Friday 31 May 2013

Rohingyas hit with multiple charges for not registering as ‘Bengalis’

Source dvb,
30 May 2013Men offer Friday prayers in a temporary mosque after returning to a Rohingya internally displaced persons (IDP) camp from a shelter from cyclone Mahasen, outside of Sittwe
Men offer Friday prayers in a temporary mosque after returning to a Rohingya IDP camp from a shelter from cyclone Mahasen, outside of Sittwe, on 17 May 2013. (Reuters)

Prosecutors in Sittwe have hit seven Rohingyas in Arakan state with myriad charges, including rioting, after they were arrested for refusing to register as 'Bengalis'.

During a hearing on 23 May, senior immigration official Yan Aung Myint charged the seven suspects from Thetkalpyin displacement camp with robbery, intimidation and disturbing officials on duty. Twenty-four individuals, who authorities claimed might be on the run, were also charged in absentia.

The hearing comes after a scuffle erupted between government officials and the Rohingya on 26 April, after authorities tried to register the internally displaced persons (IDPs) as 'Bengalis' in accordance with a programme headed by the Ministry of Immigration and Population.

Prosecutors said that around 100 residents, armed with sticks and swords, quickly gathered at the scene and began attacking authorities, which included policemen and soldiers who were accompanying the officials.

According to the defendants' attorney Hla Myo Myint, the skirmish began after one of his clients, Suleman, was slapped in the face by an official, which prompted children in the camp to begin throwing rocks at authorities.

Army sergeant Win Aung reportedly sustained a head injury after being struck by a rock at the scene, while local Arakanese team member Tun Hla Aung and immigration official Sai Myint Thu sustained lacerations on their backs.

Security forces reportedly fired shots in an attempt to disperse the crowd as they hurled rocks and screamed "Rohingya! Rohingya!" Seven individuals from Thetkalpyin and two from Bawdupha displacement camps were arrested in the skirmish's wake.

According to Hla Myo Myint, the officials who went to the camps to register the IDPs had no legal right to force his clients to identify as Bengalis – a term commonly used by government officials that implicitly infers that the group are illegal immigrants

"The officials had no authority to determine their ethnicity – according to the 1982 Burma Citizenship Law, the decision has to come at the last stage and made by a government body," said Hla Myo Myint.

"Reportedly the [officials] were listing them [as Bengali] by force."

Hla Myo Myint, who has represented high-profile opposition activists including the National League for Democracy's chair Aung San Suu Kyi in the past, said his clients' families and the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) asked that he provide legal counsel to the group. Two of the individuals Kyaw Myint and his son Hla Myint who are being charged are both USDP members.

"I'm doing this for the rule of law – one of the main objectives of the NLD – to allow human rights for them regardless of their religion and ethnicity," said Hla Myo Myint.

The next court appointment has been set for 6 June, but will likely to be postponed until officials can decide if the 24 individuals charged in absentia have actually fled.

Arakan state is home to more than 140,000 IDPs, after two bouts of religious violence pitting Arakanese Buddhists against Muslim Rohingya last year led to massive displacement.

Thursday 30 May 2013

http://www.news.com.au/world-news/worlds-most-oppressed-people-plea-to-australian-government/story-fndir2ev-1226653127698

Source newscomau, 29 May
 

Rohingya Muslims in 2012 trying to cross the Naf river into Bangladesh to escape sectarian violence in Myanmar. AFP PHOTO/Munir uz Zaman Source: AFP

IMAGINE that officially, you don't exist.

You are denied citizenship, not allowed to go to university, and your people have suffered years of mass killings and violence to which the government has turned a blind eye.

Just this week, the government has slapped you with a restriction on childbirth that critics say is equivalent to ethnic cleansing.

You must be a member of the Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority the United Nations describes as "the most oppressed people on earth".

This week one of Australia's tiny Rohingya community of 2000 is taking the plight of his people for the first time to the Federal Government to ask for help in stopping what some believe is state-sanctioned genocide.

Despite the fact they have lived in Myanmar, formerly Burma, since the 8th Century, the Rohingya were wiped off government records in 1982 when Myanmar enacted a citizenship law.

"They reduced the number of ethnic groups from 143 to 135, so we were made stateless and regarded as illegal immigrants, without rights or recognition," said Mohammed Anwar, who is leader of the Burmese Rohingya Community Australia and lives in Sydney.

Myanmar's 135 recognised ethnic groups all have more rights than the Rohingya people, who have
suffered serial persecution, including the razing of villages and mass killings carried out by Buddhist extremists and even monks.

This week, the government declared that Rohingya families in villages bordering Bangladesh can have no more than two children. It is believed to be the only such policy that targets a specific religious group.

"We are third grade people in Burma. We are not allowed to go on to higher education," said Mr Anwar, who fled to Turkey to gain his degree in engineering before emigrating to Australia.

Rohingyans who have escaped into the countries bordering Myanmar such as Bangladesh are also denied recognition by those countries and are forced to live in squalid camps threatened by rising sea levels.

Mr Anwar said Rohingyans would be barred from voting in next year's election in Myanmar and while he did not condone illegal refugee boat people, he could understand their desperation.

He would meet with Australian Foreign Affairs minister, Senator Bob Carr, this week.

"I have been sending him letters and finally he has agreed to meet," Mr Anwar said. "We need Australia's help to get official recognition of our people in Burma."



Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world-news/worlds-most-oppressed-people-plea-to-australian-government/story-fndir2ev-1226653127698#ixzz2UpqbbjIB

Wednesday 29 May 2013

Anti-Muslim Violence Hits Lashio, Mosque, Shops Burned

Source Irrawaddy news, 29 May
Firefighters try to put out a fire that was started by mobs during unrest in Lashio, Shan State, on Tuesday night. (Photo: Facebook/Ye Htut)

Firefighters try to put out a fire that was started by mobs during unrest in Lashio, Shan State, on Tuesday night. (Photo: Facebook/Ye Htut)

RANGOON—Sectarian violence spread to a new region of Burma, with a mob burning shops in the Shan State town of Lashio, after unconfirmed rumors spread that a Muslim man had set fire to a Buddhist woman.

The spread beyond the western and central towns where deadly mob attacks and arsons have occurred since last year will reinforce doubts that President Thein Sein's government can or will act to contain the violence.

The extent of Tuesday night's violence was unclear, as the area is remote and officials were difficult to reach at a late hour. Unconfirmed reports on Muslim news websites said a large mosque and a Muslim orphanage had been burned down.

A politician in Lashio in Shan state, Sai Myint Maung, said authorities banned gatherings of more than five people after about 150 massed outside a police station demanding that the alleged culprit in the unconfirmed immolation be handed over. The mob also burned some stores, he said.

According to the rumors, the man doused the woman with gasoline and set her alight. The attack could not be confirmed, but a Muslim-oriented news website that described it said the attacker was not Muslim.

A police officer and a monk also confirmed that a mob burned down a mosque, a Muslim orphanage and shops in the northeastern town after rumors spread that a Muslim man had set fire to a Buddhist woman.

According to the policeman and the Buddhist monk contacted by telephone on Wednesday morning there were no fatalities after violence erupted the night before in the northeastern city.

A resident who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals said by phone that some shops were burned near the police station and the hospital where the victim was said to have been taken. A Lashio resident, Than Htay, said he could see smoke and had heard about the ban on gatherings. He said calm had been restored.

However, the website of the Muslim-oriented M-media Group said Lashio's biggest mosque had been torched by a mob while firefighters stood by, and a Muslim school and orphanage was also burned down. It did not say if there were any casualties. Its report acknowledged the burning of the woman but said the perpetrator was not a Muslim.

While the account could not immediately be confirmed, the website's accounts of past violence against Muslims in Burma were subsequently reported in other media. Several photos circulating on Facebook also showed what was purported to be the mosque in flames.

The sectarian violence began in western Arakan state last year, when hundreds died in clashes between Buddhist and Rohingya Muslims that drove about 140,000 people, mostly Rohingyas, from their homes.

The violence had seemed confined to that region, but in late March, similar Buddhist-led violence swept the town of Meikthila in central Burma, killing at least 43 people. Several other towns in central Burma experienced less deadly violence, mostly involving the torching of Muslim businesses and mosques.

Muslims account for about 4 percent of the nation's roughly 60 million people. Anti-Muslim sentiment is closely tied to nationalism and the dominant Buddhist religion, so leaders have been reluctant to speak up for the unpopular minority.

Thein Sein's administration, which came to power in 2011 after half a century of military rule, has been heavily criticized for not doing enough to protect Muslims.

He vowed last week during a U.S. trip that all perpetrators of the sectarian violence would be brought to justice, but so far, only Muslims have been arrested and sentenced for crimes connected to the attacks.

Muslims, however, have accounted for far more of the victims of the violence, and rights groups have accused certain authorities of fomenting a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

Tuesday 28 May 2013

88 Generation Ko Ko Gyi on the Rohingya, ethnicity and citizenship: An Unpublished Interview

Source maungzarni, 27 May
 

"We are about to pronounce the official view (of 88 Generation Group) on the Rohingya. The Rohingya are not Myanmar Tai-yin-tha (or Bumiputra or native to Myanmar). The real issue in Bhutheedaung-Maungdaw is a mix of the illegal immigrants called Rohingya from Bangladesh and those who call themselves 'Rohingya', as the result of instigation by overseas elements."

- Ko Ko Gyi (seconded by Mya Aye, a Myanmar Muslim former student leader in the background of this You-Tube), 8 June 2012




The above is the 2-minute DVB interview liked/viewed by over 24,000 and posted on YouTube on 8 June 2012

The following transcript of the face-to-face interview with Ko Ko Ko Gyi was provided by Carlos Sardiña Galache, Spanish journalist, who interviewed the former student leader in Rangoon on 17 Aug 2012.

Q: Do you think is right to make citizenship dependant on ethnicity as this law does?

A: I want to write an article with the title "Human, citizen and ethnic". So from the humanitarian point of view we need to hear the humanism regardless of the borders and the barriers, it's ok. Ok, but in real politics every country has borders, sovereignty and security problems. So in America they try to fence the Mexican border to guard their boundaries. Every country has its own citizenship law, so this is our internal affairs, not to make interference from outside. This is what our people need to discuss.

Q: You haven't answered my question, do you think is right to base citizenship on ethnicity for Burma?

A: Repeatedly I told you we need to discuss to accommodate for the present situation. I just want to tell you that in such difficult situation between those populated regions, how can we identify our citizens if after 5 years you can live in our country [like in the USA] or if a baby born in our land automatically gets citizenship? How do make our national, cultural or historical preservation and maintenance?

[…]
Even though 1982 citizenship law is very strict law that so many criticize, I think after coup d'état back in 88, millions of population have it [citizenship]. Chinese and Bengalis also. You have to think that this is a problem for the national interest.


[…]

Even in Europe you have problems, like the looting in the UK, the killings in Norway, the Moroccans and Algerians in France, and the scarf, even there you have problems because of the immigrant people. Every country has its own problems about the immigrants.

[…]

Q: Even assuming that Rohingya are immigrants, and I am not saying that agree with that, lots of immigrants all over the world live peacefully and there's no problem…

A: Ok, if you live peacefully is ok. Our Rakhine, they lived in Bangladesh.

Q: And Rohingya also live peacefully here...

A: No! Rohingyas tried to revive the Mujaheed rebellion in the Parliamentary period and also very confusing... And then they wanted separate area, separate regions. If they live peacefully and respect is ok. Like Mon or Karen live in Thailand, they never insult or do any wrongdoing to their host country. But our situation is quite different.

Q: But the Mujahideen renounced to their struggle long time ago...(like in 1960).

A: Long time ago. Now is just population pressure. Some of the responses of some of the Rakhine people are illogical, I agree, but at the same time the Rohingya are more powerful than the Rakhine in the outside world, they use the international media and go through international organizations such as the UN.

//end text of the interview//

Compiler's remarks (not Carlos's):

According to Carlos, he conducted the tape-recorded interview face to face with Ko Ko Gyi in Rangoon on 17 August 2012, the day Presidential Inquiry Commission on the Rakhine Sectarian Violence was established, with Ko Ko Gyi as one of the 27 distinguished members.

Much has happened since the interview - like Obama's speech at Rangoon University in Nov 2012 where he named the un-namable - the Rohingya - ; South African retired bishop Desmond Tutu's visit in Feb 2013 and his strong push for the Burmese dissidents including Ko Ko Gy to dig deeper and find some human decency and open-mindedness towards the Rohingya, and the Human Rights Watch's report 'All You Can Do is To Pray" (late April 2013).

But nothing significant seems to have changed the ignorance-soaked, national security-deluded paranoia of Mr Ko Ko Gyi. This is rather worrying for the Rohingya as the former International Relations student at Rangoon University is considered "the brain' of the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society Group.

Another important, if similarly misguided, ill-informed and discernibly racist view on the Rohingya issue was voiced by the group's face and leader Min Ko Naing (Paw Oo) at a Burmese migrants' event in New York this Sunday 26 May.



Here is the gist in English of this nearly 5 minute exposition on citizenship, Rohingya, etc. representing their group.

1). Re: (Bengalai) citizenship we need to treat it with utmost seriousness.
2). even in a liberal USA there are walls along its Mexico-USA borders.
3). We need to evaluate all available evidence about these people's ancestral roots.
a) have they lived here for generations? b) have they just popped in from across the borders (from Bangladesh)?
4). shall we give someone citizenship simply because he or she can speak our Burmese language?
5). if they are citizens they have to be prepared to defend the country in the event of a foreign invasion.
6). citizenship rights come with responsibilities!; and
7). I will stand in front of them and fight for their rights, if they are prepared to bear national responsibilities!

Sai Latt, a respected Shan scholar felt compelled to comment on the speech:

actually, what is so wrong is the fact the existence of borders are taken for granted instead of rejecting them. "evaluating ancestral roots": the question is for what? lived for generation? for what? citizens with responsiblility to defend the country: xenophobia + unnecessary anxiety about foreign invasion and war. worst, he is pro-national security stuff, the worst justification for oppression

Rather disturbingly, the Burmese society under the misguidance of both the Burmese generals and the dissidents are sleep-walking into an ideological and societal space which come to resemble that of the Third Reich in the 1930s.

One of the most misguided sentiments being actively pushed among the Buddhist communities across the country is 'defending Buddhism, Buddhist nation, Buddhist State' against the perceived and manufactured threats from Islam and Muslims.

What does defending Buddhism mean? I don't understand it. And I don't think Gotama the Enlightened or Awakened One would understand that widely popular Burmese view either.

For there is nothing to protect, from a Buddhist epistemological perspective.

If you are protecting something drop the word "Buddhist". For Buddhism needs no protection as it is supposed to be only an understanding of impersonal and immutable realities - like Death, Suffering, Birth, etc.


Click here to read my own analysis of the rising neo-Nazism in Burma Neo-Nazi Denial in Myanmar, Asia Times, 24 May 2013.
 

Monday 27 May 2013

Serious ethical questions surround the west’s deepening of ties with Burma. It is time to adjust policy.

Source Independent uk, 26 May

The government's image might have improved, it's human rights record has not

The visit of Burmese President Thein Sein to the White House earlier this week was an historic event; widely seen as representing a 'high watermark' for the country in terms of its standing in the international community, it did much for the image of the former pariah state.

However, the Government of Burma does not deserve to be regarded as legitimate quite yet. Instead, now more than ever, the political elite in Naypyidaw should be subjected to intense scrutiny, their reformist credentials critically reviewed and their public statements received with due scepticism.

There are many reasons why this is necessary. For one thing, to regain perspective: the creeping narrative from certain quarters of the press has been that recent reforms in the country somehow mean that the old establishment is willing to cede power. This is demonstrably not the case. President Thein Sein, himself an ex-general once described as a 'consummate insider' of the former Junta, indicated recently that he has no intention of letting the most self-serving institution of all, the military, take an ancillary role in government.

The dominance of the armed forces over Burmese political life was enshrined in the nation's latest constitution, developed under the auspices of the old regime and rejected by Aung San Suu Kyi when it was wheeled out in 2008. The charter ensures that ultimate power in the country remains with the 'Tatmadaw' as they are known in Burmese, who are guaranteed a substantial share of seats in parliament (enough to effectively veto any attempts at constitutional reform), sweeping emergency powers and the right to dismiss its appointed civilian government. The status quo is also enforced by a highly politicised judiciary lacking in genuine independence.

Until such a state of affairs changes- or the constitution is publicly ratified in a referendum that is free and fair, unlike the sham of five years ago- the country's political status cannot be regarded as anything other than quasi-democratic.

Another reason why Burma's government should not yet be given an easy ride is that it is, in the view of rights groups, implicated in extremely serious crimes committed against minorities. According to Human Rights Watch, abuses perpetrated against the Rohingya ethnic group last year which allegedly involved state agencies, amounted to offences against humanity and ethnic cleansing. A miserably inadequate and tendentious government-ordered report into the violence recommended "family planning" for the victims in order to reduce tensions- but failed to meaningfully advance accountability.

The 130,000 plus Rohingya displaced in Rakhine state by last year's violence are now on course to suffer a preventable humanitarian crisis as the rainy season approaches, bringing with it the risk of thousands of deaths from water-borne diseases and poor sanitation. It is instructive to note that the government has so far refrained from doing anything substantial to stop this from happening.

Ethnic cleansing, impunity for atrocities, crimes against humanity, an undemocratic constitution and inaction in the face of an imminent humanitarian disaster- these are hardly minor failings associated with Thein Sein's administration. Regardless, the west has proceeded to expeditiously deepen ties with his government, whose mandate to rule, based on the highly controversial 2010 election, is in itself questionable.

Having just returned from the latest of two trips to Burma in recent weeks, and having had the opportunity to speak to many people with insights into the situation there- including ethnic minority representatives, foreign diplomats and aid workers- it seems clear that an alteration of present western policy could do much good.

This would not mean disengagement from the country, but a willingness to get tough with the government on the crucial issues mentioned above- particularly with regard to the plight of the Rohingya. As I have argued before, the latter are in an extremely precarious position, effectively stateless in their homeland, forced to exist without access to many of the rights afforded them under international conventions. The minority continue to be ghettoised, systematically denied aid along with the right to travel or marry freely and may be edging toward what some commentators are openly beginning to call genocide.

The only long-term solution to this pattern of abuse is to grant the Rohingya the citizenship rights they should automatically be entitled to as a resident race in Burma, but are denied as the result of a discriminatory Junta-era law.

Thein Sein opposes this. Shortly after the first outbreak of violence last year he stated that the 'only solution' to the ethnic tensions in Rakhine state was to expel the minority, presumably by force, to another country or to surrender them to the care of the UN.

This appears to remain his position- one that ensures that Rohingya suffering will continue indefinitely. It is extremely hard to see how such a situation could be remotely tolerable to governments like ours that claim to have 'the promotion of human rights… at the heart of [its] foreign policy objectives.'

Enough is enough. Without considerable external pressure, recent internal reforms- which represent a first step in the right direction but not an end in itself- would never have taken place; it would be beyond delusional to expect human rights abuses to halt without more of the same.

The Foreign Office and The US State Department realise this, of course. The question is whether or not they are willing to overstep expediency and adjust policy.

Nasaka whipped a Hindu School Teacher insensible in Northern Maungdaw

Source Mayu Press,
 
Posted on 2013/05/26 
school-in-mgdaw

Mohamed Farooq ( Mayu Press)
On 23 May 2013, Zaw Myo Aung, a Nasaka personnel in the department of Immigration hailed from Camp No: 05 called Ngayin Chaung (Boutoror Ghati) under the sector two of Maungdaw Township, extorted money 25000 Kyat per oil shop in total twenty-five shops where specially sale Kerosene for house lighting at night, Diesel for engine, Petrol and Vegetable oil in Tamanta (Saheb Bazar), northern Maungdaw.

Kamhori @ Bellikka son of Denubondhu, a Hindu school teacher has an oil shop there. Kamhori @ Bellikla refused to give demanded money as he is not a Rohingya then he was beaten with long lethal rod till to unconscious by Zaw Myo Aung. He had hospitalized on the spot for his serious injuries and sense recovery at Tamanta (Saheb Bazar) rural healthcare.

Zaw Myo Aung married a Rakhine girl is primarily popular to wresting money and torturing Rohingya not in common way. He has no transference order since 2009 at a same Nasaka camp No: 05 of Ngayin Chaung as he bribes an amount to the chief of Border Immigration Headquarter (BIHQ) of Nasaka in Kyi Kan Pyan while the others Nasaka do at least once transfer within a six-to-nine month.

Sunday 26 May 2013

Rohingya, gas and democracy

Source kashmirreader, 26 May
 
Persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, though on-going for the past few decades suddenly took a more beastly turn with unabated massacres of Muslims in the western state of Arakan last year. Ostensibly it was the alleged rape of a Buddhist woman by some Muslim men that sparked the whole cycle of violence against the Rohingya community, in June first and then a more planned massacre in October.

Coined as one of the most persecuted people in the world by UN, Rohingyas do not even possess citizenship rights owing to the tyrannical policies of successive communal governments in Myanmar. Such is the deep-rooted hatred towards the Rohingya that the Buddhist majority is openly advocating their complete expulsion with slogans of "Burma for Burmese". Few in Myanmar accept that Rohingya are true Burmese though many have lived there for generations.

Facing gruesome oppression, there has been no escape for the helpless Rohingyas as neighboring Bangladesh refused to entertain them. Myanmar's President Thein Sein's solution to the problem was grossly frank: "We will send them away if any third country would accept them."

While the violence against Rohingyas is not a new phenomenon, the dynamics are different this time around. Recent developments in Myanmar and its subsequent westward tilt might help explain the crisis. For years Myanmar was ruled by a totalitarian military regime heavily influenced by China. Needless to say, the West, particularly US showed little interest in the region after many unsuccessful attempts at control.

However, the recent regime change in Myanmar brought the country in the renewed focus of western powers. Myanmar's shift to democracy was hailed by the whole world; Aung San Suu Kyi having remained captive for years was given the Noble prize for peace. As Myanmar moved towards a democratic setup and away from China, the tentacles of globalization and capitalism began to ingress. Especially in the wake of trillions of dollars' worth of Gas recently discovered in the Arakan region.

The US is engaged in an economic confrontation with China. Building on its strategic objective of encircling China, the US has gradually been preparing proxies in Southeast Asia, heavily influencing countries like South Korea, Philippines and Taiwan. Myanmar under military junta was in the Chinese camp and had signed important deals on gas with Bangladesh, China and India. Two pipeline projects tapping the vast gas reserves in Myanmar are already in place: Myanmar-Bangladesh-India (MBI) pipeline which is transporting gas from Myanmar to Bangladesh and India and the dual oil and gas China-Myanmar pipelines.

As soon as the military rule in Myanmar came to an end USA moved in to secure its interests and bridge the gap that had been created over the years. It is part of the American strategy aimed at Southeast Asia in a bid to contain China.

Doors also opened for western corporations, NGOs among others to penetrate into Myanmar. World Bank opened its first office in the country in August 2012 in a bid to implant all that is needed for western capitalism to strengthen its foothold in the strategically important country. Shell, British Petroleum, Chevron are investing heavily in Myanmar to counter investments made by China.

West, especially the US has assumed silence on the Rohingya Massacre, partly because Rohingya are Muslims and partly because these took place when the supposed savior of humanity –Democracy - replaced military dictatorship.

However, the façade of the universality of democracy that the West propounds comes crashing down in its selective promotion of democracy in some countries and dictatorship in others. This hypocrisy forms the basis of hegemony and control by western powers. In Myanmar the democratic government is being supported by the West even in the wake of unabated persecution of Rohingyas.

Of course, if it were the military Junta that was in power while the Rohingya were massacred last year, the West and its sensationalist media would be all over Myanmar criticizing it. But because it is the democratic setup which is the culprit this time around, the West has assumed a deathly silence.

The Shwe pipeline project, a consortium of four Indian and South Korean companies led by Korea's Daewoo International that passes through Arakan state has also exasperated the Rohingya crisis. The pipeline project and its benefits have inspired the communal government of Myanmar to cleanse the country of Rohingyas.

Hypocrisy and capitalism is working overtime in 'democratic' Myanmar and the blood of Rohingya Muslims is being used to run this unholy and inhumane alliance. Consequently, the West has facilitated massacres against Rohingyas by skillfully exploiting Buddhist extremist hatred towards Muslims.
 

Nasaka officer threatens to seal all business to join the program of digital sign and photograph in Maungdaw south

Source KPN, 25 May
 

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Burma border security force (Nasaka) commander of area number 7 threatened the Rohingya villagers to seal all their business if they didn't join the program of digital signatures and photographs on May 24 meeting at high school of Alay Than Kyaw, said a village administration officer.

"The commander called all Rohingya villagers and village admin officers with members to Alay Than Kyaw high school, where he had given a speech "to join at their (authority) program of digital signatures and photographs which mention the race as Bengali, in the place of Rohingya." The commander also threatened the villagers, he will seal all the business – fishing, farming and business- if not join the program."

In the meeting, the Nasaka commander discussed many different issues with village leaders and administrators regarding the present situation of Arakan State, said an aide of Nasaka.
"If anyone doesn't comply with the order, he/she will be punished according to the law and also will be imprisoned five years," the commander added.

We don't want to join the program as Arakan State government spokesperson U Win Myaing has insisted that recent household data collection for Muslim in Arakan, is related to next year's census and preparation for the next coming census in 2014, where the UN Population Fund issued a statement on May 3 in which it said that "[h]ousehold data collection activities being undertaken in the camps, other sites in Sittwe, and other towns, Rakhine State, involving the update of family lists by teams composed of several government departments, are unrelated to the National Population and Housing Census scheduled for April 2014" and these activities are also not connected to the pilot census exercise that took place successfully from March 30 to April 10. Actual data collection for the 2014 National Population Census will take place from March 29 to April 10, 2014 in all parts of Myanmar. Every person present within the borders of Myanmar on the night of March 29, 2014 will be included in the census." So, we did not want to participant the program for using us as Bengali in the name of Rohingya which authority trying to label us Bengali, said the villagers from Maungdaw south.

The commander also mention the recent Arakan State government imposed a two-child limit for Muslim Rohingya families, a policy that does not apply to Buddhists Rakhine in the area – Maungdaw and Buthidaung where Rohingyas are about 95 percent Muslim and comes amid accusations of ethnic cleansing in the aftermath of sectarian violence. But, this Law was issued sine long times when Nasaka started to control the marriage of Rohingya with these conditions and to extort money from Rohingya community. It is not a new one, but now it issued from state government, said a school teacher.

According to sources, Burma's central government, Arakan State authorities and Arakanese politicians have long claimed that the Muslim population in the region is rapidly growing and pushing out local Buddhist communities.
Rohingyas villagers in northern Arakan State are now passing days and nights in panic for giving pressure to join the government program of digital sign and photograph by Nasaka, the politician said.

"They have no alternative way to go anywhere from Arakan soil, so they have to live at a big cage in Arakan State, Burma."

Saturday 25 May 2013

20 Rohingya Immigrants Taken to Detention Immigration Center in Indonesia

Source tempo, 24 May

TEMPO.CO, Jember- Twenty Rohingya Myanmar immigrants were relocated to a Detention Immigration Center (Rudenim) in Bangil-Pasuruan on Friday.

Rohingya refugee. ANTARA/Irsan Mulyadi

Head of Jember Immigration Office Mujiantoro said that the relocation was made after Jember Immigration Office and the International Organization for Migration were assured that a room was available in Rudenim Bangil. "The capacity was for 20 people. We prioritized those who are not married," he said. The 20 immigrants were men not bringing their families along. They were picked up from Hotel Sulawesi with a bus owned by Jember Resort Police. Five fully-armed police and 4 staff from the Jember Immigration Office were on guard.

Among the immigrants were three people who were once arrested by the police as they were going to escape from the hotel on Thursday. The three were Manir, Seakut Ali, and MD Fazlu. "The remaining 45 people are still waiting for the Director General of Immigration's decision. We will possibly take them to Rudenim Pekanbaru and Balikpapan."

Head Chief of Supervision and Immigration Execution at Jember Immigration Office, Haryo Sakti, reported the search team has yet to find another three escaped immigrants to date. "There has been no result. We are still looking for them," he said briefly.

The three fugitives were Mamun, Kamrul, and Ashadur. They tore down the window glass to escape. None of the guard realized as the glass was covered by flowers and dense palm trees. After getting out of the room, the three jumped over the wall located on the west of the hotel.

As many as 68 illegal immigrants from Rohingnya are accommodated temporarily in a hotel in Jember, as the closest Immigrant Detention House in Bangil Pasuruan was full. The immigrants were arrested by the police of Banyuwangi last weekend whilst they were waiting for departure towards Australia for political asylum. MAHBUB DJUNAIDY

Wednesday 22 May 2013

Rohingyas face riot charges for refusing to register as ‘Bengali’

Source DVB,
22 May 2013A man from a Rohingya internally displaced persons (IDP) camp carries a fishing net as he walks towards a beach to fish near his camp, outside of Sittwe
A man from a Rohingya IDP camp carries a fishing net as he walks towards a beach to fish near his camp, outside of Sittwe. (Reuters)

Nine Rohingyas, who were arrested late last month for refusing to register as "Bengalis" at a displacement camp in western Burma, will be prosecuted for instigating riots, according to a state official.

Arakan state's attorney general Hla Thein told DVB that the group is likely to be hit with multiple charges including rioting and injuring public servants, when they appear at their next court hearing on Sunday.

"They are going to be pressed with charges at the court on 26 May for rioting, hurting a public servant – a Tatmadaw (military) official was hospitalised after sustaining head injuries during the incident, aggravated theft for snatching phones off some public servants trying to report the situation to authorities and criminal intimidation for threatening to harm the public servants," said Hla Thein.

On 26 April, scuffles broke out between displaced Rohingyas and government officials, who were compiling lists of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) under a programme headed by the Ministry of Immigration and Population.

The skirmish erupted after Rohingya inhabitants at Thetkalpyin and Bawdupha displacement camps near Sittwe refused to be registered as 'Bengalis' on the officials' list.

Security forces reportedly fired shots in an attempt to disperse the crowd who were throwing rocks at officials and repeatedly chanting "Rohingya! Rohingya!" Shortly after the incident, seven individuals from Thetkalpyin and two from Bawdupha were detained by authorities.

After two episodes of ethno-religious rioting last year, more than 140,000 people, a majority of whom are Muslims, are still displaced and living in IDP camps in western Burma's Arakan state.

In a highly anticipated report published in late April, a government-backed commission charged with investigating the violence recommended upping the number of security forces in the restive state and pinned the rioting on generations of bitterness. The commission also suggested providing the Rohingya minority with voluntary family planning.

The official report also refused to call the stateless Rohingya by name and rather referred to the ethnic minority as "Bengalis", a term commonly used by government officials that implicitly infers that the group are illegal immigrants.

According to Arakan state's attorney general, the population study that led to the scuffle was being conducting in accordance with recommendations made by the government-backed commission.

"The programme aims to find out how many legal and illegal inhabitants there are in Bengali refugee camps and their professions, to assist with the rehabilitation [process]," said the state's attorney general Hla Thein.

"It was not meant to be a census – the Arakan Investigation Commission's report recommended resettlement and rehabilitation programmes for local populations and for that, we need to study how we can provide them with assistance."

Following the arrest of the nine Rohingyas, residents in the camps said they have been unable to secure any information about the suspects since they were detained.

"The [detainees] from Thetkalpyin are not allowed to have any visitors – we cannot send them food and have no information on their status. Their relatives in Rangoon were apparently looking for lawyers," said a resident in Thetkalpyin camp.

Monday 20 May 2013

Who Are the Rohingya Muslims, and Why Should We Care?

Source huffingpost, 20 May

On Monday, Burmese President Thein Sein is due to visit the White House. The visit represents another milestone in recently burgeoning U.S.-Burma relations, and an opportunity to engage Thein Sein on the significance of respecting international human rights norms -- such as protecting its minority Muslim population's religious freedoms -- to continued Burmese democratic reform. The country's otherwise tainted record on religious freedom, including escalating communal violence, threatens to undermine its transition from one-party, autocratic military rule to more representative governance.

It adversely impacts our global security as well.

By way of background, more than 75 percent of the world's population resides in countries where official restrictions on religious freedom prevail. Despite laudable strides toward democratic reform, Myanmar (also referred to as Burma) is among those nations. In fact, it stands out as among the world's 25 most populous nations with the most government restrictions on, and social hostilities due to, religion. Notably, Burmese religious hatred, bias and violence are frequently directed toward its Rohingya Muslim population.

Who are the Rohingya Muslims?

The U.N. has long characterized the Rohingya Muslims, a religious and ethnic minority community numbering approximately 1 million in Myanmar, as one of the world's most persecuted minorities. Anti-Rohingya and anti-Muslim sentiment has long tainted the nation's political and social spheres.

During the country's more than 60-year military rule since 1962, the Burmese army committed numerous human rights violations, for instance, including killing, raping and torturing its Rohingya Muslim population culminating at times in mass expulsions (and a chronic refugee crises in neighboring Bangladesh).

Such deplorable human rights and humanitarian conditions is further exasperated by the Rohingya and other Muslims' official "statelessness." Despite the fact that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees the right to a nationality, prohibiting its arbitrary deprivation, the Burmese Citizenship Act, enacted back in 1982, codified the legal exclusion of the Rohingya denying them equal citizenship rights.

To be sure, this denial of Burmese citizenship has resulted in additional injustices and inequalities, including the group's lack of access to identity documents, education and employment. It has also rendered group members vulnerable to arbitrary detention, forced labor and discriminatory taxation. The Burmese government has further restricted their rights to marry, own property and move freely -- rights guaranteed to non-citizens as well as citizens under international law.

Unfortunately, Burmese President Thein Sein remains steadfastly opposed to repealing or amending the 1982 Citizenship Act. And the plight of the Rohingya Muslims will not improve until the law is stripped of its discriminatory provisions.

Contemporary Developments

Both government officials and fellow civilians continue to persecute the Rohingya Muslims even with the country's current democratic transition since a nominally civilian government was ushered in by popular elections in March 2011.

Human rights violations not only include the denial of citizenship rights mentioned above, but also restrictions on religious freedom such as mosque constructions as well as religiously motivated violence.

Indeed, sectarian violence often perpetrated by members of the majority Buddhist population has most recently erupted in June 2012, October 2012, March 2013, April 2013; it persists and is spreading to previously unaffected areas of the country.

The violence has reaped devastating effects.

The communal violence has left approximately 13,000 people homeless. More than 120,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) are living in temporary shelters with limited access to food, medical care, sanitation facilities and other types of humanitarian necessities.

Responsible Burmese officials and security forces -- who have refused to protect the Rohingya Muslims at critical moments, participated in the persecution and obstructed access to humanitarian aid -- have not been subject to prosecution. Not surprisingly, a general climate of impunity prevails as Rohingya Muslims continue to endure brutal police repression, forced conscription to perform labor, arbitrary detention, beatings, killings and mistreatment.

Why Should We Care?

Last year, we re-designated Myanmar as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act because of related pervasive violations. During President Thein Sein's visit on Monday, he must understand that the status quo arguably threatens our global security.

Recent evidence from Georgetown University suggests that state restrictions on religious freedom may contribute to violent extremism. Such repression, as described above, may radicalize targeted religious communities and/or enhance the violent message of militants abroad. While I am an ardent supporter of nonviolence even in the face of legitimate political and other grievances, it is difficult to ignore the implications here.

Burmese officials who arbitrarily arrest, detain, beat, injure and kill Rohingya Muslims may enhance the appeal of those advocating a more violent response to government repression -- perhaps within the country but also well beyond. Indeed, media outlets around the world, including segments of the Muslim and Arab world, have already begun reporting on the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma.

Conversely, Georgetown's research findings suggest that enhanced religious freedom may help "moderate, contain, counteract, or prevent the origin or spread" of violent religious extremism.

Through broader U.S. engagement, communication and dialogue -- such as Monday's momentous White House meeting -- President Thein Sein must come to understand the underlying significance of religious freedom to enhanced global security. He must understand that continued Burmese persecution of the minority faith community may contribute to violent extremism by inadvertently promoting its appeal.

Further, violent extremists elsewhere will manipulate those incidents of persecution to serve a more nefarious, violent narrative to recruit others to their abhorrent cause. The implications are far-reaching.

What We Should Do

Notably, the U.S. has expended more than $24 million in humanitarian aid to help address the suffering in Myanmar. But in the current climate of fiscal austerity, such levels of financial aid, even for humanitarian purposes, cannot be reasonably sustained.

Moreover, sanctions have proven grossly ineffective largely because of the willingness of other countries in the region to continue trading with Myanmar for their own economic and other strategic self-interest.

Potential solutions? What if we attempted to address the underlying causes of the communal strife and violence.

As an initial, necessary measure the Burmese should eliminate the discriminatory provisions of the 1982 Citizenship Act rendering the Rohingya Muslims "stateless." Statelessness deprives the Rohingya of equal protection under the law and facilitates additional injustices, thus contributing to increased likelihood of sectarian and other destabilizing conflict.

Burmese officials should adopt pluralism as an ideal model allowing for greater inclusivity of all of its religious and ethnic minorities. Formal inclusion of the Rohingya and other Muslims into the public and political spheres provides a nonviolent means to making a meaningful contribution to society thereby contributing to our global security.

Moreover, the sociological consequence of religious pluralism is a general recognition and acceptance of all faiths practiced by diverse groups. Arguably, this represents an ideal model for a diverse country like Myanmar.

It is significant to note that while there does not appear to be any current evidence of violent radicalization among the Rohingya or other Muslims in Myanmar, guarding against the phenomenon (there and abroad) is a critical consideration in light of the continuing Global War on Terror (GWOT).

By protecting religious freedom and conferring citizenship rights upon the Rohingya, the Burmese will continue its effective transition toward democracy. Unfortunately, the persistent waves of violence otherwise threaten to undermine its progress as well as global security. President Thein Sein should walk away from Monday's meeting at the White House with that realization.

Loading Slideshow...
  • Muslim Rohingya women sit inside a tent at Mansi Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Sittwe on May 14, 2013. Boats carrying scores of Rohingya Muslims fleeing a cyclone have capsized off Myanmar's coast, the UN said on May 14, heightening fears over the storm which threatens camps for tens of thousands of displaced people. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

  • A Muslim Rohingya man prays in front of a temporary relief camp in a school in Thetkaepyin village, on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

  • A Muslim Rohingya woman waits for a truck to move back to her temporary relief camp in the village of Thetkaepyin on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up on May 17 after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. At least 40 people were either killed by Cyclone Mahasen or while trying to flee its impact, including 25 Muslim Rohingya whose bodies washed up on the shores of Bangladesh after their boat capsized while sailing from Myanmar. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Muslim Rohingya families unload their belongings from a truck as they return back to a camp for iternally displaced people in the village of Mansi on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013 following their evacuation from the site. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up on May 17 after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. At least 40 people were either killed by Cyclone Mahasen or while trying to flee its impact, including 25 Muslim Rohingya whose bodies washed up on the shores of Bangladesh after their boat capsized while sailing from Myanmar. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Muslim Rohingya carry their belongings as they arrive back to a camp for iternally displaced people in the village of Mansi on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up on May 17 after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. At least 40 people were either killed by Cyclone Mahasen or while trying to flee its impact, including 25 Muslim Rohingya whose bodies washed up on the shores of Bangladesh after their boat capsized while sailing from Myanmar. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

  • A Muslim Rohingya woman prepares her kitchen after arriving back to a camp for iternally displaced people in the village of Mansi on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up on May 17 after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. At least 40 people were either killed by Cyclone Mahasen or while trying to flee its impact, including 25 Muslim Rohingya whose bodies washed up on the shores of Bangladesh after their boat capsized while sailing from Myanmar. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

  • A Muslim Rohingya family sits outside their temporary relief camp in a school in Thetkaepyin village on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

  • A Muslim Rohingya family waits for a truck to move back to their temporary relief camp in the village of Thetkaepyin on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

  • A Muslim Rohingya woman collected rice supplies at a temporary relief camp in a school in Thetkaepyin village on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

  • A Muslim Rohingya family travels in a truck to their temporary relief camp in the village of Thetkaepyin on the outskirts of Sittwe on May 17, 2013. Bangladesh and Myanmar cleaned up after a killer cyclone wrecked thousands of homes, relieved that the damage was not much worse after the storm weakened as it made landfall. (Soe Than WIN/AFP/Getty Images)

  • A Rohingya Muslim child receives a pack of food as local authority removes them to a dentention center in Banda Aceh on April 8, 2013, after stranded on remote island Pulo Aceh. Indonesian police on April 7 detained 80 Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar on a remote island off Sumatra after they had got lost attempting to reach Malaysia, an official said. It was the latest boatload of Rohingya to arrive on the shores of Indonesia, as thousands flee Myanmar after tensions between Muslims and Buddhists exploded in their home state of Rakhine last year. (CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN/AFP/Getty Images)

  • In this photograph taken on March 2, 2013, ethnic Rohingya refugees who were among two boatloads of asylum-seekers carrying 184 people from Myanmar rescued by Indonesian fishermen on February 26 and 28, 2013 off the waters of Sumatra island read a Quran at the immigration quarantine center in Langsa district in Aceh province. Indonesia is expecting an influx of Rohingya as Thai authorities crack down on Rohingya refugees entering their country. The UN considers the Rohingya, a stateless Muslim ethnic group, one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, and Myanmar views its roughly 800,000 Rohingya as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, denying them citizenship. Buddhist-Muslim unrest in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine has left at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced since June 2012. (CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN/AFP/Getty Images)

  • A Rohingya man peers into a makeshift mosque as families crowd a tented camp November 25, 2012 on the outskirts of Sittwe, Myanmar. An estimated 111,000 people were displaced by sectarian violence in June and October affecting mostly the ethnic Rohingya people who are now living in crowded IDP camps racially segregated from the Rakhine Buddhists in order to maintain stability. Around 89 lives were lost during a week of violence in October, the worst in decades. As of 2012, 800,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar. According to the UN, they are one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

  • In this photo taken on Sept. 8, 2012, Muslims gather during a visit by a delegation of American diplomats including U.S. Ambassador to Myanmar Derek Mitchell, unseen, at a refugee camp in Sittwe, Rakhine State, western Myanmar. Three-and-a-half months after some of the bloodiest clashes in a generation between Myanmar's ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Muslims known as Rohingya left the western town of Sittwe in flames, nobody is quite sure when -or even if- the Rohingya will be allowed to resume the lives they once lived here. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

  • In this photograph taken on March 2, 2013, an ethnic Rohingya refugee who was among two boatloads of asylum-seekers carrying 184 people from Myanmar rescued by Indonesian fishermen on February 26 and 28, 2013 off the waters of Sumatra island stands by the window of an immigration quarantine center in Langsa district in Aceh province. Indonesia is expecting an influx of Rohingya as Thai authorities crack down on Rohingya refugees entering their country. The UN considers the Rohingya, a stateless Muslim ethnic group, one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, and Myanmar views its roughly 800,000 Rohingya as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, denying them citizenship. Buddhist-Muslim unrest in the western Myanmar state of Rakhine has left at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced since June 2012. AFP PHOTO / CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN (Photo credit should read CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN/AFP/Getty Images)

  • Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, center, listens to Muslim refugees as he visits Kaynipyin camp in Pauktaw in Rakhine State, western Myanmar, Monday, Jan. 7, 2013, Rakhine is the state where sectarian violence between Muslim Rohingya and Rakhine Buddhists killed about 200 people and left at least 110,000 displaced, the vast majority of them Muslims late last year. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

  • Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, top seated third right, accompanied by Myanmar Border Affair Minister Lt. General Thein Htay, top seated second right, meets Muslim refugees as he visits Satmalay camp in Pauktaw in Rakhine State, western Myanmar, Monday, Jan. 7, 2013. Rakhine is the state where sectarian violence between Muslim Rohingya and Rakhine Buddhists killed about 200 people and left at least 110,000 displaced, the vast majority of them Muslims late last year. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

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Muslim Rohingya women sit inside a tent at Mansi Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Sittwe on May 14, 2013. Boats carrying scores of Rohingya Muslims fleeing a cyclone have capsized off Myanmar's coast, the UN said on May 14, heightening fears over the storm which threatens camps for tens of thousands of displaced people. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
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Sunday 19 May 2013

Iran Calls for Immediate Solution to Myanmar Crisis

Source farnews, 18 May

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mohammad Khazayee called on the international community and the regional countries to take immediate action to resolve the current crisis in the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar.



The Iranian envoy to the UN made the remarks in a meeting with the ambassadors of the member states of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in New York on Friday.

"At a time when Muslim countries are concerned about the situation in Myanmar, the political whim of certain Western states to establish better relations with Myanmar's government has weakened the process of looking into the situation of Muslims in the country, and Muslim countries, unfortunately, are not using all their means (to push for an end to the violence)," Khazayee said.

The Iranian envoy also voiced Iran's deep concern over the escalating violence and cases of human rights violations against Muslims in Myanmar.

Meantime, Khazayee called on the OIC member states to prepare a resolution against the barbaric acts currently underway against Muslims in Myanmar.

Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast renewed Tehran's call for an immediate halt to extreme violence in Myanmar.

Mehman-Parast strongly criticized extreme ethnic violence in Myanmar that has also destroyed holy places buildings in Muslim residential areas.

He said conflicts in Myanmar hurts the feelings of the whole Islamic world, stressing that such acts will also put the Myanmar political and economic situation in danger.

Mehman-Parast further stressed the need to take serious action against the agents of such violence in Myanmar.

He then urged the Myanmar government to cooperate root and branch with the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and contact group as well to prevent occurrence of such extremist actions and systematic conflicts in that country.

Earlier in April, a leading rights watchdog, citing evidence of mass graves and forced displacement, said Myanmar has waged "a campaign of ethnic cleansing" against Rohingya Muslims.

The Rohingya, who are denied citizenship by the country also known as Burma, have faced crimes against humanity including murder, persecution, deportation and forced transfer, New York-based Human Rights Watch said.

Myanmar officials, community leaders and Buddhist monks organized and encouraged mobs backed by state security forces to conduct coordinated attacks on Muslim villages in October in the Western state of Rakhine, HRW said.

"The Burmese government engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya that continues today through the denial of aid and restrictions on movement," said HRW deputy Asia director Phil Robertson.

HRW noted that while ethnic cleansing was not a formal legal term, it was generally defined as a policy by one ethnic or religious group to remove another such group from certain areas by violent and terror-inspiring means.

In Rakhine, more than 125,000 Rohingya and other Muslims have been forcibly displaced, denied access to humanitarian aid and are unable to return home, the group said.

At least 180 people died in two outbreaks of Buddhist violence against Muslim in Rakhine since June 2012, according to the official toll, but rights groups believe the real figure is much higher.

In a report based on more than 100 interviews, HRW said that it had uncovered evidence of four mass-grave sites in Rakhine, accusing the security forces of trying to destroy evidence of crimes.

Saturday 18 May 2013

Burma expels Rohingya members from political party

Source DVB, 17 May 2013Elections-3-27
A woman looks for her name in a voters list for the upcoming by-elections in Rangoon on 24 March 2012. (Reuters)

Burma's electoral commission has ordered a newly formed political party to expel six of its senior members for listing their ethnicity as "Rohingya" in their official biographies, according to party members.

Earlier this month, the Union Election Commission (UEC) forced the Democracy and Human Rights Party (DHRP), which was formed in March this year, to oust six of its central executive committee members for allegedly being "non-citizens".

UEC director Tin Maung Cho told DVB that the six members had "breached" existing regulations for political parties as the Muslim Rohingya are not recognised as an official ethnic group in Burma.

According to Article 10(a) of the Political Parties Registration Law, a person can only become a political party member if they qualify as a Burmese citizen, an associate citizen, a naturalised citizen or a temporary certificate holder.

"They were listed as the 'Rohingya', which is not recognised by the state," said Tin Maung Cho. "Foreigners are not allowed to take part in political parties," he said, backing the government-held view that the Muslim minority are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

He added that the UEC had instructed the party to submit biographies of all other members of their central executive committee.

But the DHRP chairperson, Kyaw Min, insisted that members had already listed as "Rohingya" before the party was formally registered in March, but no issues had been raised at the time.

"We had to submit members' biographies when we applied for the party registration and they were listed as [Rohingyas]," said Kyaw Min. "Now the [UEC] is asking us to re-submit everyone's biographies."

It appears that the six members are being regarded as "non-citizens" simply on the basis of calling themselves "Rohingya" – a term the government rejects – although they are likely to hold Burmese citizenship. "We have to look into this," said Kyaw Min.

The term Rohingya is heavily disputed in Burma, with state officials and most Burmese people referring to the group as "Bengali". But the Muslim group, which comprises some 800,000 people mainly residing in northwestern Burma's Arakan state, insists the term had been used for centuries until the military junta stripped them of their citizenship in 1982.

Earlier this year, Shwe Maung, a self-proclaimed Rohingya MP from Maungdaw township, stirred controversy by calling for official recognition of the term, and prompted some nationalist groups to call for his citizenship to be "investigated".

The Burmese government was recently implicated in ethnic cleansing against the stateless group, which has been described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

But state officials have remained unrepentant. "How can it be ethnic cleansing? They are not an ethnic group," Arakan state spokesman Win Myaing told Reuters this week.

The DHRP has played a vocal role in defending the rights of the Rohingya, which is likely to have irked members of Burma's political elite. Both reformist President Thein Sein and opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, have come under fire for refusing to speak up for the predominantly stateless minority.

Its chairman, Kyaw Min, originally won a seat in parliament for Buthidaung, northern Arakan state, in the annulled 1990 elections and has since worked with Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

He was sentenced to 47 years in prison in 2005 for championing labour rights, but was released in a general amnesty in January 2012.

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Friday 17 May 2013

15 kids among 22 drown in Bay

Source dailystar, 16 May
 
Raging waves lash upon the sea shores at Cox's Bazar on Thursday. Maritime ports of Chittagong and Cox's Bazar have been advised to keep hoisted danger signal No. seven in the morning as Cyclone Mahasen moved slightly north-northeastwards over the Bay. Photo: Focus Bangla

Raging waves lash upon the sea shores at Cox's Bazar on Thursday. Maritime ports of Chittagong and Cox's Bazar have been advised to keep hoisted danger signal No. seven in the morning as Cyclone Mahasen moved slightly north-northeastwards over the Bay. Photo: Focus Bangla

Coast guard personnel on Thursday recovered 22 bodies from Teknaf shore after a trawler had capsized in the Bay of Bengal due to the impact of Cyclone Mahasen.

Of the deceased, 15 were children, three women and four men, reports our Cox's Bazar correspondent.

Police, quoting locals, said many bodies were still floating near the coast.

It was not clear that when the accident took place but Didar Ferdous, inspector (investigation) of Teknaf Police Station, told The Daily Star that the trawler with an unknown number of passengers on board sank in the Bay sometime on Wednesday after the cyclone hit the coastal belts.

The passengers, mostly Rohingyas, might have started their journey from Teknaf to reach Malaysia on Wednesday, he added.

When asked about the high number of children among the dead, police said they might be offspring of the men who had earlier travelled to Malaysia.

Babul Akhter, additional superintendent of police in Cox's Bazar, said a trawler capsized with 200 Rohingyas on board in Myanmar two days ago. "These 22 bodies might be the victims of Myanmar capsize," he added.

Police and the local administration, however, could not confirm when the incident occurred.

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The dainikpurbokone news report shows thekids' picture-

Thursday 16 May 2013

Myanmar: Rohingya Muslims 'Moved to Beaches' as Cyclone Mahasen Lands

Source ibtimes, 15 May
Women pass their time in a Rohingya internally displaced person (IDP) camp outside of Sittwe (Reuters)
Women pass their time in a Rohingya internally displaced person (IDP) camp outside of Sittwe (Reuters)

Myanmar authorities have attempted to force Rohingya refugees in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine state, to move closer to beach areas as the cyclone Mahasen approaches the exposed coast.

Sources speaking to IBTimes UK said that Rohingya Muslims refused any attempt to relocate as the cyclone, which has already killed at least seven people and displaced 3,881 in Sri Lanka, nears.

The Myanmar government planned to move 38,000 internally displaced people, but many refused fearing the authorities' intentions.

Nay San Lwin, a Rohingya living in Germany with contacts in Sittwe, claimed that Rohingya "were forced to go" but only five families agreed. "100% confirmed that the authorities are forcing Rohingya refugees in Sittwe to move to the beach," he said. "State Chief Minister warned today that will take serious action and President Office Minister Aung Min also told the same like at meeting in Yangon today."

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His report was confirmed by Aung Aung, a Rohingya living in a refugee camp in Sittwe.

Mark Farmaner, of the Burma Campaign UK, confirmed to IBTimes UK that he heard reports of Rohingya forced closer to the beaches but was unable to confirm it. "Rohingya are still not being moved [to safety]," he said.

Hla Maung said he lost his mother and two young daughters during the clashes between Muslims and Buddhists.

He told the BBC: "I lost everything ... I don't want to go anywhere. I'll stay here. If I die, I want to die here," he said.

At least 192 people were killed in June and October last year in sectarian clashes between Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya. Reuters reported that people at a camp near the sea by Hmanzi Junction near Sittwe said they would rather prefer to die in the storm than evacuate.

Farmaner said he is particularly concerned about the cyclone hitting Bangladesh. There are up to 250,000 Rohingya living in southern Bangladesh, many of whom fled from Myanmar in the early 1990s complaining of abuses by the army.

UN says storm expected to make landfall in Chittagong: "In its strongest force, the cyclone will be hitting area where hundreds of thousands of refugee are stacked," he said. "There are people very vulnerable in terrible condition and we've not heard any attempt by Bangladeshi government to move them.

"Refugee living in official camps are already not in a very good condition. Those who live in unofficial camps, made of makeshift shelter, are in an appalling condition," he added.

About 140,000 people were displaced in June and a second wave of violence in October in western Rakhine state.

Burma Campaign UK says the international community "applied the most low-level diplomacy" and failed to put pressure on the Burma government, who did nothing to prevent the crisis.

"It's already a humanitarian crisis but it will become an humanitarian disaster. Lives will be lost. If the international community had put pressure on Burma that could've been avoided."

Burma Campaign UK called on the British government and international community to take action to force President Thein Sein to allow unrestricted humanitarian aid, and stop violating international humanitarian law.

At least 50 Rohingya Muslims were feared drowned on Tuesday when boats evacuating them from the path of the cyclone capsized off western Burma.

In 2008, Cyclone Nargis killed more than 130,000 people in Myanmar. .

Eight Million at Risk from Cyclone Mahasen [PHOTOS]

Village hit by cyclone Nargis, in 2008 (Reuters)
Village hit by cyclone Nargis, in 2008 (Reuters)

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To contact the editor, e-mail: editor@ibtimes.co.uk