sayed Ahmed from Moti Fara of Kawar Bill village, was found dead in the filed near the Zambana out-post Nasaka camp on 28 June.

30 June: Some of about 20 Rohingya villagers of Mingalagyi (Feirumfur) village were released by payment one to three millions Kyat after brutally tortured a week in Na-Sa-Ka custody.

The authority also informed that there will be another raid on coming Friday.

Kyauktaw township

30 June, 10:00am: Four Rohingyans who went for fishing from Nidan village, were surrounded in the middle of Kaladan River by a group of Rakhines and picked them away. A member of Ethnic Rohingya Community-ERC based in Malaysia and who is also relative of the four victims confirmed today that they were not returned nor handed over to authority. The victims are identified as Shakir, Mabu, Ayub and son of Zyabul.

Rakhine people are subsequently entered into the Rohingya villages in the present of security forces and chanting to cleans the villages during night.

Sittwe township

Missing report of 4 June: A staff of a French NGO (Artsen Zonder Grenzen-AZG) and former political prisoner- Kyaw Hla Aung (B.A LLB), nominee MP of Rohingya party-NDPHR for Sittwe during 1990, was arrested from Ye Nwe Su (Derum fara) quarter with false charges since 4 June and taken to unknown. It is confirmed that now he is neither in the custody nor prison. But according to Yangon Press International's report the arrest was in the morning of 11 June.

His first term arrest was took placed in a few days before 1990 election in May therefore he was not became MP. He was released in the end of 1997 after serving eight years imprisonment.

Rathedaung Township 

Godaung village, NaungPinGyi village and AnaukPrin village from Rathedaung Township are under live threatening situation yet.

1 July 2012: According to local people information from the ground, the above said Muslims villages are still under lives threatening situation. Today, a military unit came to the villages and started harassing the people without any reason regardless of elderly people, pregnant women, and sick villagers and at last children. Totally helpless Muslims people from the Rathedaung Township have been under the situation of totally overall social devastation for nearly two weeks now and the villagers are absolutely hopeless for their survival.
We frustrated people from these villagers have an earnest request to save our lives from this dangerous state’s sponsored mass killing mechanism at this under dark hour operation.

Please help save us our lives before falling any more misfortune by the means of international diplomacy.

____________________________________________________________

Maungdaw Township:


Aklas (22), son of Sayed Ahmed, hailed from Moti Para of Kawar Bill village tract under the Nasaka area No (6), was picked up on June 16 by Nasaka while he was going to another village. He was brought to Zambana out-post Nasaka camp where he was killed. The dead body was found on the field by the villagers on June 28 and was brought to Maungdaw hospital for autopsy. However, on June 29, the dead body was returned to his parents and buried in his village grave yard, according to villagers.

On June 23, six Rohingya villagers from Mongla Gyi of Maungdaw Township were arrested by the Nasaka area No. 6. After arrest, three villagers were released and other three were brought to their Nasaka camp where Md. Noor (20), son of Bodiul Islam was killed in torture, it is learnt. The rest two villagers’ fate is not known.

Besides, another five villagers from Sarforddin village of Nasaka area Number (6) of Maungdaw Township were arrested by Nasaka on June 22 to 26.

They are identified as Osman (25), son of Fazal Ahmed, Yousuf (16), son of Noor Mohamed, Johar (17), son of Mohamed Siddik, Karim Ullah (18), son of Hamid Hussain, Ziaur Rahaman (18), son of Bodi Alam and another one named Habib Ullah (45), son of Nezam of Kyauk Pyin Seik village of Maungdaw Township.

Some Rakhine led by Than Maung Chey attacked Rohingyas in front of Boho Monastery where the security forces are stationed in Maungdaw on June 30. The Rakhine attacked with iron rot to 5 Rohingyas including one female with Rickshaw puller –injured head, backside, hand and legs.

Since, no media is allowed in the trouble zone, there is no way knowing how many villagers had been killed or detained exactly.

Why the latest upshot of ethnic raw nerves centering on a criminal act, but allowed to proliferate as a religious-ethnic reprisal by the majority community under military watch should be handled like “glass with care” approach?

Price of essentials, especially food items is going up alarmingly. Common people are in a very difficult situation. But, price of one thing has down, that is lives of Rohingya people. They are dying like flies on the roads in the hands of army and Nasaka.

Bangladesh has every right to address the problem bilaterally and it necessary internationally. But a hands-on role is missing, said a politician.
____________________________________________________________

No security for Rohingya in Maungdaw
 Sunday, 01 July 2012 15:34

Maungdaw, Arakan State: The Burmese authority –Nasaka, Hluntin, police and Army- are arresting, torturing and killing innocent Rohingyas without giving any reason in Maungdaw Township since June 8, said an elder from Maungdaw.

19 Rohingyas from Nurullah para of Maungdaw south arrested today by Nasaka personnel without any reason, but, after arresting, the Nasaka personnel asked the name of arrestee Rohingya and write down on their note book then said your name was on the list. The Nasaka asked huge money for release, said a villager from Nurullah village.

Shukur son of Sultan and Rashid son of Jalal from Sawmonapara of Myothu Gyi, Maungdaw were arrested today by Nasaka from three miles gate. The village admin officer said there will be more arrest from this village.The villagers are poor and daily labors, but the officer from three miles gate want money from this village with false allegation of so called list – the person who participant in the march for praying on June 8.

Nur Kabir from ward number 5 was beaten and become seriously injure by Hluntin and Rakhine at Maungdaw Cinema hall yesterday at the evening. When Rohingya from ward number 5 informed to army officer about the event, then the army officer with along Hluntin chief and police chief arrived to the spot and save the Rohingya –Kabir. The officers take actions against the Hluntin personnel. The resident from Maungdaw learned that the high ranking officers have no information about harassing the Rohingya community in the field.

Aung Kyaw Than, the police officer from Maungdaw, arrested Johar son of Azizul Haque –an owner of motor parts shop- on June 29 without any reason. The officer bought a battery for police van and told to send it to police station where he was locked up in the police custody. The next day, the police officer asked 5 million kyats for released.

The police officers –Aung Kyaw Than, Tin Aye, Htun Htun, Kyaw Aye and Then Tin from Maungdaw police station- are harassing and arresting Rohingya community while the officer met anywhere in the town and extorting money from Rohingya comminty


source : Internal & Habib (KL)

 Kuwait denounced on Sunday inhuman practices against Muslims in Myanmar, an official source of the Foreign Ministry said.

As a member state of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the State of Kuwait is keen to see Muslims worldwide living in better conditions, the source said.

The source quoted a recent OIC resolution calling on the government of Myanmar to put an end to internal displacement and forced migration of Muslims in Myanmar.

Kuwait is making contacts with other OIC member states for putting the Muslim body's resolution in force, urging the government of Myanmar to respect international legitimacy resolutions bearing on human rights. (end) fyf.mt KUNA 011853 Jul 12NNNN

Source: Kuwait News

ေက်ာင္းသားတပ္မေတာ္ (ABSDF) ၏ ရဲေဘာ္ေဟာင္းတစ္ဦး

Dr Mohammad Sayeedur Rahman Khan, Bangladesh's high commissioner to the UK, said that although he sympathised with the plight of the Rohingya refugees fleeing weeks of ethnic violence in north west Burma, they would continue to be sent back regardless.

On Monday, Channel 4 News revealed dramatic footage of dozens of refugees wailing uncontrollably as they were being sent back after reaching Bangladeshi shores.

One man being dragged back onto a boat after reaching the shore was heard saying "they'll kill me". The coastguard sending him back replied: "Allah will save you. Now go back."





Others who had managed to get inside the country described how their children and relatives had been burned alive in the violence sweeping through the Rakhine state.

"It's an unfortunate incident that's taken place in Bangladesh and the Rakhine state of Myanmar (Burma)," Mr Khan said. "Bangladesh expresses all its sympathy to those people being displaced from their own country."

But he added: "It's not possible on the part of the government of Bangladesh to accept further Rohingyas. Bangladesh is trying to improve its relationship with Myanmar. Myanmar is moving towards democracy, and we appreciate that.

"We want to improve our relationship with them further. We are in the process of repatriating 30,000 registered Rohingya. We believe we have done the right thing, because at the end, it's going to solve the problem instead of keeping it alive."Watch the Channel 4 

News report on Rohingya refugees fleeting ethnic violence in Burma

The United Nations estimates that around 90,000 people have been displaced by the recent violence in the Rakhine state. Ethnic Buddhists and the Muslim Rohingya blame each other for it.

The refugees fleeing Burma, who have not been identified for their protection, told Channel 4 News that helicopters, believed to be Burmese, had fired on boats carrying refugees which were behind theirs, causing them to burst into flames. The claims were denied by the Burmese authorities.

Mr Khan conceded that the Rakhine state is facing a crisis, but denied that many were refugees fleeing persecution, saying many were also economic migrants.

He added: "Bangladesh has its own problems. So we have to look at the greater interest of the country as well.

"We already have 400,000 to 500,000 Rohingyas. The government of Bangladesh has given law-enforcing authorities [orders] to check if there are elderly people or children or sick people, or those who need treatment, and these things have been provided by the government of Bangladesh."

Mr Khan also claimed that "many, many Rohingyas are creating many problems. Social, environmental." He said: "They have been linked with militant activities, terrorist activities. They're cutting down the forest and settling down there. There are many cases of crimes, and most of these are committed by Rohingyas."

source here

Dhaka, Jul 1 (bdnews24.com)—The President of Myanmar, General Thein Sein, has cancelled his scheduled July 15 visit to Bangladesh due to a state of emergency in his country, an official in Dhaka said.

"We have been informed of the postponement of the Myanmar President's scheduled visit to Bangladesh," Golam Sarwar, head of Southeast Asia desk at the foreign ministry, told bdnews24.com on Sunday.

Another ministry official, seeking anonymity, told bdnews24.com the emergency rule had been imposed in the reclusive country in the wake of recent ethnic violence and floods.

The official hinted President Thein visit might take place sometime after the Ramadan that starts in the third week of this month.

Over 50 people were killed when a riot between Buddhist Rakhains and Muslim Rohingyas took place at Myanmar's Rakhain state on Jun 8. Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel prevented Rohingyas fleeing the riot from entering Bangladesh.

Bangladesh, already burdened with around 500,000 Rohingya refugees, refused to accept new refugees despite calls by the United Nations and other human rights organisations.

The officials at the ministry said the two countries are likely to discuss execution of deals, trade, Rohingya issue, air transport and other issues during the visit of the Myanmar president.

A Foreign Secretary-level meeting between the two countries started on Sunday morning. Foreign Secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes led a nine-strong Bangladesh delegation while Myanmar's Deputy Foreign Minister U Mong Mint led the Myannmar delegation.

A joint press conference is scheduled in the afternoon.

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A foreign secretarial-level meeting between Bangladesh and Myanmar is underway on Sunday with repatriation of Rohingya refugee issue high on the agenda.

The foreign office consultation started around 9:30am at the Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister Maung Myint is leading a six-member delegation at the meeting while Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Mijarul Quayes is representing his country with a nine-member team.

The other issues which will be tabled in the meeting are cooperation in the areas of energy, agriculture, education, trade and tourism and establishment of direct road and air links between the two neighbouring countries.

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