Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada
October 29, 2012

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement regarding reports of clashes in Rakhine state in western Burma:

“I am deeply concerned by the latest outbreak of inter-communal violence in Rakhine state. We urge all parties to bring an immediate end to the violence. We also call on the authorities to protect the human rights and safety of all residents.

“The people of Rakhine state urgently need a sustainable long-term solution that respects the human rights of all, including religious minorities.

“Canada has welcomed the Burmese government’s commitment to resolving conflicts with ethnic groups in Burma, and we encourage further efforts to promote peace and reconciliation throughout the country. Canadian officials will continue to monitor the situation closely.”

Foreign Secretary William Hague calls for peace in Burma's Rakhine state, after the destruction of settlements occupied by Muslim Rohingyas following fierce fighting with Buddhists.

In a statement, Mr Hague said: "Our ambassador is in constant contact with the Burmese government.

"He spoke to the president’s office earlier today to express our grave concerns about recent developments and our readiness to assist at both a humanitarian and diplomatic level in the search for a sustainable solution to this long running issue."

It follows claims of intense fighting in the past week and satellite images from Human Rights Watch that show the widespread destruction of a predominantly Rohingya Muslim part of Kyaukpyu, one of several areas in Rakhine state.

This is where battles between Rohingyas and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists threaten to derail the country's fragile democratic transition.

Members of the Muslim Rohingya community say that more than 100 Rohingya were killed on Tuesday and 440 houses burnt by ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in a village called Yaing Thay, in the northern part of the state.

Local Rohingya have accused the police of participating in the violence and shooting members of their community. Speaking to Krishnan Guru-Murthy on Channel 4 News, Tun Khin from the Burmese Rohingya Oraganisation in the UK said the kiling amounts to "ethnic cleansing".

The allegations continue - community leaders claim 350 homes, two mosques and a madrassa were burnt in the village of Thayet Oat on 22 October and they say 200 Rohingya houses were burnt in a place called Aung Dine later that same day.

Although the claims have not been independently verified, if true the events would be the worst outbreak of violence since June when fighting left some 75,000 Rohingya and 5,000 Buddhists homeless.

Mr Hague said:

"The UK calls again on all parties to cease the violence and for the Burmese authorities to take all necessary measures to guarantee security in the region. We also call for supplies of humanitarian support to be able to reach all those who need it without delay.

"The UK is at the forefront of the international community's efforts to address the current crisis and to reach a sustainable settlement which respects the legitimate rights of all those who live in Rakhine.

"I have raised this issue with the Burmese foreign minister and continue to do so; we most recently discussed it when we met last month.

"I hope that we will soon see an end to this terrible violence and that peace will return to Rakhine state."

Sources Here:

Ethnic cleansing does not have to, by definition, emanate from a government.

However after nearly 50 years of military rule, the apparatus of the state is entrenched in the fabric of Burmese society and as the pogrom continues in Arakan state, the back story provides unnerving evidence that systematic official behavior has lead to the current crisis.

What has occurred in western Burma has been described as a sectarian conflict between two communities who simply hate each other. This prognosis is demonstrably false and a look at the situation in Arakan provides ample evidence that there is a systematic pattern, which in most cases would amount to crimes against humanity.

One element of this picture is the improbability of a ‘sectarian conflict’. Arakan state has a population of almost 4 million, making the Muslim or Rohingya population only about or less than quarter of the inhabitants, thus making a two-sided conflict highly illogical.

Further, the minority population has been controlled by the state to the extent that they are unable to travel between towns, renovate a mosque or even have a child or marry without a permit from the military.

The control of this population has long been perpetuated not just by uniformed military or Nasaka (border guard) personnel but also by quasi-civilian militias, as has been the case in much of the country. Indeed in Burma the ruling party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) grew out of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA).

This organisation had perhaps its most notorious hour in 2003, when it attacked Aung San Suu Kyi’s convoy in central Burma. The authorities naturally tried to portray it as a clash between two rival political groups. However, only one side, the National League for Democracy (NLD), suffered 70 deaths and only one side’s supporters were arrested – also the NLD.

In the wake of the Depayin massacre, the US embassy dispatched a cable back to Washington entitled: “MOSQUE RAZED, PARAMILITARIES TRAINED.”

In the cable, one of the militia’s discussed was, “the USDA-affiliated ‘Power Ranger’ militia” that was receiving “rudimentary riot-control and military training.” One of its other jobs was to hold up the Americans in case of an invasion, while the government was “training a paramilitary ‘Peoples Militia’ in Arakan state to assist in putting down any general uprising.”

“Rohingya Muslims specifically, suffer from an aggravated, systematic, institutionalised form of persecution”

According to the cable, “Local officials on July 22 (2003) reportedly tore down a mosque in Sittwe, 70 miles SE of the Bangladeshi border, and arrested seven Muslims, one of whom subsequently died in custody.”

The dispatch goes on to explain that the mosque was demolished because the worshippers “made unauthorized improvements to the structure, resulting in the decision by local authorities to tear down the whole building.”

The embassy concludes that, “We frequently hear stories of pro-SPDC ‘fake monks’ allegedly inciting violence against Muslims to deflect anti-regime ire.”

Dr Kyaw Yin Hlaing, who is now on the commission to investigate June’s violence in Arakan state, also notes this type of tactic being used. In 2008, he wrote in a US legal journal that:

“Before former intelligence chief General Khin Nyunt was dismissed and his intelligence agency disbanded, the junta could almost always uncover opposition groups that were planning to organise protests. In 1997, for instance, the junta became aware of monks’ plans to protest a regional commander’s improper renovation of a famous Buddha statue in Mandalay. Before the monks could launch the protest, a rumour emerged that a Buddhist woman had been raped by a Muslim businessman. The government diverted their attention from the regional commander to the Muslim businessman, eventually causing an anti-Muslim riot.”

He concludes that: “intelligence agents have often instigated anti-Muslim riots in order to prevent angry monks from engaging in anti-government activities.”

Given the uncanny resemblance of this case and the details surrounding late May’s ‘spark incident’, one must ask questions about the current government and the legitimacy of the reform process.

Khin Nyunt was not only adept at preventing anti-government actions, he was also good at neutralising ethnic insurgent groups and casually referred to the entire nation of India as “kalars” – a pejorative term used in Burma to describe Muslims and individuals of South Asian descent.

Government policy then was described as “pervasive and sometimes aggressive religious discrimination that favours Burma’s Buddhist majority.”

While the US embassy noted in a cable in 2005 that the UNHCR head at the time Jean-François Durieux described “the situation in northern Arakan as ‘shocking,’ with the GOB [government of Burma] in constant denial of the true situation. Although Muslims have some religious freedom in Rangoon, the GOB has a policy of ‘complete repression’ of Rohingyas in northern Arakan. He noted that Buddhist temples are ‘springing up everywhere,’ although he estimates the Buddhist population as only one percent of the population [in northern Arakan].”

If there is any doubt that there is systematic repression against the population, the US embassy noted that, “The military has effectively sealed the Rohingyas off from the world and keeps them at the bare subsistence level – it is an internment camp.” They further correctly forecasted that, “We should not assume that any future democratic government will accord these people their basic human rights.”

Needless to say however despite this and the accumulated evidence, the US government has lifted punitive measures against the government.

The lack of civil rights is overshadowed moreover by the basic human indicators that have been thrust on the population by the government, as the US embassy noted: “Infant mortality is four times the national average (71 per 1000 births); 64% of children under five are chronically malnourished and stunted growth is common.” Infant mortality then is roughly equivalent to that of Ethiopia, which is chronically affected by drought, and 80% of the population is illiterate with one teacher for every 79 students.

If this were not systematic, the discrepancies with other regions of the country would not be so severe. The government has been more than able to prevent freedom of movement for the roughly 850,000 Rohingya still in existence in the area, it would then seem that with one of the largest armed forces in Asia controlling the movement of mobs would be easy.

According to jurist Guy Horton writing in 2005, “the Rohingya Muslims specifically, suffer from an aggravated, systematic, institutionalised form of persecution designed to destroy them through exclusion, rather than assimilation.”

Whilst according to the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide:

“…any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

Given that Thein Sein has attempted to off load the entire population onto the UNHCR, it is evident that he too is in favour of removing the population. With the well-documented government abuses against the population, there is not much of a case to suggest that what is occurring now in Arakan state is anything less than genocide.

-The opinions and views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect DVB’s editorial policy.

JOINT PRESS STATEMENT

People collect pieces of metal from the rubble of a neighborhood in Pauktaw township in Rakhine State, Myanmar that was burned in recent violence October 27, 2012 (Soe Zeya Tun/Courtesy Reuters).

Joshua Kurlantzick
Council on Foreign Relations

Dozens have died and whole neighbourhoods have been razed in clashes that began last week between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine state, putting further strain on relief efforts in the region.

The United Nations, which has warned that the bloodshed could imperil Myanmar's reforms, said an estimated 26,500 -- including 4,000 who fled in boats to the state capital Sittwe -- had been forced from their homes by the fresh violence.

This adds to some 75,000 people already crammed into overcrowded camps after unrest in June.

Thousands of homes have been destroyed in the latest wave of arson. A Rakhine official who declined to be identified said violence flared again Sunday in the Pauktaw area, one of around eight affected townships.

Most of those made homeless have remained near their villages, according to the UN, raising concerns about getting aid to remote areas.

Those who fled to Sittwe told AFP of their despair and horror.

"They torched our houses. My child was killed, my husband as well. That will not change even if I stay. Please kill all of us. It's all I want," said Cho Cho, a Muslim cradling a baby in her arms as she sat among throngs of displaced people on the shore near a camp on the outskirts of the city.

The distraught 28-year-old said she was afraid of more attacks.

"I do not want to stay in Rakhine State. I really hate it."

The displaced described fleeing in panic as attackers came, scattering families and forcing people to escape with nothing.

"My father didn't arrive. My sons didn't arrive," 40-year-old Mar Nu told AFP, saying she was still dizzy from the terror of the flight by boat.

Animosity between Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims, which has simmered for decades, erupted in the state in June after the apparent rape and murder of an ethnic Rakhine woman sparked a series of vicious revenge attacks.

The latest fighting has killed more than 80 people, according to a government official, bringing the total death toll since June to above 170.

Myanmar's 800,000 stateless Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh by the Myanmar government and many Burmese -- who call them "Bengalis".

They face discrimination that activists say has led to a deepening alienation from Buddhists.

The UN said 21,700 of those made homeless in the new fighting were from Islamic communities.

"It is mainly the Muslims who have been displaced," the UN's chief in Yangon, Ashok Nigam, told AFP.

Nigam, who had just returned from a visit to affected areas, said the UN was concerned both about the potential for a further spread of violence and the difficulty of reaching the displaced in remote areas.

In Minbya township a senior police official told AFP that more than 4,000 victims, mainly Muslims, had seen their homes torched. Many were staying in tents near their incinerated properties.

The official said a heightened security presence had prevented further clashes. "They are staying between Muslims and Rakhine people," he said.

The communal unrest is seen as presenting a serious challenge to Myanmar's new quasi-civilian government, which has ushered in a series of reforms since replacing a feared junta last year.

Zaw Htay, an official from the office of President Thein Sein, said that under a state of emergency imposed after the June unrest, security had been tightened across Rakhine state.

But the new violence had "occurred in unexpected areas", he said.

Human Rights Watch Saturday released satellite images showing "extensive destruction of homes and other property in a predominantly Rohingya Muslim area" of Kyaukpyu -- the site of a major pipeline taking gas to China.

The images show a stark contrast between the coastal area as seen in March this year, packed with hundreds of dwellings and fringed with boats. In the aftermath of the latest violence, virtually all structures appear to have been wiped from the landscape.

Other Muslims in Rakhine state have also been swept up in the latest violence.

Near the camps in Sittwe, many of the displaced people whom AFP spoke to said they were Kaman, a Muslim minority recognised as one of Myanmar's more than 130 ethnic groups.

"My father is Muslim and my mother is Buddhist... They attacked us by defining us as 'Rohingya'. We are not Rohingya. We did not migrate from other countries," said Aye Kyaw, a Kaman who fled the unrest in Kyaukpyu.

The 30-year-old, who said his community had lived in Rakhine for centuries, said the Rakhine had "tortured us cruelly" and appealed for protection.

The unrest has prompted a growing international outcry with the UN in recent days warning it could jeopardise widely-praised reforms, and British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Sunday urging an immediate end to the hostilities.

"The UK calls again on all parties to cease the violence and for the Burmese authorities to take all necessary measures to guarantee security in the region. We also call for supplies of humanitarian support to be able to reach all those who need it without delay," Hague said in a statement.

Sources Here:

BRCNL Media
October 29, 2012

Heart-Broken news received from the ground of Arakan State on 28-10-2012 [at Amsterdam Time 04 pm]

On a Phone conversation with a Rohingya resident, U Saw Pay from Kyauk Phyu who is currently residing in one of the camps in Sittwe told that while they (21 boats loaded with full of Rohingyas where pregnant women, aged disabled women and men, children and babies ) were trying to escape from the massacre by Rakhines, Lontin(Riot Police) and police forces, 14 boats out of 21 could approach to the shore of Sittwe after 2 days journey by sea with the help of Turkish NGOs who convinced local authorities (military) in Sittwe to give protection to the people. Other 7 boats were taken away by Myanmar Navy. It is unknown where these seven boat people of Rohingyas said by U Saw Pay.

U Saw Pay said that they were on the boat in the sea for 5 days without food and among them were pregnant women. There were deaths of babies and mothers during and after delivery in the boat as there were no proper care to them in the boat. The military threw the dead bodies into the sea in front of their very eyes.

On behalf of those Kyauk Phyu’s and other afflicted Rohingyas in Arakan,U Saw Pay urged 2 request to Rohingyas and International communities around the world; 1. To take an urgent action to protect the remaining innocent people in Arakan. 2. Or pray for them to die quickly.

On another Phone conversation with another resident of Arakan, Nu Nu Yin (a Rakhine Ethnic woman) from Kyauk Ni Maw who currently in Kyauk Ni Maw told that Rohingyas in Kyauk Ni Maw have decided not to run away from their ancestral homeland and they will defend themselves with what they have until their last breath from any attack either by gun or lethal weapons.

It is reported from the ground also that A Rohingyas woman daughter of U Chit Tin named Thida, 38 years, owner of Thida Book Store from Than Phan Chaung was taken away by Army and still no information from her whether she is alive or dead.

A Rakhine Ethnic youth named Kyaw kyaw reported that the attackers are not local Rakhine from Kyauk Phyu but they were brought to attack from another region.

In Pike Seik Quarter in Kyawk Phyu , 100 Rohingyas died while they were defending the destruction of an Old Mosque by the Rakhine terrorist group and a few, numbering around 6 Rakhine Terrorists also lost their lives during the attacks.

In a phone talk with a Journalist, “the Western countries focus on democracy transition rather than the attack against Rohingyas. Western countries are really thinking of seizing (power again by military) business opportunities in Myanmar” according to the journalist.

The Journalist analyzed that this is a violence, it is not a Genocide against Rohingya! Journalist asked the question why there is Buddhist casualties also, including deaths? Explanation to the question is that Rohingyas are armless even to defend themselves, everything including a small knife is being taken away by Burmese Authorities. When you are in a position to defend yourself desperately there are of course casualties, but very less. The casualties of Rakhines are countable and very few and Rohingya’s uncountable.

I really emphasized that it is a clear State-organized Genocide against Rohingya in Arakan. Otherwise Burmese Government could have stopped this from the very beginning.

On 28th October, 2012 (i.e. today), in all the ten villages covered by Nasaka Camp (12), under Nasaka Sector (5), Nasaka carried out an activity which is totally unusual and not understandable. The activity is:

- A group of Nasaka went to the village and proceeded to the school where it is located. They also called two to three Rohingyas from the village. Then twelve Nasakas and the forcibly called Rohingyas stood in front of the ‘School Signboard’ and made their guns readily upwards and another Nasaka took photos from several dimensions. Except from the forcibly called Rohingyas, no villagers were allowed either to see or to approach to the very location.

Now, all the villagers are really worried for the activity and hoping something wrong will be coming soon against the Rohingya villagers.

The report is compiled as to an eyewitness of a said village.


RB News Desk

             On 28th October, 2012 (i.e. today), at 3:35pm, a group of Nasakas and military set fire on a Rohingya village, Ki Ni Pyin, in Pauk Taw township. The village has been totally villager-less after Bengali Rakhine terrorists threatened the villagers that all the villagers will be killed if they continuously residing in the village. Upon this threat, all the villagers left homes and gathered in a place near the river under critical condition. As per the strategy setup by the central government to make the Arakan ‘Rohingya Free Zone’, now the armed forces (Nasaka and Military) started to set firing Rohingya villages. Currently, Southern Rakhine State (SRS) is almost free of Rohingyas and almost all the Rohingyas from that area automatically become as refugees, (i.e. some are floating on the water, some are dying for many causes, and so on.). President U Thein Sein clearly told the Head of UNHCR to keep all the Rohingyas in Refugee Camp and deport to a third country. As mentioned above, it is clear that the armed forces (Nasaka and Military) are instructed by the Central Government to harass Rohingyas in many ways which cause Rohingyas leave the country, motherland. It is also clear that Rohingya villages in SRS will be set fired one by one soon either by Bengali Rakhine terrorists or government armed forces. Out of Nineteen Rohingya villages in Pauk Taw Township, only three villages remain now. The villagers from these remaining villages are in an inconsiderably serious condition.

On 27th October, 2012, Pauk Taw Township Deputy Administrator (U Kyaw Aye) and another Rakhine who told himself RNDP Secretary (U Thar Htun Aung) went a Rohingya village, Ngat Chaung, Pauk Taw Township. The Deputy Administrator said to the villagers, “You must have to leave the village and you are not entitled to stay here”. U Thar Htun Aung added, “We, Buddhist Rakhines, are nationality and majority of this area. As per Buddha’s words, we are very kind to everybody so that you, this villagers, are still not murdered”. He continued, “If you were we, you would surely kill all of us”.

RB News Desk.

During the last 5 hours, BROUK has received the following information from the ground; 

October 28 4:00 PM (Local time) – Rakhine together with security forces set fire to Kyanee Pyin Village, Pauktaw Township. 350 houses were burnt down. 

October 28 6:00 PM ,Rakhine agitators passed the message through Police and NaSa Ka forces that they will burn Anarine Village in Pauktaw. Many Rohingya are leaving from their village as police and security forces are forcing the Rohingya to leave their houses. Security was provided to protect Rakhine who are burning Rohingya houses according to a reliable source from the ground. 

Since October 25th About 7,600 Rohingyas are taking shelter in a salt field and about 3,300 Rohingya living in a paddy (rice) field in Pauktaw Township. They do not have any protection and they might be killed any time as Rakhine are threatening them. 

20 boats of Kaman Muslims were only allowed to anchor Sittwe coast and not allowed to enter to the Sittwe village of Basara. 

5 houses were bunt down in Kyane Ta Lee village, Thandwe township. 

Tun Khin President of BROUK said “Human rights watch and others have verified that what is taking place are attacks against Rohingya, not just communal clashes. The government of Burma has incited these attacks and given credibility to racist views by saying Rohingya do not belong in Burma. The government is not only allowing these attacks to happen, government security forces are taking part on the attacks.

BROUK President Tun Khin also said “If attacks like this were happening in Rangoon the international community would be talking about peacekeeping forces and sanctions, not just issuing statements of concern. We need independent international observers on the ground now. We need aid convoys on the ground now, and we need a UN Commission of Inquiry into events since June.”

“The international community should take note of the fact that the attacks have now spread to attacks against the Kaman Muslim minority as well”.

28-10-2012, Pauktaw Township ,3:00 PM, Rohingya Muslim Village, Kyanni Pyin (Krenni Prugn) with has been burning by about 80-Border Security Forces (NaSaKa) and about 10000-Rakhine terrorists. Militaries have being presented, but they didn’t protect Rohingya Muslims. In this village, about 3050 Rohingya victims were sheltered who are of the villages, Sule Pyin, Myin Thar Pauk, Kyan Pyin Ywa Thit and Kyan Pyin Ywa Haung. These villages were burnt down three days ago. Detail figures are as;

M.S. Anwar
RB Article
October 28, 2012

Burma (or Myanmar) is a country with around 59 millions population situated at a geo-political strategic location between South-Asia and South-East Asia. Besides, it is sandwiched between two Economic giants, China and India. The state religion of the country is Buddhism, an out and out peaceful religion. The country has been isolated from the rest of the world for most of its history due to its heartless, ruthless, inhumane, tyrannical and sociopathic rulers. They have manipulated everyone and everything for political gains and to remain in power. In fact, they have ruled the country on the ground of terror, lie, racism and fascism. They have divided people and turned one against other. The lives Human beings have become so cheap for them that they can crash and kill anyone without having a second thought and the least sympathy. All have been in the lust of power and wealth.

The regime has made the people (i.e. general Burmese) so poor, uneducated, ignorant, racist and fascist that they don’t want or seem to learn any truth taught and take pride of being so. As a result, Burma has become a country with the long history of ethnic conflicts and their armed resistances. Due to Bama’s ultra-nationalism and behaving like a big-brother, ethnic minorities have lost their trust on them. To counter any possible inter-ethnic solidarity and unity, the regime always play the cards of race, ethnic origin, religion and culture. They will always try to divide ethnic minorities.

Like other number of bloody instances in the history of Burma, the Burmese regime has been committing mass-killings of and genocides against not only Rohingyas in Arakan state but also Kachins in Kachin state in large scale and in full swing. While the offensive war against Kachins breaking 17-year-old cease-fire with the Kachin Independence Army has the tendency of colonialism, Bama ultra-nationalism and the interest of capitalism, the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas is inspired by delusional racism, anti-Islamism, neo-fascism and many others.

The military attack against Kachins is taking the shape of a war and less supported by general public of Burma, whereas one-sided genocidal attack against Rohingyas is fully supported and propagandized by the Thein Sein's regime, Bengali Rakhine Terrorist as well as most of general Burmese people. However, the fascist trained rapist military of Burma have been committing gross human rights violations not only against Rohingyas but also against Kachins.

Rohingyas, the sons of the soil of Arakan are the descendents of aboriginal proto-australoid people, Negritos and Indo-Aryans who later came to mix with other immigrating people in Arakan. Yet, Rohingyas had not been known to Burmese people until 2010. Rohingyas have been marginalized and ignored so much so that even the Myanmar Ethnocracy Leader and Bama Rights Activist Daw Suu Kyi has no clue of their history. When they came to know about Rohingyas, it was in the negative light. The regime has successfully branded Rohingyas as illegal invaders and harm to the sovereignty of the nation as well as to Buddhism just to gain political supports. All the allegations against Rohingyas are extremely unfounded and baseless. They are just hated in xenophobic, racist and fascist Burma on account of their ethnic origin and different religion and distinct culture.

According to many Burmese political analysts, the violence against Rohingyas is an attempt of the regime to divert the attention of the people from the year-long offensive genocidal war against Kachins, Myitsone damn crisis, to shut up Rakhines shouting in the name of Shwe gas, country-wide demonstrations by farmers for their lands and by people for electricity, inability to solve the poverty in the country, to defame Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (DASSK) nationally and internationally and to make the anti-regime foreign media untrustworthy among Burmese people. By targeting Rohingyas, the regime is gaining endless benefits. Besides, the violence might be a result of global power struggle between China and US and their proxy war.

Rakhine extremist terrorists and their leaders are happily or rather actively leading and participating with the regime in the mass-killings of Rohingyas. They have their own target: having an independent Arakan state. The way Rakhine terrorists are committing crimes against Rohingyas well identify themselves that they can be descendents of none other than the heartless and ruthless Sea-Pirates Maghs in the history of Arakan history. Meanwhile, the skinned head fascists and terrorists in saffron and Un-Buddhist monks (excluding few good monks) in Burma are openly encouraging the violence and calling for the extermination Rohingyas. Moreover, these terrorists in saffron are targeting all those people who are sympathetic towards Rohingyas.

Since the continual attacks and violence against Rohingyas started on 8th June 2012, the atrocities against and mass killings of them have been being carried out in large scale. Rohingyas’ homes are being burnt down and thousands of them have been displaced on their own land. Many thousands of them have been killed though Burmese officials grossly understated the number of their deaths. Their properties are looted on daily basis and their women and under-aged girls were or are either raped or gang-raped by Military and others. Their mosques and religious have been torched or locked down. Their educated people and other innocent people have been detained for nothing. Their access to foods and medicines are blocked. More than a thousand of innocent Rohingyas together Kamans escaping the renewed attacks are still floating on the Bay of Bengal. Their homes were burnt by the Rakhine terrorists and thousands were already killed. They were pushed out to the sea. Right now, they have no land to go on. Neither is Burma allowing them to go back to their own land nor is Bangladesh giving them refuge. Why is the world letting them die in such a way? Are not they human beings? As a result, they have been facing untimely demises caused by the Burmese animals in human form.

Where is the US with its “War on Terror” at a time a time when thousands of innocent people are being terrorized and killed right in their sights? Where are EU, ASEAN and NATO? Do their strategic decision makers really understand the definition of terrorism? If so, why are they neglecting terrors inflicting not only Rohingyas and Kamans but also Kachins in Burma? Why are they kissing the asses of the tyrants in the Burmese regime? Is money above the lives of human beings to them? Or they don’t need to care about the lives of those people who are different to them? If so, what is the difference between them and Nazi Fascists? If Talibans are extremists and terrorists among the adherents of Islam, then Thein Sein regime and Un-Buddhist Burmese Monks are extremists and terrorists among the adherents of Buddhism. If Al-Qaedas are terrorists amongst Muslims, then most of Rakhines are terrorists amongst Buddhists. Plus, Thein Sein’s Regime, Skin Heads in Saffron and most of Rakhines are Neo-Fascists, Pro-Nazis and sociopathic liars, too.

M.S. Anwar is an activist and student studying Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies at Westminster International College, Malaysia.

Bangkok Post
October 28, 2012

Escalating violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state deserves the urgent attention of Asean and the international community, Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan told the Bangkok Post Sunday yesterday.

Mr Surin said he is renewing his call for Asean to act, otherwise there is a serious risk that the country's Rohingya population will become radicalised.

Violent clashes between the Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities have claimed the lives of at least 150 people since June.

In August, Mr Surin sent a letter to all Asean foreign ministers urging them to meet and address the Rohingya issue. The Asean chair, headed by Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong, called a meeting of the ministers. However, Myanmar refused the meeting and said the situation was under control.

In recent days, a surge of sectarian violence in western Myanmar has left at least 67 people dead and scores more wounded. Authorities have imposed emergency rule in the face of continued tension in the region.

"The situation is deteriorating and there is now a risk of a radicalisation of the Rohingya. This would not be good for anyone," the Asean secretary-general said.

"The conflict has been presented as an Islamic issue when it is not", Mr Surin said. "It is a political, democratic, human rights and constitutional issue, and has direct implications on political reform and national reconciliation processes in Myanmar."

Without an effective resolution, the situation would fester and worsen, Mr Surin said, which could mean a radicalisation of the country's 1.5 million Rohingya.

"This would have wider strategic and security implications for the region," Mr Surin said.

"Can you imagine the Malacca Straits becoming a zone of violence like the waters off Somalia? This would jeopardise East Asian and Southeast Asian economic security," he said.

The Asean secretary-general called for an approach to engagement similar to that adopted in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which left more than 138,000 people dead in Myanmar.

He said the situation needs to be calmed down and put under control.

The United Nations has responded to the recent bloodshed with a stark warning that Myanmar's recent political reforms are under threat from the continued unrest between ethnic Rakhine and the Rohingya.

"The vigilante attacks, targeted threats and extremist rhetoric must be stopped," a spokesman for UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said in a statement released yesterday in Yangon. '

"If this is not done ... the reform and opening up process being currently pursued by the government is likely to be jeopardised."

President Thein Sein has been widely-praised for overseeing sweeping reforms in the former junta-ruled nation. But the Rakhine violence poses a stern challenge to the reform process.

Burma’s border states have the majority of minorities and the majority of natural resources of value to the regime.

In early 2011, many regime military leaders retired to civilians. In March 2011, ex-general Thein Sein assumed the Presidency. This is the same Thein Sein who was the regime military leader in charge of 2008 Cyclone Nargis relief .

Also in March 2011, the Burmese military began attacking in northern Shan State . Then the next month they began attacking in next-door Kachin State . The military has attacked and displaced massive numbers of Shan and Kachin civilians.

Both these northern Burma areas are in or near the corridors of the oil and gas pipelines to China , have multiple hydropower dam developments and mining for gems and mineral .

Shan has Uranium, which has been of special interest to North Korea .

The regime has described the fighting with Shan and Kachin armies as insurgencies and civil wars, rather than soldiers taking up weapons in defense of attacks on their civilian populations.

In August 2012, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) issued a report of surveys conducted for 2011 in areas of Karen State and Taninthargyi Divisions where there is no armed conflict. The survey found that human rights violations were up to 10 times higher around an economic development project than in other areas surveyed. These areas include development of an extensive Thai industrial zone and multiple hydropower dams,

In 2012, the International Labor Organization (ILO) lifted restrictions on Burma. PHR’s survey found that forced labor was not reported to ILO because either victims had never heard of ILO or didn’t know of ILO reporting mechanisms. ILO admits they have had limited access to ethnic areas. In light of this ILO admission, PHR questions how ILO could have assessed Burma’s forced labor situation and make the declaration of improvement?

Regime development in Rakhine State currently includes an India energy company drilling oil in Sittwe Township since 2008 . This onshore Block-L oil reserve extends to the Upper state border through Northern Rakhine where most Rohingya live. An India company is constructing a deep sea commercial port in Sittwe city . In connection with the deep sea commercial port, an Indian company is constructing the Kaladan Transportation Corridor. This project includes widening the Kaladan River, which forms the Eastern border of Sittwe Township. Sittwe has been designated as a special economic zone. Also, an India company will upgrade Sittwe General Hospital, which may become a private hospital.

Massive Rakhine offshore natural gas drilling has blocked local fishing , which been a large source of food and income generation.

China’s development in Kyauk Phyu Township, Rakhine includes drilling to extract oil from Block- M. Here, China has also constructed a deep sea commercial port and air and naval military bases. This area is also the beginning of China’s Burma cross-country gas pipeline .

In the Northern Rakhine, road and infrastructure development has been built with only Rohingya used as forced labor and massive Rohingya forced eviction and land confiscation.

When I was in Rakhine, I saw pervasive and disproportionate barriers to health care and health crises affecting the Rohingya. With research and ongoing monitoring upon return home, I found that the health and numerous other human rights violations I witnessed were most common and severe in areas of regime development.

The associations of regime development and minority human rights violations should be a wake-up call to international civilians that are under the delusion that development leads to the economic betterment of all the population.

Finally, the West’s reward to the regime will worsen the human development and human rights of minorities in Burma.

By Nora E. Rowley MD MPH

Satellite images show huge swath of coastal town destroyed in a wave of violence which has left dozens dead.

A satellite image of Kyaukpyu on 9 March. Click to see image showing scale of destruction. Photograph: Human Rights Watch
Burma's president has admitted an unprecedented wave of ethnic violence has targeted his country's Rohingya Muslim population, destroying whole villages and large parts of towns.



Thein Sein's acknowledgement follows the release of satellite images showing the severe scale of the destruction in one coastal town, where most – if not all – of the Muslim population appears to have been displaced and their homes destroyed.

The pictures, acquired by Human Rights Watch show destruction to the coastal town of Kyaukpyu in the country's west. They reveal an area of destruction 35 acres in size in which some 811 buildings and boats have been destroyed.

The images confirm reports of an orgy of destruction in the town which occurred in a 24-hour period in the middle of last week after violence in the province broke out again on 21 October.

The attacks in Arakan province in the country's west – also known as Rakhine – appears to have been part of a wave of communal violence pitting Arakan Buddhists against Muslims that has hit five separate towns and displaced thousands of people.

"There have been incidents of whole villages and parts of the towns being burned down in Arakan state," Thein Sein's spokesman said.

A government spokesman put the death toll up until Friday at 112. But within hours state media revised it to 67 killed from 21-25 October, with 95 wounded and nearly 3,000 houses destroyed.

The president's comments followed a warning from the office of the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, that ethnic violence was endangering political progress in Burma.

"The vigilante attacks, targeted threats and extremist rhetoric must be stopped. If this is not done … the reform and opening-up process being currently pursued by the government is likely to be jeopardised," the statement said.

The Burmese government is struggling to contain ethnic and religious tensions suppressed during nearly half a century of military rule that ended last year.

Inter-ethnic violence broke out earlier this year, triggered by the rape and murder of a Buddhist woman by three Muslim men.

Releasing the satellite images, Human Rights Watch said it had identified 633 buildings and 178 houseboats and floating barges which were destroyed in an area occupied predominantly by Rohingya.

A committee of MPs led by the Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi called on Friday for security reinforcements and swift legal action against those behind the killings and destruction.

According to Reuters, dozens of boats full of Rohingyas with no food or water fled Kyaukpyu, an industrial zone important to China, and other recent hotspots and were seeking access on Friday to overcrowded refugee camps around the state capital, Sittwe.

Some 3,000 Rohingya were reported to have been blocked from reaching Sittwe by government forces and landed on a nearby island.

"These latest incidents between Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhists demonstrate how urgent it is that the authorities intervene to protect everyone, and break the cycle of discrimination and violence," Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific deputy director, Isabelle Arradon, said.

The latest violence erupted as a Burmese website in Norway – the Democratic Voice of Burma – reported it had acquired a document by a group calling itself the All-Arakanese Monks' Solidarity Conference. calling for all Rohingya to be expelled from the country.

"Burma's government urgently needs to provide security for the Rohingya in Arakan state, who are under vicious attack," said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Unless the authorities also start addressing the root causes of the violence, it is only likely to get worse."

Human Rights Watch fears the death toll is far higher, based on allegations from witnesses fleeing scenes of carnage and the government's well-documented history of underestimating figures that might lead to criticism of the state.

The Rohingya are officially stateless. Buddhist-majority Burma's government regards the estimated 800,000 of them in the country as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, and not as one of the country's 135 official ethnic groups, and denies them citizenship.

But many of those expelled from Kyaukpyu are not Rohingya but Muslims from the officially recognised Kaman minority, said Chris Lewa, director of the Rohingya advocacy group, Arakan Project.

"It's not just anti-Rohingya violence anymore, it's anti-Muslim," she said.

It was unclear what set off the latest arson and killing on Sunday.

Sources Here:

(New York) – The government of Burma should take immediate steps to stop sectarian violence against the Rohingya Muslim population in Arakan State, in western Burma, and ensure protection and aid to both Rohingyas and Arakanese in the state, Human Rights Watch said today. New satellite imagery obtained by Human Rights Watch shows extensive destruction of homes and other property in a predominantly Rohingya Muslim area of the coastal town of Kyauk Pyu – one of several areas of new violence and displacement.

Human Rights Watch identified 811 destroyed structures on the eastern coastal edge of Kyauk Pyu following arson attacks reportedly conducted on October 24, 2012, less than 24 hours before the satellite images were captured. The area of destruction measures 35 acres and includes 633 buildings and 178 houseboats and floating barges adjacent on the water, all of which were razed. There are no indications of fire damage to the immediate west and east of this zone of destruction. Media accounts and local officials said that many Rohingya in the town fled by sea toward Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, 200 kilometers to the north.

Violence renewed between Arakan Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims on October 21 and continued all week in at least five townships: Minbya, Mrak-U, Myebon, Rathedaung, and Kyauk Pyu. This was the first time violence had reached Kyauk Pyu and most of these other parts of the state since the sectarian violence and related abuses by state security forces against the Rohingya began in early June. The Rohingya have suffered the brunt of the violence.

“Burma’s government urgently needs to provide security for the Rohingya in Arakan State, who are under vicious attack,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Unless the authorities also start addressing the root causes of the violence, it is only likely to get worse.”

The Burmese government initially said that more than 2,800 houses were burned down in the new violence and that 112 people were killed, an estimate they later reduced to 64. Human Rights Watch fears the death toll is far higher based on allegations from witnesses fleeing scenes of carnage and the government’s well-documented history of underestimating figures that might lead to criticism of the state.

In June, Human Rights Watch documented killings, rape, and mass arrests by Burmese security forces against Rohingya Muslims after the security forces failed to protect both them and Arakan Buddhists during deadly sectarian violence. Since then, government restrictions on humanitarian access to the Rohingya community left many of the displaced – at times as many as 104,000 people – in dire need of food, shelter, and medical care.

Prior to this most recent outbreak of violence, the local Arakan Buddhist population had largely resumed life and daily activities as usual. The approximately 75,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), most of them Rohingya, were still taking shelter in at least 40 IDP camps in Sittwe and Kyauktaw townships. The 15 largest camps surround Sittwe.

Sittwe’s estimated population of 200,000 people had been divided evenly between Buddhists and Muslims. Now the Rohingya and non-Rohingya Muslim population of Sittwe has been largely segregated to the IDP camps, and Sittwe is nearly devoid of Muslims.

The Burmese government denies citizenship to most Rohingya and the protections that come with it. Since communal violence between Rohingya and Arakanese erupted in June, many Rohingya have been compelled to live in squalid camps in Arakan State, where they have been denied access to adequate humanitarian aid and vulnerable to attack from Arakan militants.

President Thein Sein appointed an investigative commission earlier in 2012 to determine the causes of violence, but has yet to propose any policies to address those causes. He has at times called for the segregation of the Rohingya and even their expulsion from Burma, which feeds popular animosity against the Rohingya from the general population. The opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has called for establishing the rule of law in the Arakan State, but has not used her moral authority to urge reconciliation or end discriminatory treatment of the Rohingya under Burma’s nationality law.

The recent resurgence of violence and displacement of thousands more Rohingya will put added pressure on the humanitarian needs in the state, Human Rights Watch said. Humanitarian agencies have had little to no access to remote rural areas where affected Rohingya are located, and some of the IDP camps need adequate shelter, water and sanitation, health, education, and other aid. Moreover, all United Nations and international agency pre-crisis humanitarian aid programs to the Rohingya population were suspended by the central government in June, Some – but not all – have been reauthorized.

The approximately 1 million Rohingya in Burma were effectively stripped of the right to citizenship with the passage of the 1982 Citizenship Law, though most have been residents of Arakan State for decades. Both the Rohingya and Arakan communities have long experienced a litany of abuses by the Burmese authorities.

“Deploying sufficient security forces to restore order impartially and protect basic rights in Arakan State is necessary, but not enough,” Robertson said. “Burmese government officials and opposition leaders need to condemn the violence and work for lasting solutions to Arakan’s ethnic problems.” 

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