Bangkok Post

May 11, 2013

Activists have likened Myanmar's worsening sectarian violence to the Ku Klux Klan racist movement in the US during the 1960s.

If the violence is not halted soon, it will divide the country ahead of general elections in 2015, they told a recent forum in Bangkok.

Smile Education and Development Foundation representative Myo Win said the recent explosion of Buddhist rage against Muslim Rohingya in his country was tearing his nation apart.

The violence has resulted in hundreds of casualties and thousands being forced from their homes.

Speaking at the forum at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, Myo Win, a Muslim, said he feared what began as a systematic cleansing of the ethnic group in Rakhine state was evolving into a nationwide Ku Klux Klan-style hate movement.

He has been monitoring the Buddhist extremist movement - namely the 969 group - that propelled the violence in Rakhine state in October last year.

"It is splitting the nation and it is overwhelming us. It will surely have a direct impact on the upcoming election," the Yangon-based activist said.

Maung Zarni, a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics' Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit, dubbed the situation in his native land as "ethnocide" by Buddhists against the Rohingya.

The Rakhine situation and the viral streams of intellectuals and media spurring hatred against the Rohingya was the result of collaboration between the Myanmar Sangha and Buddhist societies and the government, Mr Zarni claimed.

International Network of Engaged Buddhists founder Sulak Sivaraksa said Myanmar's Buddhist monks - which formerly led the "Saffron Revolution", named after the dark red colour of their robes, against the former military regime - are encouraging the violence because they feel threatened.

Human Rights Watch released a report last month, accusing Myanmar government officials, monks and nationalists of "ethnic cleansing" and "crimes against humanity". The UN has also described the Rohingya as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

Mr Zarni said the Rohingya had been the target of several generations of discrimination by people trying to label them illegal immigrants, a view enshrined in the 1982 Citizenship Act which declared them "foreign residents".

He said Rohingya had been recognised by earlier regimes, pointing to a broadcast by the state-run Burmese Broadcasting Service in 1966 which translated a 10-minute news programme into different ethnic languages including Rohingya.

He said the first prime minister of independent Burma, U Nu, and his top brass also recognised Rohingya as one of the country's many ethnic groups in the 1960s.

Today, however, the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party's firebrand leader Aye Maung accuses the minority group of being descendants of the Mujahideen, stoking anti-Muslim sentiment.

Mr Zarni pointed part of the blame at the Rohingya Inquiry Commission's recent 186-page report which was supportive of the violence. The panel was set up by Myanmar President Thein Sein.

Mr Zarni said the commission sought to endorse anti-Muslim racism without highlighting problems caused by the surge in virulent Islamophobia.

Thein Sein has not done enough to try and control the situation, Mr Zarni said.

Myo Win from the Muslims Association Network based in Yangon said the government would have to go much further than Thein Sein simply condemning the escalation in violence.

MYARF 

RB News 

May 11, 2013 

Maung Daw, Arakan - On 8th May 2013, a Rohingya boy Forwas Udin s/o Tufail Ahmed was shot by a NaSaKa from POE Nasaka Camp at about 11:00PM in Wali’s house while he was trying to escape for his life. 

At night 11 O’clock, authorities from three different departments such as Military, NaSaKa (Boarder Security Force) and Police went to the village of Maung Ni of Kayin Tan (Shikdafara) village tract, where they surrounded more than three houses and then shot down an innocent boy named Forwas Udin s/o Tufail Ahmed. 

A few days ago, Syed Karim from the village of Foyazi went to Maung Ni with his 20-above followers and abducted a son of Wali to get back the money borrowed by the other son of Wali who had already left for Bangladesh. The next day, Wali, with help of some elderly people, came to an agreement with the kidnapper, Syed Karim, to pay Kyat 2.5Million to get his released. But all of sudden, a sub-lieutenant Police Officer Aung Kyaw Khant came up and increased the ransom money to Kyat 4Million. The police officer took the abducted to the custody. 

The boy was released soon after he had been taken to the custody as his father lodged the report to all the concerned authority and also provided the list of the culprits behind this criminal act. Consequently, Police issued arrest warrants against the criminals. 

The unsatisfied criminals, Syed Karim and his followers, plotted with an In-Charge of Military responsible for security to falsely allege Wali’s family of attacking Security Military Personnel on duty in the village (of Maung Ni) on 7th May 2013 night. Without any investigation, the Military commander in cooperation with NaSaKa and Police raided three houses on 8th May 2013 night. 

An unrelated and innocent neighboring Rohingya boy got terrified and tried to escape because of the terrifying and bitter experiences he has been facing since the beginning of the violence against Rohingyas. NaSaKa, with no sympathy, shot at the boy at once. The boy was hit by two bullets and hence terribly injured. He is not having appropriate treatments even though his injuries are severe. He is still bleeding. 

Sayed Karim is a close puppet of Maung Daw Police, who together involve in Drug Trade such as Yaba Tablets.

(Edited by Maung Aurther)

Emma Batha

Thomson Reuters Foundation

May 10, 2013

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – More than 125,000 Rohingya living in dire conditions after fleeing ethnic violence in western Myanmar face a humanitarian catastrophe as the monsoon approaches, a rights group has warned.

Death rates will rise in the coming months as rains swamp overcrowded camps, increasing the risk of serious diseases including cholera, said Melanie Teff, a senior advocate with Refugees International.

Teff, who has just returned from visiting the region, said Myanmar’s government had run out of time to relocate people or build robust shelters after repeatedly changing its plans.

“People are already dying because the appalling conditions they are living in are making them ill, and this will be hugely exacerbated during the rainy season,” Teff added.

“Water-borne diseases could have an enormous impact. There will be a humanitarian catastrophe if people are not moved to higher ground.”

The rains – due in three weeks – will also make it harder for aid workers to deliver water, food and other supplies to the camps in Rakhine state, Teff said in an interview.

Some 140,000 people have been uprooted in the region following two explosions of violence last year between Buddhist Rakhines and Muslim Rohingya - described by rights groups as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

Teff, who was accompanied on the trip by British MP Rushanara Ali, called on the international community “to push for a clear plan for the rainy season because lives are going to be lost”.

The United Nations says 69,000 people will be at very serious risk during the monsoon season, which lasts until September. Most are living in flood-prone camps near the shore or in former paddy fields.

Fears are particularly high for some 15,000 people living in makeshift sites outside camps. They have no access to food aid, clean water or latrines and have to defecate in the open.

“Many are living in straw huts or under pieces of tarpaulin. These people are in a far worse situation than anyone I saw last year,” said Teff, whose previous visit was in September.

Most of the displaced – 90-95 percent of them Rohingya - are living in camps in Sittwe, Pauktaw and Myebon. Healthcare is minimal and malnutrition rates are near emergency levels.

Teff, who will brief British government and U.N. officials following her trip, said the Rohingya were desperate.

One widowed mother of six living in a camp at Pauktaw told her: “Our relatives are dead. We are alive, but life is dead … Death is better than our present life.”

An estimated 800,000 Rohingyas live in Myanmar, formerly called Burma, but the government denies them citizenship, regarding them as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. Bangladesh does not recognise them as citizens either and they are officially stateless.

AID BLOCKED

Teff said tensions were extremely high during her visit because officials were trying to get the Rohingya to sign documents identifying them as Bengali.

“The Rohingya refused to sign. Stones were thrown. Shots were fired in the air and we were told two children were hospitalised,” said Teff, who visited the area two days after the April 26 confrontation.

“The community were very, very upset. They were saying, ‘We’re about to be under water and they are coming round with forms asking us to sign that we are Bengalis’. Why aren’t they focusing on the imminent humanitarian emergency.”

Unlike the displaced Rakhines, the Rohingya are not allowed to leave their camps so they can no longer work and are reliant on aid.

But Teff said some Rakhine communities are blocking aid groups from helping the Rohingya. The climate of fear is also making it hard for agencies to find local staff to work for them.

The lack of healthcare is particularly serious. Teff said only one hospital will treat Rohingya patients, the others have refused. The hospital has 12 segregated beds for the entire population.

She called on the World Health Organisation to urgently send a team to Sittwe to coordinate healthcare and identify gaps.

Teff said Myanmar must come up with a plan to end the segregation between the Rohingya and Rakhines, work towards reconciliation and extend citizenship to the Rohingya.

Most Rohingya told Teff they would like to return to their homes if there was protection.

One woman living in a makeshift site said: “If the government accepts us as Rohingya we can go back, as then the government will give us security. If we go back without security the Rakhines will kill us.”

But Teff strongly opposed a government proposal for boosting security by expanding the NaSaKa border force, which she said had a terrible history of abusing the Rohingya.

Teff also criticised the European Union for lifting sanctions on Myanmar last month following a spate of democratic reforms in the former military dictatorship.

“Removing any potential source of pressure is premature when the situation has not been resolved for the Rohingya and has in fact gone backwards,” she said.

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has long been criticized as a toothless tiger for its inability to deal with controversial and often bloody issues. The Sabah Insurgency launched in March by Philippine-based mercenaries, the Cambodian-Thai dispute overterritorial rights at Preah Vihear and overlapping sovereign claims in the South China Seas are among the nastiest and most recent examples.

However, ethnic violence launched against Burma’s Rohingya population has repeatedly underscored the absence of a collective moral backbone among ASEAN’s 10 members and unraveled Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s lauded role in promoting democracy and human rights.

Long-time observers and non-governmental organizations have been loud in their condemnations and warnings about the potential for conflict between Muslim Rohingyas and militant Buddhists to spiral out of control, while Western governments continue to welcome Burmese efforts to “normalize”.

New York-based Human Rights Watch says the Burmese government is ethnic cleansing.

Those predictions of violence are now proving true. In Indonesia anti-terror police shot dead seven men and arrested 13 suspected of involvement in a plot to bomb the Burmese embassy in Jakarta. Two raids were carried out in the operation. The unit raided their hideout in a house on the outskirts of West Java’s capital city of Bandung, but suspects refused to surrender. The ensuing firefight lasted seven hours.

Five assembled pipe bombs were found in a backpack and the authorities said the attack was planned for last Friday.

The deadly confrontation came at the end of a difficult month for Indonesian authorities, who are dealing with a growing influx of Rohingyas fleeing violence in Burma. Their status as refugees can hardly be challenged given the well-documented threats they have lived under, which clearly violate UN laws.

At the same time, much of the world is beating an economic path to Southeast Asia in search of closer regional ties and free trade agreements. In so doing, Western countries would rather separate their business agendas from their moral obligations by leaving the distasteful business in Burma’s north to ASEAN.

While the escalating violence has displaced thousands, last month the European Union congratulated Burma on a “remarkable process of reform” as it lifted all of its sanctions except an arms embargo. The U.S. followed suit by sending Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis to the country to formulate a trade framework.

In Indonesia, home of the world’s largest Muslim population, anger is rising over the Burmese government’s handling of the issue.

If ASEAN governments cannot defuse the tense situation, Rohingyas will be pushed towards the harder edges of the region and into the waiting arms of Islamic militants who still hold court in parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, southern Thailand and the southern Philippines. At that point it could become a regional issue with the potential to undermine ASEAN’s ambitious money–making agenda.

Luke Hunt is a South-east Asia correspondent for The Diplomat and has worked in journalism for more than 25 years. He has served as bureau chief for Agence France-Presse in Cambodia and in Afghanistan during the Taliban occupation where he was commended by the United Nations for the 'best and most insightful' coverage of the Afghan civil war.

Maung Zarni - an outspoken Burmese critic, blogger and visiting fellow in the Civil Society and Human Security Unity, the London School of Economics, discussed follow by U Myo Win (Burmese Muslim), Ajarn Sulak Sivaraksa -- a highly respected Thai Buddhist philosopher, Veronica Pedrosa -- independent journalist working for Al Jazeera English, who moderated the panel.

Ikhwan Web

May 9, 2013

As Shura Council debates urgent solution to Burma’s persecuted Muslims, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry vows to act without further delay.

Shura Council’s Arab and Foreign Affairs and National Security Committee, headed by Ridha Fahmi, heard statements by Alaa El-Kashef, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia; and Rania Al-Banna, Assistant Secretary of State, on the issue of persecution and massacres committed against Muslims of Burma, over two million people.

Alaa El-Kashef said, "Egypt did not spare any effort in supporting Muslims of Burma. We did not stand idly by with regard to this important issue.

"The Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued three statements in which it strongly condemned the massacres and the burning of Muslim families and homes. We tasked our ambassador to inform the government in Burma of our total rejection of the genocide being committed against Muslims there. Egypt’s Foreign Minister met with government officials in an attempt to develop a plan to solve the crisis. We summoned the Myanmar Ambassador in Cairo and expressed Egypt’s deep shock and concern regarding the ongoing violent events."

David Hopkins

May 9, 2013

Press Release 

The Fascist Burmese Regime Presents Birth Control of Rohingya Muslim Women as its latest Weapon of Ethnic Cleansing of Rakhine’s Muslims 

Not content with its complicity in the razing of Muslim villages as well as the rape, torture, murder and displacement of over 120,000 Rohingya as part of its systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing in its Western Rakhine state, the fascist Burmese regime has now presented birth control of Rohingya Muslim women as its latest pogrom policy against its Muslim minority. On Monday the 29th of April, a Burmese government-backed commission appointed to investigate the violence in Rakhine published its suggestions of how to address the ethnic problems in the state. The report proposals included instituting a population control policy in Rohingya communities to counter what the commission stated were fears amongst Rakhine’s Buddhists about the rapid growth of the Rohingya population. Such a proposal is an assault on Islam’s recommendation and high praise for Muslims to bear many children as according to the saying of the Prophet (saw) who said: تزوجوا الودود الولود فإني مكاثر بكم الأمم يوم القيامة “Marry an affectionate woman who gives birth to many children, for I will vie in glory with the Prophets because of your number on the Day of Judgment.” 

Successive Burmese governments have for centuries been trying to expel the Rohingya Muslims from the country by harsh social policies such as the 1982 Citizenship Law that denied Burmese citizenship to the Rohingya on ethnic grounds. In addition, the Rohingya Muslims face restrictions on marriage and the Burmese security force Nasaka demand heavy payments for Rohingya seeking to marry or preparing to give birth. This latest birth-control policy is therefore the latest attempt by the Burmese authorities to eradicate the country of its Rohingya Muslim minority through the social ethnic cleansing strategy of limiting the size of its future generation, while also continuing its forced displacement and massacring of Rohingya women and children. In the midst of the Burmese regime’s continued brutal violence and crippling social policies against the Rohingya Muslims, the European Union lifted its trade and economic sanctions on Burma this April. The US has also removed the majority of its sanctions against investment in the country and in recent days has moved to boost trade ties with Myanmar. As Western capitalist states scramble to reap the potential financial rewards in Burma, it is clear that they view the lives of the Rohingya Muslims as an insignificant matter that is worth nothing compared to securing their trade and investment interests in the country, demonstrating once again that their priority lies in protecting financial gain over human life and dignity. Furthermore, despite being rendered stateless and having been subjected to the cruelest acts of brutality and oppressive policies of ethnic cleansing, Rohingya Muslim women have been abandoned by the regimes of the Muslim world such as in Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia due to their corrosive nationalistic system and policies. Blinded by such nationalism, they have failed to defend the blood of the Myanmar Muslims and refused them a safe haven to which to flee where their needs can be met, often pushing those seeking refuge back to the sea to drown. They view them as people from a foreign nation who are a burden to their economy rather than as Islam obliges as brothers and sisters to whom they have a great responsibility to take care of. 

O Muslims! Hizb ut Tahrir calls on you to work with it to establish the Islamic Khilafah to give bayah to the eminent scholar Sheikh Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah, the Ameer of Hizb ut-Tahrir, as the Khaleefah for the Muslims, implementing the system of the Khilafah alone thus eradicating the artificial, Western-imposed borders between our countries as ordered by Allah (swt), thereby uniting our lands and with it our hearts. It will not only grant persecuted Muslims a safe place to live with dignity, providing them shelter, food, and rights as equal citizens of the state but will also unite our Muslim armies, mobilizing them to protect the blood of those Muslims living under occupation or oppression. This was exemplified at the time of the Crusades when the Khilafah, whose capital rested in Iraq sent one of it best generals, Salahuddin Ayubi who was Kurdish to liberate the land of Palestine from its Crusader occupiers – reflecting a portrayal of the Khilafah system that views the Muslim as a Muslim regardless of nationality, ethnicity, and race of Muslims, indeed the Khilafah will work to protect Muslims and end their bloodshed wherever they may be. The Khilafah is therefore a state whose re-establishment will cause nations to quiver at the mere thought of harming a single Muslim under their rule. 

Dr. Nazreen Nawaz 

Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir

ANKARA - If violence aimed at Rohingya and other Muslims spreads to other regions, then 10 million Muslims would be under threat, said Muhammed Naeem, chairman of Foreign Relations Department and 2nd Secretary General of National Democratic Party for Development of Myanmar.

Naeem told the AA reporter on the phone that Buddhist monks were very influential throughout Myanmar and they had a voice in many social events. Naeem who lives in Yangon in lower Myanmar said they faced attacks in the villages of Yangon almost every day.

"We face the risk of genocide. We are concerned that what has been done to the the Muslims in Arakan may spread to Yangon. More than ten percent of Myanmar's population is Muslim. There are Muslims in every region of Myanmar. At least 10 million Muslims live in Mynmar. The government can solve the problems if they want. However they are trying to denationalize us. They claim that we came to the country illegally from Bangladesh," said Naeem.

Stating that they had been under pressure for a long time, Naeem said they did not want an armed struggle and they were open to peace negotiations.

Speaking to the AA reporter, Said Demir, the Coordinator of Myanmar for The Foundation for Human Rights, Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), said that each Muslim in the region thought that they would be the next to get killed.

"If violence spreads to Yangon, it means genocide. I believe it would spread. The government tolerates all the violence. Those who massacre innocent people are not punished. Mosques, shops are torched. Buddhists have become more and more aggressive as they are not punished," said Demir.

Eyup Ural who is in charge of IHH Myanmar Desk said China and US were the two actors in the region, adding that they did not put any effort to end violence.

"International community remains silent. There is no obstacle in front of the genocide to grow bigger and bigger," Ural added.

Mustafa Akyol

Hurriyet Daily News

May 8, 2013

Burma, a country that has been tyrannized by a military junta since 1962, is being terrorized by an additional force these days: Buddhist militants, who carry out systematic arsons, tortures and massacres against the country’s tiny Muslim minority.

First, a few facts: 89 percent of the population of Burma is Buddhist. Muslims only make up some 4 percent of the society. But they are a relatively affluent community, which has led to resentment against them by the militants of the majority. In Arakan (a.k.a. Rakhine), the only state where Muslims make up a majority, the Burmese government and the militants allied with them have initiated an “ethnic cleansing of Muslims” as the Human Rights Watch have put it. (See HRW Report titled, “Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State.”)

In the past two years, the campaign against Burmese Muslims has intensified. It is spearheaded by a militant Buddhist movement called “969.” Their leader is a monk named Ashin Wirathu, who proudly called himself “the Burmese Bin Laden.” He simply advocates a Muslim-free Burma, as he once proudly explained to the BBC: “Around the world there are many Muslim countries. They should go there. The Muslim countries will take care of them. They should go to countries with the same religion.”

To make sure that Muslims really go, Wirathu’s followers routinely terrorize them, in pogroms similar to what Jews went through at the hand of European anti-Semites. Just last week, for example, Buddhist mobs attacked mosques and burned more than 70 homes in the Rangoon province, after a Muslim girl on a bicycle collided with a monk. In many similar instances of Buddhist violence, the HRW reports: “[Muslim] Rohingya men, women, and children were killed, some were buried in mass graves, and their villages and neighborhoods were razed. While the state security forces in some instances intervened to prevent violence and protect fleeing Muslims, more frequently they stood aside during attacks or directly supported the assailants, committing killings and other abuses… Buddhist monks have [even] protested against international aid for Rohingya, physically blocked aid deliveries, and threatened aid workers.” 

But isn’t this a bit confusing? Isn’t Buddhism a religion of poor pacifist monks and yoga-loving hip Westerners? How can this “religion of peace,” as it is often seen, be the driving force for such horror?

That was a question also asked by Alan Strathern, an academic expert on Burma, in a recent BBC piece titled, “Why are Buddhist monks attacking Muslims?” His answer was rooted less in theology, and more in politics: Burmese Muslims, he argued, are simply “a religious minority used as the scapegoat for the frustrated aspirations of the majority.” The peace preached in Buddhist texts did not mean much, in other words, once you had Buddhists enraged in their socio-political context.

For long, I have been arguing that the same thing is true for Muslims as well: The Bin Ladens of the world (the original versions, not the Buddhist version) arise from the political troubles of the Muslim societies rather than the texts of Islam. Yet there are many who like selling Islamophobia (the argument that “Islam is the problem”), and there are many who like buying it. Taking a look at Burma is a sobering corrective to their worldview.

The “hacktivist” group Anonymous has said its next internet campaign is aimed at protecting Burma’s Muslim community, which has faced mounting attacks and the threat of ethnic cleansing over the past year. 

The group said it was “very possible” that the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi would be a target.

A member of the Anonymous collective told The Independent that the Burma protest will start on June 1 with a “paperstorm” protest outside the CNN building in Los Angeles, demanding more coverage of the issue. There are also expected to be hacking attacks on Burmese government sites. 

The campaign is partly directed at “the UN, who should be supplying peacekeepers,” said the Anonymous-aligned Twitter account @CassandraRules. 

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi may also face pressure from the group over her refusal to directly condemn the attacks. 

Targeting Suu Kyi “is debatable. I cannot speak for my fellow Anons on the matter. Let's just say … it's very possible,” another Anonymous member told GlobalPost.

Members of Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy admitted to The Independent in April that electoral concerns made it difficult for her to openly support Muslims in the overwhelmingly Buddhist country.

“It is true she does not say enough about the problems faced by minorities,” said one party member. “But we have to worry about what the Burmese people will think.”

Burma’s Muslims have faced increasing persecution over the past year. Rohingya Muslims near the border with Bangladesh bore the brunt of two waves of communal rioting in June and October that left at least 180 dead and 125,000 displaced. A report by Human Rights Watch last month accused the government of crimes against humanity for its role in their persecution.

The Rohingya are an ethnic group that is denied citizenship, considered illegal immigrants by locals and trapped in miserable refugee camps.

British MP Rushanara Ali, speaks for the opposition Labour party on international Development and Melanie Teff from the charity Refugees International.

Amsterdam: On May 6, 2013, eleven organizations in Europe sent the following joint letter to President of European Commission to end Rohingya ethnic cleansing and Islamophobia in Burma.

Read the letter in PDF format on Scribd.

Joint Letter: To End Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing & Islamophobia in Burma

Matthew Smith

CNN Opinion
May 7, 2013

When the European Union recently lifted economic sanctions on Myanmar, it closed a decades-long chapter designed to encourage democratic reform in the country.

Although an arms embargo remains in place, the action will send an unequivocal message of "mission accomplished."

But while the EU is celebrating the "new Myanmar," Rohingya Muslims in the western part of the country are targets in what appears to be an ongoing campaign of government-supported crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

Killings and arson attacks between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims first erupted in Myanmar's Rakhine State in June 2012, and were followed in October by well-coordinated attacks on Rohingya populations. More than 125,000 Rohingya were forced into dozens of internally displaced camps while tens of thousands of others fled the country, launching Southeast Asia's newest refugee crisis.

Satellite images obtained by Human Rights Watch from just five of the 13 townships that experienced violence since June show 27 unique zones of destruction, including the destruction of 4,862 structures covering 348 acres of mostly Muslim-owned residential property.

Myanmar's government has repeatedly characterized what happened as "inter-communal violence" between bitter enemies -- Arakanese Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims -- denying any involvement of the state or abuses by state security officials.

Since June, I visited several sites of attacks and every major camp for the displaced, interviewing more than 100 victims and witnesses of abuse, as well as some perpetrators of violence. There is extensive evidence of complicity of the state in ethnic cleansing.

Following the first wave of violence and without setting foot in Rakhine State, the EU and others were quick to welcome the Myanmar authorities' "measured response" to the crisis. A spokesperson for the EU's high representative on foreign affairs, Catherine Ashton, said on June 11, "We believe that the security forces are handling this difficult inter-communal violence in an appropriate way."

The reality on the ground was very different. Rohingya survivors alleged how in June soldiers not only failed to protect them from arsonist mobs, but opened fire when they attempted to extinguish the fires, killing scores. Government authorities in Arakan State were busy bulldozing mosques, blocking humanitarian aid to Rohingya populations, conducting violent mass arrests of Muslim men and boys, and digging mass graves, impeding accountability. Human Rights Watch located the existence of at least four such grave sites.

Two days after the EU's June statement, a government truck dumped 18 naked and half-clothed bodies near a camp for displaced Rohingya, according to Human Rights Watch. Some of the victims had been "hogtied" with string or plastic strips before being executed. The move sent a strong message, consistent with a policy of ethnic cleansing, that the Rohingya should leave Myanmar permanently.

"They dropped the bodies right here," a Rohingya man told me on a visit to the grave site. "Three bodies had gunshot wounds. Some had burns, some had stab wounds."

After the smoke cleared in June, the Arakanese Buddhist monkhood (or the sangha), political operatives, and local government officials allegedly held public meetings in Rakhine State, plotting to drive Rohingya Muslims from their homes. They seized on President Thein Sein's remarks on July 12 that "illegal" Rohingya should be sent to "third countries," and they actively worked to isolate Muslim communities from daily necessities and income. Influential groups released public statements calling explicitly for "ethnic cleansing" and forced population transfer -- the government took no action to stop them.

The planned second wave of violence began on October 22. Thousands of Arakanese reportedly descended by foot and boat on Muslim villages in nine townships, carrying machetes, swords, spears, homemade guns, Molotov cocktails, and other weapons. Plumes of smoke dotted the sky along the fertile patchwork of Arakan State's intra-coastal waterways as entire villages were razed. State security forces once again either failed to provide protection, or actively participated in attacks.

On October 23 in Yan Thei, Mrauk-U Township, security forces took away sticks and other rudimentary weapons from Rohingya and enabled an Arakanese mob to kill about 70 villagers, including 28 children, 13 of whom were under age five.

Today, tens of thousands of displaced Rohingya are being denied access to humanitarian aid, have their movements restricted, and are unable to return home. They live in segregated, squalid camps without adequate food and health services. In just weeks the monsoon season will flood several IDP sites, intensifying the humanitarian emergency.

At the root of the persecution is the question of citizenship. The Myanmar government considers all Rohingya to be immigrants from Bangladesh. They are denied citizenship under discriminatory national legislation from 1982, although many families have resided in Myanmar for generations. Official government statements reject their very existence and refer to them as "Bengali," "so-called Rohingya," or the pejorative "kalar."

The world should not be blinded by the excitement of Myanmar's political opening. Rohingya are paying for that approach with their lives.

Matthew Smith is a researcher for Human Rights Watch and author of the organization's report, "All You Can Do is Pray": Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma's Arakan State.

AFP
May 6, 2013

YANGON — Myanmar's president on Monday pledged to uphold the "fundamental rights" of Muslims in strife-torn Rakhine state, in the wake of deadly religious unrest that has spread across the country.

In a speech to the nation following the release last week of an official report into last year's violence in western Rakhine that killed around 200 people, Thein Sein said the country should aim for "peaceful coexistence".

"Regarding Rakhine, our government will take responsibility for upholding Muslims' fundamental rights," he said, adding that ethnic Rakhines, who are mainly Buddhist, "will not be neglected".

Rakhine state remains deeply divided following major eruptions of unrest in June and October that saw mobs rampage through villages and torch thousands of homes, displacing 140,000 mainly Rohingya Muslims.

Waves of anti-Muslim unrest have spread across the country this year. Buddhist monks have been linked to some incidents, while security forces have been accused of standing by while mosques and homes were attacked.

Thein Sein said he accepted that "there were human rights violations... because of the policies that we used formerly", without elaborating on which measures he was referring to.

He pledged to use his authority "to make sure that security forces fully implement measures to restore peace and the rule of law".

Attacks against Muslims -- who make up an estimated four percent of Myanmar's population -- have exposed deep fractures in the formerly junta-run country and cast a shadow over reforms under a quasi-civilian regime that took power two years ago.

At least 43 people were killed and thousands left homeless in March after a flare-up apparently triggered by a quarrel in a gold shop in the central town of Meiktila.

A renewed bout of anti-Muslim unrest last week saw one killed and mosques and homes destroyed in Oakkan, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Yangon, as the unrest spread closer to the country's main city.

The Rakhine commission called for increased aid in Rakhine, where tens of thousands of Rohingya are trapped in squalid camps amid fears of a deepening humanitarian crisis as the monsoon season approaches.

But the report also recommended maintaining the segregation of the two communities while tensions remain.

Human Rights Watch, which has claimed the authorities were involved in ethnic cleansing in Rakhine, said the report's call to double troop numbers there was a "potential disaster" without proper oversight.

Rohingya -- considered by the United Nations to be one of the world's most persecuted minorities -- have been rendered effectively stateless in Myanmar with few rights and scant access to public services.

RB News 

May 6, 2013

Maung Daw, Arakan - Around 9PM, on 3rd May 2013, a group of NaSaKa (Border Security Force) from the commandment area (7) arrested five Rohingya youths (passers-by) in the western village of Waccha, Southern Maung Daw, Arakan State. 

“They (five) were just passing by. Among them, there were two minor children: one 12 years old and another 13 years old. They were beaten on the road and took them to the camp of NaSaKa Commandment 7” said a villager. 

NaSaKa released them the next evening after extorting Kyat 200,000 from each. 

“In the camp, they were forced to lie down on the ground. Then, they were kicked like balls by three NaSaKas. Besides, they were beaten not less than 10 times. They were almost fainted and losing sense” the villager continued. 

“The most heart-breaking fact is that the two minor children got severe injuries. Even after such inhumane tortures, each of them had to pay Kyat 200,000 for their releases. So, in total, it was one million. Even the dacoits will not torture people if they get their demands. These NaSaKas are worse and crueler that the dacoits are. If they beg money from the villagers because of their hardships, the villagers will able to give money more than that amount. Now, they are neither beggars nor dacoits. They are imposing infinite hardships on the villagers” exclaimed the villager in his inability to control emotions. 

The profiles of the five arrestees are: 

(1) Zabi Ullah S/o U Abu Kasim (13) 

(2) Abdul Hamid S/o Abul Bashar (12) 

(3) Ayas S/o U Rashid Ahmed 

(4) Hashim S/o U Fazal Ahmed (22) 

(5) Mohammed Rafiq S/o U Noor Ahmed (18).

(Translated into English by Maung Aurther)

ARAKAN ROHINGYA NATIONAL ORGANISATION 

ARAKAN, BURMA 

Press Release 

Date: May 6, 2013

Rebuttal to Eleven Media false report 

Our attention has been drawn to the news item appeared in Eleven Media, Yangon, dated 05/05/2013 under caption, “ Three Rohingya organizations are reportedly masterminding a religious war against Myanmar” accusing that “Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO), Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO), and Rohingya National Security Council (RNSC) are reportedly supporting and manipulating the plot. Their members have already collected weapons for the war. The Muslim living in Myanmar, especially hardcore members are campaigning for enlisting for their conspiracy……” 

Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) totally rejects this unsubstantiated news report or accusation as ‘false, fabricated and nonsense’ intended to damage the reputation of ARNO and to incite public opinion against the Rohingya people who have been facing ethnic cleansing and crimes of genocide in Burma. We have never heard of any organization by the name of Rohingya National Security Council (RNSC), and ARNO never has had such a meeting or discussion with RSO or so-called RNSC anywhere. 

We strongly condemn the Eleven Media Group for this unethical reporting. The news group is actively engaged in making propaganda and fuelling anti-Muslim deadly violence in Arakan and other parts of Burma since June 2012 that earn it bad name internationally. 

We reiterate that we are committed to remain a community within Arakan, and that ARNO is a peaceful political movement committed to pursue a peaceful political settlement of the long standing Rohingya problem. 

We demand Eleven Media to substantiate its racially motivated dishonest report. 

For more information, please contact: 

Nurul Islam: + 44-7947854652 

Aman Ullah: + 8801558486910 

Email: info@rohingya.org 

www.rohingya.org

Under U Thein Sein’s government, Muslims in Burma have been targeted animosity and hostility to unprecedented level, in the form of distributing malicious pamphlets, disseminating of hate speech videos, organising public sermons by extremist monks which fanning enmity and hatred wide spread.

BMA: Strongly condemn hostilities against Burmese Muslims

Saritdet Marukatat

Bangkok Post

May 6, 2013

The Rohingya problem in Myanmar could have been a blessing in disguise for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The issue reminds Asean backers that the three "legs" of its supporting pillar _ economic, social and security _ should be going in the same direction, even if at a different pace. 

The "club" has moved with a singularity of purpose and made remarkable moves on the economic front as the Asean Economic Community shimmers into view, but there is less cohesiveness on other issues among the 10 members. 

The Asean bloc has in fact shown a real seriousness in tightening the economic knot. Most of the promises for economic union have been implemented; the rest will eventually be tackled in time for the launch of the community at the end of 2015. These remaining issues are, of course, the most sensitive ones and are a concern for trade and economic negotiators. However, the fast-approaching deadline will force them to work harder. There could be a heavy price to pay for another delay in the launch of the Asean community, which has already been deferred from the start of 2015 to December that year. 

Asean leaders are jubilant at the steps being taken towards closer economic cooperation. That was reflected after the Brunei summit on April 25. "We are pleased with the progress of the Asean Economic Community, where 259 measures _ or 77.54% of the AEC blueprint _ have been implemented," the leaders boasted in a communique from Banda Seri Begawan. 

But we must not forget that Asean also has two other legs _ security and social _ besides the economic one that are needed to make the AEC sustainable. 

What was sadly missing from the 10-page summit communique was the issue that needs tackling right away _ the growing concern about communal unrest in Myanmar. The Southeast Asian leaders intentionally forgot to call it a regional worry _ at least for the moment. 

Asean knows this issue is endangering the group's security stability, but the bloc is still leaving it to be sorted out by Myanmar. The Thein Sein government is showing no desire to turn it into a regional problem. The reality on the ground is it has already stirred up trouble for Myanmar's neighbours, especially Thailand. 

The kingdom is currently sheltering 2,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled sectarian violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State and entered Thailand, mostly by ship. Others have landed in Malaysia and Indonesia, their primary destinations for reasons of Islamic religious bonds. 

The plight of the Rohingya looks miserable after clashes with Buddhists in the western Myanmar state. Last year alone 200 died and tens of thousands were displaced. And there are no real moves being taken by the Myanmar government to end the problem. It seems it would be happy to see the Rohingya leave. 

What is more disappointing is that no other Asean member is shouting loud enough for Myanmar to hear, except Indonesia. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told his Myanmar counterpart Thein Sein during his visit to Myanmar ahead of the summit that he was worried about the conflict. He sent a note in very diplomatic terms saying Jakarta was confident Thein Sein was "trying to do the right thing in terms of getting the communal violence under control". 

What happened last week explains why the Indonesian leader is fretting about the unrest in Myanmar. The violence spread to other areas in Myanmar, angering the Muslims in his country enough that they came out to protest against the Myanmar government. Some even planned to bomb its embassy in Jakarta. 

But Thailand, which is directly affected by the problem, is being very quiet. No pressure is being put on Myanmar to quickly solve this problem. Myanmar has told Thailand that the Rohingya refugees will be taken back if there is proof that they really came from Rakhine state. That is not a solution but a time-buying tactic for Yangon to wash its hands off the refugee problem. The process to verify their nationality will take months, or years, due to the lack of documentation and other evidence. Thus the verification process for the Rohingya will be outpaced by escalating violence and more refugees. 

The Rohingya issue is destabilising the security of Asean as it spills over to other members' turf. But Asean leaders still decided not to take any action _ and that will be their stance until the situation becomes uncontrollable. After long years of eager anticipation of the Asean Community, the grouping's "not-my-business" attitude remains almost unchanged. It is pretending that Myanmar can solve the problem and that the economic issue is the only one that matters. In the meantime, more Rohingya will set out in rickety boats, more houses will be torched and more people will be killed.

Bangkok - Rendered the nowhere people in their own homeland, thousands of Rohingya Muslims are fleeing inhuman living conditions, lack of humanitarian aid and rising sectarian tensions in their country.

And the very state that is supposed to protect them now stands accused of “ethnic cleansing.”

The Muslim Rohingyas and Rakhine Buddhists have had a history of conflict dating back to World War II.

The latest round, however, was ignited in June 2012 when 10 Rohingya Muslims were killed by ethnic Arakanese, following the rape of a 28-year-old Arakanese woman.

It sparked off a cycle of violence in which an estimated 200 non-Rohingya Muslims, Rohingya and ethnic Arakanese have been killed and more than 125,000 displaced.

The horror peaked in October last year when security forces assisted ethnic Arakanese in razing villages in nine of Arakan’s 21 townships. The Rohingyas were disarmed of the sticks they were carrying to defend themselves. At least 70 of them were reportedly killed, including 28 children, nearly half of them under the age of five.

“Since the state-sponsored pogrom against the Rohingya started in June 2012,” says student, activist and Rohingya blogger team member Mohammed Sheikh Anwar, “their living conditions have deteriorated. Access to humanitarian assistance such as food and medicines has been blocked, their properties are looted and vandalized on a daily basis.

“In addition, the internally displaced Rohingya and Kamans have no shelter, clean water or clothing. Many are suffering from pneumonia, diarrhea and other infectious diseases. Women and underaged girls are subjected to rape at the hands of security officials, the men have to face inhuman torture in secret jails.”

This plight of the Rohingyas has become the subject of a 153-page report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch last week. Titled “All You Can Do Is Pray,” it accuses the Myanmar authorities of “ethnic cleansing” by failing to prevent the violence, conducting mass detentions and blocking humanitarian aid.

So desperate is their situation that it has sparked off an exodus where more than 13,000 of them — according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees — have fled Myanmar by sea in overcrowded dinghy boats.

They are headed mostly to Thailand, but if they have been hoping for refuge here, the country is not extending it. Instead, in a bid to protect its own shores, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called on Myanmar President Thein Sein to assist in the repatriation of the more than 1,000 detained Rohingya in Thailand.

Confirming Thailand’s unwillingness to take in the Rohingyas, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of HRW told IPS, “Thailand absolutely refuses to let the Rohingya have access to the UNHCR to file a claim for refugee status. In fact, Thailand has a special policy created by the National Security Council, which sees the Rohingya as a national security threat to Thailand.”

“UNHCR and other human rights organizations need to come forward and rescue these individuals fleeing persecution,” says Anwar. “If the Thai authorities send them back to Myanmar, they could be killed or imprisoned.”

There are an estimated 800,000 stateless Rohingya in western Burma’s Arakan state, which borders Bangladesh.

“History tells us that in the early 1950s a few Bengali Muslim intellectuals of the northwestern part of Arakan began to use the term ‘Rohingya’ to identify themselves,” says historian Aye Chan of Kanda University of International Studies in Japan and author of ‘The Development of a Muslim Enclave in Arakan (Rakhine) State of Burma.”

“They were, in fact, direct descendants of immigrants from the Chittagong district of East Bengal, who had migrated into Arakan after the province was ceded to British India under the terms of the Treaty of Yandabo. Most of these migrants settled down in the Mayu Frontier Area, near what is now Burma’s border with modern Bangladesh. Actually, they were called ‘Chittagonians’ in British colonial records.”

Arakan saw a great deal of bloodshed during World War II and after 1948, at the beginning of Burma’s independence, Chan goes on to say.

“One of the underlying causes was the zamindari system, under which the British administrators granted Bengali landowners thousands of acres of arable land on 90-year leases. The Arakanese peasants who had fled Burmese rule and returned after British annexation found themselves deprived of their inherited land.”

Things only got worse after the British left. “Some people in the Mayu Frontier, who are now in their 70s and 80s, still remember the atrocities they suffered in 1942-43 during the short period of anarchy between the British evacuation and Japanese occupation of the area,” says Chan.”There was an outburst of ethnic and religious tensions that had been simmering for a century.”

Most Burmese still consider the Rohingya as illegal Bengali immigrants. A 1974 Emergency Immigration Act, initiated by former dictator General Ne Win, stripped Rohingya of their Burmese nationality. Further, under Myanmar’s 1982 Citizenship Law, Rohingya are not considered part of the country’s 135 ethnic groups unless they can prove their ancestors lived in Myanmar before independence from Britain in 1948. Although some Rohingya carry temporary registration cards, many lack documentation.

“Rohingyas, as is well known, have been persecuted by different regimes in Myanmar due to their ethnic origin and religion,” says Anwar. “As their situation stands today, it will not be an exaggeration to say that they are one of the most discriminated, oppressed and persecuted people in the world.”