January 21, 2013

Saudi Arabia yesterday announced a contribution of $ 1.88 million toward UNHCR’s humanitarian program in Myanmar providing shelter to Rohingyas in Rakhine state.

A memorandum of understanding to this effect was signed by Yousef Al-Bassam of the Saudi Fund for Development and Imran Riza, UNHCR’s regional representative in Riyadh.

The contribution will enable the UNHCR to provide temporary and permanent shelters for around 75,000 displaced people. 

After signing the agreement, Riza highlighted the importance of such assistance in terms of value, timing and significance in improving the living conditions of many of displaced people in Rakhine state.

On behalf of High Commissioner Antonio Guterres, Riza expressed his highest appreciation and deep gratitude to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, for this generous contribution which clearly reflects the Saudi leadership's response to humanitarian crises.

The partnership with the Saudi Find for Development involves collaboration with Pakistan in terms of providing permanent shelters to the displaced people.

Tehran Times

January 20, 2013

TEHRAN – Iranian MP Esmaeil Haqiqatpour, who recently visited Myanmar with a number of other Iranian officials to assess the situation of ethnic Rohingya Muslims, said on Sunday that Muslims in Myanmar are experiencing poor conditions. 

Speaking during a press conference in Tehran, Haqiqatpour said that the Muslims they met there were in need of financial assistance. 

The camps allocated to Muslims lack basic amenities, he added. 

The Iranian delegation which recently visited Myanmar delivered Iran’s first aid cargo to Rohingya Muslims. 

Iran seeking to establish embassy in Myanmar 

MP Hossein Naqavi-Hosseini announced on Sunday that the Iranian Foreign Ministry has taken certain measures to establish an embassy in Myanmar. 

“The government of Myanmar is studying Iran’s proposal, and the ground for the establishment of an embassy in the country has been prepared. And of course the Thai government made great contributions in this regard,” Naqavi-Hosseini, who is the rapporteur of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency. 

According to Press TV, hundreds of Rohingyas are believed to have been killed and thousands displaced in recent attacks by Buddhist extremists. 

Buddhist extremists frequently attack Rohingyas and have set fire to their homes in several villages in Rakhine. Myanmar Army forces allegedly provided the extremist Buddhists containers of petrol for torching the houses of Muslim villagers, who are then forced to flee. 

Myanmar’s government has been accused of failing to protect the Muslim minority.

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has also come under fire for her stance on the violence. The Nobel Peace laureate has refused to censure the Myanmarese military for its persecution of the Rohingyas. 

Rohingyas are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origin, who migrated to Myanmar as early as the 8th century. 

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have issued separate statements, calling on Myanmar to take action to protect the Rohingya Muslim population against extremist Buddhists.

CURRENT SITUATION INSIDE ARAKAN

Myanmar’s (Burma’s) Western State of Arakan (Rakhine) is again burning. In Mrauk-U, the former capital of the independent kingdom of Arakan, hundreds of young Rakhine Buddhist men were on the march: packed on the backs of pickups, on motorcycles, on trishaws, tuk-tuks and bicycles, but mostly on foot.

They carried spears, swords, cleavers, bamboo staves, slingshots, crossbows and the occasional petrol bomb. Their target: the unarmed Rohingya Muslims. As the Economist (dated Nov. 3, 2012) of the UK noted, one Buddhist terrorist tugged at an imaginary beard and made a grisly throat-cutting gesture.

Sadly, Mrauk-U is not the only town where Rohingya Muslims are facing a genocidal campaign at the hands of Rakhine terrorists. From the reports collected inside Myanmar, there is little doubt that the Rakhine Buddhist terrorists, aided by local and central government politicians, police and security forces, are carrying out a pre-meditated genocidal campaign to exterminate and drive out every Rohingya of Burma (Myanmar). So atrocious and criminal this campaign is even the president of Myanmar, who had previously tried to hide such targeted violence, had to admit on Friday, October 26 (as reported in the pro-government newspaper the New Light of Myanmar) that eight mosques (Muslim houses of worship) and 2,000 of Rohingya homes were torched to completely destroy these. His spokesman told the BBC this weekend that "there have been incidents of whole villages and parts of the towns being burnt down in Rakhine state." The actual facts and figures, however, are much worse!

Read more by downloading the PDF on Scribd

Genocide of the Rohingya of Myanmar in 2012 By Dr. Habib Siddqui

Qutub Shah 

RB News 

January 20, 2013 

(Edited by Mayu Thitsar)

Pauktaw: Yesterday, the chief minister of Rakhine State, Hla Maung Tin, went to Dumfara village, Pauktaw Township, where about 8000 Rohingya refugees live. The chief minister said, “All of you must go back to your own homes.” The refugees replied, “Unless our houses are rebuilt and enough security forces are provided, we will not go back there because Rakhines will terrorize us again.” Then the chief minister said, “We cannot rebuild your houses as we don’t have any plan to do.” It sounds that Myanmar government wants to materialize the pre-hatched plan of Thein Sein as he said. “We will keep them as refugees in camps.”

Min Bya: Yesterday, due to the scarcity of medical treatment, adequate food and sufficient shelter a Rohingya, Ali Hussein s/o Basheer Ahmed, 48, from Paik Myaung village tract, Min Bya Township, who was very lethally injured by Rakhines in previous attacks died.

The inhumane security forces from battalion 378 have been tyrannizing over the last Rohingyas from both Min Bya and Mrauk-U Townships, who live nowadays in straitened circumstances, by utilizing various modus operandi. Since June, they have been prevented strictly from moving locally from one village to another. Surprisingly, since yesterday, the security forces began to permit orally to go to neighboring villages snatching 1,000 Kyats from each. In every township, Rohingyas are prevented from moving place to place. They are not allowed to do any agricultural work nor other business activities freely. Subsequently, they suffer from several difficulties. They used to buy their daily needs from some Rakhines secretly. But nowadays Rakhine community leaders and fake monks announce in public especially in Kyauktaw and Sittwe not to sell anything to Rohingya.

Some Rakhines robbed one buffalo from Rustum s/o Mohammed Kasim and two cows from Hamid Huson s/o Amiruddin in Sin Kyi Pyin village, Min Bya Township on January 18, at 9am. Similarly also in Paung Se village, Rakhines robbed four cows from Jamal s/o Mohammed Shafi. Those crimes were committed by Rakhines in the presence of security forces but no action has been taken against the criminals as some percentages of robberies go to their pockets.

Maungdaw: Yesterday at 01:45pm, Nasaka from region 7 entered Thanda village, Zawmatat village tract wearing local Muslim woman and cleric dress [Burqa and Kurta] and arrested two men namely, Amir Hamza s/o Zawlaludin, 50, and Rohimullah s/o Islam, 34, from a coffee shop for no reason. Most of customers were wounded while trying to flee this unexpected and horrific situation. Now the two arrestees are detained at Nasaka lock-up. It is expected that they will be released after extorting money as usual.

Buthidaung: On January 17, the Nasaka from Region 9, Buthidaung extorted 550,000 Kyats from Shafi Ullah s/o Hason from Kaytufara, Thein Taung Pyin, Buthidaung, accusing falsely that he caused problems between people of the village and made quarrel with each other.

Min Thein 

RB News 

Recently, we have interviewed Ko Tun Khin, President of Burmese Rohingya Organisation in UK (BROUK), regarding Arakan conflict. 

Ko Tun Khin @ Ziaul Ghaffar was born in Buthidaung Township of Arakan State and did his basic education in Sittwe. He is currently perusing his PhD in civil Engineering in London Southbank University. 

He was one of the founding members of BROUK and leading the organisation since 2005 as a president. During his seven year journey through BROUK, he brought up human rights concerns of Rohingya to the British parliament, European Union, US States Department and Senate, UN Indigenous Forum in New York and UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. 

Regarding Arakan conflict, Ko Tun Khin has contributed few articles in Independent newspaper of Britain and also gave interview to CNN, BBC, and Al Jazeera. 

He is one of the leading activists not only highlighting the plight of Rohingya but also suffering of whole Burma to the outside world. 

Those who understand his view on Arakan, his love and sincerity to the people of Arakan and Burma will clearly demonstrate how the false claims, baseless accusation and arrogant nature of some leading Rakhines nationalist. They are creating misery not only for Arakan, but also for the whole Burma. While the world (and also the ASEAN) is marching towards globalisation, unfortunately Rakhine nationalist are heading for opposite direction and pushing Arakan, the second poorest state of Burma, to further impoverishment. 

Let us see how Rohingyas leaders hold positive thinking and commitment for the development of Arakan, where they lived for generations through in this interview with Ko Tun Khin. 

Min Thein (Question 1): During Arakan conflict, several Rohingya and Kaman Muslims were killed and also lost their businesses and homes. The atrocities committed by Rakhine extremist and local security forces are still continuing. Those Rohingyas in the refugee camps are facing shortage of foods, shelter and also suffering from communicable diseases. As a Rohingya leader, how would you like to appeal Burmese government and the International community? 

Tun Khin (Answer 1): Arakan conflict is well planned by RNDP party organizing extremist Rakhine Buddhist through paranoid ambitions, false targets and unrealistic incentives. Observers can clearly figure out the identical nature of objective and modus operandi of RNDP party to those of Hitler’s Nazi party in Germany. RNDP’s planning are currently carried out by collaboration of (Rakhine) State Government, local authorities, security forces and some ministers from Central Government. This collaboration can be easily seen and voiced out by not only Rohingyas but also International NGOs and Government representatives in the field with solid evidence. I believe that President U Thein Sein is well aware of this truth. 

During Arakan conflict, 90% those in desperate need of assistance are Muslims. 80% those detained by the State Government on allegation of creating conflict are also Muslims. In reality, RNDP is the one obliterating food and security to Muslim refugees. RNDP is continuously campaigning to strangulate business, work and education of Muslims in areas where they have yet to create any clashes. This coward action of RNDP is blatantly ignored by the Rakhine State Government. President U Thein Sein should take necessary action against these trouble makers who tarnish the image of not only the President but also the whole Burmese population in International arena. 

We made an appeal to the United Nations, EU and International community to send UN peace keeping force if Burmese Government fail to protect further escalation of atrocities on Rohingyas. This is because we have received information that RNDP chairman Dr Aye Maung is planning 3rd attempt to instigate riot. In the first riot in June 2012, Rohingya and Kaman lost home, businesses and lives. Rakhines also suffered to some extent. Instead of protecting Muslims, the government gave inconsistent and false allegation towards Muslims. After four months, there was a second rather well planned riot and Muslims suffered extensively. Until today there is no reliable security for Muslims provided by Burmese government. 

Apart from UN Peace keeping force; we have also urged the international Community to form an Independent Commission to investigate this conflict. We need to bring to the justice for those culprits who instigate this conflict. Otherwise we will see an ugly page on the history of 21st century where one small ethnicity is wiped out just because of their religious belief. It is not only the shame for the culprits but also a dark page for the Burmese leaders and International community for failing to protect an oppressed group of people. 

Min Thein (Question 2): The word Rohingya has never been in the Burmese history. Rakhine extremist alleged that there is a big agenda behind this word. How would you like to say about this allegation? 

Tun Khin (Answer 2): I would like to say that someone is either very poor of historical knowledge or terribly racist if he claims he never heard of the word Rohingya. I do not want to say more on this historical dimension. But since when those who call themselves Rakhine adopted the name Rakhine? Before that what was their name? Rakhines have demonstrated that an ethic can choose a name according to their preference. While obliterating the right of sister community to adopt the name of their preference, Rakhines are alleging Bhamas (Burmese main ethnic group) to be chauvinists. Rakhine are claiming them as special race. 

It is true that majority of Burmese are strange about the term Rohingya. The reason behind is that successive Burmese military regimes have been obliterating Rohingyas to reach out other Burmese. Rohingyas were not given a chance to explain about their history and culture. Overall illiteracy, lack of general knowledge, lack of female education, lack of harmony with other sister communities etc.. all are as a result of discriminatory policies imposed on Rohingyas for decades. Rohingya development efforts (in education, health and business) are still hampered by the government. Rohingyas’ demand for human rights at par with other citizens of Burma is just to develop the community. It is not to have a separate state as alleged by RNDP chairman Dr Aye Maung. Rohingyas were loyally participated on nation building during the period of Arakanese Kings, during colonial period and also during post independent democratic Burma. We, Rohingya today only have one ambition that is to participate in development of own community as well as for the nation building with our qualification and workforce. 

Today this civilized world has learned from strength and weakness from the past, unwrapping barriers and boundaries to march towards unified globalised, developed peaceful world with less conflicts. If someone comes with an idea of separation tiny bit of land form the map, he may be seen as an insane person. We will never accept or support such a crazy idea. 

Min Thein (Question 3): Finally in your opinion, do you think what reforms measures required to restore trust, peace and security among different ethnic groups in Rakhine state? 

Tun Khin (Answer 3): In Arakan conflict, not all Rakhines were involved. We can generally say there are two types Rakhine Buddhist. 

The first group is those who are willing to separate Rakhine State from Burma to establish “Father Rakhine State”. This group is made up of only portion of the population led by political parties with some businessman and local authorities and their cronies. If the power is in hands of this group, the situation of Rakhine State will remain in misery. The state cannot go side by side with other people of Burma in nation building. They are branding themselves as a neo-Nazi style ultrapatriotic Rakhine people. 

The other group of Rakhine people are those who follow ideal teaching of Buddhism and willing to live in peace and harmony. Although majority, this group lacks power holders and businessman. This group is true representative of Rakhine people and culture. 

If we are looking for the enduring peace in Rakhine State, the peace loving group of Rakhine (the latter group) should be exposed to the larger Burmese population and international community. Central government also needs to expose the real culprits and give them due course of the law without fear or favour. I am quite confident that although Rohingya and other Muslims lost properties, businesses and lives, they are still willing to live side by side peace loving & trustworthy group of Rakhine people (except the group with ruthless trouble makers). 

I was born and brought up in Rakhine state and currently pursing higher education in overseas. I am still looking forwards to have a chance to contribute for the development of Rakhine State.

An Iranian MP says the Islamic Republic plans to set up a camp in Myanmar to help the efforts to provide relief to the country’s Rohingya Muslims.

On Saturday, Majlis (parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Deputy Chairman Mansour Haqiqatpour said agreements have been reached with senior Myanmar officials to set up a camp in Rakhine state that can accommodate thousands of Rohingya refugees and where food can be provided for them. 

He stated that Tehran will soon put forward its own plan for the cessation of violence against Rohingya Muslims and the restoration of the social rights of the Muslim community. 

Earlier this month, an Iranian parliamentary delegation visited Myanmar to examine the situation of the Rohingya Muslims and find ways to help them. 

Officials of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, the country’s Red Crescent Society (IRCS), and the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee accompanied the Iranian lawmakers during their visit to Myanmar. 

Some 800,000 Rohingyas are deprived of citizenship rights due to the policy of discrimination that has denied them the right of citizenship and made them vulnerable to acts of violence and persecution, expulsion, and displacement. 

The Myanmar government has so far refused to extricate the stateless Rohingyas in the western state of Rakhine from their citizenship limbo, despite international pressure to give them a legal status. 

Hundreds of Rohingyas are believed to have been killed and thousands displaced in recent attacks by extremists who call themselves Buddhists. 

The extremists frequently attack Rohingyas and have set fire to their homes in several villages in Rakhine. Myanmar Army forces allegedly provided the fanatics containers of petrol for torching the houses of Muslim villagers, who are then forced to flee. 

Myanmar’s government has been accused of failing to protect the Muslim minority. 

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has also come under fire for her stance on the violence. The Nobel Peace laureate has refused to censure the Myanmarese military for its persecution of the Rohingyas. 

Rohingyas are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origin, who migrated to Myanmar as early as the 8th century. 

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have issued separate statements, calling on Myanmar to take action to protect the Rohingya Muslim population against extremists.

Thai officials will go to an island off Phang Nga today after another boatload of Rohingya refugees - thought to be the fourth over the past week or so - was found there late yesterday. Officials said the refugees were hiding in jungle on the unnamed island and it was too dark to try to round them up last night.

The arrival of two more vessels - one on the island, and another towed ashore near Khura Buri on Friday means about 1,000 Rohingya have landed on Thailand's Andaman coast or been captured in Sadao, further south, this month.

Meanwhile, five more vessels are allegedly at sea and heading this way, according to refugees on the "third" vessel, who came ashore on Friday.

Some 114 people were on "third" boat that arrived in Phang Nga province on Friday, about 100km south of Ranong. These refugees, aged from 60 to a one-year-old baby, were said to be in a very weak condition as they had run out of food and water, despite having stopped and collected water on an island on their 13-day journey south.

A translator working for Al Jazeera said the Rohingya on the "third" boat told provincial officials they were on one of eight boats that left Sittwe together. Only three of these had arrived in Thailand to date. The eight boats drifted apart over the past two weeks and the location of the other five is unknown.

Sittwe is a port in Arakan State (also known as Rakhine State) in western Myanmar close to sites where ethnic violence caused more than 100 deaths and forced tens of thousands of people - mostly Muslims - to flee their homes in June and then again just a few months ago. 

District officials were overseeing aid for the "third" boatload at the district hall in Khura Buri yesterday. Medics and local Muslims were helping to give out medicine, food and blankets. Many people on this boat were sick, none were said to have died during the trip.

Four teenage boys who had been on the "third" vessel but hid from Thai authorities on an island off the coast before it was towed to the mainland, wandered into the camp yesterday to join their friends after getting a lift to the mainland on another boat. 

All up some 114 on the "third" vessel had been charged by police for illegal entry into Thailand.

Meanwhile, about 550 were found in raids in Sadao, further south, and 135 arrived on two vessels that arrived last week. 

Officials in Khura Buri said they were waiting to hear from top authorities in Bangkok on what to do with the latest arrivals. 

Many of the Rohingya survivors have been stuck in refugee camps not far from Sittwe living in bleak conditions and facing an uncertain future, given that Nay Pyi Taw has refused to recognise them as citizens, and asked United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres in June to resettle them. 

The Myanmar government calls the Rohingya "Bengalis" and insists they arrived in their country in recent times, despite evidence by academics that this ethnic group has lived in the Rakhine area for several centuries.

Qutub Shah

RB News

January 19, 2013

(Edited by Mayu Thitsar)

Maungdaw: Yesterday, at least 10 Nasaka personnel led by Major Win Hlaing, the Head of the Nasaka Region 5 based in Ngakura village, launched a raid on the house of Mohammed Husain s/o Akhtar Kamal, 53, under the pretext of investigating illicit drugs called ‘Yaba Tablets’. Although they found nothing, they arrested him after they themselves put some narcotic drugs deliberately into a cupboard in his house. They, then, detained him until the fulfillment of burning desire of the said major. He was released after being extorted an amount of 6,000,000 Kyats.

At the same day, Nasaka Chief Inspector Tun Sein of Region 2, Kamaung Seit (Fakira Bazaar) arrested a Rohingya, local oil-seller named Jamal s/o Abdul Mabud, 35, and extorted 300,000 Kyats simply because a container with 40 kg kerosene was found in his house, selling which the poor Rohingya earns a meager income to look after his six family members.

“Everyday this Tun Sein targets 2 to 3 Rohingya houses and extorts huge amounts of money on pretext of non-permitted house construction although our houses had been built for 20 years ago or so. That’s even before the formation of Nasaka department. I believe nobody in our country suffering like us. The central government should pay attention on our plight” a villager on the condition of anonymity told to RB News.

There are nearly one hundred Rohingya families reside in Bandolla village tract under Nasaka Region 1, Aung Thapyay. Of them at least 30 families had been forcibly Bengalised nowadays by the authorities using the computerized system after taking them into a restricted place, meanwhile many other families fled.

Bangkok Post

January 19, 2013

Army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha has admitted some of his soldiers in the far South are involved in trafficking Rohingya migrants into Thailand before sending them to work in Malaysia.

Gen Prayuth said some members of the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) were linked to smuggling rings and he promised to track them down.

"These bad apples must be punished and got rid of," he said on Saturday.

His statement came after a police investigation in Songkhla province pointed to some army officers and local politicians allegedly connected with Rohingya trafficking.

A high-ranking police source working on the case told the Bangkok Post that trafficking of Rohingya migrants, mostly from Rakhine state in Myanmar, had been taking place for several years.

The activity and trafficking routes were all in southern areas under the control of certain military officers who hold the rank from major to colonel, said the source.

The officers have connections with Myanmar citizens in Thailand who contact brokers in Myanmar to supply the workers by shipping them to Thailand. Upon arrival in Thailand, the Rohingya migrants are taken in trucks to Songkhla and made to hide themselves in border jungles, waiting to be sent to neighbouring Malaysia.

Military trucks sometimes were used to transport the Rohingya migrants, according to the source.

Isoc spokesman Maj Gen Dithaporn Sasasamit said on Saturday that no information has been received from the police regarding Isoc members' involvement with the exploitation of the Rohingya.

"Isoc cannot provide any information at this time, pending the investigation," he said.

Thailand is currently sheltering 949 Rohingya. Most of them are in Songkhla and the rest have been sent to Narathiwat, Trang, Pattani and Phangnga provinces.

On Thursday authorities rounded up 397 Rohingya packed into a makeshift shelter in a rubber plantation at Ban Chaikhuan Thungmaiduan in tambon Padang Besar of Sadao district in Songkhla.

The investigation found that the roundup stemmed from a business conflict among the traffickers. The police suspected some army officers allegedly used to be involved in the trafficking gang.

The rubber plantation belongs to Prasit Lemlae, the former deputy mayor of Padang Besar municipality. He is still at large after facing charges of smuggling 397 illegal immigrants into Thailand and providing them with shelter.

Police have issued arrest warrants for him and a Myanmar national named only as Jamanadin.

In addition to the two, police have already filed smuggling charges against four Myanmar nationals, two Rohingya and two Thais arrested after the Thursday's raid.

Songkhla Governor Grisada Boonrach has threatened to take disciplinary and legal action against district chiefs and other local officials if any are found taking part in human trafficking. But he said he had not yet found any officials who were part of the scheme.

Thai authorities had planned to deport the migrants them back to Myanmar, where rights activists say they would face severe persecution or worse.

After growing pressure from the United Nations, human rights groups and local Muslims, the government decided to allow the migrants to stay in Thailand temporarily.

Bangkok Post

Jaunary 19, 2013

A huge procession of Thai people turned out to deliver food, cash and necessities to help Rohingya migrants confined in various shelters yesterday.

In Narathiwat's Yi-ngo district, Nasaran Salae-ma, headmaster of Akrasatwitthaya School, imam representatives as well as Muslim and Buddhist people gave food, clothes and cash to Muhammad Sakee, chief of the Narathiwat Home for Children and Families, to help 18 Rohingya youths who were brought there.

Shelter staff said health officials in Narathiwat will be contacted to conduct medical check-ups for the Rohingya.

The staff members were concerned about their mental condition as many of them were traumatised from horrendous memories of their hometowns in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

Muhammad Sabare, a 14-year-old Rohingya boy, led his group to pray for the donors' prosperity in return.

Through translators, Muhammad pleaded with Thai authorities to help the Rohingya as he and his family were separated for more than two months. He also thanked Thai people who provided them with help. Close to 1,000 Rohingya have been detained in Thailand.

At the Trang Shelter for Children and Families, Trang Hospital officers yesterday performed medical check-ups for 12 Rohingya children and one adult there.

Most of them were found to be malnourished and some had sustained injuries during their long journey.

In Yala, Thai Buddhists and Muslims delivered food, money, clothes and other necessities to the office of Young Muslim Association of Thailand (YMAT) in the province's municipality.

The association is scheduled to provide all the donated goods to Rohingya migrants in Songkhla's Sadao district today.

Abdul Aziz Tadaein, head of the human rights section of the YMAT, said the association had previously helped the Rohingya.

The group also delivered money for Rohingya people in Myanmar, he said, adding that the association's representatives will travel to Myanmar next month to give more help.

Mr Abdul urged Thai authorities not to send the Rohingya migrants back to Myanmar.

He said it would be better to set up a temporary shelter for them during the time they are seeking asylum in the third countries.

At the Pattani Shelter for Children and Families, streams of people have donated food for 22 Rohingya migrants at the facility.

Thakorn Hemvichien, chief of the shelter, told donors it was better to give cash instead of food as the centre already provides food which properly suits Rohingya people's needs.

Meanwhile, Bang Klam police station in Songkhla has supported the 21 confined Rohingya migrants with activities along with villagers.

The move was agreed by a joint panel of Bang Klam police and villagers, Pol Col Suriya Panyamang, the station chief, said. They all agreed that Rohingya migrants were not wrongdoers, but victims, so they should be allowed to live outside of the cells under supervision, Pol Col Suriya said.

Rohingya will help renovate a deserted section of police accommodation together with the villagers so they can live there, Pol Col Suriya said, adding the Rohingya love the activities.

Another 40 Rohingya will be transferred from other police stations to Bang Klam as there is still plenty of accommodation for them here, he said.

Qutub Shah

RB News

18.1.2013

(Edited by Mayu Thit Sar)

Maungdaw: Nasaka commander extorted 3.8 million Kyats from 4 Rohingyas detained earlier. Major Win Hlaing, commander of Border Security Force (Nasaka) Region 5 Ngakura, eventually, released four Rohingyas detained by extorting 3.8 million Kyats. The four miserable victims are:

1. Mohammed Hashim s/o Ferdan, 16

2. Mohammed Ali s/o Abdul Hamid, 23

3. Mohammed Hashim s/o Lalo, 17

4. Mohammed Ayas s/o Kalameah, 18

These ill-luck victims are of those who were arrested on Friday, January 12, 2013, at 8:30pm, from their respective shops in Kyat Yoe Pyin market during Nasaka’s raid on the market. There are some other detainees who are not released as they are unable to provide the sum demanded by Major Win Hlaing. But, the goods worth millions of Kyats looted from their shops are not returned back.

On January 16 at 10:00 am, in Nasaka Region 7, Zaw Matat [Lambagona] village tract, Hinthara (Honsara) village, Maungdaw, Nasaka in collaboration with Rakhines destroyed the village mosque and its attached Madrasah (Arabic School). They have been destroying and burning homes since the violence outbreak to date. Since few days they have been cutting trees and bamboos and knocking out the roots to make the land plain. They are preparing it for Rakhine settlements.

“Rakhines are living in both countries, Bangladesh and Burma. They have no problem in crossing the border. As the officials here are Rakhine Buddhists, now they are planning to bring their relatives from Bangladesh and settle in our lands. They already brought many during these days. Previously, Ex-General Khin Nyunt brought many from central Burma who are jobless. Nasaka confiscated our lands and handed over to them. As the government wants to drive us out from Arakan, they are doing so according to their plan. Here is no law for us.” said by a resident of Maungdaw to RB News.

Mrauk-U: On January 16, two penurious Rohingya men, Muktar s/o Abdu Shukkur and Kalameya s/o Muhammed Ali from Haung Tawk village tract, Mrauk-U Township, went to Fifarang village tract to sell religious books and perfume in the market for their survival. Unfortunately, seeing those selling books and perfumes, a wild military person, named Tun Naing from Battalion No. 378 approached them and began to tear the pages of the religious books, thrown, kicked and treaded it insolently. Then, he tortured the two persons so vehemently that they could not return to their village again and were lethally injured. The military threw them there in the market. When then military left from the place, some people from Fifarang took them up and brought to one’s house for first aids.

M.S. Anwar 

RB News 

January 18, 2013 

Maung Daw, Arakan: Today, at 10:30PM (Myanmar Standard Time), around 15 Rakhine Extremists from the downtown of Maung Daw came to the Village of Baggona together with a few Police officers and threw two corpses of Rakhines away at the Baazar of Bagonna. The two corpses were brought by themselves. And so, they are trying to create violence against Rohingya villagers again and destabilize the village by such brainless and malicious attempts. 

“We have heard that the villagers informed the NaSaKa officer responsible for the security of the region, Captain Myo Htaik Aung, the head of the Maggyi NaSaKa Camp of the NaSaKa Area No.7. According to the villagers, he came to the place of incident and said that he will try to sort it out the soonest possible and make the situation peaceful. He also said that he came to know that the corpses had been brought by the Rakhine extremists. But the villagers are really afraid. 

The Rakhine extremists are still at the place in Baggona and trying to create troubles for Rohingya villagers. These Rakhine extremists and Police in Maung Daw (Note: most of the Police officers in Maung Daw are Rakhine themselves.) do not want to see the village as well as the whole Arakan stabilized and peaceful. That’s why they are creating troubles for Rohingyas and treating the corpses of their own people like animals. They are being cooperated by the newly selected administrator of the village, Ba’ Tuan Aung. He is Bangladeshi Rakhine who settled in Kantayar village in 1970s” said a Rohingya Elder from a nearby village. 

*********

The Nation

January 18, 2013

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Friday visited the ethnic Rohingyas who are taking shelter at a police station in Songkhla province.Bjorn Rahm, an ICRC detention delegate met a group of 20 Rohingyas at Hat Yai police station where they are being detained.

Members of the group have been rounded up in the province since January 13.

A source said that ICRC staff met the group in the detention room and asked about their lives in Myanmar before fleeing to Thailand as well as their current living conditions. 

The ICRC seemed happy with the Thai authority's care of the Rohingyas including the clean rooms. Basic necessities would be provided to the group by the ICRC pending legal procedures.

According to reports on Thursday, a total of 897 Rohinyas have now emerged and asked for help from the authorities in the southern provinces of Songkhla, Narathiwat, Trang, Pattani and Pangna.

Many more are believed to be hiding in the mountains between Songkhla and Satun.

The Thai government earlier agreed to let the UN High Commissioner for Refugees have access to Rohingya refugees and approved temporary assistance for a group discovered hiding in Songkhla until their status is determined.

The Rohingya from the Rakhine State in western Myanmar lost their rights to citizenship and property in 1982 by legislation that did not include them in that country’s recognised ethnic minority groups.

Last year, the Rohingya were the target of ethnic clashes in Rakhine that left more than 100 dead and 115,000 displaced.

Bangkok Post

January 18, 2013

BANGKOK - The Rohingya people who were smuggled into Thailand will be subjected to Thai laws but will be treated in accordance with international human rights standards, Foreign Ministry spokesman Manasvi Srisodapol said on Friday. 

Mr Manas, the Department of Information director-general, said the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN refugee have offered their assistance. 

The government also intends to consult with Muslim leaders on how to best address the problem in the long-run, he said. 

Sunai Phasuk, senior researcher on Thailand in Human Rights Watch's Asia division, said many Rohingya people are migrating because they have been denied citizenship in Myanmar and Bangladesh. 

Mr Sunai is urging the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to press Myanmar into granting citizenship to the minority ethnic group. 

However, it might be difficult to pressure Bangladesh, which is controlled by a totalitarian regime, he added. 

Asked about the UN's proposal for a Rohingya refugee camp in Thailand, Mr Sunai said it was more likely such facility would be located in Malaysia or Indonesia. 

Wisut Binlaatah, director of the Sheikhul Islam Office in the South, said the Rohingya refugees will be assisted in two phases. 

First, the Thai public will be asked to donate food and clothing. In the long term, the office will call on the Thai government to encourage Myanmar to address its ethnic conflicts. 

Unless the situation settles and there is peace in Myanmar, Thailand should not look to deporting them back, Wisut added. He also asked all Muslim countries to offer asylum to the Rohingyas. 

Maung Daw, Arakan: Yesterday, at 9:30PM, NaSaKas (Border Security Force) from the Sub-Camp based at the bridge of Gawdusara village arrested two Rohingyas Youths at their early 20s for no reasons. 

The Nation

January 18, 2013

Ministries to discuss whether to set up a camp, Chalerm says

Relief operations by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to help Rohingya migrants are set to begin in earnest now that Thai authorities have given the go-ahead, agency spokeswoman Vivian Tan said yesterday.

The announcement came as officials detained another 60 Rohingya yesterday. The migrants were found on a boat off Ranong's Muang district that was attempting to dock. The new arrivals bring to 917 the number of Rohingya who have entered Thailand illegally from Myanmar in recent weeks.

While the government works out operational measures, the UNHCR will start by interviewing the 857 Myanmar-based exiles and take other measures to verify details provided by them. In the meantime, the UNHCR will decide what steps to take and in which areas help is most needed, before finally providing full-scale assistance, Tan said.

Asked about the possibility of setting up a camp to temporarily hold the 857 Rohingyas on Thai soil, Tan said the UNHCR would not go beyond frameworks to be established by the government.

Former Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan commented that Thailand should not rush in its handling of the issue by being overly focused on immediate repatriation. He warned that this would affect the Kingdom's positive image in the international community as a country with a history of extending hospitality to refugees fleeing violence. Resolving the problems facing Myanmar's 800,000 Rohingyas would ultimately have to involve the Myanmar authorities.

Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, who has responsibility for internal security issues, said the Foreign Ministry had been assigned to interview the Rohingyas, and that it was important for Thailand to handle the issue carefully, on humanitarian and immigration grounds.

Chalerm said he had no concerns that the Muslim Rohingyas would get involved with the insurgency in the deep South. "What is problematic is their [possible] future illegal entry into Thailand in the long term. This is a very delicate matter and Thailand needs to protect its interests while not violating human rights," he said.

Asked about the possibility of setting up a camp to accommodate the newly arrived immigrants, Chalerm said he would need to discuss the matter with the Interior and Foreign ministries, along with security officials, before making a decision.

"We would need to find third countries who are ready to accommodate [the Rohingya], possibly Muslim countries, as they have abundant accommodation and funding," he said.

Four of the Rohingya exiles yesterday staged a protest outside the Foreign Ministry compound asking Thailand not to repatriate the group. They plan to submit their request to the British, US, Australian and Malaysian embassies.

Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul had received the request, and was expected to consider it at a ministry meeting next week.

The four also called on Thai authorities to search for a number of their fellow migrants who had gone missing during their journey to Thailand, which took them through jungles and across the sea. 

The Sheikhul Islam Office, the Central Islamic Council of Thailand and the provincial Islamic councils in the five deep South provinces issued an open letter calling for sympathy from Thai people and assigning the council in Songkhla to act as centre of assistance. Aid would be distributed from there to all locations where the 857 currently reside.

The statement called on Thai authorities not to repatriate the Rohingya to Myanmar, while welcoming donations to an account named Assistance Fund for Rohingyas, account number 934-1-48557-6, at the Islamic Bank of Thailand's Hat Yai branch.

Bangkok Post

January 18, 2013

More than 800 Rohingya migrants detained in Thailand should be given shelter and sent to a third country rather than being returned to Myanmar, an Islamic group said yesterday.

The Central Islamic Council of Thailand said it would propose the central mosque of Songkhla province be used as a main shelter for Muslim migrants who have not been charged with any criminal offences.

Police detention centres have become overcrowded due to the large number of Rohingya migrants being detained, the council said.

Several hundred Rohingya have been detained in Songkhla, Narathiwat, Trang, Pattani and Phangnga during the past couple of weeks after they attempted to pass through Thailand into Malaysia.

Fifty-two more were detained yesterday by marine police at a deserted house in Ban Tam Ma Lang Nua village of Muang district in Satun, a province bordering Songkhla.

Two of the migrants detained were women and one was a child.

The latest detention brings the total number of Rohingya held to 949 as of yesterday.

Two Rohingya migrants were earlier found in the forest on the Songkhla and Satun border.

Local administration authorities, meanwhile, are searching for more migrants believed to have gone into hiding after the previous crackdowns.

The Central Islamic Council also encouraged Muslim nations, international organisations and the United Nations agencies on human rights to discuss with a third-party country the possibility of granting asylum to the Rohingya migrants.

The council also called on these organisations to pressure the Myanmar government to recognise the citizenship of other Rohingya people who remain in the country.

Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said the ministry expected to come up with a conclusion on the Rohingya migrant issue this week.

It would then discuss with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees the best course of action.

He said the government would provide assistance to the migrants on a humanitarian basis and would not extradite them until the process of verifying their nationality is completed.

When nearly 850 Rohingya boat people were rescued from their secret shelters in Songkhla's Sadao district this week, the government finally did the right thing by providing them with humanitarian care and allowing them to have access to international assistance.

Up until this week, the country's main policy toward Rohingya boat people was to give them food, water, and fuel before putting them back out to sea so they can continue their journey to Malaysia, which is their main destination, or to deport them by land back to Myanmar.

By chasing them away, either by sea or by land, this policy is equivalent to pushing the Rohingya back into the open arms of human traffickers. If they cannot pay up, they risk imprisonment, torture, or even death back in Myanmar.

It is therefore good news that the government finally responded to calls from human rights groups and the international community to give humanitarian assistance to the Muslim-minority Rohingya who fled ethnic-cleansing violence in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

There are many woman and children among the rescued Rohingya. This clearly shows that this latest influx of Rohingya boat people who have reached Thai shores are war refugees and asylum seekers. They must be treated accordingly. Thailand, however, still considers them illegal immigrants, which makes them criminals in the eyes of Thai law which subjects them to arrest, imprisonment and deportation.

The Yingluck government made the right decision not to deport them and allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to interview the boat people in order to determine who they are, where they came from, and what they need.

This assessment process is crucial. The records will help ensure that the assistance meets their needs and help the authorities with later identification when the same Rohingya are smuggled back into Thailand again.

There is no such assessment system at present. This laxity made it easy for corrupt officials to assist human traffickers by sending the Rohingya asylum seekers across the border and allowing them back again, which essentially makes them part of the human trafficking racket.

Amid trade sanction threats from the US and EU, the Yingluck government has sent the right message to the international community by starting to take human traffickers to task. But the government needs to do much more to prove its commitment to battling human trafficking.

To start with, a local politician in Songkhla and two Rohingya men wanted by the police are just small fry in the Rohingya human trafficking racket. Even so, they have not yet been arrested. The big fish remain unscathed. So do the corrupt officials. As long as these key players are spared, then the stream of Rohingya boat people won't stop.

Apart from getting real with the human trafficking rackets and corrupt officials, the government must stop viewing the Rohingya as a national security threat and set up a system to identify their identities and their needs so they can go to third countries or return home.

To help the Rohingya, the international community must also lend a hand, not only by financially supporting humanitarian assistance, but also by exerting pressure on the Myanmar government to stop ethnic violence in Rakhine. If the international community continues to focus on Thailand's policy shortcomings while turning a blind eye to the ongoing atrocities against the Rohingya so it can still enjoy reaping benefits from investment opportunities in Myanmar, there is one word to describe this gap between words and actions. It is called hypocrisy.

Chutima Sidasathian & Alan Morison 

Phuket Wan

January 17, 2013 

PHUKET: A group of 88 Rohingya boatpeople were apprehended and brought to shore north of Phuket yesterday under the gaze of the international media, the BBC and Aljazeera. 

The boatpeople, including eight children and 10 women, will be assessed as Thailand reviews its policy towards hundreds of Rohingya still arriving by sea or recently ''rescued'' from people traffickers' secret camps. 

One pregnant woman and her husband were sent to a small local hospital after the boat was spotted by local villagers off Pra Thong Island, near the large fishing township of Kuraburi in Phang Nga province.

The others in the boat were transferred to Kuraburi Police Station where the BBC, Aljazeera and Phuketwan photographed and interviewed them. 

What emerged was a saga of enduring persecution by the Burmese Army. These people are all neighbors from the village of Debeng, near the town of Sittwe, where so-called ''community violence'' has targetted the oppressed and stateless Muslim minority. 

Burmese soldiers and local police held the Rohingya of Debeng powerless at gunpoint while their Buddhist neighbors torched their homes, the newly-arrived boatpeople said today. 

Read more here:

AFP

January 17, 2013

BANGKOK: More than 130 Rohingya migrants have landed on Thai soil in less than 24 hours, a local official said Thursday, as the kingdom grapples with a flurry of arrivals from the Myanmar minority group.

The Nation

January 17, 2013

Envoys hold conference to organise support; UNHCR granted permission to visit refugees

Envoys of more than 20 countries yesterday joined a teleconference that was held to address the grievances of and get help for more than 850 Rohingya people. These illegal migrants were arrested in Thailand's South earlier this month.

The conference focused on immediate assistance and the legal procedures involved.

At the teleconference were representatives of various countries including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Australia, the United States, New Zealand as well as the European Union.

In a related development, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) disclosed it had already received the Thai authorities' permission to access these Rohingya refugees.

"The Thai authorities have agreed in principle to give us access," said Golam Abbas, UNHCR's Representative ad interim in Thailand. "We would like this to happen as soon as possible, so that we can jointly look at their immediate humanitarian and protection needs."

"If there are people seeking asylum among the group, they should have access to a mechanism to assess their material and protection needs. This could be through Thailand's existing Provincial Admissions Board or another agreed arrangement. We are ready to provide our support and expertise as needed," he said.

Some 115,000 Rohingya people remain internally displaced within Myanmar's Rakhine state following inter-communal violence in June and October last year. The Rohingya are a Muslim minority in Myanmar.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said Tuesday her government would provide humanitarian care for the refugees and instructed the Foreign Ministry to work with the UN on the issue.

The UN said it welcomed public assurances from Yingluck that the group would receive temporary assistance in Thailand in respect of the principle of non-refoulement. This principle states that under international customary law, no one should be sent back to a place where his or her life and freedom could be endangered. UNHCR has sought access to this group, and cannot confirm their number or identity without first talking to them.

Thailand's Chularatchamontri, the country's Muslim spiritual leader, visited the arrested Rohingya in Songkhla yesterday. With tears in his eyes, he urged authorities to contact a third country where the migrants could get jobs and humanitarian assistance.

"Please don't send them back to Myanmar," he said.

The Burmese Rohingya Association Thailand, at the same time, called on the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRC) to prevent any deportation of the Rohingya.

"We have never agreed with deportation. Sending the Rohingya back is like sending them to hell," NHRC commissioner Niran Pitakwatchara said.

He also expressed concern that the Rohingya refugees might fall victims to human traffickers.

"We will consult with relevant authorities in a bid to prevent violation of the Rohingya people's rights," Niran said.

Speaking separately, Mamadjorkhid from Myanmar said he could not feel any human dignity in his homeland.

"Soldiers always harassed us. They were always taking away whatever we had in hands or farms," the 24-old-man said. He has now settled down in Thailand's Ranong.

Nobihuzon, 40, said he felt he had no future while living in Rakhine. "Many neighbours felt the same way. So, we pooled the money to buy a fishing trawler and started our boat trip," he said.

It took him more than 20 days to reach Thailand, where he had now lived for more than 22 years.

"I can live without fear now. I have already got myself registered as an alien worker," Nobihuzon said.

Qutub Shah

RB News

January 16, 2013

(Edited by Mayu Thit Sar)

Maungdaw: January 14, at midnight, in Kyauk Pando (Shita Furikka) village of Southern Maungdaw Township, the villager Eliyas s/o Habiullah was arrested from his house by the chief of Kyauk Pando Nasaka (Border Security Force) Camp. He was severely tortured soon after he got arrested although he didn’t know what went wrong with him. He was in the lock-up of Nasaka since then. It was his luck that he was able to convince the in-charge of the lock-up to release him after promising for a ransom.

Eliyas secretly ran away from the lock-up. But, unfortunately, he couldn’t get rid of those evil hands yet. The Nasaka came again to his house to arrest him again in the evening on January 15 but he wasn’t at home at that time. By not finding him, the extremist Nasaka arrested his wife, Tasnim d/o Fazal Hoque, 19 and his brother-in-law Abu Bakar and cousin Shafika d/o Oli Ahmed, 18. They were brought to the Nasaka camp in handcuffs.

The cruel and brutal Nasaka kept the two women in the lock-up and forced them to be half naked along with other arrestees torturing, touching and teasing after getting blind drunk. It was good fortune that they were not raped.

According to the report of a villager to RB News, today afternoon, both the women were released after being extorted 100,000 Kyats from each.

Buthidaung: Some police officers from Buthidaung Township went to the house of Shaker s/o Umar Miah from Ward No. 7 (Jabbarfara) for arrestment. Shaker raised a question to the police why would be arrested as he realized that those police came to arrest him. The police gave the false allegation that he helped the robbers and looked after them. Finally, in spite of his penury, he had to pay 500,000 Kyats to the police to save his life from their arrestment and torture.

A resident of Buthidaung told RB News that “We are like a material for making money for the police, military and Nasaka. Actually they are worse than robbers. All cash belong to us are being taken by them. They are arresting Rohingya people without any reason, just to pull the cash from us. I would love to pay them if they beg from us like beggars but now their attitude toward on us is less than robbers.”