Apriadi Gunawan 

The Jakarta Post

April 8, 2013

The North Sumatra Police on Saturday named 18 Rohingya refugees as suspects in a torture case that left eight Myanmar illegal immigrants dead. 

The eight Myanmar fishermen were killed in the early hours of Friday in a violent incident involving hundreds of Rohingya refugees at the Immigration Detention Center (Rudenim) in Belawan, just outside Medan. 

The eight fishermen were Aung Thu Win, 24, Aung Than, 44, Min-Min, 24, Win Tun, 32, Nawe, 23, Aye, 23, Myo, 20, and Sam Iwin, 45. Three Myanmar fishermen managed to escape and 21 refugees sustained injuries.

Witnesses said that the brawl among center the residents started on Friday at about 1 a.m. when the Buddhist fishermen allegedly sexually harassed a female Rohingya refugee.

Muhammad Alam, 23, one of the Rohingya refugees, said that prior to the brawl, a number of fishermen followed a female Rohingya to the bathroom. The fishermen suddenly started to sexually harass the woman.

Several Rohingya who witnessed the incident reported the case to the others, inciting the anger of all the Rohingya detained at the Rudenim. 

The refugees spontaneously attacked the illegal fishermen.

North Sumatra Police chief spokesman Sr. Comr. Heru Prakoso told The Jakarta Post that the suspects would be charged with the Criminal Code’s Articles 351 on torture and 170 on violence against persons or goods. The articles carry a maximum punishment of nine and 12 years respectively.

“These two articles are appropriate [as the] suspects acted violently and caused the death of other people,” he said.

“We have enough evidence to support the use of the multiple articles.”

The catalyst behind the Muslim Rohingya refugees’ violent clash with the Buddhist Myanmar fishermen was of sexual harassment.

“So the motive was sexual harassment. There were no religious or ethnic factors in this case,” he said.

The authorities carried out autopsies on the bodies of the eight fishermen at Pringadi General Hospital in Medan. 

The forensic team concurred that the deaths were caused by the impact of blunt and sharp objects to the deceased’s heads and bodies.

As of Saturday, the team was still matching their findings from the eight bodies to data supplied by the immigration office.

Spokesman from the North Sumatra regional office of the Law and Human Rights Ministry, Hasran Sapawi, said on Saturday that it was not yet clear whether the bodies would be repatriated to Myanmar or buried in Indonesia.

The immigration office has not yet received confirmation from the Myanmar Embassy in Jakarta regarding the handling of the deceased individuals.

The Rohingyas, who are not recognized as a minority group by the Myanmar government, have become the target of attacks launched by the Buddhist Rakhine ethnic group. 

So far, there has been no permanent solution by the Myanmar government, forcing the Rohingyas to seek asylum in other countries.

The Rohingyas initially wanted to enter nearby Thailand and Malaysia by boat but were driven out to the open sea by the authorities and were intercepted when they entered Indonesian waters. 

Bangladesh has also stopped Rohingya refugees from entering the country despite shared culture and history.

The Bolton News

April 6, 2013

BURMA may be thousands of miles away but, as the violence against the country’s Muslims escalates, people in Bolton are coming together to call for action. 

A silent vigil by Bolton United for Peace and Burma Action Group last week will be followed by a similar event at 3pm today in Victoria Square. 

People in Bolton, whose parents and grandparents moved to the UK from Burma years ago, are calling for a stop to the violence and for action to be taken. 

They want to raise the profile of events happening in Burma to stop more people being killed. 

Among the group is a Daubhill mother-of-one who is terrified that her Muslim family in Burma will be harmed. 

The 34-year-old, who is too frightened to be named, said her relatives have been living in “absolute fear” since riots started in Burma on March 20, directed against Muslims. 

Muslims in Burma account for fewer than five per cent of the population, which is predominantly Buddhist. 

In the city of Meiktila, more than 40 people were killed and thousands were driven from their homes, which were burnt and razed to the ground. 

Violence and intimidation has since spread across the country, leaving thousands of people living in fear.

The violence comes at a time when, after nearly half a century of dictatorship, Burma has begun to make reforms, including lifting press censorship and releasing political prisoners — most notably Aung San Suu Kyi. 

Every morning and night, the Daubhill mother, who came to the UK with her husband to study in 2001, calls her family in Rangoon to check they are safe. 

She says the military regime has organised a group of extremist monks to terrorise the Muslim population and every night her family take turns to keep watch in case they are next. 

Her cousin has been volunteering in camps set up in Rangoon to house the people, including the elderly and children, whose homes have been destroyed in the violence and persecution. 

She said: “There are hundreds of people in the camps with nothing. They might not have been physically hurt, but all their belongings and homes have been burnt down.” 

Just days ago, a fire in a school for Muslim orphans in Rangoon killed 13 boys. She said the school was only five streets away from where her husband used to live and she is worried the persecution could spread to her parents’ home. 

She said that on a nearby street, a man on a motorcycle had spent the night goading residents by throwing stones at their mosque, shouting racial slurs and claiming if they came out they would “kill all the generations”. 

She added: “I am so scared about what could happen to my family. These extremists want to get rid of the Muslims and I want to make people aware what it going on in Burma to get the terrible things to stop.” 

Ibrahim Kala, aged 43, from Daubhill, has helped to organise the vigils. 

Mr Kala’s father moved to Bolton from Burma in the 1960s and he says people need to be made aware about what is going on in the country. 

He said: “It is frightening for people here in Bolton to see what is happening in Burma. We need to stop it.” 

For more information about the Burma Action Group, contact 07525 048346. 

AFP

April 7, 2013

Indonesian police on Sunday detained 80 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar on a remote island off Sumatra after they had got lost attempting to reach Malaysia, an official said. 

It was the latest boatload of Rohingya to arrive on the shores of Indonesia, as thousands flee Myanmar after tensions between Muslims and Buddhists exploded in their home state of Rakhine last year. 

The migrants, including five women and six children, arrived late morning on the island in Pulo Aceh, a cluster of tiny islands off the northwestern coast of Sumatra, local police official September Sembiring told AFP. 

"Their boat is still in good condition and they have enough food and fuel. They said they wanted to go to Malaysia but lost their way," he said. 

"They are all well. Two had stomach problems but nothing major." 

They were being held in a large hall at the local police station and were likely to be sent to the mainland where their cases would be assessed by immigration officials, he added. 

On Friday police in Surabaya city, East Java province, detained 35 Rohingya hiding out in a flat who had been planning to make the treacherous sea crossing to Australia, according to police. 

Many Rohingya arriving in Indonesia face long stints in detention centres awaiting UN assessment for refugee status. 

Communal tensions in Myanmar spilled over to Indonesia last week, when a group of Rohingya beat eight Buddhists to death at a detention centre in Belawan, Sumatra, after becoming enraged at news of violence in their homeland.

Faroque Shah M. Yusoof 

RB Article

April 7, 2013

Whenever a Muslim thinks over the crises being faced by his brethren Muslims in Burma, he can never end up with a solution but has to surrender taking a deep-sigh, retreat and put trust to God alone as there seems no alternative of precaution to save those who are living in the midst of hatred-filled Buddhist terrorists. Today, Burma becomes a notorious land of terrorism where a small minority Muslim has become the target of genocide either in Arakan or in central Burma. Last June 2012, the pre-planned violence targeting Rohingyas and Kamans sparked from Taung Gup to Maungdaw, Bhuthidaung, Sittwe and Kyauktaw, Mrohaung, MaunBya, Kyauk Pyu and all the regions where there are Muslims living. 

Sadly , since the government itself is composed of the people with Buddhist faith, Minority Muslim Rohingyas and other minority Muslims living in the central Burma remain unprotected from the danger posed by the majority Buddhist racists. Instead, the repressive Buddhist regime itself encourages and fuels the violence against the Muslim minority to be in a more systematic way. The security forces (Hluntin) and Rakhine terrorists behave above the rule of law and often triggers violence against the small Rohingya minority in Arakan and Muslims in central Burma. And the reasons behind the violence are simply hatred and Islamophobia in the pretext of the so-called new democratic and political changes. 

Burma, in the name of democratic changes, gives license and freedom to the Buddhist terrorists in the country to massacre Muslim minority, loot and vandalize their properties, rape their women and girl and for all kinds of atrocities against Muslim minority. In Akyab (Sittwe), western Burma, thousands of Muslims lost their lives in the hands of Buddhist terrorists and more than 120 thousands have been displaced as IDP or refugees. No justice has been done yet. Rather, they turn deaf ears to International Human Rights Organizations’ calls to end the violence and racist parties such as RNDP, ALP and hatred-filled pseudo Monks are fanning the violence in full scale in the midst of curfew and summary laws but alas, curfews are only imposed on Muslims and Rakhines are set free to continue their barbarism. UNCHR, other NGOs and INGOs are denied their access to the Rohingya IDP camps to provide food, medicine and other humanitarian aids and their rehabilitation to their original places are also denied by the authorities. 

As the hatred, discrimination and repressive laws against the Muslims minority are gaining momentum in Burma, Genocide spread like bush-fire to Meikhtila where more than 43 innocent Muslims were killed and more than 1200 houses including Mosque and Madarasas were burnt down. Buddhist Burmese of Meikhtila including government authorities were just watching with their hand folded and having no feeling of humanity even for those who had been living side by sides with them for hundreds of years in the same town. The reason is they are Buddhist Majority and it doesn’t matter to them if the victims are from small minority Muslim. Since government itself is transgressor of all bonds, the nation feels nothing whether atrocities and transgression against innocent Muslim minority are wrong or right but justify them to be rightful. 

Who are behind all these violence? Many well known politicians expressed, these all violence are entirely creation of Burmese government and I, myself, too, used to say Military regime is the mother of all evils. When the head of the state, Thein Sein, declared the Muslims citizens of Burma living for centuries be deported to a third country, Buddhist terrorists got the official supports to continue their transgressions. In the name of democracy and changes, in Myanmar, every party is taking advantage over the coming democracy and some are to derail it to different means. 

All the senior army generals have different views on democracy and meanwhile, ex-general Tin Oo, co-chair person of Suu Kyi’s NLD is taking all advantages out of democracy to root out entire Rohingya community from Arakan. Tin Oo was hired by old Rakhine politicians in the pretext of making him son-in-law of Rakhine, whose spouse is a fanatic racist. The same Tin Oo is also believed to be the director of 1982 citizenship law drawing commission along with General Ne Win, the gambler, and they both were behind the Immigration operations in 20 different names since 1978 in Arakan. The Retired General Than Shwe is another hater of Rohingya and although his coup put intelligent chief Lt general Khin Nyut in prison, their common goal is to finish Rohingya of Arakan. 

Immediately after the Khin Nyut's release from jail, he thanked Ms. Suu Kyi who played a role for his release from jail, but vowed to challenge those who put him jail apparently to derail democracy to its failure. He then visited Arakan and met with Monks apparently to fan the violence against Muslims that might block the Rakhine votes to his arch rival military generals. Khin Nyut seemed to be a major strife creator in Arakan in order to make President Thein Sein face hard nut on the way to democracy that might breed much criticism around the world. After all Muslims had become escape-goats and falling into misfortune, ill-fated Rohingyas have to suffer all those atrocities. 

People say last June 2012 sectarian violence was triggered by the three Muslim rapists while they were not actual Muslim and the question is where were the rapists in the 1942 Muslim massacre where 100 thousands innocent Muslims lost their lives and where were the rapists in Meiktila and in the recent arson attack in Rangoon where 13 innocent and minor Muslims students were burnt alive , where five are missing and score seriously wounded with the burns. The Tafiz al Quran School inside the Mosque (Sadeqia) has been in function right before the independence of Burma in 1948. During the period of 65 years, no such incidents were ever reported and today the Burmese authorities are lying and tricking the International community and the Muslims of Burma that the incident was merely due to electric-shock and trying to conceal that the true cause of the burning was due to the fuel-oil poured on the stair by the same trained Buddhist extremists related with Meikhtila. 

It is believed that the incident of 13 innocent minor students was precisely similar to the case of 1968 Chinese- Burmese riots in Rangoon where the Burmese rioters systematically killed by pouring coking gas on the ladder of the top floor of the Chinese buildings and then setting fire at the bottom of the ladder where no one was able to escape while fire caught entire buildings. Eye witnesses like me shockingly watched the scene of 1968 riots in Rangoon where white skinned and flat nose like Chinese were hiding for many days to escape from the danger to their lives. 

No need of wasting time arguing to investigate whether it was due to the electric-shock or it is a plotted firing. It was certainly a plotting by the trained Buddhist extremists and it is not the end of incidents and God forbid, worse kinds of cases might happen in the future to the long-beard and capped Muslims of Indian feature with pointed noses are on the target. To my disappointment, there seems no magic solution or meaningful reconciliation shall take place until and unless 2015 election is over with the uncertain victory of Thein Sein. 

Faroque Shah M. Yusoof 

An Eye-Witness of 1968 Chinese-Burmese Riot 

In Rangoon and Moulmein

Win Lwin

RB Opinion

April 7, 2013

I felt an urge to write an opinion piece about Aung San Suu Kyi as communal riots were occurring in the Rakhine State but I thought I should give ‘The Lady’ time to prove me wrong. The time has since past and the optimistic wish that she would prove me wrong is nothing but a waste of time. 

With the communal violence in Rakhine still smoldering, we are now in the midst of another targeted violence against the Muslim minority; the cloak of deception behind of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese government and by large the majority of the Buddhist population is now lifted and their racist ways are in the full glare of her people and the world. 

After the alleged rape case of a Buddhist girl by three Muslim men, the massacre of Rohingya and Muslims in Arakan displaced tens of thousands of people. Those alleged rapists were arrested but a vigilante group of Rakhine Buddhist murdered a bus full of Muslims who were no way connected to the alleged rapists besides professing to the same religion. 

What followed next is common knowledge to all except to the Buddhist Burmese who have blood on their hands; rapes, targeted killings and systematic eviction of the Rohingyas from their homes and lands by mobs of Buddhist Arakanese while the government security elements looked away or complicit to the violence inflicted on Rohingya and Muslims. 

As the world gasped in horror; Aung San Suu Kyi was globetrotting and basking in the international limelight. Questions after questions were directed at her about the ongoing killings and displacement of these Rohingya Muslims back home but she side stepped the questions by talking about the rule of law. 

After a long silence she says she had not spoken about violence because she wanted to promote reconciliation between the Buddhist and Muslim communities. Her usage of the words ‘Buddhist and Muslim communities’ clearly indicates that she is fully aware of the issue, which is not the alleged illegal Bengali intruders but a religious conflict that has been simmering for decades. 

“But don’t forget that violence has been committed by both sides. This is why I prefer not to take sides. And, also I want to work toward reconciliation between these two communities. I am not going to be able to do that if I take sides". 

Defending one’s life when threatened with death is not violence. These Rohingyas are at the receiving end, maybe it’s time ASSK stops playing politics and start speaking as a true statesperson and an agent of change and reconciliation. 

What she has failed to realize is that she already has taken sides when she speaks about how monks were insulted by Muslims allegedly without speaking about killings of innocent Rohingya children, women and men by Buddhist led mobs. 

A monk is not above the law; a monk is also a human with weaknesses and as it is quite clears, a vast majority of them in Burma are racists. A man in monk attire who commits a crime is nothing but a man who has committed a crime and a criminal at best. Unless ASSK makes such a statement, she is nothing but a person who preaches democracy, equality, freedom and other democratic ideals for her race and religion only and no one else. She preached idealistic things but failed to explain to the people that an idealistic way of thinking is quite far from the realities of life. She has hoodwinked herself and the people. 

She has failed to live up to her own ideals which she articulately propagated during her incarceration. Was it all rhetorical or a mask to hide the real ASSK? 

With the Buddhist population so blinded by their hatred for people and religion they have little or no idea about, with aggressions perpetuated against Muslims in other parts of Burma increasing, ASSK feels it is prudent to maintain her silence. Is this silence out of desperation not to lose her political base or is this silence an insight to her own racist way? 

Her silence is irresponsible and the correct phrase to describe her silence is ‘criminal’. This silence on her part has also made her a collaborator in the displacement and deaths of countless Muslims in Burma. She too has blood on her hands. 

This is a woman who was given the ‘Noble Peace Prize’ for standing up for democracy and freedom for Burma but from my recollection; the idea of nominating her as a candidate for this prestigious prize was not for her fight for such things but because her husband felt it prudent that bestowing such a prize on her will discourage the government from harming her. Of course, my comment is debatable to say the least. I personally feel, this prize was prematurely given to her even if it did protect her from further harm. After all, many had been tortured and killed for the fight for democracy and freedom; what makes her so special besides who her father was? Her political stand presently is nothing noble and certainly brings shame to the award conferred to her. 

I am sure many will think this to be ranting of a person who does not know ASSK; but who really knows what she is thinking and who she really is? Politics is perception and my perception of her is that of a racist who is out to canon herself politically for her own interest or that of her own race and religion at the cost of innocent Muslim men, women and children. 

“The kind of seed sown will produce that kind of fruit. Those who do good will reap good results. Those who do evil will reap evil results. If you carefully plant a good seed, you will joyfully gather good fruits”, Dhammapada. 

In ASSK’s case, she is enjoying the rock star status and the chants of people calling her Amma (mother) and Daw Suu ( Daw – is an honorary title to address a woman of higher status), while people are dying all around her. How is she planting a good seed? She is not planting any seed; she is just harvesting the fruits as the result of seeds of hatred that the government planted along time ago towards the Muslims and other minorities in the minds of the Buddhist population. She saw an opportunity to nurture an evil seed to gain political mileage. I have no doubt that the Muslims of Burma will continue to be treated as outsiders and as a pariah community for at least 3 generations to come. 

The young boys and girls in Burma whose age between 7 to 10 are already brainwashed to hate Muslims. That leaves the teenagers, young adults, middle aged adults and seniors who are already tainted by racial hatred will suffer from racial-phobia for the rest of their lives, perhaps. Where is the hope for Muslims to enjoy democracy and freedom in Burma when the very person who is leading the fight herself is a racist and bigot? 

I personally see a very uncertain future of the Muslim’s in Burma; what hope is there when the very person who speaks about the rule of law, democracy, freedom and equality is in fact propagating all these democratic values for her own race and religion but no one else? 

I say a prayer every night with the hope that ASSK will once again garner my respect and support but I remain a pessimist in light of her silence and indifference to the suffering of the Muslim community of Burma who have paid with their lives and blood to support her. 

The writings, here, are of author’s own and do not reflect the editorial policy of RB.

ARAKAN ROHINGYA NATIONAL ORGANISATION 

ARAKAN, BURMA 

PRESS RELEASE 

(07 April 2013) 

Statement of ARNO on the news item appeared in Daily Independent, Dhaka, Bangladesh on 6 April 2013 

Our attention has been drawn to the news item dated 6th April 2013 of the Daily Independent, Dhaka, Bangladesh under the caption, “180 Rohingyas arrested in Cox’s Bazar”. 

We strongly reject the news which says, “Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) activists gave money to thousand Rohingyas on refugee camp of Teknaf and Ukhiya to participate in Hefazate Islam Bangladesh (HIB) long march.” This is a baseless allegation devoid of truth and evidence. 

The news item further states, “Ukhiya police launched drives in Mariccha, Curt Bazar, Ukhiya Sadar, T&T area on Teknaf-Cox’s Bazar highway and arrested 180 Rohingyas who were going to participate in HIB long march.” All those 180 people who were arrested are Rohingya refugees. They were not going out of their makeshift camps to participate in any rally, but they went out looking for work as they are facing prevalent starvation. 

Meanwhile, we strongly condemn Dhaka based Narinjara, a news group of Rakhine Buddhist in exile, for publishing the same concocted news in Burmese without verification with a view to tarnishing the image of the ARNO and the Rohingya Diaspora in Bangladesh. 

We reiterate that we are committed to pursue a peaceful political settlement of our problem and crisis. We are committed to remain a community within Arakan and to having peaceful and beneficial relations with our neighbours. And ARNO has a strong policy of non-interference in the affairs of other countries and it firmly abides by its policy. 

The international community is well aware that the Rohingyas, who are facing ethnic cleansing and genocide in Burma, merit international protection, in the absence of domestic security; and to this fact we invite the kind attention and consideration of the people and Government of Bangladesh. Meanwhile, we request the Bangladesh authorities to investigate the allegation and the arrest of 180 Rohingya refugees, who deserve sympathy and support on the basis of humanitarianism, in the interest of justice.

For more information, please contact: 

Nurul Islam: + 44-7947854652 

Email: info@rohingya.org 

www.rohingya.org

“Regarding Situation of suffering Muslims in Burma”

BRAFA Chairman Shaukhat Kyaw Soe Aung alias MSK Jilani highlighted the situation of suffering Muslims in Burma at the MAS Convention- Milwaukee Chapter are as follows. 

- Burma is located in Southeast Asia and it is majority Buddhist country with a population of an estimated more than 60 million people consisting of Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Hindu and other religious groups. Muslim settlements and propagation of Islam in Burma has been widely documented by Arab, Persian, European and Chinese travelers in the 8 century A.D. 

- The current Muslim population in Burma are an estimated 8 to 9 million and they are descendants of Arabs, Persians, Turks, Moors, Indians, Pakistanis, Pathans, Moghuls, Bengalis, Chinese Muslims, Malays and other indo-Mongoloid people who settled down and intermarried with the local people and other ethnic Burmese groups in Burma according to historical survey. 

- So, Muslims in Burma have been living for many centuries and they were recognized as indigenous people and bona fide citizens of Burma by the previous Burmese democratic government institutions. Muslims of Burma have been enjoyed the fruits of democratic rights and equal status and used to have a number of high-ranking officers in the previous parliamentary democratic government from 1948 to 1962. 

- Soon after Burmese dictator General Ne Win seized the power in March, 1962 Muslims have been deliberately and systematically excluded from the governmental positions and hundreds of thousands of Muslims were forced to leave Burma. Since then, Muslims in Burma have become the third class inhabitants and living as subjugated minority, who are no longer treated to be Burmese citizens. 

- With the enactment of 1982 discriminatory Burmese citizenship law which is against international law standards and basic fundamental human rights by the dictator General Ne Win and his political agent ultra-nationalists and racist academicians, Muslims of Burma particularly, the Rohingya people of Arakan has been denied citizenship rights and become stateless people or foreigners in their native home-land Arakan who were living there for many centuries with historical roots. 

- Muslims in Burma are being painfully subjected to barbaric and appalling atrocities of extremist Buddhists and security forces of Burmese government. Their lives are in a constant fear and under extremely threats. The brutal Burmese military regime has been carrying out massive atrocities, religious violence, racial discrimination, human rights abuses and restriction of movement on Muslim minority which are neither totally acceptable nor tolerable and these are all against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and democratic norms. 

- Most evidently, starting from the last year June, 2012, Muslim minorities in Burma become suffering victims of widespread racial, religious and political persecutions and violent attacks at the hands of Burmese extremist Buddhist and government security forces and yet still on going the same violence and atrocities against Muslims throughout Burma (Myanmar). Today, Muslims in Burma are under horrible suppression and there is no scope of any security protection given to the Muslims by the President Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government and its security forces because they themselves either directly or indirectly involved in the ongoing violence and anti-Muslim campaigns in collaboration with racist monks and Buddhist extremists to vanish and annihilate the Muslims from the land of Burma. 

- There have been two rounds of religious violence and terrorist attack erupted on the Rohingyas and Kaman Muslims in Arakan State, the western part of Burma in the last year. The first round is in June 2012 and the second round is in October 2012 which ultimately resulted over 25,000 Muslims includes men, women, and children have been butchered and untold numbers of Rohingyas and Kaman Muslims were missing when they were escaping the violence and still unknown where about. Hundreds of Muslim women and young girls were raped by the Buddhists and Burmese security forces while more than 125,000 Muslims includes Rohingyas and Kaman have been displaced and now they are living in the concentration camps in Sittwe (Akyab), Arakan State as internally displaced persons (IDP). The Burmese Government do not take any concrete program and planning yet to resettle the displaced Muslims to their original places and locations nor given any appropriate compensations to them for the loss and destruction of their houses and properties which were burned down and destroyed in the violence and terrorist attack by the Buddhist extremists and government security forces. Instead of amicably resolving the problem by protecting minority and innocent Muslims, the President Thein Sein led Burmese government and its security forces covertly supported the Buddhist rioters and racist monks, which created greater hardships for the defenseless Muslims. 

- Meanwhile, due to fear of extreme repression, brutal methods of torturing, killing, looting and arbitrary confiscation of Muslim properties, disappearances and rape of Muslim women, mass arrest, restriction of movement, harassment, inflicting physical and causing mental harm as well as other kinds of human rights violations such as blocking of humanitarian aid and relief goods, education and employment restriction, dire living conditions in the camps, and restriction on five time daily religious prayer services, several thousands of Muslim Rohingyas so far have fled the country in rickety (overcrowded) boats through Indian Andaman sea and eventually they managed to reach somehow to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka after several days voyaging in the sea without foods and water while hundreds of people have drowned already at sea because of engine breaking down. Currently, these boat people are under detention of Thailand, Malaysia and some are in Indonesia and Sri Lanka respectively. 

- Subsequently, another new wave of violence erupted on Burmese Muslims in Meiktila town of Mandalay region in central Burma on March 20, 2013 and now this violence has spreading all over cities, townships, and Muslim villages in central Burma and other eastern parts including the former capital city of Rangoon. As a result of extensive violence and anti-Muslim campaigns orchestrated by the Buddhist people, according to reliable news information from the ground, at least 30 mosques include Madaras and Maktabs have been destroyed and burnt down into ashes in front of the police personals and security forces. Hundreds of Burmese Muslims were killed in this violence by the Buddhist extremists and many injured. Several business properties, shops, stores and houses owned by the Burmese Muslims were burnt and destroyed while more than 20,000 Burmese Muslims were displaced and now they are taking shelter at the stadium complex in central Burma. They have no enough foods, no medical services and lack of other necessary shelter and equipment at this time for the contemporary life survival. 

- Unfortunately, neither United Nations - UN, European Union - EU, United States Government (U.S.), ASEAN, nor civilized world communities of the 21st century has initiated any affirmative action or positively raised voice against the inhumane atrocities, worst human massacre and the grim condition of Muslims in Burma. International communities including world veto power 5 countries are still so quiet and not taking any practical action on military backed Burmese government, despite receiving daily news through various media groups, watching the horrific video, and pictures of this unprecedented genocide of Muslims at the hands of Burmese security forces, civilian political party leaders, racist monks and Buddhist extremists in Burma. 

Taking everything into accounts of the suffering Muslims in Burma and pursuing their grim condition, on behalf of the Burmese Rohingya American Friendship Association (BRAFA), I sincerely want to request all of the participant Muslim brothers and sisters in this Muslim American Society (MAS) Convention including world-wide Muslim Ummah to help and provide moral and material support to the suffering Muslims in Burma and also demand the United Nations Security Council and US Government to dispatch international peace keeping forces to save the lives of the innocent and unarmed Muslims of Burma. Thein Sein led Burmese government does not give enough protection to the Muslim people and therefore, they are in need of international protection immediately.

The Nation

April 7, 2013

Thirteen Myanmar soldiers earlier reported as having been killed in a clash with unidentified armed forces on the Thai-Myanmar border were actually lost in a forest but are now safe, according to the Myanmar authorities. 

Myanmar also retracted its earlier report that an armed clash had erupted on the border in southern Ranong province, at the same location where 92 Thais were arrested last year.

Army deputy spokesman Winthai Suwaree said yesterday that the Thai authorities were informed that the inaccurate report was the result of miscommunication. 

The 13 soldiers were patrolling in the area at a time when a bush-fire occurred, he said. 

Cracking sounds caused by the fire were mistaken as gunfire by colleagues of the patrolling soldiers listening in on the other end of radio communications. After reporting to their base, they patrolling soldiers lost contact, which led the local Myanmar authorities to seek help from their Thai counterparts after the soldiers could not be located, according to the Thai Army spokesman.

"The latest report from the Myanmar authorities was that it was a misunderstanding. They asserted that there was no armed clash in the border area and there were no deaths at all," the spokesman said.

In Ranong, Colonel Uthit Anantananont, deputy commander of the 25th Infantry Regiment's Special Taskforce, which is responsible for the border area in question, said yesterday that the 13 Myanmar soldiers were found by their colleagues' search party deep in a forest in Myanmar. 

The patrol team had 15 soldiers and only two of them had managed to find their way back to the base before the search began, Uthit said. "Now the situation is considered to have returned to normal in the border area between Thailand's Ranong and Myanmar's Kawthaung," he said.

He added that a trip by the 4th Army Area commander to Ranong to look into the matter had been cancelled after the latest report from the Myanmar authorities.

Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul yesterday also confirmed that there had been a misunderstanding, saying the cracking sound of burning trees was mistaken by the missing soldiers' colleagues as gunfire.

In July last year, Myanmar authorities arrested 92 Thais in the border area opposite Ranong's Kra Buri district for encroaching on Myanmar territory. Eighty-eight of them were eventually released but the rest have been detained on weapons and drug-trafficking charges.

Ibrahim Shah

RB News

April 6, 2013

On 6th April 2013, today it is reliably informed by a phone call of one villager hails from Taungbazar belong to upper part of Buthidaung Township in western Burma as follows. 

Yesterday, Border Immigration (Nasaka) personnel named Captain Win Hlaing Oo from BI Sector No. 9, located in northern Taungbazar Joint, called only Rohingya villagers in a tea-shop of the market; threatened waving hands holding long knifes wrathfully and finally forced abusively many villagers to acknowledge themselves as Bengali signing with computerized figure-print. 

Once villagers refused to sign in the census papers, the Captain himself has beaten brutally to many villagers. Hardly few signed unwillingly and fearfully to escape beating brutally. Again, once the villagers mostly refused to acknowledge as Bengali and boldly claimed themselves as Rohingya, the BI personnel forcibly scrutinize entering every houses there. 

Meanwhile, most of the villagers flee home and hide in forest to escape the brutalities of BI personnel. When they met that head of family, male is absent, the BI personnel try to forcibly assault women. Though today Saturday is the shopping day of that market, even about 50 villagers did not go for shopping. The main reason to avoid going for shopping is only to escape the brutal beating of BI personnel. 

A villager named Anwar, son-of former private cigarette company Abdu Shokkor fled to escape the brutal beating which is a fresh atrocity initiated by the deputy- chief of Border Immigration Sector No. 9. 

One village Administrator named Esahaq, son of Muzer hailed from Kyeenockthie quarter was forcibly singed with finger-print as Bengali. He is in dire situation and now he is likely a chronic patient of heart disease. He is regretting that my life is ruined absolutely to unwillingly acknowledge as Bengali due to the forcibly beating and inhumanely insulting. 

Eventually, all the Rohingyas determined to refuse the forcibly Bengalization strategic planning of current military backed regime of President Thein Sein. But most are dreading that they will be killed alive at last when they would speak out altogether against Bengalization. 

In accordance with the evident historical records, Rohingya face discrimination from the Buddhist majority imperialist group since 1962. Amid the reform-term of so called president Thein Sein, Rohingya are killed, missed, displaced more times than ever. Since the initiation of the central government sponsored violence on minority Rohingya Muslims in the last year June, it is so increasingly going on numerous atrocities on Rohingya. This attempt to Bengalize Rohingya is the eventual path to accomplish Rohingya genocide.

Gianluca Mezzofiore

International Business Times

April 6, 2013

Buddhist Monk Saydaw Wirathu, the self-styled "Burmese bin Laden", has rejected claims that his 969 nationalist campaign was behind violence in central Myanmar's city of Meikhtila against Muslims. 

In an interview with Irrawaddy website, Wirathu blamed "kalar" - a scornful term for Muslims - for the Meikhtila sectarian riots that left at least 20 people dead. "They were carrying knives, sticks and other weapons and attacked the Burmese," he said. "When the crowd heard that one monk was killed during the unrest, they went to the kalar quarter without weapons. Only one Burmese person out of ten carried a stick from the ruined houses, and no other weapons. [...]So, the planned attacks came from the Muslim quarters." 

Wirathu, who has led numerous vocal campaigns against Muslims in Burma and was arrested in 2003 for distributing anti-Muslim literature, denied that the 969 campaign was responsible for the unrest. "People blame 969, saying it is involved in the atrocities because they cannot find the real culprits. [But] the 969 leaflets were not found and no one distributed it in Meikthila," he argued. "The 969 campaign was made the culprit, but actually it is innocent as it only represents the special attributes of the Buddha."

The numerology of 969 is derived from the Buddhist tradition in which 9 stands for the special attributes of Buddha; 6 for the special attributes of his teaching or Dhamma and 9 for the special attributes of the Sangha or Buddhist order. 

In a controversial video that emerged on YouTube, Wirathu called for a national boycott of Muslim businesses in Myanmar. Buddhist monasteries have been distributing anti-Muslim leaflets for months, according to reports. Wirahtu himself was arrested in 2003 for distributing anti-Muslim leaflets and has often stirred controversy over his Islamophobic activities.

According to the Democratic Voice of Burma, Wirathu played an active role in stirring tensions in a Rangoon suburb in February, by spreading unfounded rumours that a local school was being developed into a mosque, 

An angry mob of about 300 Buddhists assaulted the school and Muslim-owned businesses and shops in Rangoon. The 969 symbol was found spray-painted on damaged cars and Muslim buildings in other Myanmar areas after the Meikhtala riots. 

The monk also criticised Aung San Suu Kyi and her National league for Democracy (NLD) for not doing enough to protect Buddhists in Myanmar. "I have been supporting Daw Aung San Suu Kyi through the years, but she was not a reliable leader during the Rakhine State [sectarian] unrest," he said, referring to last year's clashes between Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Burmese. 

"Nearly every NLD township office is operated by Muslims," he continued. "So I said the symbol of the NLD peacock is becoming a symbol for Muslims.[...] They are not very reliable in supporting the public in the case of the Arakan State riots. They don't stand on the side of the public. 

"They don't issue a specific statement to say that Rohingya [Muslims] are not a recognized national minority [in Burma] and they should condemn the killing of Arakanese [Buddhists] by Bengalis [Muslims]," he continued.

Courier Mail

April 6, 2013

INDONESIAN police have arrested 35 Muslim Rohingya from Burma planning to make the treacherous sea crossing to Australia to seek asylum.

Officials said the arrests came the same day Rohingya being held at a detention centre on Sumatra island beat to death eight Buddhist detainees from Burma after being enraged by photos of recent communal violence in their homeland.

Rohingya, described by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted minorities, have fled Burma in their thousands since Buddhist-Muslim tensions exploded in their home state of Rakhine last year.

The 35 migrants, who included 12 children, were arrested at a flat in the city of Surabaya, East Java province, for not having the necessary immigration documents to be in Indonesia, said local police chief Wiji Suwartini.

"They planned to go to Australia," she said, adding that they would be sent to an immigration detention centre in the city.

An increasing number of Rohingya have been arriving on Indonesian shores, where many face long stints in detention awaiting UN assessment for refugee status.

Friday's attack at the detention centre in Belawan underscored the soaring Muslim-Buddhist tensions that have cast a shadow over political reforms in Burma which have brought an end to decades of authoritarian military rule.

Australia is facing a steady influx of asylum-seekers arriving by boat, many of whom use Indonesia as a transit hub, paying people-smugglers for passage on leaky wooden vessels after fleeing their home countries.

Hundreds have died making the treacherous journey over the past few years.

The Freedom and Wisdom

The Freedom as a Human being! 

The Freedom as a Man of Citizen! 

The Freedom as a Universal Brotherhood! 

The Freedom as a Man of Asia! 

The Freedom that I feel, 

The Freedom that I need; 

The Freedom that I believed in, 

The Freedom that I see within; 

The Freedom that I asked for, 

The Freedom that I looked for; 

The Freedom that I dreamt for, 

The Freedom that I wished for; 

It is the Freedom I’ve never ever touched before. 

It has a mind of secret Feelings, 

It sighs and whispers in Sadness. 

Though it talks in gentle like a Pigeon! 

And cries in silence like a Horse! 

It makes no Sound and Tune! 

Just looking up the Sky; 

Feeling the Absence of Freedom thereby! 

When Tears silently rolling down the Cheeks! 

Leaving a Crack on the Heart with Reeks! 

No World, no Humans Remembers aside! 

Just looking for a Place to Hide! 

Chasing the Freedom through Wisdom, 

To build a Kingdom of Freedom. 

Without Blood and Wisdom, 

There is no Freedom. 

Freedom Talks and Laughs! 

With Breaths of Peace and Love! 

When there is Equality, 

There is Humanity. 

When there is Humanity, 

There is Freedom and Prosperity. 

It is not the End of an End, 

As it is not my Friend, 

It has many Trends, 

Sometimes Up and Down, 

Here and there in the Town, 

Leaving thousands of Lives! 

Finally, it comes again in Alive! 

Soe Raza is a social activist for Rohingyas’ citizenship rights & student at International Islamic University Malaysia pursuing a degree in Master in Pharmaceutical Sciences (Pharmacology).

Author’s Note: This poem was aimed to express the importance of wisdom for freedom while freedom for prosperity, peace and love among the people of different faiths with no ethics of colour and creed. And it was also aimed to explore the feelings of a Myanmar minority Muslim Rohingya who has never ever touched a breath of freedom in his/her birth place (Myanmar) due to religious and ethnic discriminations. It is noteworthy for me to mention through this poem that there should be no colour and code ethics for recognition of a Citizen of a country in the world as we all are bound to the Universe Friendship and Brotherhood. Without having equal rights and freedoms, there should be no genuine democracy. On the other hand, it was said that every person has a right to be the Citizen of a country where he/she has born.

Ibrahim Shah

RB Article

April 5, 2013

Since February numerous leaflets are circulated consisting of instigating Islamophobia sermons by prominent Buddhist monks led by Wirathu around the country. But the main backed string holder is the regime itself so the concerned authorities are deaf, dumb and blind to control the monk terrorist gangs by upper command. 

Due to social and political activists of internal and international are gladly out of concern to such prior stimulation papers against Muslims, the violence sponsored from Naypyidaw, capital of Myanmar perpetually taking place since June 2012 is now gradually infecting to every Muslim quarters. On 18th February 2013 in Thaketa from Yangon region, it happened cruelly a religious attack on Muslim by Buddhist monks which made a great loss for Muslim including properties and religious buildings. Again, on 19th March 2013 in Meikhtila from central Burma of Mandalay division, a crowd of Buddhists extremists with monks terrified inhumanely and completely destroyed Muslim shops worth of huge cost, burnt down houses, killed, and set fire to mosques which are proof for Muslim existence in there since many decades ago. 

“There are taking place perpetually hidden genocide against Rohingya by various methods such as: banned access of international journalists and aid agency, restricted travelling, starvation,ill-treatment by both local Rakhine extremists and government officials, gang bang to even immature virgins, looting, threats to desperately flee giving up homes,arbitrary arrest, torturing until dead,set fire to houses and religious buildings ,locked up all religious buildings,banned religious functions, forcefully converting from Rohingya to Bengali, etc. The regime eventually created another utmost enormous annihilation for Rohingya is completely changing the demography of Arakan/Rakhine, western Myanmar by placing new Bengali Rakhine from Bangladesh in Rohingya quarters.” 

“It is terribly horrible that the president and his collaborator RNDP head vet. Aye Maung with some NLD prominent members are Chasing Muslims from every corners of the country like filtering out dust from atomic sized particle by putting ahead some Buddhist terrorists led by devilish monk chief  Wirathu. After accomplishment of depopulation to Muslims fundamentally Rohingya, then the regime will eventually implement their prime strategies of perpetual hostility against Rohingya i.e. last edge of genocide and would tie the knot of eradication Rohingya so tightly so that the term Rohingya and Islam could not appear again on the land, Arakan and Myanmar.” 

“Rohingya are intolerantly victimized since many decades because Rohingya are vulnerable and are impoverished by government from every side brutally.” 

“The more the increasing of warmly invitation by super powers of western and European countries to such a pseudo reformist, immoral president, a killer, aptitude-les and so called president Then Sein; the more the restrictions are imposed, and the more the strategic plan of atrocities are increasingly implemented by creating fresh religious riot day by day.’’ 

Is it crime or absurdity of Myanmar president Thein Sein who does not control willingly this kinds of increasing oppression and religious riots on Muslim society who are minority and vulnerable? 

Woefully, UN special envoy Mr  Quintana and Mitchell, the US ambassador in Myanmar also expressed respectively regarding internal Rohingya, “It is more like prisons’’ and “Rohingya camps are far less developed”. 

It is really miserable that U Ye Htut, Myanmar's Deputy Information Minister and spokesman for President Thein Sein said that they will not provide any better improved treatment or granted citizenship to Rohingya in this running time. In fact, he deceptively answered the interrogations in an interview on ABC Australia Network News in 19th March 2013. Here is attached the link for hearing. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-19/myanmar-wont-provide-special-treatment-to-rohingya/4583134 

Therefore, it is a perfect time to pass a particular, sustainable resolution for the vulnerable Rohingya immediately to escape from further continual genocide of Myanmar government and to charge by ICC due penalty to the killer Thein Sein and his culprits for disobeying such a peace established law passed by united nations, ‘The Declaration of Universal Human Rights’. That means – he insults all the democrats of this earth planet. 

A final plea to international community including both government and INGOs regardless of faith,race,standard to make globally concentrated efforts without further delay and to look at Rohingya with a merciful eye amid stateless; we are almost to be drowned at the bottom of sea. Humanitarian crisis is dancing over Rohingya heads beating drum of starvation but nobody look for us to extinguish our starvation. We are the one of the most persecuted victims ever on this planet and are the least wanted people in this world reported by AI and UN- save the Rohingya please! Save the Rohingya please! 

Ibrahim Shah is a Rohingya activist. He can be reached via Twitter: @ibrmshah. The writings, here, are of his own and do not reflect the editorial policy of RB.

Look at us with Merciful Eye amid stateless: Rohingya (Part I)

Sectarian and ethnic tensions running high in Myanmar boiled over far outside the country's borders Friday, when Buddhist fishermen and Muslim asylum seekers from the country brawled with knives and rocks at an Indonesian immigration detention center, leaving eight dead and another 15 injured. 

The melee broke out in North Sumatra province, where more than 100 Rohingya migrants — most intercepted off Indonesia's coast after fleeing their homeland in rickety boats — and 11 Buddhists accused of illegal fishing were being housed together, said local police chief Endro Kiswanto. 

He said witnesses told police the clash started early Friday after a Rohingya Muslim cleric and a fisherman got into a heated debate about sectarian violence that erupted last month in central Myanmar when mobs of armed Buddhists torched Muslim-owned homes and shops, killing dozens and forcing thousands to flee. 

The argument apparently started after the Rohingya migrants saw photos showing destruction caused by the recent violence, said Yusuf Umardani, detention center chief. Insults were traded, and the cleric was allegedly attacked by a fisherman. When the cleric screamed, his friends jumped in to help. From there, the rumble broke out so quickly, security guards were too late to stop it. 

"The violence took place so fast, and it was completely unexpected because they had been living peacefully here so far," Umardani said. "Most of the dead victims suffered severe head injuries. Apparently, they fought using anything that they could get — rocks, wood, chairs and knives."

Eight Buddhists were killed, and 15 Rohingya were injured. Three other Buddhists escaped unharmed, Kiswanto said. 

Local police spokesman Col. Raden Heru Prakoso said 18 Rohingya detainees have been named as suspects. 

"Our friends were covered in blood," surviving fisherman Win Thike Oo told an Associated Press photographer at the scene. "If we were there at the time, we would also be dead." 

About 280 people are crammed into the overcrowded detention center — more than double its capacity. It is filled with a mix of mostly asylum seekers from different countries, including Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. 

Boatloads of Rohingya have been washing up on Indonesia's shores following a wave of violence last year in western Myanmar, where they are considered illegal Muslim settlers from neighboring Bangladesh. Hundreds have been killed and more than 100,000 left homeless in clashes between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya. 

The tensions have tested Myanmar's fledgling reformist government as it attempts to institute political and economic liberalization after nearly half a century of military rule. 

"We actually don't understand about what is happening in my country," said survivor Oo, who has been detained for nine months at the center after being nabbed for illegal fishing in Indonesian waters. "We are only fishermen. We don't care about politics or conflict." 

All of the victims from the detention center were rushed to a hospital in the provincial capital, Medan, about 23 kilometers (14 miles) south of the port town of Belawan. The three surviving fishermen have been moved to a separate building and hundreds of police have been deployed to secure the center. A forensics team was working to collect evidence and surveillance recordings were being reviewed. 

The UN Refugee Agency issued a statement saying it was saddened by news of the deaths. 

"UNHCR is calling for calm among the groups and urging the Indonesian authorities to take action to prevent further violence, including moving individuals into community housing as soon as possible," it said. 

Maj. Zaw Htay, the director of the president's office in Myanmar, said the country's embassy in Jakarta has urged Indonesian authorities to investigate and punish those involved. 

——— 

Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Aye Aye Win in Yangon, Myanmar, contributed to this report.

Statement Condemning Persistent Persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar: Call for Interventions by OIC and UN

We the representatives of Civil Society of Afghanistan, India and Pakistan who are meeting for a South Asian Consultation for “Building Bridges: Civil Society in OIC Countries Engaging with the Multilateral Sphere” in Lahore, Pakistan, and are committed to universal human rights, democratic values and justice are deeply alarmed and distressed by the continued violence against the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar that is leading to deaths of hundreds, countless injuries and destruction of property of innocent members of the Rohingya Community of Myanmar. Over 150,000 Rohingyas are reported to have fled to neighbouring countries following the violence in June 2012 in Rakhine State in western Myanmar. The present outbreak in March 2013 in Meikhatila in Myanmar between Buddhists and Muslims has lead to fresh killings, destruction of property and businesses and declaration of state of emergency in the region. It is reported that a new wave of exodus of Muslims to the neighbouring countries has started from this area also. There have been similar situations of orchestrated violence against Rohingyas of Myanmar and their mass exodus to neighbouring countries in 1978 and again in 1991-92. 

Rohingiya Muslims of Myanmar, who are of Indo-Aryan descent and have been residing in the Myanmar region since 15th Century, are probably the most persecuted minority in the world due to the development of increasing antipathy by the majority Buddhist community of East Asian stock after independence of Myanmar in 1948 and the extremely discriminatory policies being pursued by the Government of Myanmar ever since. 

A common factor in whole of South Asia is the migration of people for economic reasons, and with independence coming many of the dominating communities are associating citizenship rights with religion or ethnicity and not the presence of a community in the area even for centuries. Due to this some communities are getting deprived of citizenship formally or informally and are being relegated to second class citizenship or condition of Statelesness. 

The situation is particularly bad for the Rohingya Muslims who have been adversely affected by the 1982 citizenship law, which has deprived them of citizenship and made them into “Stateless” people.. It is reported that they are also subjected to forced labour, arbitrary taxation and confiscation of land by the Myanmar Government without any pay. The UNHCR has noted that since 1991 their freedom of movement within the country is restricted. All these are leading to blatant violation of their human rights. Facing this adverse situation of gross violation of their rights resulting in impossible conditions for day to day survival and constant threat of physical violence by the majority community and the state, many of them are trying to flee to Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, India and other countries. 

Though Muslims constitute 5% of the population of Myanmar and many of them had been the residents of this region from centuries, so denying them full citizenship defies all logic of a modern democratic state. Further, the persistent violence against the Rohingyas in Myanmar and its increasing scale and intensity is totally unacceptable, against principles of humanity and justice and calls for immediate action by the international community collectively and severally. 

Despite the gross violations of the basic human and democratic rights of Rohingyas for decades that has reduced them to the status of stateless persons in Myanmar and forces thousands to migrate to other countries during the last 50 years, neither the Un nor OIC has done anything substantive to check this persecution or facilitate their rehabilitation. Hence we demand that the OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation that has been founded with the object of being "the collective voice of the Muslim world" and to work to "safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony") and the United nations should condemn this violence and violation of basic human and democratic rights of Rohingyas in Myanmar and initiate processes for: 

- Immediate cessation of all forms of violence and discrimination against the Rohingyas in Myanmar. 

- Institution of an International Committee to investigate all cases of violence in the past one year, fix responsibility and recommend punitive action. 

- Ensure security and safety of all Rohingyas who have fled to other countries and make adequate provisions for their survival and well being till such time as they are rehabilitated back to their areas of origin in Myanmar. 

- Negotiate with all the host countries for complete legal sanctity and protection of all human rights of the Rohingyas till such time as they are resident in these countries and cannot be repatriated back to Myanmar. 

The OIC and the United Nations should also immediately undertake all possible steps to compel the Government of Myanmar to: 

- Repeal the obnoxious Citizenship Act of 1982 and grant full citizenship to the Rohingyas. 

- Restore freedom of religion, establish equality of religious communities and ensure dignity, honour and equal citizenship for people of all faiths. 

- Restore full democratic and human rights to the Rohingyas 

- Create appropriate and favourable conditions for repatriation of all Rohigyas to Myanmar who have been forced to flee in large numbers to other countries due to reasons of systemic discrimination and extreme insecurity. 

Copies of this statement are being submitted to the Secretary General, United Nations; Secretary General, OIC; President and Prime Minister of Myanmar and Ms. Aang Sung Su Kyi, Leader of the opposition, Myanmar for necessary and immediate action. 

Dated: 5th April 2013 

From: 

Dr. Massouda Jalal (Afghanistan) 

Mr. Nejeeb-ur-Rehman Naderi (Afghanistan) 

Ms. Mahfuza Folad (Afghanistan) 

Mr. Mazher Hussain (India) 

Mr. Mohammad Tahseen (Pakistan) 

Ms. Farzana Mumtaz (Pakistan)

Mr. Peter Jacob (Pakistan) 

Mr. Salman Javed (Pakistan) 

Mr. Abbas Ali Siddiqui (Pakistan) 

Ms. Sobia Iram (Pakistan) 

Ms. Kishwar Sultana (Pakistan) 

Mr. Tilawat Hussain (Pakistan) 

Mr. Umar Zada (Pakistan) 

Mr. Javed Pasha (Pakistan) 

Mr. Mohammad Zahid Islam (Pakistan)

Mr. Kamran Ahmad (Pakistan) 

Mr. Tanveer Akbar (Pakistan) 

Mr. Tariq Awan (Pakistan) 

Ms. Bushra Khaliq (Pakistan) 

Ms. Naghma Imdad (Pakistan) 

Ms. Zaman Khan (Pakistan) 

Mr. Asad Jamal (Pakistan) 

COVA (Confederation of Voluntary Associations) is a national network of voluntary organizations dedicated to the issues of social harmony, peace and justice. The prime focus of COVA is on citizenship rights and on perspective building for harmony and peace in South Asia. Through direct programmes and by networking with other CSOs, COVA organises perspective building activities and programs, carries out campaigns, and conducts research for influencing diverse sections of civil society and the state apparatus to adopt inclusive, secular and egalitarian outlook and policies that would foster rights and secure justice and peace for all.

RB News

April 4, 2013

A Joint Demonstration was took place in front of The European Commission in Brussels at 13:00 to 15:00 on 2nd April 2013. Demonstration was jointly organised by Burmese Rohingya Community Netherlands (BRCNL), Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) and Burmese Rohingya Community in Demark (BRCD). 

There are about 70 people joined the protest including Burmese Muslims from Germany, Norway and France. BROUK President Tun Khin participated as a Master of ceremony and various Speakers gave short speeches during Demonstration. The speakers were Hla Aung (NDPHR in exile), Jimmy (Burmese Muslim Community in Germany), Gillet Pierre- Yves (Burma Action Belgium), Sazaat Ahammed (Chairman of BRCNL), Wai Zin Oo (Burmese Muslims Community in Germany), Tun Khin (Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK), Omar (Burmese Muslim from Denmark), Sayed Hussein (Rohingya Community in Norway), Eng. Siddique (Rohingya Language Foundation) and Ms. Rahhena (Rohingya Community in Demark). 

After demonstration a delegation of from joint demonstration Sazaat Ahammed, Tun Khin and Zakaria Abdul Rahim submitted a memorandum with a document of 52 Graphic photos of Genocide in Burma to H.E. Georgios Antoniou, Director of European External Action Service [EEAS] for South-East Asia Division. During 30 minutes meeting with Mr. Georgios Antoniou Sazaat Ahammed, Chairman of BRCNL highlighted that employees of Government of President Thein Sein and Rakhine Nationals Developments Party [RNDP] have incited and involved in killings, destruction of places of worship of Muslims in Burma. European Union urgently has to put pressure on Burma to immediately stop killings, violence and destruction of places of worship and religious schools of Muslims in Burma. He also expressed that it is urgent European Union must put concreter pressure to provide unhindered international humanitarian aids to Rohingyas in Arakan. 

BROUK President Tun Khin requested that lifting or suspension of sanctions on Burma is premature in this stage and it is important to reinstate sanctions in order to protect the Rohingya and other minorities, promote human rights and inclusive democratic and political reforms in Burma. The government of Burma has not only failed to provide safety and security for the Rohingya, it has also encouraged those committing acts of violence by validating their prejudice. Government ministers have spoken of the Rohingya being foreigners and President Thein Sein has asked for international assistance in deporting all Rohingya to third countries. 

Zakaria, Coordinator of Burmese Rohingya Community in Denmark urged to put pressure on Burmese Government to scrap Burma Citizenship Law of 1982 and to replace it with a new law that conform to international law standards. He also mentioned to support a UN independent inquiry and bring those responsible to justice.

Joint Memorandum on the "Hidden Genocide" in Burma