Carlos Sardina Galache

Bangkok Post 

April 14, 2013

Eyewitnesses to a massacre at an Islamic school say it was carried out by Buddhists, and many contend it stems from a coordinated effort with ties to the top

Mon Hnin, a 29-year-old Muslim woman from Meiktila, in central Myanmar, spent the night of March 20 with her daughter and mother-in-law hiding in terror in the bushes on the fringes of her neighbourhood. 

A wave of murderous anti-Muslim riots led by Buddhist extremists had exploded earlier that day in the dusty town with a population of 100,000 people, located 130km north of the capital, Nay Pyi Taw. Like the houses of many other Muslims in the town, the one belonging to Mon Hnin, whose name has been changed for security reasons, had been destroyed by a Buddhist mob in the Mingalar Zay Yone quarter and she and her relatives had to take refuge in the first place they could find. 

The next day, she witnessed something far worse than the destruction of her property, as she told Spectrum at a non-governmental refugee camp near Meitktila where she now lives with about 3,400 other Muslim refugees. The bushes where Mon Hnin, her daughter and her mother-in law had hidden the previous night are not far from a local madrasa _ an Islamic school _ where one of the worst episodes of the violence took place. According to several eyewitnesses, that morning a Buddhist mob attacked the school killing at least 30 students and four teachers.

Mon Hnin said she saw about 30 policemen arriving in trucks about 8am. From her vantage point, she saw how the students and teachers of the madrasa gave up to police the weapons they had improvised to defend themselves. She claimed that a group of them was offered the chance to be evacuated from the area in police trucks, but they were attacked by the mob before reaching the vehicles.

One of those she saw being killed was her husband, a halal butcher who was stabbed to death. The policemen in the area did nothing to stop the carnage. Shortly afterwards, Mon Hnin, her daughter and mother-in-law were given shelter in the house of a Buddhist neighbour. 

From March 20-22, this dusty garrison city was engulfed by the worst communal violence in Myanmar since the anti-Muslim pogroms that took place in Rakhine state in June and October of last year. 

The trigger of the violence was a brawl between the Muslim owners of a gold shop and two Buddhists who tried to sell a gold hair clip on the morning of March 20. Several different, and often contradictory, accounts have emerged of the incident, but there is no doubt that a Buddhist mob responded by hurling stones at the shop and ended up wrecking the building.

That evening the riots became deadly when about 5.30pm a monk was attacked by four Muslim men who torched him alive. The monk died in hospital that same evening. Just a few hours later the city was on fire when groups of Buddhists unleashed their fury on Muslims and their properties under the gaze of security forces, who for two days watched the violence without taking any action. 

Many witnesses have confirmed the failure of the police to prevent the violence. One of them is Win Htein, the local MP of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of Aung San Suu Kyi. Win Htein, a former army officer who spent 20 years in jail for his political activities and used to organise security for ``the Lady'' after her release from house arrest on November 2010, told Spectrum in the ramshackle local NLD office that he witnessed the carnage in front of the madrasa. 

"I saw with my own eyes two people already dead and five more put to death in front of me.'' 

He said he tried to protect the Muslims, but was threatened by the mob. Then he called the chief minister of Mandalay Division, Gen Ye Myint, and told him what was happening. ``He said he'd already given orders to the police to take action, but there was no action at all,'' Win Htein said. 

It took a further day before the army stepped in and restored some order in the city. By then, at least 42 people had been killed and more than 60 were injured. Those are the official estimates, but the real figures are likely to be considerably higher, considering that at least 30 people died in a single incident at the madrasa. 

One local reporter who witnessed the carnage, told Spectrum that she arrived at the scene at 5pm and saw a pile of several dozen corpses just metres from the madrasa. When she went back four hours later, the pile had been set on fire.

On March 21, the young reporter saw and filmed a group of Buddhists slit the throat of a Muslim man, before dousing him with petrol and setting him on fire. She continued recording despite being told to stop, but eventually had to flee the scene when six or seven Buddhist men chased her, hitting her on the back. 

The reporter said that during the time she was in Meiktila, from March 20-22, she saw only Buddhists carrying weapons and the violence was fundamentally one-sided, with the Muslims always on the receiving end. 

Win Htein said the attacks were spontaneous and perpetrated by Buddhist residents of the city, but others witnesses claimed the attackers were unknown to them and seemed to be following a well coordinated plan. 

Three weeks after the riots, the Muslim quarters of Meiktila are large wastelands of destroyed buildings and charred cars, resembling the aftermath of a war or natural disaster, and where the poorest inhabitants of the city scavenge for scrap to sell. More than 18,000 residents, most of them Muslims, have been displaced by the violence and most of them are now living in government-controlled camps. The camps are off-limits to journalists, but there are also unofficial camps like the one where Mon Hnin lives. 

The government has announced plans to rebuild the destroyed houses within two months, but few believe in its ability or even its willingness to do so. Many Muslim refugees fear their situation might become permanent, as happened to the Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine state, in western Myanmar. Unlike the Rohingya, however, the Muslims of central Myanmar are officially recognised as citizens of the country.

THE VIOLENCE SPREADS 

After Meiktila, the anti-Muslim attacks spread to other parts of central Myanmar, getting dangerously close to the the nation's largest city, Yangon. In the Bago region, the pattern of violence against Muslim people and property was repeated in no less than 14 villages. 

More than 80 refugees from Minhla, a town with a population of about 100,000, are now living in a mosque in Yangon after fleeing a wave of attacks on March 27. 

Ko Maung Win (not his real name), a teacher at the local mosque recounted how a mob of Buddhist extremists attacked the mosque shortly after afternoon prayer. Nobody was killed or injured during the attacks.

LUNCHTIME LULL: Most of those displaced by ethnic violence are in government-controlled camps, however others are in unofficial camps such as this one.

He and other refugees from Minhla told Spectrum that the attacks came out of the blue, without any prior threat or warning. They said, however, that relations between the two communities had steadily soured after a monk visited the city at the end of February and gave a speech telling Buddhists to shun Muslim people and their shops. A woman who owned a grocery store in the market, and is now one of the refugees in the mosque, said she lost many Buddhist customers after the speech. Nevertheless, when the attacks started she was given refuge in the home of a Buddhist neighbour. 

The violence has not yet reached Yangon, but in some of its Muslim neighbourhoods there is an almost palpable tension, particularly at night. Since the attacks in Meiktila, the residents of Mingalar Taungyungnunt, the main Muslim quarter of the former capital, have set up barricades and conduct nightly street patrols.

WHIRLWIND OF HATE: The destroyed Mingalar Thiri Muslim quarter in Meiktila.

Muslim communities are abuzz with rumours, especially after the fire in an Islamic school in Yangon that claimed the lives of 13 children in the early hours of April 2. Few people believe the official line that the fire was accidental. The haste of the authorities to say it was, and their inability to find any eyewitness accounts further contributed to people's suspicions. 

Neighbours interviewed recently in the quarter said that, under the cloak of dark, people roam the streets in cars shouting threats and insults. Many of them are afraid that during the annual Songkran-like water festival there might be an attack similar to those in Meiktila and Bago. Many men sleep only a few hours a night, as they have to work at day and patrol the streets in the evening. Every entrance to the neighbourhood from the main streets is blocked with makeshift barricades manned by local men. 

All of the men interviewed by Spectrum were keen to emphasise that their relations with an overwhelming majority of Buddhists have always been and continue to be peaceful and friendly. They put the blame on ill-defined groups of ``Buddhist terrorists''. 

Like many other Muslims around the country, the residents of Mingalar Taungyungnunt feel unprotected and abandoned by local authorities and the central government. During two visits to the quarter at night, only a minimal police force could be seen on the streets.

"We don't know who these people are, but we are not afraid. If they attack us, we will fight back,'' said a young man in one of the barricades. 

Many Muslims interviewed by Spectrum in Yangon and other places feel that Aung San Suu Kyi has also abandoned them. They expressed their disappointment with her inability to make a forceful defence of Myanmar's Muslim communities. One of the aspects of the crisis that has puzzled many international observers has been the conspicuous silence of ``the Lady'' and her party on the issue. 

When we mentioned this to Win Htein, he said the party is willing to "accept the blame for not taking the necessary steps on behalf of the Muslims'', adding that it will ``repair the damage later, by getting involved in religious ceremonies and asking committees to get together, but it will be a hard task.'' 

He said he told Aung San Suu Kyi not to go to Meiktila. "I advised her not to come here, because people were blaming me when I supported the Muslims.'' 

He admitted that this decison was the result of political calculation, but added, ``She wouldn't be able to give a reasonable answer to the conflict, that's why I told her not to come.'' 

THE MONK THAT PREACHES HATE 

While the gold shop dispute and torching of a Buddhist monk might have been the catalysts for the recent violence, the incidents are set against a general climate of distrust, which in this case was fostered by religious and political leaders. 

The anti-Muslim sentiment finds its expression in a campaign called 969, which encourages Buddhists to shop only in Buddhist outlets and calls for a defence of Buddhism in Myanmar against the supposed threat of a Islamisation. The campaign is named after the ``three jewels'' of Buddhism _ the nine attributes of Buddha, the six attributes of his teachings, and the nine attributes of the Sangha. There are many 969 stickers in shops, taxis and cars around Yangon and other cities. 

The most visible face of the 969 movement is Ashin Wirathu, a monk from Mandalay who is famous for his anti-Muslim speeches. The boyish-looking 45 year old with a calm demeanour and soft voice was jailed in 2003 for inciting anti-Muslim riots and released under an amnesty in 2012. Spectrum met him in Masoeyein, a monastery in Mandalay whose monks are famous for their political activism. 

Sitting beneath several huge portraits of himself, Ashin Wirathu explained the ``Muslim conspiracy'' which, according to him, threatens to engulf Myanmar. 

A man full of contradictions he seems consistent only in his criticism of and dislike for Islam. He denied at first that he mentions Muslims in his speeches at all, but later admitted that he does speak about them, but only because he wants to inform people of the reality. 

At one point he even claimed that 100% of rapes in Myanmar are committed by Muslims, disregarding the fact that the army is known to use rape as a weapon in its wars against ethnic insurgents. 

He traced his anti-Muslim activism to 1996, when a Muslim who had converted to Buddhism gave him a supposed ``secret message'' circulated among Myanmar Muslims laying out their conspiracy to Islamise the country. The message included a plan to marry Buddhist women in order to convert them, and taking over the economy. Ashin Wirathu also warned that if Myanmar Buddhists do not take action, by 2100 the whole country will resemble the Mayu region of Rakhine state, an area mostly populated by Muslim Rohingya. 

Ashin Wirathu recognised that Buddhists have committed acts of violence, but refused to admit that his incendiary speeches have anything to do with them. He also refused to acknowledge that his discourses incite hatred towards Muslims, stating that he is just ``informing the public''. 

He even claimed that, should people listen to him, no Buddhist would engage in violence, despite the fact that he gave one of his trademark speeches in Meiktila just four months before the recent violence. Eventually, as a solution to the ``Muslim problem'', he presented a simple formula: ``Buddhists can talk with Muslims, but not marry them; there can be friendship between them, but not trade.'' 

Ashin Wirathu's words enjoy widespread publicity in the country and he is well supported by the Buddhist community, which reveres monks as the ultimate depositaries of wisdom. According to Win Htein, the NLD MP from Meiktila, Ashin Wirathu's speeches are shown in the buses operated by companies owned by the military. 

In a house in Meiktila, Aye Aye Aung, a 43-year-old Buddhist woman who owns three shops in the town, showed Spectrum a DVD of one of Ashin Wirathu's speeches in which he warns against the Muslim conspiracy. She also showed us the weapon, a knife tied to a long iron bar, that her husband made the day the violence started to defend his family and property against possible Muslim attackers. She said that she was willing to let Muslims live in Meiktila, but they should be completely segregated from the rest of the population. 

Ashin Wirathu claimed that 969 is a grass-roots movement without funding from powerful or wealthy people. Its publicity stickers are printed and distributed by ordinary people who act out of concern for their country, he said. 

Despite his claims, several vendors at Mandalay market said the stickers are distributed by monks from Ashin Wirathu's monastery. 

Ashin Gambira, a former monk and leader of the 2007 ``Saffron Revolution'' is one of Ashin Wirathu's main critics. He said the monk is breaking the Buddhist precept of ``right speech'', which exhorts followers in part to avoid saying anything that could prove harmful to others. According to him, anti-Muslim sentiment was actively promoted by the army during its five decades of dictatorship and the hatred is now ``instilled in the minds of the people'' to such a degree that it would not take much of an effort to ``revive it at any moment''. 

It is a mystery who is behind the campaign and Ashin Wirathu, but many believe they enjoy the financial support of powerful people. There are also claims that they are following the plans of hard-line elements in the military who are unwilling to renounce their power and are posed to create unrest to reassert their position. The fact is that the authorities have allowed him to go around the country preaching his hatred at a particularly delicate time. 

Ashin Pum Na Wontha is a 56-year-old Buddhist monk with a long history of political activism dating back to 1988. He now belongs to the Peace Cultivation Network, an organisation established to promote understanding between different faiths and communities. 

In a recent interview conducted at his monastery in Yangon, he told Spectrum that Ashin Wirathu is a merely a puppet ``motivated by his vanity and thirst for fame''. 

"Wirathu and the 969 movement receive financial support from the cronies,'' he said, referring to a group of about 30 rich men linked to the military and the government who control the nation's economy. Several Muslim businessmen have huge assets and, according to Ashin Pum Na Wontha, the cronies would like to get their hands on them. 

He said he also believes the military is involved in the violence, as a way to destabilise the country and have the chance to present itself as the sole institution capable of re-establishing the law and order. According to his analysis, the military does not want to recover full power, as it had following the 1962 coup of Gen Ne Win, but to ``go back to 1958''. 

In that year, Ne Win took power temporarily from U Nu, the first prime minister of Myanmar, and established a caretaker government that lasted 18 months. At that time, the army was able to present itself as the defender of democracy and stability in the country. 

Inter-religious and communal tensions had long existed in Myanmar before Gen Ne Win took full power in 1962. Anti-Indian and anti-Muslim riots exploded in Yangon in 1930 and 1938 due to the resentment of the Myanmar people towards Indians who had entered the country with the arrival of the British colonisers. As today, the riots were often incited by Buddhist nationalist monks. 

Ne Win and the military junta that replaced him played this religious ultra-nationalist and racist card for the entirety of their rules. Muslims and other non-Buddhists were barred from the upper echelons of the army and, almost immediately after Ne Win's coup, he expelled hundreds of thousands of Indians from the country. 

He also fostered a sense of a Myanmar identity strongly linked to ethnicity and religion, which has been the breeding ground for waves of anti-Muslim violence, like this most recent one, which threatens to spiral out of control and spread to large parts of the country.

RestlessBeings

April 18, 2013

The reports that the EU will now lift ALL but arms sanctions against Myanmar, coupled with the honouring of President Thein Sein for the In Pursuit of Peace Award by the International Crisis Group is shocking to hear! Once more, human rights of the most marginalised people of Myanmar, like the Rohingya and Karen, have been sidelined. Such governments cannot be appeased in return for international economic and political gains. 

#PetitionForPeace 

For The Urgent Attention of ICG Chairman Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering: 

The ICG's decision to honour Thein Sein at the In Pursuit of Peace Award Dinner (22nd April, 2013) is utterly disrespecting the human rights of Myanmar's citizens, and as such is totally contradictory to your award's aim of "preventing and ending deadly conflict". 

Thein Sein and his Government's inaction and involvement in recent and continued human rights massacres and abuses in Myanmar include: 

• June and October 2012, more than 150,000 Rohingya displaced after violence which was NOT stopped by military and Government personnel 
• Arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of Rohingya men and boys 
• The continued use of sexual abuse of young women as a tool of terror against the Rohingya 
• Confirmed mass graves found 
• Apartheid style IDP camps established by Government for Rohingya 
• Preventing aid missions such as OIC to open office in Myanmar blockading foreign aid for large parts of 2012 
• In recent weeks the violence against Muslim citizens in Meikhtila and Yangon has led to almost 12,000 fleeing their homes. ‘969' terrorist group waging violence against Muslim citizens throughout Myanmar have gone unpunished despite heinous crimes against humanity including killing of children in schools 

The UN's special rapporteur of Myanmar, T Quintana reported on February 16 2013 about the violence in Arakan state ‘a profound crisis that threatens to spread to other parts of the country and has the potential to undermine the entire reform process in Myanmar..'. On numerous occasions it has been reported across many international outlets such as BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera that Government forces had stood aside and allowed the violence against the Rohingya to spread. Despite such grave human rights abuses and concerns, earlier this week the European Union has stated that they are "to lift all sanctions with the exception of the embargo on arms which will remain in place". 

Such appalling disregard for human rights and his Government's lack of pushing forward reform and the draconian 1982 Citizenship Law renders almost 1 million Rohingya stateless. Without providing adequate protection to the Rohingya and Myanmar's citizens, the ICG's decision to honour Thein Sein with its most prestigious award is premature, shocking and absurd. 

We the undersigned urge you to reconsider this decision and award it to genuine contenders working towards peace and a conflict free world, with rights of all people recognised.

Sign the Petition

His name is Wirathu, he calls himself the "Burmese Bin Laden" and he is a Buddhist monk who is stoking religious hatred across Burma.

The saffron-robed 45-year-old regularly shares his hate-filled rants through DVD and social media, in which he warns against Muslims who "target innocent young Burmese girls and rape them", and "indulge in cronyism".

To ears untrained in the Burmese language, his sermons seem steady and calm – almost trance-like – with Wirathu rocking back and forth, eyes downcast. Translate his softly spoken words, however, and it becomes clear how his paranoia and fear, muddled with racist stereotypes and unfounded rumours, have helped to incite violence and spread misinformation in a nation still stumbling towards democracy.

"We are being raped in every town, being sexually harassed in every town, being ganged up on and bullied in every town," Wirathu recently told the Guardian, speaking from the Masoeyein monastery in Mandalay where he is based.

"In every town, there is a crude and savage Muslim majority."

It would be easy to disregard Wirathu as a misinformed monk with militant views, were it not for his popularity. Presiding over some 2,500 monks at this respected monastery, Wirathu has thousands of followers on Facebook and his YouTube videos have been watched tens of thousands of times.

The increasing openness of Burma, which was once tightly controlled under a military junta, has seen a wave of anti-Muslim sentiment spread across the 60 million-strong Buddhist majority – and Wirathu is behind much of it.

Rising to prominence in 2001, when he created a nationalist campaign to boycott Muslim businesses, Wirathu was jailed for 25 years in 2003 for inciting anti-Muslim hatred but freed in 2010 under a general amnesty.

Since his release, Wirathu has gone back to preaching hate. Many believe him to be behind the fighting last June between Buddhists and ethnic Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state, where 200 people were killed and more than 100,000 displaced.

It was Wirathu who led a rally of monks in Mandalay in September to defend President Thein Sein's controversial plan to send the Rohingya to a third country. One month later, more violence broke out in Rakhine state.

Wirathu says the violence in Rakhine was the spark for the most recent fighting in Burma's central city of Meiktila, where a dispute in a gold shop quickly spiralled into a looting-and-arson spree. More than 40 people were killed and 13,000 forced to flee, most of them Muslims, after mosques, shops and houses were burned down across the city.

Wirathu says part of his concern with Islam is that Buddhist women have been converted by force and then killed for failing to follow Islamic rules. He also believes the halal way of killing cattle "allows familiarity with blood and could escalate to the level where it threatens world peace".

So he is back to leading a nationalist "969" campaign, encouraging Buddhists to "buy Buddhist and shop Buddhist" and demarcate their homes and businesses using numbers related to the Buddha (the number refers to his nine attributes, the six attributes of his teaching and the nine attributes of the Buddhist order), seemingly with the intention of creating an apartheid state.

Wirathu openly blames Muslims for instigating the recent violence. A minority population that makes up just 5% of the nation's total, Wirathu says Burma's Muslims are being financed by Middle Eastern forces: "The local Muslims are crude and savage because the extremists are pulling the strings, providing them with financial, military and technical power," he said.

Not everyone agrees with Wirathu's teachings, including those of his own faith. "He sides a little towards hate," said Abbot Arriya Wuttha Bewuntha of Mandalay's Myawaddy Sayadaw monastery. "This is not the way Buddha taught. What the Buddha taught is that hatred is not good, because Buddha sees everyone as an equal being. The Buddha doesn't see people through religion."

Critics point to Wirathu's lack of education to explain his extremism as little more than ignorance, but his views do have clout in a nation where many businesses are run successfully by Muslims.

The second son of eight children, Wirathu was born in 1968 in a town near Mandalay and only attended school until 14, after which he became a monk. Eager to leave "civilian life rife with its greed and spite", he said he had no intention of marrying: "I didn't want to be with a woman."

Wirathu claims he has read the Qur'an and counts Muslims among his friends, but said: "We're not so close because my Muslim friends don't know how to talk to Buddhist monks … I can accept [being friends] if they consider me an important and respected religious figure."

Despite spending seven years in prison for stoking religious violence, Wirathu won a "freedom of religion" award in February from the UK's foremost Burmese monastery, Sasana Ramsi in London, in the same week that he spread rumours that a Rangoon school would be developed into a mosque.

Analysts warn that Wirathu's seeming freedom to preach as he pleases – in addition to his influence over other monks, who have also started preaching against Islam – should be taken as a wake-up call to the rest of the world. "If a similar hate movement like Burma's '969' movement – which spreads hate speech and hate symbols – [existed] specifically against, say, the Jews in Europe, no European government would tolerate it," Burmese activist and London School of Economics visiting fellow Maung Zarni said.

"Why should the EU not take it seriously, in a major EU-aid recipient country?"

Both Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi have been criticised for not taking a greater stand against the violence that has racked Burma in recent months. Some have pointed to the seemingly planned nature of many of the attacks; UN special envoy Vijay Nambiar said the violence had a "brutal efficiency" and cited "incendiary propaganda" as stirring up trouble.

Multifaith activists in Burma recently took to the streets to counter the violence, distributing T-shirts and stickers with the message: "There shall be no racial or religious conflicts because of me." But the Buddhist-Muslim tension has already spread far and wide.

In Rangoon, a recent mosque fire that killed 13 children was widely believed to be a case of arson. And in Indonesia, eight Buddhists were beaten to death by Rohingya Muslims at a detention centre, in apparent retribution for incidents of sexual assault by Buddhist inmates against Rohingya women.

Rumours abound that those inciting the fighting, like Wirathu, are pawns for being used by Burma's military generals to stir up trouble in the nascent democracy. But Wirathu insists he is working alone: "These are my own beliefs," he said. "I want the world to know this."

In a chilling sermon last month, Wirathu warned that the "population explosion" of Burma's Muslims could mean only one thing: "They will capture our country in the end."

And just like his namesake, this "Burmese Bin Laden" made a brazen call to arms: "Once we [have] won this battle, we will move on to other Muslim targets."

Preacher of hate

1968 Wirathu is born in Kyaukse, near Mandalay

1984 Joins the monkhood

2001 Starts promoting his nationalist "969" campaign, which includes boycotting Muslim businesses

2003 Jailed for 25 years for inciting religious violence after distributing anti-Muslim leaflets, leading to 10 Muslims being killed in Kyaukse

2010 Freed under a general amnesty

June 2012 Violence breaks out between ethnic Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists in Rakhine state

September 2012 Wirathu leads a rally of monks in support of President Thein Sein's proposal to send the Rohingya to a third country

October 2012 More violence breaks out in Rakhine state

March 2013 Inter-religious fighting in Meiktila sees 40 killed and nearly 13,000 displaced; "969" stickers and plaques distributed throughout Burma

RYM 

RB News 

April 18, 2013

Maung Daw, Arakan - At 8PM, on 17th April 2013, a group of NaSaKa (Border Security Force) from POE camp of Maung Daw raided the house of Zafar Ahmed @Laydu S/o Rashid Ahmed at the village of Lamaar Fara (Awk Rua) in the Italia village tract, Maung Daw. The raid was carried out under the false allegation of involving in narcotic drug business. 

"NaSaKa raided the house of Zafar Ahmed at 8PM. Some NaSaKas were in their uniforms and some were in Police uniform. Normally, in legal raids, Police or NaSaKa etc is accompanied by the respective village administrator. However, for unknown reasons, they were, in this raid, accompanied by an unrelated person, the administrator of Quarter 5. Worse, NaSaKa were from POE Camp but the village is under the commandment of 3 Mile Camp. Although they found nothing in the search, yet they extorted Kyat 200,000 from his wife. And the husband, Zafar, is also under 10-year-imprisonment with false charges" said a villager.

"It was an unofficial, illegal and arbitrary raid. These kinds cases against Rohingyas are very usual today. The authority is just behaving like dacoits" he added.

(Edited by Maung Aurther) 

RB News

April 17, 2013

On behalf of Rohingya community in Myanmar and various regions around the world, the Director General of Arakan Rohingya Union, Prof. Dr. Wakar Uddin, expressed his deepest gratitude to the Secretary General of OIC, His Excellency Dr. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, for convening the emergency OIC Ministerial Contact Group meeting at the OIC Headquarters in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on April 14, 2013, to find a solution to the crisis faced by the Rohingya and Myanmar Muslim population in Myanmar. Dr. Uddin echoed what the Secretary General Dr. Ihsanoglu and the Political Officer Ms. Dina Madani have spoken about the current situation in Myanmar. Dr. Uddin reinforced the presentation by Ms. Madani that detailed the graphic nature of the violence against the Muslims in Myanmar. “I have been regularly in touch with our community in Arakan and Central Burma, and receiving reports of horrifying atrocities and gruesome murders of men, women, and children. It is humanly unthinkable in this day and age how anyone in Myanmar can commit such crimes against humanity. In fact, what the international community learning from the media is just a fraction of the bloodbath taking place in Myanmar.” Dr. Uddin said. He further stated “The campaigns to uproot Islam from Myanmar began with Rohingya in Arakan. The radical Buddhist elements started this with Rohingya first, claiming that they have to cut-off the roots before eliminating the tree ‘Islam’ in Burma - Rohingya being the roots.” 

Dr. Uddin alerted the OIC member states and the Muslim Umma that the rapidly emerging Buddhist terror Network “969”, which seriously deviates from the original teaching of peace by Buddha, poses the most serious threat to Islam in Burma today and subsequently to the stability of Southeast Asia region. “You see the refugee crisis in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, and other countries. At the same time some sorts of violence have started to spill over to these countries. Subsequently, violence has also erupted in Sri Lanka. The emergence of the radical Buddhist terror network could continue to cause the domino effects in the region and in other parts of the world.” he stressed. 

Dr. Uddin expressed the gratitude by Rohingya people to the international community, including OIC and its member states, UN, the governments of US, Canada, and several European countries, and a number of NGOs for their tremendous efforts to stop the violence in Myanmar and find a durable solution to Rohingya and Muslim issues; but he also appealed to them to do more. He cautioned some of the OIC member states in the region that when the very existence of a community and the faith in a country is seriously threatened, the policy of “non-interference in another country’s internal matters” becomes counter-productive and serves as a tool for the aggressor. Dr. Uddin called on the OIC member states to use their bilateral relations as an avenue to persuade and pressure the Myanmar Government to resolve the issues with utmost urgency for the sake of humanity and the stability in the Southeast Asia region. “Your Excellency, it is no longer a Rohingya issue. It is becoming a regional and potentially global humanitarian crisis.” he concluded.

On the sideline, Dr. Uddin also met with dignitaries from some OIC member states, including the Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Bangladesh, and further discussed the pressing issues on Rohingya and violence against Muslims in Myanmar. “I am very satisfied with each meeting, and I can assure you that they are dedicated to bringing a solution to the issues faced by Rohingya and Myanma Muslims” Dr. Uddin replied, when asked by the Saudi-based ARU signatories about his separate meetings with the Foreign Ministers.

RB News

April 17, 2013

Mrauk-U: It is learnt that five Rohingya hailed from Paung Doak village tract of Mrauk-U Township, are alleged falsely and arrested forcibly. And it is also observed nowadays that the media itself untruthfully diffuse propaganda against the arrestees writing without any consideration justly . 

The detail of occurrence is: around five half past o’clock in the early morning of 14th April, the 7 villagers hailed from Paung Doak village went to an owned betel farm which is located near Buddhist Rakhine village and plucked betel leaves. On that time, Rakhines surrounded crowding them and arrested violently accusing that they plucked betel leaves from the Rakhine owned farms. Amongst the 7 Rohingya, 2 were fled seeing the coming of Rakhine gangsters and the rest five have been beaten severely. It is also learnt over six o’clock on that morning they were handed over in police station After beating so as that. 

Though the arrestees were sent as above on false allegation at police station, since 14th April media diffuse propaganda relevant to above dramatic issue untruthfully as such that they were caught due to reached in Rakhine village to set fire on. 

It has been perpetually occurring brutalities on Rohingya from both government officials and Rakhine extremists according to their statement as below: 

"We have been coming encountering such oppression suppressively with many strategic planning since many times ago. we are beaten severely when we meet soldiers on the way wherever we go for shopping. Also we are beaten whenever we meet unexpectedly with Rakhine groups.The goods which brought from shops are forcibly taken away by soldiers. And nowadays it is increasingly going on arresting on false allegation in the villages. We can even rely on none of concerned authorities because they more persecute inhumanely us using official power. Apparently, one resident told to RB News that The main motive of media to diffuse such propaganda untruthfully against us is merely to instigate more hatred upon us." 

The five arrestees on false allegation unjustly are : 

1. Saber Ahmed s/o Siddique, 40 

2. Abdul Karim s/o Amir Hussein, 31 

3. Shwe Maung s/o Abdul Malik, 18 

4. Aung Shay s/o Sham Shu, 25 

5. Yunus s/o Yusuf, 21

(Translated into English by Ibrahim Shah)

AFP

April 17, 2013

TOKYO - Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi defended her conciliatory political style Wednesday, saying her focus was on building a more unified society rather than making headlines.

Suu Kyi, visiting Japan this week, said many interviewers have asked her why she does not speak more forcefully about the plight of minority groups in her nation.

She said she has been addressing those issues, albeit in ways that people may consider "boring".

"In fact, I have been speaking all the time about ethnic nationalities. But the point was that my statements were not colourful enough to please everybody," she told a press conference.

"Actually I am not very keen on colourful statements. I am sorry if people do not find my comments interesting enough to acknowledge them.

"But I have been speaking a lot about ethnic nationalities and problems of national reconciliation in our country, except that I speak in a way in which, I suppose, most people consider slightly boring."

The comments came as activists express disappointment that Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate who was locked up for 15 years by Myanmar's then-ruling junta, has remained largely silent about several episodes of communal bloodshed.

At least 43 people were killed in March as mosques and Muslim homes were destroyed in central Myanmar, in a wave of violence that witnesses say appeared to have been well organised.

The recent disorder was the worst since an eruption of violence between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in the western state of Rakhine last year that left scores dead and tens of thousands -- mainly Muslims -- displaced.

The Rohingya have been described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

Suu Kyi said she has met with Muslim leaders and felt for their plight.

"It's very sad because none of them had ever known any other country except for this one, except for Burma," she said.

"They did not feel they belonged anywhere else and you are just sad for them that they are made to feel they did not belong to our country either. This is a very sad state of affairs."

But, she said: "With regard to whether or not Rohingya are citizens of the country, that depends very much on whether or not they meet the requirements of the citizenship law as they now exist.

"Then we must go on and assess this citizenship law to find out whether it is in line with the international standard," she said, stressing the importance of rule of law.

"We must learn to accommodate those with different views from ours," she said.

Chris Lewa, the Bangkok-based director of The Arakan Project, a non-governmental organisation that lobbies for the rights of the Rohingya told AFP that many Muslims in Myanmar were disappointed Suu Kyi had not been more forthright in their defence.

"People like Aung San Suu Kyi who have moral authority in Myanmar should be clearer about the rights of minorities," she said.

"She talks a lot about the rule of law, but that is not enough. We must protect minorities. Rohingyas had hoped that she might improve their lot, but they are beginning to lose hope that she can play that role."

Suu Kyi said she aspired to lead the nation and hoped to build a society in which opposing views can be discussed.

"I have always said our country is poor in the culture of negotiated compromise. But it is something we must work at to achieve," she said.

"I want changes in our country to be achieved through agreements between different forces in our country."She said the current regime under President Thein Sein lacked a "structure" for its reform initiatives, such as the priority and sequence of what needs to be done.

RB News

April 17, 2013

Kyauktaw: It is informed that in April 14, a villager was shot dead and three were injured from Taung Htaung village, Kyauktaw Township. 

The detail of the occurrence is that about twenty Rohingya from Taung Htaung village belong to Kyauktaw Township went to a nearby forest to cut bamboo on midday of April 14 around 2pm. Suddenly, one villager was shot dead instantly on the spot and three were injured inside that forest. 

It is learnt from those who came home alive getting away that the shooter was known absolutely since out of sight. It is also firmly learnt Rakhine extremists hide out nearby Forest of Kyauktaw Township last February according to the statement of eye-witness. The residents considered strongly that the current shot is, in reality, either from the government forces or Rakhine extremists. 

Amid the shot, the one who has lost life is Zafar Ahmed s/o Hussain, 35 years aged. The injured three are: 

1. Omar Ali s/o Dil Mohammed, 45 

2. Karlu s/o Sultan Ahmed, 45 

3. Mohammed Hussein s/o Ahmed Sabi, 20 

When complained at concerned authority and police after the occurrence, the police autopsied the dead body in the hospital and ordered to bury without reporting any result. Eventually, it is learnt that none of the concerned authorities find the shooters yet.

(Translated into English by Ibrahim Shah)

Maha Min Khant

RB Analysis

April 16, 2013

There are more than ‘190’ countries with their own integrity and sovereignty, and it is most probably guessed that there will be emerging more small countries as the independent states with their own sovereign nations in coming days. 

Of them, many are nowadays become the United Nations member countries as a ‘one family of the universe’ to meet and help together the serious necessities of the human being and cooperate in need of dire assistance for welfare of the people of the member nations residing in this cosmos. In the fields such as – fighting poverty, promotion of health & education, hygienic environment, propping up in finance & tumbling unemployment, feeding starvation and providing food and foodstuff, portion of numerous natural disasters & preventing breaking out of recurring contagious diseases, HIV, AIDS, tuberculosis and so on.. 

Since the birth of the United Nations after the Second World War, to help solve unanimously the multi necessities of the human being and outstanding problems of the world among nations, every single nation which is integrated from each corner of the world as a responsible member nation of the Organization (UN)—had have signed the United Charter to abide the signed rules & principles and cooperate, in which Burma (Myanmar) is a signatory member of the world body, the United Nations, and Myanmar has been an obligatory state to stand for and carry out the requirement of the nation and that of the general public. 

As far as I have knowledge, Myanmar has agreed to abide many clauses in that Charter— to highlight very few particularly such as -- protection and safe guarding of minority people’ lives, properties, religions and that of the buildings-- and the fulfilling of the basic rights of the minorities such as freedom of expression, employment, education, free movement, marriages, association of assembly and so on. 

In reality, Myanmar had been the most turmoil country on this earth since it got the independence in 1948 from British—based on mostly not sharing the equal rights to minority, so called indigenous people, in accord with the “Pan long agreement”, which was collectively signed and pledged by Bogyoke Aung San, to enjoy all due rights, together with all concerned parties, before having independence from the Great Britain. 

Bamar people, having with the most hegemonies tendency against minorities, who are majority of the nation—started struggling for power to grip after 1958 between Bamar itself— which creating some moderate Bamar people as Communists, leading by Thakin Than Tun, who made station central Burma, from one hand – and from the other hand, minority people such as Kachin, Kayah, Shan, Mon, Rakhine, Chin and Rohingya (Rovinga) -- all become open armed human rights activists against the central government, Ne Win’s regime. 

Though the then mulish respective governments from Ne Win then Saw Maung to Than Shwe-- who all had successfully ruled with iron hands the state until 2010, used the term ‘insurgents’ on minorities people all along more than fifty years —in contrast they (indigenous people) simply believe and decided to struggle with arms against the central government with the aims of sort of that kind that they should stand with arms for the due rights in regard their own existence with the help of local people and international community. 

Seeing and realizing the regional and international community that the oppressive and chaotic dominated ruling of the past Burmese governments on minorities--Burma has been principally isolated from the regional, neighboring and international community—and that ‘dodge’ Burma itself chose happily to strip off the minorities people’ due rights in huge ignorance in their regions one after another—as more the then respective governments have been fascinating the opportunity of the ‘international isolationism’ against Myanmar to crush the minorities including the most persecuted Rohingya people disrespecting the United Nations charter and ASEAN charter in which Myanmar has been signatory since 1948 and the year 2007. 

The respective Myanmar governments never respects the principles of UN and ASEAN charter instead they have been with a ‘pride maneuver’ to exercise the relevant affairs with their own under the term of “Sovereignty and internal affairs”. Though every regional and international Charter has carefully decipher the words that – one should not interfere the internal affairs of the others—there have been coordinating works to settle the outstanding problems by the mediations of regional and international dignitaries by one way or another due to the international issues. 

President Thein Sein, who has been known as a reformist in abroad after releasing Daw Aung San Su Kyi, has formed first investigating commission in regards Rakhine state affairs in May of 2012—since that time to as toady he has shifted for five times the report of investigation committee’s facts finding to bringing to his table. 

International community has interestingly concentrated their mind to the result of said committee in which some members are themselves involved in the pogrom in accord to their interviews on RFA, VOA, DVB radios and some videos of broadcasting services plus internal journals which were issued as incitement in the past. 

The word “sovereignty and internal affairs” has been greatly used by every concerned minister and political leaders in this affair whenever the last 2012 Rohingya massacre issue was raised and questioned by international media, diplomats and world communities. 

The more procrastinating the report of Rakhine state issue reaching to president office, the more complex and not viable solution will fade away the good result of the reality from the ground—all internal and international concerned parties strongly believed -- the way the investigating committee (25) members have been manipulating are none other than trying to favor the Rakhine extremists leaders or trying to hide the reality and the secret plan of the government which itself wants to drive out Rohingya from the land — and surely it will apply and accomplish the word “sovereignty, internal affairs and non interference in internal affairs of others” terminology at the time the international community will intervene the “coming concocted result” of the violence which was intentionally created by RNDP, ALD and President Thein Sein with a coordinated plan--not exaggeration but with the proof which was seen and found previously. 

Whenever international community tries to help solve the problem or to find out collective solution which is good for Rohingya and the state, the concerned persons or Myanmar dialogue partners strictly used the word that “it has been internal affairs”. More clearly, it is proud to imply that Myanmar is an independent state with sovereignty and integrity. 

Every responsible member of UN and the integrated member of the organization, each nation has signed at the time of the entry to the organization that it has agreed on its volition to respect the sovereignty of one another as reciprocal and in case of necessary to involve, to help solve together the outstanding problem like Rohingya of today or such kinds in the past or coming days. 

Sovereignty doesn’t mean crushing its own citizens’ lives, property, tranquility, dignity and basic human rights as per their dirty scheme which secretly adopted by among some high level thugs-- who might have been guiding the criminal principles to the President Thein Sein and its administrative mechanism to make chaos in ruling the country. 

“Sovereignty along with rule of law” is understood to maintain peace and tranquility among communities regardless of --who is who, race, religion, color--and to develop the society and that of the integrity and livelihood in the country --but in contrast the sovereignty of the state of President Then Sein’ becomes a questionable now after having a long consideration of his administrative method which has badly harassed the minority innocent Muslims, particularly the Rohingya and the Muslims from Mittilar and that of the people from western Pegu Division along at least (15) localities. 

Doesn’t the state sovereignty concern to maintain rule of law? 

Doesn’t sovereignty and rule of law find out the culprits who have committed crime against humanity? 

Doesn’t Sovereignty mean to adopt rule of law which discharge the laws and save innocent people who have been serving the long jail terms (ten years imprisonment) without committing any crime along the nations’ jails particularly Rohingya youths in Buthidaung Jail? 

Do you (President) know how many innocent people from Buthidaung, Maung Daw, Rathedaung, Akyab and Kyauktaw have been put in Buthidaung and Sittwe jails by the concerned township level authorities with the help of respective townships court judges, lawyer and local Rakhine false witness under the term of “Sovereignty and internal affairs”? 

We, Rohingya are got fed up now and highly frustrated by your ‘sovereignty mechanism theology’—people become impatient—parents are weeping- daughter, sons and wives are expression of grief and praying to be releasing their beloved ones from every jail who are being arrested and served disgustingly without any reason-- is it sovereignty? —no, it is not serving and loving sovereignty, but it is hegemony activities. 

To be honest, You (U Thein Sein) is beloved President if compare any one beside you—but you have been cheated, bullied and fanned by your step by step authorities concern-- from township level to Union level --not to be known the real situation at the ground— Believe it or not! 

At this new year of auspiciousness and golden opportunity, if the kind request of regional, international and sisterly organization (OIC) from around the world come to your attendance to help solve the unsettled all round problems by their help-- please accept the realistic ideas of them to have solved your domestic problems rather than reasoning excuse the word “sovereignty and internal affairs” while such repeating expression neither will attract the international community’s interest who wanted to invest for our country’s welfare nor helpful to your transitional democratic acceleration which you have been laying out touring around international community to draw time and again.

U Kyaw Min

RB Article

Apirl 16, 2013 

Most of Myanmar intellectuals, politicians, democracy activists, writers, military men and other officials have a mindset that Myanmar is exclusively a country of Buddhist people. Non Buddhists are not equal to Buddhists. They cannot expect to enjoy equal rights. Muslim whose root can be traced from the time of Myanmar kings or whose ethnicity can be assumed to have mixed up with indigenous blood are regarded as aliens or as a group of settlers affiliated to foreigners. This phenomenon was obviously seen in the media footages during the recent violence against the Muslims. 

According to their perception; persecution, suppression, and discrimination against them are not so deplorable. Democracy concept, here, cannot penetrate in to the mindset of Buddhist people, in context of Muslim status in Myanmar. Very recently one senior and most respected monk, Thidagu Sayadaw said Buddhist is native religion where as Christianity and Islam are alien religions came along with British occupation of Myanmar. Thus adherents of these religions are guests in the country where as Buddhist are host. So the guests should respect the host. This is a discriminatory, harmful perception which will hinder peaceful co-existence of various Myanmar nationalities. 

Due to this sort of vision and political mindset especially among the higher strata of Myanmar people, we saw little sympathetic response to suffering of more than a hundred thousand IDPs in Myanmar. In case of Rohingya IDPs they are accuse of not being genuine citizen. But it is difficult to prove them as non citizen. They have enjoyed citizenship rights from ever before Burmese independence. They have enjoyed the right to elect and to be elected in all Myanmar national elections. This is a clear prove of their being Myanmar citizen. Even in 2010 SPDC sponsored national election these people got the right to vote and they have three MPs from their own community. Yet there are accusations from some quarter that “these people are not Burmese citizen; they should not be resettled in their original place; they should not be provided with newly constructed houses”. But thanks to the president of Myanmar who ordered recently to bring all the IDPs under shelters within three months. This is an encouraging step from government side otherwise many will perish due to hygiene, dehydration, malnutrition, and frustration in IDP camps. 

A campaign in Rakhine State to get thumb print on computer on forms titled, “List of illegal immigrants; shifted population and so on” has terribly terrorized and embarrassed the grass root public who are not familiar with computerized documentation. Peoples are forcibly subjected to sign and give thumb print under the designation of Bengali which is not their option. So they are not willing to cooperate with the campaign. On the other hand they fear they would be punished for their non compliance with the authority. So any plan, project or state mechanism should be transparent and viable. This should not be a burdens or obstacle for the public to support and to cooperate. 

Security issue is more important nowadays because sporadic shooting, killing, and arbitrary arrests are rampant in Rakhine State. Where these guns come from to shoot the innocent people? Why not any action against these? One Thidar Htwe’s rape/murder case had triggered state wise violence and hundreds of thousands were made IDPs. Why not the similar cases occurring almost daily in Rakhine state are noticed? Why not any legal action is going against this? 

My appeal to all concerned is to take this security issue seriously. We have an obligation to restore normal life in Rakhine. Stability and enforcement of Law and order is an urgent need of time. Action should go against every culprit disregards of race and religion. No one should be immune to the action of Law. No one should be allowed to take law in their own hands as it is happing in northern Rakhine State. The conscience of super race and the conception of privileged class as it prevails in Rakhine State is a permanent hazard for peaceful coexistence and tranquil society. So I hope we all will imagine and find the correct solution of conflict in Rakhine State.

RB News 

April 15, 2013

Maung Daw, Arakan- Around 1AM this morning, a Rohingya man and his son were hacked by some Rakhine terrorists at the village of Dail Fara (ZayKunTan), Alaythankyaw village tract, Maung Daw Township. 

They were U Shamshu S/o Moghul Ahmed (46) and his son, Maung Omar Farooque (17). 

The father and the son got hacked by six Rakhine terrorists as they fell asleep around 1AM while monitoring and taking care of their bean field. The terrorists fled when the co-villagers came to rescue as the father and the son shouted out for help. 

“By the time the father and the son had shouted out for help, his villagers rushed to rescue them. So, the terrorists ran away. Yet, both the father and the son got hacked at their hands and legs. The injuries are severe” said a villager to RB News. 

“They, with the severe injuries, were taken to the hospital in the AlayThanKyaw Village Tract. However, the authority in the hospital refused to cure them and sent them back. Now, they are being treated in their homes by the possible means. We are unable to lodge complaints against those terrorists to Police either because Police do not take any actions against them. Police, instead, try to extort money from Rohingya victims” he added.

April 15, 2013

Soe Raza

RB Poem

April 15, 2013

THE KING OF A HEART 

I’m the King of my Heart; 

It possesses all things that I want; 

The world is not larger than my Heart; 

As all I want is Everything! 

It has unseen Eyes and Ears! 

It sees and hears with no Fears! 

It feels thousands of pretties at a glance! 

With its secret spiritual dance! 

It tells though no Secrets of its Own; 

Dying in hunger for the Crown! 

It asks no breads or burgers; 

Waiting for the pleasure of silence in danger! 

It can cross thousands of miles in Patience; 

When it in locks with a Romance. 

It sings in tune with melodious weathers; 

It flies in a height with full of feathers. 

It builds the Castles in the air; 

It dreams of a Princess in care. 

While having no attire! 

But it’s free and far away from this earth; 

Seeking the peace, and peace in love; 

It wanders here and there; 

With scanty crocodile tears; 

While the burden of secrets hides at rear! 

It asks hundreds of questions at a time! 

It is of identity of its own! 

When a peak of thousand waves risen by; 

With gushing blood of thereby! 

Finally, I find the answers leaving a gap; 

‘It is no democracy and peace with a roadmap’. 

It discovers many a Kingdom; 

With the Pillars of equal right and freedom. 

It is worthier than the Holy Kaaba! 

For its sufficient space to Al-Mighty Allah; 

Don’t break the heart of such King; 

Who lives in a world of Dream; 

As Allah hears every single scream! 

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 adapted from my own experience of previous time when it had been composed partially in 2002. But now, it was mainly and solely aimed for those poor Rohingyas who have been dreaming of having a peaceful time in Myanmar ((Burma) with a decent meal, sweetheart when there is equal rights and freedom prevail for all without the existence of any constitutional differentiation policy. It was also aimed to express the characters of few Rohingya leaders who dreamt of building castles (Arakan) in the air without having any concrete step or strong determination with solemn commitment. Finally, through this poem, I’d like to convey a predictable message that Al Mighty may take a revenge against those ill tyrants, 969 monks, miscreants, and the Rakhine or Buddhist extremists of Burma who have been carrying ‘The Hidden/Open Genocide’ against the world’s most persecuted Muslim minority (Rohingya) and other ethnic Burmese Muslims who are often helpless and defenceless. 

Nadim Al-Hamid

Arab News

April 15, 2013

Wakar Uddin, director general of the Arakan Rohingya Union, called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Contact Group to persuade China to put pressure on the Myanmar government to stop acts of violence and targeted killings of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar.

“It is well-known that China has strong relations with the Myanmar government and has big economic and political interests there. So we asked Chinese officials to try to persuade Myanmar to stop violence against and acts of systematic killing of the peaceful Rohingya Muslim minority,” Waqaruddin told Arab News.

He was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of an urgent meeting of the OIC contact group here yesterday.

“Arab and Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have strong relations with China, and we hope that these countries come together to play their role. What we are witnessing in Myanmar is a human tragedy in the full sense of the term. What is going on there is unspeakable violence beyond comprehension,” he said. “Islamic identity in Myanmar is at risk of being eradicated, and we appeal to the conscience of all good people to help stop the killing,” he said.

OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu warned of the escalation of violence in other areas, a clear reference to the acts of violence by extremist Buddhists against Sri Lankan Muslims.

“Violence directed against Myanmar’s Muslim population is unacceptable. It is a clear indication of the negative attitude of the government in dealing with ethnic and religious tension in the area,” he said.

“Extremist Buddhists felt that they have the blessing of the government for their atrocities and so they have expanded their actions in other areas,” he said.

He said the OIC has taken a number of actions since last June and that it has tried repeatedly to contact the Myanmar Embassy in Riyadh to no avail.

He called on members of the contact group who have diplomatic missions in Myanmar to use their offices to try to advance the case for the Muslim minority.

RB News 

April 15, 2013 

Maungdaw: A house owned by a Rohingya in Dushirar Dan (Gawdusara) Village, Southern Maungdaw Township in Arakan State was torched yesterday at 9:30pm local time. 

The detail of the event is – a house owned by Guramiah is very close to Natala Rakhine village. The village administrator Ye Aung (Rakhine ethnic) threatened him many times to demolish the house. But as Guramiah is living in this house with his family for many years he disobeyed the order of village administrator. He and his family have been sleeping at nearest relatives’ houses for the fear of night time attack since last year June after the violence broke out in Maungdaw. 

In regard to torching Guramiah’s house “8 Natala Rakhine villages came and torched the house of Guramiah at 9:30pm. Guramiah and his family members were at home at that time. Luckily they could escape from the fire. Nobody injured. We saw 8 Natala Rakhine villagers but we couldn’t identify them who they are because of the darkness outside. Nasaka personnel arrived after the house burnt down into ashes. After that we could not go near to the house as Nasaka barred us. 8 Natala Rakhine villagers left after torching the house.” an eye-witness told to RB News. 

A resident from Maugdaw told that although Nasaka and authorities used to visit such sudden events they are just recording what took place and never take any action against the violators.

AFP

April 14, 2013

YANGON: After generations as part of one of Asia's most ethnically diverse societies, Myanmar's Muslims fear they are becoming "scapegoats" of its reform process following a wave of religious violence. 

At least 43 people died in Buddhist-Muslim clashes which broke out last month in central Myanmar where mosques were burned down and Muslim homes were destroyed. 

The unrest — which followed a wave of religious bloodshed in western Myanmar last year — has instilled fear into the country's Muslims, some of whose families had lived peacefully alongside Buddhists for generations. 

"All Muslims living in Myanmar are worried about this. What will happen to our faith? How can we live in this Buddhist society?" said Nyunt Maung Shein, president of the country's Islamic Religious Affairs Council. 

"Why are we so miserable that our men and women, children, students are brutally killed? Muslims are scapegoats in this transition period from the brutal junta." 

Last year at least 180 people were killed in the western state of Rakhine in clashes between local Buddhists and Rohingya — a Muslim minority treated with hostility by most Burmese who see them as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. 

While the Rohingya — described by the UN as among the most-persecuted minorities on the planet — have long been denied Myanmar citizenship, the Muslims targeted in last month's unrest are Myanmar nationals. 

The apparent trigger for the latest violence was a quarrel between a Muslim gold shop owner and Buddhist customers in the town of Meiktila. Soon afterwards, a monk was killed by Muslims. 

The violence escalated into a street riot that unleashed Buddhist-led bloodshed around the region. 

Some monks were involved in the unrest while others are behind a nationalistic campaign calling for a boycott of shops owned by Muslims. 

The surge in Islamophobia is a major challenge for President Thein Sein's reformist government which took office two years ago after the end of decades of harsh rule by a military that largely suppressed religious tensions. 

"We're oppressed by fear, sorrow and doubt," said Kyaw Nyein, legal consultant and senior member of Jamiat-Uloma-El Islam, an organisation of religious scholars. 

"Even if the government is willing to cure the disease, it is going to take decades." 

The country's transition from junta rule is proving a test for all of society, including the security forces, he said. 

"Previously, there was one military command that would stop any event," he said. "Now it's a civil administration. There are so many steps that need to be taken before (there is) action." 

Myanmar's Muslims officially account for an estimated four percent of the population of roughly 60 million, although the country has not conducted a census in three decades. 

But local Muslim organisations believe the real figure is at least double that — and the proportion is possibly even higher in Yangon, the former capital and main commercial city, which is home to several Muslim neighbourhoods. 

In Meiktila an estimated 30 percent of the population is Muslim, including many who came from China decades ago as merchants. Others hail from Bangladesh, although the majority came from India during British colonial rule. 

Whatever their heritage, Muslims are widely considered as foreigners, said Alexandra de Marsan, an anthropologist with the Paris-based National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations. 

"There have been very few conversions" to Islam in Myanmar, she explained. "Most Muslims are descendants of foreigners from India or other countries." 

The recent violence triggered international alarm and brought calls for Thein Sein's government to take swift action to quell the bloodshed. 

Rights groups have also accused police of failing to stop the violence, which has calmed since the former general appeared on national television on March 28 and vowed a tough response against those behind the attacks. 

Even so in cities such as Yangon — which has so far remained largely peaceful — Muslims are still living in fear. A fire that killed 13 teenagers at a Muslim school in early April added to the tensions, although the authorities insisted the blaze was accidental. 

"Everyone is scared, even me," said Kyaw Nyein. "Every night there are rumours. We are under pressure."

April 14, 2013

Ihsanoglu called for international action to stop violence on ethnic Rohingya.         

Head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on Sunday appealed to the UN Security Council to intervene to protect Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims from ethnic violence. 

"Security Council must protect rights and lives of Rohingya Muslims," Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told a foreign ministers' meeting of member countries in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 

The meeting brings together top diplomats of Turkey, Afghanistan, UAE, Brunei, Djibouti, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Senegal and Saudi Arabia who will discuss violent attacks including torchings, ambushes and deadly assaults in Rakhine state. 

Ihsanoglu also warned against a regional escalation of tensions.