US sanction policy not affected by Rohingya issue: US ambassador

Source : Mizzima News

The community violence in western Burma was surprising, but it hasn’t affected Washington’s views on easing sanctions, the US Ambassador to Burma said in a story in The Wall Street Journal on Friday.

Derek Mitchell speaks at the US embassy in Rangoon on July 20, 2012. Photo: Mizzima

“I have to say it did surprise us to the degree that there would be violence so quickly, that it would spread so terribly,” said newly appointed Ambassador Derek Mitchell. “I don’t think it affects our view on sanctions. It just means we have an even more complex challenge ahead of us in the country.”

Mitchell said much of the Rohingya conflict comes from everyday citizens, many of who would deny the Rohingyas the right to live in the country.

“It’s unfortunate when you see the depths of intolerance and discrimination….among citizens,” Mitchell said—including “people who otherwise you would think of as progressive and who have fought so long for civil rights.”

He said the community violence “had to do with the deep-seated intolerance that seemed to be within the society writ large. So I think that’s where the deep disappointment came.”

He told the newspaper that the US understands the feelings among Buddhists in western Burma that they, too, have also suffered in recent years, and that international organizations have focused too much on Rohingya concerns.

But he said the Rohingyas “are stateless."

"They have nowhere to turn," he said. "And it is not going to be lost on the international community.”

The Burmese government recently named a 27-member investigation commission that included former student activists, representatives from political parties and government critics who spent time in jail as political prisoners. 

The commission is on a two-day trip to Rakhine State at this time and is expected to have a report finished by late September.

Dalai Lama writes to Suu Kyi

Source :  Mizzima News

The Tibetan spiritual leader has written to Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi expressing his concerns over the outbreak of communal violence in Burma.

In a letter, the Dalai Lama said that he was “deeply saddened” by the violence inflicted on residents of the region.

Speaking to reporters recently, the Dalai Lama also condemned the ethnic violence in Assam and urged everyone to practice religious harmony and nonviolence.

For thousands of years, India has had a culture of nonviolence and harmony with all religions, he said, which must be maintained.


My comment : At last My Favorite Dalai Lama Expressed The Humanity is the greatest Buddhism. At first Human Being, Then after A Buddhist Monk. A great Tibetan  or Vijayanagar Buddhism ideology. 

Dalai-Lama-offers-prayer-hijrat-mosque-in-srinagar-on-14-july-2012

Source :Tibet Sun

Bangladesh should open borders to Rohingyas: #HRW

Source :  Mizzima News
The government of Bangladesh should immediately remove its restrictions on international organizations providing life saving humanitarian aid to the more than 200,000 Rohingya Muslims in Bangladesh, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. In addition, it should open its borders to Rohingyas seeking to flee Rakhine State, it said.

Bangladeshi Border Guard personnel keep watch at a wharf in Taknaf on June 12, 2012. Border guards turned back boats transporting Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Burma, officials said, as the UN refugee agency called for the border to be opened. Photo: AFP

In late July 2012, the Bangladesh government ordered three prominent international aid organizations – Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger), and Muslim Aid – to cease providing assistance to Rohingya living in Cox’s Bazaar and surrounding areas.

The government contends that the presence of aid groups in Cox’s Bazaar encourages Rohingya to come to Bangladesh, and that it cannot afford to host them. The government accused the three aid groups of encouraging the Rohingyas’ flight by providing medical and other assistance. It also raised concerns about criticisms of Bangladesh in the international media. 

However, as a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Bangladesh is prohibited from denying those within its borders, including refugees and asylum seekers, access to food and healthcare, among other protections, said HRW.

In a July 28 media interview, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh disavowed any responsibility for the Rohingya, claiming the responsibility was with the Burmese government.

“Bangladesh is already an overpopulated country,” Hasina said. “We cannot bear this burden.” She denied that Rohingya were being forced back to Burma, saying, “It isn’t true, [the border guard force] didn’t force them. They persuaded them that they should go back to their own country, and they went back.” In the same interview, she added the Burma authorities are “creating a congenial atmosphere” and “providing all the [needed] assistance and everything” to the Rohingya.

In June, the Bangladesh foreign minister, Dipu Moni, told a news conference in Dhaka that, “It is not in our interest that new refugees come from Myanmar [Burma].”

The three aid organizations provide water, healthcare, sanitation, and other basic assistance to Rohingya refugees and asylum seekers in Bangladesh. Approximately 30,000 Rohingya who are officially recognized refugees are living in two camps; 40,000 who are unregistered live in a makeshift refugee camp, and the remaining 130,000 live in surrounding areas. All of the settlements are squalid and overcrowded.

Seasoned aid workers have told Human Rights Watch that the conditions in the makeshift camps for Rohingya are among the worst they have seen anywhere in the world.

“Bangladesh authorities are placing the lives of Rohingya refugees at grave risk by forcing aid groups to stop their feeding and health programs,” HRW said. “It is unthinkable that the government would actively attempt to make the terrible conditions faced by Rohingya even worse by stopping aid from reaching them.”

The communal violence in Burma broke out in early June displacing over 100,000 people. United Nations agencies still lack full and unfettered access to all affected areas of Arakan State, said HRW. 

While Bangladesh is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, customary international law establishes the obligation of governments to respect the principle of nonrefoulement, which holds that refugees should not be forcibly returned to a place where their lives or freedom would be threatened. Bangladesh also is a party to several treaties – including the Convention against Torture, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child – that provide that no one, including refugees and asylum seekers, should be returned to a place where they face a genuine risk of being subjected to torture.

Myanmar Rohingya Muslims: The Hidden Genocide

As world wakes up to stories of concentration camps, torture and killings in Rakhine state, IBTimes UK ask why Aung San Suu Kyi has stayed silent

By Gianluca Mezzofiore: 

August 22, 2012 11:22 AM GMT

Aung San Suu Kyi has remained silent on the Rohingya issue. (Reuters)

London-based Burma Campaign UK has slammed pro-democracy activists in Myanmar for failing the Rohingya, "the world's most persecuted minority" according to the UN, by not speaking out on their behalf.

The activists are keeping quiet for fear of losing support ahead of 2015  elections, says the campaign, despite mounting reports of mass killings, mass graves, torture and concentration camps.
"Pro-democracy activists in Burma have been largely silent about the recent crisis - but some have actively jumped on the popular tide of racism and even suggested Rohingya be deported," Burma Campaign UK's director Mark Farmaner told IBTimes UK.
According to Maung Zarni, visiting fellow at LSE's Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit, the pro-democracy opposition is actually "a big part of the obstacle to resolving the Rohingya crisis peacefully and amicably".

The National League for Democracy (NLD) and its leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi, who spent nearly two decades in jail and under house arrest, earned worldwide praise for their refusal to kneel before the military junta and for their steady criticism of human rights abuses inside the country.
But Aung San Suu Kyi has dodged questions about the Rohingya situation during her visit to Europe and has not spoken out on it yet.
Diplomats and human rights groups have grown increasingly concerned by her silence.
"She is no longer a political dissident trying to stick to her principles. She's a politician and her eyes are fixed on the prize, which is the 2015 majority Buddhist vote," Zarni told The Independent.
Racist pro-democracy leaders
As far as the NLD's senior leaders and co-founders are concerned, they are "racist to their cores" according to Zarni. Journalist U Win Tin, among those of "Generation 88" (named after the year the pro-democracy activists banded together) who founded the party, even advocated the idea of interring the Rohingya, as the US did with Japanese people resident in the States during World War II.
"What is shocking to me as a Burmese is that these dissidents have failed to internalise humanism and human rights ideas, despite the fact that they have been barking human rights for the past 25 years," said Zarni.
Aung San Suu Kyi called for a "revolution of the spirit" a quarter of a century ago, but "nothing spiritually progressive has taken root in the popular Burmese psyche", Zarni continued.
Prejudice against Rohingya is so endemic "that anyone speaking out for Rohingya rights faces abuse and condemnation", Burma Campaign UK said.
"With critical elections due in 2015, activists may fear losing support if they speak out," Farmaner agreed.  He added that this prejudice needs to be challenged but that will not happen until "pro-democracy leaders start taking a moral stance and showing principled leadership".
Racism is so widespread in Myanmar that it is considered socially acceptable.
"Racism exists not just against Rohingya but against and between various ethnicities in Burma as well as against foreigners. There is also widespread anti-Muslim prejudice."
The current resurgence of racism is a direct result of a half-century of despotic military rule, according to Zardi.
Crimes against humanity

Representatives from the military members of parliament attend the opening of a joint parliament session in Naypyitaw

UK-based human rights organisations and scholars have called on the international community to delay lifting sanctions against Myanmar until a solution to the persecution of Rohingya is found.
The allegations of ethnic cleansing raised by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are serious enough to charge the Burmese leadership on grounds of "crimes against humanity" before the UN, according to Zarni.
"The West should second the OIC's attempt to put the Rohingya ethnic cleansing - or partial attempts by the Burmese government - on the UN's agenda in the General Assembly," he said. "There is strong enough evidence to charge the Burmese leadership."
The Rohingya have never been granted citizenship in Myanmar and a 1982 law excluded them from the list of officially recognised minorities.
Sectarian tension between Rakhine state's 800,000 Rohingya and their Arakanese Buddhist neighbours exploded in June after allegations that a gang of Rohingya men had raped an Arakanese woman. The Muslims were lynched in response, sparking days of rioting.
However, many challenge this version of the facts, claiming the government's media "were whipping up the stories of the Rohingya as a threat to national security and Buddhism society".

People shout slogans against the massacre of the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar (Reuters)

According to Zarni, the military regime "had a hand" in the outbreak of ethno-religious violence in western Burma.
"One rationale is that the regime has decided to resort to this ethno-religious mobilisation of the Buddhist masses as a way of shoring up its dwindling popularity vis-a-vis the growing and active popular support for Aung San Suu Kyi, at least domestically," Zarni said.
One estimate reports that 90 people have been killed and more than 100,000 displaced during the conflict but HRW said this figure was grossly underestimated.
"There is a major humanitarian and human rights crisis taking place in Rakhine state and it isn't getting the international attention it should," Farmaner said.
It is widely believed within the Islamic community that the Myanmar government has acquiesced in or even actively supported the recent violence against the Rohingya.
"The Rohingya have faced severe human rights abuses at the hands of security forces for many decades and these have escalated in the current crisis," confirmed Farmaner. "Burma Campaign UK has received reports of rape, executions, torture and looting by security forces against Rohingya."
Since the 1970s, the military regime has attempted to drive out or otherwise severely restrict the Rohingya in western Burma, Zarni claimed.
"This is the first time the Rohingya persecution has caught the world's attention," he said.
"The resultant pressure and policy priority by the Organisation of Islamic Countries has - for the moment - forced the generals in Naypyidaw [the capital] to play nice with the Rohingyas in Burma."

Source

Myanmar releases more aid workers

By SAPA

---

AP

Muslim protesters hold a banner during a rally calling for an end to the violence against ethnic Rohingya in Rakhine State of Myanmar, in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Geneva -

Officials say Myanmar has released at least six of the 12 international aid workers detained over the summer amid an ethnic conflict.

The 12 aid workers are employed by Doctors Without Borders, the U.N. refugee agency and the World Food Program. They have been held since June by Myanmar authorities in Rakhine state, an area of western Myanmar where a state of emergency was declared because of ethnic clashes.

The groups gave few details about their cases, and it wasn't clear when or how the six have been freed.

Doctors Without Borders said Wednesday that four of its six detained staff members were released. The U.N. refugee agency said two of four Myanmar nationals on its staff were released.

The World Food Program gave no details about its aid workers. - Sapa-AP

Special Video Interview with Rohingyas from Refugee Camp, Arakan- Burma (2)August-17-12 3:15 PM

Special Video Interview with Rohingyas from Refugee Camp, Arakan- Burma (2)August-17-12 3:15 PM

Interview with Rohingya Part-1

A: Interviewer B: interviewee (one couple)
B: Regarding to the criminal case from Kyaut Ni Maw (the place where Rakhine Buddhist “Ma Thi Dar Htway” was raped and killed. This is the source that ignite this Rohingya Genocide). The Rakhine sparked this riot saying that you Muslim did such a bad thing to us. Actually, we have been living here since our ancestry. There were no Rakhine here at that time. All places are belonging to Muslim. The Rakhine immigrated here bit by bit later.The Muslim have been discriminated and suppressed so that they moved to Yangon and foreign (for their better life). This village is called Rohingya para by Muslim terms and we can call Zay Haung Maw Late for the whole village generally. This Zay Haung Maw Late village can be divided by the three wards of Kyaung Tan Lan, Yuu Pa Taung and Maw Late. There were 120 Muslim homes but they sold out theirs homes to Rakhine and moved out to the safer and better place as there are such suppression and discrimination. Frequently, if there were some problems, they made huge suppression towards us, minority Muslim. By the time this riot was began to broken out, we gave hundred calls to the police station and polices asked us who were marching to your villages who were making problem and noise, whether Muslim or Rakhine. When we answered that they were Rakhine and the police said that “Ok, then, it’s not important and no problem” and ended the phone conversation. There are so many cases like that in the past. It has been 4 times that they committed such violence to us when in 1985, 2000, 2004 and 2012 respectively. This 2012 riot is the most inhumane case. We assumed that this 2012 case is like the same case in the year mentioned above so that we didn’t go out and we remained inside of our homes when the violence was blasted. If we would know that this is such a critical crisis, we would run away and moved out from this place in advance. And why we still remained inside our home is there is a Mosque in our village and we don’t want to go away parting from this Mosque. And I m not so much in desperate on what people lost theirs homes and prosperities but I am very much in miss our Mosque and our Holy Quran which were burnt and destroyed.
A: I heard that they are injures case currently? B: Yes, in my family, 5 people got injured. My 3 children are living in The Chaung (Refugee camp) currently and another one is in the other place. Here my head got injured as well. (The interviewee is showing his head). The person who is familiar with us in our village did not beat us but the person who is not familiar beat us. They are from our village too. They beat us saying that “U Muslim beat and kill our Rakhine in Maung Daw”. On 10th Jun, 2012 at 8:00 AM, they were throwing stones onto our Mosque severely. There were so many Rakhine who threw the stones harshly. The involvers are Ya.Wa.Ta (Authority), the employer Saw Win Kyaw and groups from Sein Video and how the authorized person U Hla Wai from Kyaung Tan Lan told to Rakhine is “don’t burn, don’t blast fire. Do what ever except theirs death”. Why he asked not to set fire is Rakhine homes and Muslim homes are near each other and they were afraid of theirs houses would be on fire too. Previously, there were 120 Muslim homes in our village of Zay Haung Maw Late but now only 36 were left as the rest sold out theirs home (to shift to safer place). Around 10:30 or 11:00 , I heard with my ears that the business man who live near to AZG made conversation with the Authorized person U Hla Wai from Kyaung Tan Lan ( when the riot is on going) to separate and to control the groups of Rakhine and Muslim such as he will control the Muslim and he want U Hal Wai to control the Rakhine. But he did not do instead he run away and was hiding in his homes. And this U Hla Wai did not speak out upon such violence towards us by Rakhine. We were hiding in our home to avoid this stones throwing by Rakhine. But, they push theirs knives into our home from every corners so that we family kept ourselves to station at the center of homes not to catch up by Rakhines knives. And our one window leave was opened and one guy said “Aunty, I m not involve in this riot, but my friends are”. So, we jumped out from another very high window and we assembled at that place. But they tied our children’s body saying that we would not do anything and looked for my husband. They threatened me that if my husband would not come out from home, they would search inside and if they would find they would kill him then. (Husband) So I came out leaving the two old women in home. Once they saw me they started to beat me with steel rod. Here is the effected arm resulted from this beating (the man is showing the injuries) I can’t straight my hand, need to bend like this all the time and now I m feeling dizzy always. The violence was sparked in this way, at 8:00 Am, they did throw stones and arrested every body to beat the head. They beat only head.

________________________________________________________________
Interview with Rohingya Part-2

A: Interviewer
B: interviewee (one couple)

B: And they brought us along with them saying that “you are required to send to police station”. When we reach to Yat Kwat Sone (Sone Ward), where there are a lot of Rakhine, almost all are Buddhist. So we though that we/our lives are going to be finish. My family except my two sons Saw Moe Kyaw and Saw Hein kyaw were brought to this ward. So we family were reciting the kalaymar (Muslim recite this verse when they are nearly to die). My son Saw Hein Kyaw was beaten with steel rod and he currently he is suffering dizzy, can’t move his body, if he do dizzy is starting to give trouble him. He is not getting remedying. We are not getting any surgery also. One thing we were lucky at that time is, we were asked to sit near to one stream where one women and one from one car shouted to the Rakhine croed who brought us here that “why you are keeping all these people, just finish all. They are finishing our Rakhine in Maung Daw.” But, one Rakhine boy who is my customer, used to buy tea from my shop replied that “how can we beat all this crowd” and send us to the police station. This is real process. On the way to police station, one old person aged 50 beat me with small steel plate that resulted major injury here in forehead. (Showing her forehead). We were very much afraid of this Buddhist crowd. Some are familiar with us, some immigrated here not too long. They are familiar with us so they didn’t beat us. There are also some Chinese, so we thought that they are not beating us because other are also existed at the site. Then we reached to the police station. When we reached there, police office said ‘Don’t you know that it will happen like that? Why you all are not staying away from your houses?’, then I answered, how do we know that and it was never happened before. Then inspector of the station took picture of both of us. Then they sent those injured people to the hospital using the police van. When reach to hospital, the treated us nicely. Dr. Thein Htay Aung treated my wound. Then a Rakhine Man, U Nay Win, gave us a meal, food and tea. It happened on Sunday, and on Tuesday, we are dismissed from hospital. There are only one officer following our vehicle and left all of us.
A: Where did they leave you?B: They left us near ‘Thel Chaung’.
A: So it is very far?B: Yes, we have to walk by ourselves to reach here. There are a man called Sunny who is from our village had left at the hospital. That man came to the hospital during evening time while we are fainted.
A: That Sunny is also from the village where your brother who had killed?B: Yes, my own brother was killed and a child too. They don’t let us to be alone. If they see us alone, they will not let us escaped and kill us. There are three people died immediately on 10 June. My younger brother, my sister’s son-in-law and my cousin brother. Sunny died on hospital. And Kyaw Zin Htoo who dismissed hospital with me on 12 June passed away on 18 June here.
A: Do you willing to stay back at your own place where conflict was happened?B: Yes we have to go back to our own place. Where else can we go? This (Myanma) is our birthplace. My parents were Burmese citizens with proper national ID cards. We were all born here. What is our crime? We are being persecuted simply because we are Muslims here in Rakhine State.

8/17/2012Translated by snowy (RB Team)

Special Video Interview with Rohingyas from Refugee Camp, Arakan- Burma (1)August-18-12 1:25 AM

A: Interviewer
B: interviewee

A: You reached here (means camp) so did they (Extremist Rakhine Buddhist, arm-forced) keep your home as it is?

B: They burnt all. They have burnt all. They burnt our Mosque which had been build by British period but not by us. But they don’t know. They arrested Lawyer U Kyaw Hla Aung. Who worked in (AZG).A: Did they burn your home after you had arrived here or?
B: They burnt all, they destroyed all.

A: So how you get food to live here?
B: They gave us a few rations. We have to rely on this if not from where do we get and who will offer food to us?

A: I have heard of it that Muslim were burning their homes and running away.
B: They pretended to be Muslim wearing Muslim attire and they burnt all. The arm-forced were around. Me myself told them not to burn and kill us brutally but kill us all simply.

8/17/2012
Translated by snowy (RB Team)
___________________________________________________
Rohingya Business man story

A: InterviewerB: Interviewee (Rohingay business man and his wife)
A: May I know your name please?B: My name is U Tin Shwe.
A: Where do you live place?B: I am from Myo Thu Gee village/ward.
A: when did this riot break out in Myo Thu Gee?B: It’s on 10.6.12 at 12:00.
A: Can you tell me please about this violence?B: There were Monks, the village heads who threw with broken bricks to us. The crowd was made up of almost 3000 people. This crowd surrounded our home and threw with stone after that they invaded into our home and looted all of our properties by cars collaborating with monks and Rakhine. Then, they went upstairs and when they found my wife they attacked her with spears and set fire on her and robbed gold. (She got major injury). They were not satisfied after getting gold and did slaughter to her head with knife. (The couple is showing theirs wounds).
A: Can you show me your wound please?B: Here this is when they attacked with spears.
A: Oh! It penetrated your arm on the spot.B: Yes yes. It did. Here is the wound of fire on my hand. Here is the wound on my head resulted from being beaten with steel rod.
A: How about you, brother?B: Its here (showing his hand). This is effect from being slaughted by knife. They slaughtered my mom and my aunt’s body into two pieces.
A: And?B: They pulled out them from upstairs to the ground and did slaughter to make two pieces. This crowd did. So both of my mom and aunt died. I have two twins (son). One was attacked at the eyes and the other was slaughtered on the head. My neighbor slaughtered him at the head making into two pieces horizontally. He was brought to the hospital with me, He did not die. But the police kill him with spears. He was brought to no.1 police station. (a hmat tit). He was asked that whose son was he. And when they (police and the crowd) know he is Musar’s son (my son), they beat him to death accusing him that he is Musar’s son who set fire. They killed him.
A: So, you were accused of setting fire?B: Yes.yes. But I did not do it.
A: So why did they to did like that is Muslim set fire, is it?B: No No. We Muslim did not do it. In this village, there are only 3 Muslim homes. My home is the amidst of Rakhine’s. In my homes, our relative and neighbors were hiding at the mezzanine. But they pulled out every body and kill them with various weapons such as knives, rods and spears. When security forces reached, they (the crowd) were keeping killing to us in front of them. But, army helped us once they reach. They brought us to hospital.
A: So I want to ask you a question. They did beat you in front of security forces and police, is it?B: Yes, yes. In front of security forces. First, we were calm down and did not do anything as this forces arrived. So we left our gold and money and bags as it is because securities were around.
A: So, was this violence in front of police and securities?B: Yes yes, in front of them. The crowd beat us with knives. Our neighbors guided the persons from other villages who beat us and robbed. The chairman of our ward “U Ngwe Kyaw” himself involved in this case. Still now, we can show our neighbors now who was involved. They took all of our properties with cars. U can ask every body. I do business with the person from Yangon.
A: Let’s say, if the situation would be better and become cool, oh I noted that you had shop right?B: Now it has been destroyed and demolished. We have 4 shops. All the properties from shops had been occupied by them. When we were hospitalized, the village head himself informed this mob who came to hospital long sward to kill us. So we had to live in the dark room of the hospital.
A: Dark room in the hospital?B: Of course. We had to live. They came along with sword to finish all of our family. They intended to kill us. But we did not die. The doctor U Thane Htun Aung said why you brought this kalar (blacky) here, why you have not finished them. They told it into English language because we understand both Rakhine and Myanmar language.
A: Let’s say, if the situation would be better and become cool, do you have a will to live in your home again and to open your shops?B: If we would live again, according to condition we do not think it will be ok. They will loot our properties again. Only 3 Muslim homes are here in the amides of Rakhine.
8/18/2012
Translated by snowy (RB Team)

______________________________________________________________

Rohingya Old woman Interview

Q: Interviewer
A: interviewee

Q: Where are you from? A: From Zay-Haung Maw-Late (Old-market Maw-Late) village

Q: The houses are destroyed by putting fire? A: No, it houses were not destroyed by fire, they demolished them. Totally demolished.
Q: Those men came to demolish houses are from same village (ward) or from other villages. A: The people are from same villages and from others also.
Q: Is there any police accompany the crowd? A: No. there are no police.
Q: So those people who demolish houses asked you to get out from your houses? A: Yes, they asked us to get out from our houses. They brought knives and spears. We are not even allowed to take our slippers. They said we are not deserved to put on our slippers. They just immediately forced us out from our houses.
Q: Did they said such word in front of your houses? A: Yes, in front of our houses, and we are sitting on the road. And they drag us to nearest camp. While we are at the camp, some said they are going take a list of us, and some said "no need to take list of them" and forced us to board on police vehicle (usually dispatch the criminals). All the children are crying and finally they dropped us near Aung Min Ga Lar Township and forced us to go inside. They said we have to go inside that township and stayed there. This is our place they continued.
Q: So how you came out from Aung Min Ga Lar Township? A: Once we get to the township, U Shwe Hla Aung family help us food and we overnight there for one night. Next day another family from township call us to stay with them. And after that we heard Nazi Village was burning and so many Rakhine people marching in and set fire on "Democracy Market". The fire burning too high and it was about to reach to our place, it already reached near the school, people are running here and there, finally the owner of the big house called all the villagers to take refuge at his house. And finally police and military come to fight fire. Once there is no fire. We moved to another house to take refuge. We stay there about ten days, but we feel not safe. Even at night we heard that some place were set fire. So we asked help from security guards and took a vehicle to move here.
Q: We heard that Muslims were setting fire on their own houses. A: No, how can you set fire on your own houses. There are some Hindus and Marr-mar who look like Muslims and they asked them to set fire. There are so many well-planned cases involved.

8/18/2012
Translated by snowy (RB Team)

Rohingyas treated as collateral damage

Violence against Myanmar’s Muslim minority is only the latest chapter in a history of state-sponsored repression that began in the 1950s in a bid to achieve racial purity

• By Azad Essa
• Published: 00:00 August 18, 2012

A few weeks ago, a picture showing hundreds of dark-skinned men splayed across a beach was passed around on Facebook. The men appeared to be either asleep, or more likely, dead. They lay against each other, their faces averted from the camera, while men in fatigues holding semi-automatic weapons towered over them. The caption read: ‘Continuity of massacre of Muslims of Myanmar by Buddhists. More than 1,000 killed yesterday. Please share.’

After some probing, the photograph turned out to be a fake. But all fabrications aside, there actually is a bona fide crisis unfolding along the Myanmar and Bangladesh border — despite the poppycock on social media, the sham did raise questions that traditional media have largely ignored.

Violence between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine region erupted in June after the alleged rape and murder of a Buddhist girl by Muslim men. The scale of violence has led to scores of deaths and the mass displacement of tens of thousands of people.

After a state of emergency was declared in the province, the entry of Myanmar’s security forces lent another dimension to this conflict. Amnesty International said in early August that Rakhine Buddhists, together with security forces, purposefully meted out devastating violence against the Muslim minority.

Article continues below

This violence is only the latest chapter in a long history of state-sponsored repression against the Rohingyas. It began when Myanmar began its project of ‘Myanmarnisation’ in the 1950s, with its lofty aims for racial purity and the nationalisation of resources following the end of British rule. The minority was targeted in pogroms in 1978, stripped of their citizenship in 1982 and became the perfect foil for rampant human rights abuse, including slave labour and torture, that led to a second exodus into Bangladesh in 1991-92.

But not only are the Rohingyas a disenfranchised people, they are dark-skinned Muslims with little relevance, representation and significance to anyone. Unable to deal with a matter the much-vaunted Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has not endorsed, the western world has tiptoed around the issue.

Suu Kyi’s silence is evidently an attempt to placate her constituency ahead of general elections in 2015, and to criticise her now would be like admonishing Nelson Mandela in the run-up to the 1994 election in South Africa. But unlike South Africa in the 1990s, Myanmar is not on the verge of some tremendous political shakeup; while the Rohingyas are being sacrificed as collateral damage in the greater project of the democratisation of Myanmar, Suu Kyi is missing an extraordinary opportunity to live up to her reputation.

Delayed reaction

Meanwhile, in that parallel universe known as the ‘Muslim world’, the Rohingyas have joined Palestine, Kashmir, Iraq and Afghanistan on the list of flagship Muslim causes. In a region that is home to the world’s greatest concentration of Muslims, the delayed reaction of neighbouring Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei is startling.

Last week, Bangladesh, another Muslim country, ordered three NGOs to stop providing food and other humanitarian assistance to Rohingyas in the border area, claiming it did not want to encourage more asylum-seekers to its shores. Already 40,000 unregistered Rohingyas live in makeshift camps in Bangladesh, and according to the UN Refugee Agency, the latest violence will result in a greater influx of people — whether Bangladesh likes it or not.

While Myanmar’s Muslim neighbours struggle to respond, Saudi Arabia has donated money. It has fallen to Turkey to act decisively by further extending its newly found benevolence to the Islamic world. As images of the Turkish prime minister’s wife sobbing as she witnessed the effects of the violence herself begin to be passed around online — further cementing the Rohingya cause to the long list of Muslims’ suffering — Muslim prayers have bemoaned the global silence. And yet little is being done by Muslims to actually reverse the treatment of their purported brethren themselves.

It all makes for a rather disempowering picture, but it doesn’t have to. Given how fast a fake picture can spread its way across the world, imagine what we could do with a little engagement.

— Guardian News & Media Ltd

Azad Essa is a journalist and the author of Zuma’s Bastard and The Moslems are Coming.

No Eid prayer in Maungdaw

Source :Kaladanpress 

Maungdaw, Arakan State: The concerned authorities of Maungdaw - Township and District administration officer- called Rohingya community leaders toady again at district office and allowing the Rohingya to pray Eid prayer and congregational prayer in Mosques for three days, according to an elder from Maungdaw.

“We refused to pray Eid prayer in Maungdaw yesterday when the authority told us we can pray Eid prayer, but in Maungdaw Juma Mosques and Myoma Khayoungdan religious center (Mawrkus).”

“The authority told us today again that we can pray inside Mosques same as before for only three days with some conditions:-  No using the loudspeakers; no deliver the sermon inside Mosques; No pray in Maungdaw

Juma Mosque and Myoma Khayoungdan religious center (Mawrkus).”

The authority is trying to show international community that the government has no restriction on religious and it is free for any religious groups. The authority first tried only to permit us for Eid-ul-fitr pray, but when we refused and asked for daily prayers. Now the authority again issuing permission for daily pray  with conditions only for three days and can only pray inside Mosques for Zuhur ( Noon) and Assar (afternoon), no permit  for sunset (Magarip; Aashar (night) and Fazar (early morning), said a village admin from Maungdaw.

“We don’t want this permission for pray and we had pass long time without going to Mosques, but, pray inside the home. Now, we also pray inside the home. No need to go for three days in Mosques for only two times a day.”

President Thein Sein, the head of the Burmese government gave green signal to a delegation led by Turkish Foreign Minister Mr Ahmet Davutoglu in Naypyitaw on 9 August 2012, to visit the country in an effort to diffuse mounting outcry over the treatment of the Rohingya in Arakan State by the Saudi-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the world's largest Muslim grouping. But, after few days, the President change his mind and said no need to investigate an international mission inside Burma as the conflict is not for ethnic race or religious, it is only a conflict of two groups which may solve by an Investigation Committee of Burma, said a politician from Maungdaw.

“Burmese President has formed of an Investigation Commission for an independent inquiry into recent riot in the Arakan state with Notification No. 58/2012 of the Union Government of Myanmar dated 17th August 2012 for the country was one of various human rights challenges at present by the United Nations human rights envoy to Burma.” 

“The Investigation Committee has been chaired by Dr. Myo Myint, a retired Director General from Ministry of Religious Affairs. Dr. Kyaw Yin Hlaing of Myanmar Egress has become secretary of the committee including 27-member which includes religious leaders, artists and former dissidents, will "expose the real cause of the incident" and suggest ways ahead, state mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar said.”

“The Investigation Committee has the actors who were mastermind of recent riot in Arakan State- Dr. Aye Maung (Chairman of Rakhine Nationalities Development Party), U Aye Thar Aung (Rakhine National League for Democracy) - that mean the committee will not report real fact of riot.”

"As an independent commission was formed inside the country... it is a right decision which showed that we can create our own fate of the country," Aye Maung, the chairman of Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) said according to a report of AFP.

The history and plight of the Rohingyas

Susan Marie Public Relations Posted August 18, 2012

The Rohingyas are one of the most persecuted communities in the world. Although, they have been living in the state of Arakan since the 8th century (which is now part of Burma), the Rohingyas have been under extreme scrutiny by the Burmese government. They haven’t been recognized as citizens of The Union of Burma since Burmese independence in 1948, instead they are known as ‘non citizens’.

The Burmese Junta have discriminated the Rohingya because:
•    They are not similar in looks
•    Speak a different language
•    Have a different religion.

As a means of clamping down on the Rohingya, the Junta has restricted even the most basic of rights such as education, marriage and citizenship.

The Burmese government endorses the Burmese culture and the Buddhist faith for their national citizens; the Rohingyas fall outside of this ideal criteria because they want to retain their own culture and the Muslim faith. As a result, the Rohingyas, sidelined and marginalized, have to live with their derogatory national status of ‘non-citizens’.

Between 1978 and 1992, approximately 200,000 Rohingyas left Burma to escape the tyranny of the Burmese military. Most of them moved to southern Bangladesh where they remain as refugees. In one of the most densely populated countries in the world, life in Bangladesh proved just as hard as it did in Burma.

In Bangladesh, the Rohingyas are faced with hardly any protection from their host country. A burden to the densely populated country, the Rohingyas are denied humanitarian aid which forces them to turn to other means of income such as drug trafficking.

There is one registered camp situated meters away from the registered camp where 90,000 refugees live. Another camp 15 miles away, in Leda Bazaar where approximately 25,000 Rohingya live, is where Restless Beings focus has been.

In 1962, the Rohingyas were systematically denied of political, civil, economic and social human rights. Today, the Rohingyas in Burma cannot commute from one village to another due to the security forces known as ‘Nasaka’ that patrol their movement at various checkpoints. This affects their education and access to medication.

Rohingyas are denied citizenship despite living in Arakan for centuries because Muslims are portrayed as ‘relics of a colonial past’. This stems from the fact that Muslims supported the British during the colonial period because they were promised autonomy in Rakhine previously known as Arakan.

Rohingyas have been subject to the systematic use of rape as a weapon of war, forced labour, and land confiscation. Over 3,500 villages have been destroyed since 1996.

Similar to the Rohingyas living in Burma, the Rohingya refugees are limited in their movement and subject to exploitation. In refugee camps, the Rohingya women are victims of sexual violence, children are denied education and there is limited access to health and medical aid.

The hostile environment for Rohingyas in Bangladesh urges the refugees in Bangladesh and Burma to seek help in other parts of Asia such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia; however, these parts are not usually welcoming.

Update from Restless Beings

Reports have been flooding in this afternoon of a new wave of attacks on Rohingya this afternoon leaving hundreds homeless and looking for shelter on foot during torrential monsoon rains whilst others were left dead. The recent clashes have been reported from 4 villages near Rauthedoung were as many as 12 have been killed with 1,000 Rohingya displaced as well as in 3 villages south of Maungdaw where 3 people have been killed this Thursday, August 16, 2012.

In the minutes leading up to sunset as many Rohingya were preparing to open their fasts (Ramadhan) hundreds of Rakhine activists armed with sticks, batons and other weaponry forced their way into Rohingya houses in three adjacent villages. As the villagers attempted to fight back against the Rakhine who had violated their homes, Lun Htin and Nasaka (Burmese armed forces and paramilitary) opened live rounds of fire on the villagers.

Three men and one woman have been shot dead whilst many others have been injured. In total the three entire villages are being evacuated with the Rohingya unsure of where they are to move to next. Whilst one of the sources was describing the events, shooting and wailing could be heard in the background.

In a separate incident, but most likely part of this new wave of violence, four villages near Rathedoung were attacked late last night, Wednesday, leaving more than 12 dead and over 1,000 Rohingya displaced. Similar to incidents in Maungdaw today, Rakhine had attacked the villages and were backed up by Burmese armed forces and paramilitary servicemen.

The forces pushed the Rohingya villages from their homes, across the river and now the camp of 1,000 are moving north through mountainous terrains and during monsoon season looking for shelter. 12 people have been confirmed dead – 8 were shot dead and 4 more have lost their lives battling against the elements whilst being shelter less.

As international media have recently been reporting from the region and as an aid deal has been agreed by the President with OIC, this is seen as the final, brutal wave against the Rohingya during the recent clashes. It is feared that this move will be drawn out over many days surely; many more lives will be lost.

Genocide on Rohingya Muslims!

Road to Arakan,Burma. Rakhine & Govt. of BURMA Creating Slow Genocide on Ethnic ROHINGYA

8 step of #Genocide,Road to #Arakan,#Burma. #Rakhine & Govt. of BURMA creating Slow #Genocide on Ethnic #ROHINGYA

Myanmar moderates risk ire to calm sectarian rift

By AFP

Published: August 17, 2012

Nay Phone Latt, who was released in January after nearly four years in jail has become the target of backlash by social media users. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE

YANGON: A Myanmar blogger who was a poster boy for online resistance to the former junta has become the target of a backlash by social media users for speaking out against hatred aimed at Rohingya Muslims.

The case of former political prisoner Nay Phone Latt, a rare moderate voice on recent fighting between Muslims and Buddhist Rakhine, underscores the level of anger sparked by the unrest which erupted in western Myanmar in June.

The 32-year-old has faced the ire of social networkers for publishing an article warning of “genocide” if anti-Muslim sentiment spreads around the Buddhist-majority nation.

“I try to be neutral in this case but most of the Facebook (users) criticise me for being neutral. They want me to be on the side of the Rakhine,” he told AFP.

The blogger was sentenced to two decades in prison in 2008 for his links to the “Saffron Revolution” monk-led protests against the junta the previous year.

While detained he won the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award in New York for showing the “strength of the creative spirit” in the face of repression. He was released in January as part of a political prisoner amnesty.

Recently, however, a photograph used during the campaign to free him – showing his friends with “Nay Phone Latt” written on their palms — has been circulated online with his name crossed out and replaced with the word “kalar”, a derogatory term for Muslims in Myanmar.

But he said some people realised the situation could lead to “endless fighting” if left unresolved and he had no regrets about speaking out.

Fellow blogger Nyi Lynn Seck, who has challenged one government official for posting controversial Facebook comments on the Rakhine violence, said anger was being stoked by misinformation.

“Some people are intentionally spreading fake news,” he said.

Matthew Smith, a researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch, said it was difficult for ordinary citizens to be objective because there was a widespread belief that all Rohingya are “illegal immigrants from Bangladesh”, including at the highest levels of government.

“Young bloggers seeking the truth and attempting to approach the issue objectively should be applauded,” he said.

“Sometimes the protection of human rights depends on courageous voices willing to stand up despite great social pressure, and this is one of those times.”

The official toll from the violence stands at about 80 people dead from both sides, although human rights groups fear the figure could be much higher. Renewed violence left several people dead earlier this month.

Tensions in Rakhine are related not only to religion, but also to a flood of immigration from the Indian subcontinent during British colonial rule, which ended in 1948, said independent Myanmar analyst Richard Horsey.

“There are just such strong prejudices on this issue that it’s even harder for the government to deal with it in this new democratic era than it was in the past,” he said.

Myanmar’s government, which has denied allegations of abuses by security forces in Rakhine, has veered from statements extolling the racial and religious plurality of the country, to suggestions that the Rohingya should be kept in refugee camps or deported.

Some elements of the country’s democracy movement have also dismayed the Rohingya by rejecting them as an ethnic minority.

One exception is comedian and former political prisoner Zarganar, who has called for equal rights for all regardless of religion or ethnicity.

Even Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has disappointed some campaigners by not offering stronger support to the country’s estimated 800,000 Rohingya, viewed by the United Nations as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities.

But Aye Lwin, a Muslim community leader at the Islamic Centre of Myanmar in Yangon, said he was satisfied with Suu Kyi’s call for even-handed distribution of aid, adding that any strong pronouncement that seemed to favour the Rohingya would be a “fatal blow for her politically”.

He hopes to send an inter-faith group to Rakhine state to reach out to some monks who he described as “hot-headed” and said had been supporting the unrest.

“Most of the younger generation, they need to be educated, not just emotional,” Aye Win said.

“That goes for the international Islamic community also – they should know the actual facts or else they will do damage instead of helping us.”

Aye Lwin said the mission to Rakhine would try to help both communities.

“In that way we will be able to win them over gradually. But it will take a lot of time. A lot of damage has been done.”

Minority Shows Burma Has a Long Way to Go

By Emily Rauhala
 

Muslim residents carry their belongings as they evacuate their houses amid ongoing violence in Sittwe, capital of Burma's western state of Rakhine, on June 12, 2012

 The callous handling of sectarian violence in Arakan reminds us that the country's transition is far from complete

For much of the past five decades, Burma has been a byword for political repression. The generals that seized power in 1962 ruled with fearsome, often reckless, authority, stomping out dissent and turning one of Asia’s breadbaskets into a barren, hungry place. In the past two years, the story changed. The men in green handed power to a quasi-civilian government, promising to end the country’s isolation. In April, the world watched Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi lead the National League for Democracy to a near sweep in by-elections hailed as a landmark for the Southeast Asian nation. Suu Kyi, long incarcerated by the junta, was now a parliamentarian acceptable to the regime. The nation’s own reversal, it seemed, was only a matter of time.

But a recent spate of violence in the country’s northwest reminds us that Burma’s transition is far from complete. Even as the West relaxes sanctions and investors flock to Rangoon, swaths of the country seethe. Since June, clashes between ethnic Arakan Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Arakan (also called Rakhine state) have left at least 78 people dead and tens of thousands displaced. An investigation by Human Rights Watch found government forces did little to quell the violence, leaving terrified villagers to defend themselves with sharpened sticks and homemade spears. Worse, police and paramilitary forces have since launched a crackdown on Rohingya, conducting violent sweeps, opening fire on villagers and arresting large numbers of Muslim men and boys.

(PHOTOS: Sectarian Unrest in Burma)

The uncomfortable truth is that in Arakan, at least, the new Burma looks a lot like the old. This patchwork nation is still split along sectarian lines, still divided by history, geography and language. Military men still hold key positions in government. And whereas reformers might have spoken out, many are staying silent, turning away as Arakan burns. Fact is, most of Burma’s people don’t see the Rohingya as part of the country’s ethnic fabric. Asked about the Rohingya, President Thein Sein, a former general, suggested refugee camps or mass expulsion as “solutions.” “The government claims it is committed to ending ethnic strife and abuse,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, in a statement accompanying the group’s 56-page report on the crisis. “But recent events in Arakan state demonstrate that state-sponsored persecution and discrimination persist.”

The immediate cause of the unrest was the alleged May 28 rape and murder of an ethnic Arakan woman, allegedly at the hands of three Muslim men. Word of the killing spread quickly, hastened by pamphlets steeped in anti-Muslim propaganda. On June 3, Arakan villagers in a neighboring township stopped a bus and murdered 10 Muslims onboard. Within the week, riots broke out in at least two cities to the north, Human Rights Watch found, escalating an ongoing cycle of mob violence. In the regional capital, Sittwe, most of the Rohingya are gone. The Muslim quarter sits shuttered. “It’s like looking at the aftermath of a natural disaster,” an unnamed Channel 4 News correspondent said, surveying the damage in a dispatch from the city. “Except human beings did this.”

In many ways, the conflict has been brewing for years. The Arakanese and the Rohingya live, literally and figuratively, at Burma’s periphery. The coastal state, which traces the Bay of Bengal to the Bangladesh border, is separated from the rest of the country by mountains. It is poor, even by Burma’s standards, and most of its residents are minorities in a country dominated by the ethnic Burmese of the heartland to the east. Like the Rohingya, and indeed most of Burma’s minorities, the Arakanese suffered immensely under military rule. Unlike the Rohingya, they are citizens. If there is common ground to be found between Naypyidaw and Arakan, it is the belief that Rohingya don’t belong in Burma.

(MORE: Will Ethnic Violence Kill Burma’s Fragile Reforms?)

The Rohingya are among the most isolated and oppressed people in the world. The end of British colonial rule left them stateless, sandwiched between present-day Burma and Bangladesh. Though many trace their Bay of Bengal roots back centuries, the Burmese government insists they are illegal South Asian migrants, relics of colonial times. They have never been recognized as one of Burma’s 135 indigenous races and have routinely been denied the right to travel, marry or work. The ruling junta played on nativist sentiment, stoking racial hatred. A Burmese diplomat once called them “ugly ogres.” Many still see them as outsiders bent on stealing Buddhist lands.

The suspicion is such that even Burmese activists seem afraid, or unwilling, to speak out. Suu Kyi, the symbolic heart of the country’s opposition, has been accused of dodging questions on the matter. While touring Europe in June, she responded to a query about the crisis by saying, obliquely, that she does not know if the Rohingya are Burmese. Absent opposition from inside Burma, Muslim groups from Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Turkey have rallied behind the Rohingya cause. The Burmese government last week agreed to aid from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, but maintains that the conflict is nonsectarian. In a way, of course, it’s right: this is, at its heart, a matter of basic rights and government accountability. On both counts, the new Burma has far to go.

(PHOTOS: Aung San Suu Kyi Travels Abroad for the First Time in 24 Years)
Emily Rauhala is an Associate Editor at TIME. Find her on Twitter at @emilyrauhala. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME

An Open Letter to the Buddhist World

Aung Aung Oo for Salem-News.com

Buddhists are considered an indigenous ethnicity both in Bangladesh and Myanmar; Rohingya are considered foreigners both in Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Courtesy: southerncrossreview.org

(SITTWE Akyab, Myanmar) - All religions in the world help people lead stable social lives; providing communities ethic, morality, and spiritual development that help to establish a peaceful society. Every religion has a right to claim that “it is the best religion” but no religion can claim that “this is the only best religion in the world”.

Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama in 500 B.C. In the beginning, it had a lot of followers because it could help for peace and justice. In China, during the Han dynasty, people fed up with internal conflicts and Buddhism showed them peaceful lives that caused Buddhism to spread to China.

On the Indian sub-continent, Buddhism did not stand longer; when Asoka converted to Buddhist, he contributed a lot to spread Buddhism throughout Asia. He gathered together all Buddhists monk and scholars to compile Gautama’s saying.

There are two main sects of Buddhism; Mahayana Buddhism and Theravada Buddhism. In Mahayana, Buddhist monks can do whatever a normal person does but, in Theravada, monks must conduct completely differently in public.

In Myanmar, the majority of Buddhists believe in Theravada Buddhism which influenced Burma after unification by King Anawratha. During the British colonial period, Burmese people started their political movement under religious and social organizations. Steadily, Burmese politicians used religion to gain their political goals.

After the assassination of General Aung San, Burmese politicians tried to deprive rights of other religions; especially Christianity and Islam. Buddhist politicians look these two religions as danger and propagate against those. After independent, because of injustice, ethnic minority started to revolt against government. In Arakan State, the Mujahedin movement fought to get Rohingyas’ fundamental rights, soon, through reconciliation, Rohingyas were approved as an indigenous ethnic race of Burma by parliament democratic government.

With nationalization by Dictator Ne Win, ethnic minorities came under persecution; especially Christians and Muslims.

Before the Independence of Myanmar, there were 3 million Buddhists living in East Pakistan, Bangladesh. It was claimed that the newly-born country, Bangladesh had attempted to displace the indigenous Buddhist inhabitants.

The total population of Bangladesh in 2004 is about 125 million with only 1 million Buddhists living in Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Comilla, Noakhali, Cox’s Bazar and Barisal. Buddhism is the third largest faith in Bangladesh comprising of about 0.7% of the total population. Most of Buddhist belong to the Chakma, Chak,Marma,Tenchungya and Kyang tribes which you can find in the Rakhine State too.

In order to figure out what is the real attitude of Buddhists toward Muslims in Myanmar, could you please pay attention to the following facts?

1. Before the independence of Myanmar, there were 3 million Buddhists in Bangladesh. In 2004 it became 1 million, now it is less than 1 million, where did the rest go, did the Bangladesh government kill them, or did they suicide themselves?

2. For Buddhists, there is full right in Rakhine State; all security forces, polices, immigrations, and office staffs are Rakhines, Rohingya are not allowed to serve.

3. Buddhists are considered an indigenous ethnicity both in Bangladesh and Myanmar; Rohingya are considered foreigners both in Bangladesh and Myanmar.

4. Several times, thousands of Rohingya fled to Bangladesh because of persecution, and Myanmar's government received them as their citizens but still Rohingya are not recognized as Myanmar citizens.

5. Bangladesh government gives full rights to the Buddhists without discrimination, Buddhists can get high positions in Bangldesh where the majority is Muslim, and even Bangladesh ambassador of Myanmar is Buddhist now. Buddhist Myanmar has been oppressing Muslims of Myanmar since 1962.

6. Prime Minister Mrs. Sheikh Hasina has urged people of all faiths and communities to work shoulder to shoulder to build Bangladesh as the most peaceful and prosperous nation in South Asia. She gave the call while speaking as chief guest at a function marking the unveiling of 48-feet high statue of Lord Buddha at Dharmarajika Buddhist Monastery campus.

7. Myanmar's government already had banned the building of Churches and Mosques since 1962, beside, hundreds of Mosques had been already destroyed, old Mosques can not be decorated, Muslims can not pray five times prayers in all new cities and townships which establish by military regime.

8. Myanmar Buddhists’ main propaganda is "Muslims are trying to spread Islam through marriage; Christians use aids to convert Buddhist to Christian".

9. In every school, there is Buddhist worship house, in every street, there is Buddhist Dammayun; worship houses, why not Churches, why not Mosques?

10. Thousands of Rohigyas were killed , their houses were burnt, their properties were looted that did not satisfy them, they announced that Rohingya should be deported to a third country. Is it called Buddhist justice? Is it the essence of Buddhism?

11. Could you please study these two countries, Bangladesh and Myanmar, and focus on the essence of two religions, Buddhism and Islam. If the attitude of Myanmar Buddhists is wrong, why are you still silent then?

12. Do you really believe in Buddhism? Why don’t you practice eight fold paths?

13. If you really want to spread Buddhism, please don’t try by force, you can not convince anyone to convert, try in humble and gentle way, like Christian and Islam.

14. You can read the Bible and Quran in every language of the world but in Myanmar, which Buddhists claim as a Buddhist Country, people can hardly find Buddhist Tripitika in the Burmese language; 99% of Buddhists do not know the essence of Buddhism. Why don’t you try to educate them?

15. This is my humble advice to you that through injustice way, you can not overwhelm, you can not spread Buddhism, and injustice can not stand longer.

16. If you really believe Buddhism as a true religion, why you don’t try to show its beauty, why are you still silent regarding persecution of Rohingya in Arakan State.

17. Don’t you feel ashamed that Bangladesh can give the full right to Buddhist and Myanmar is continuously discriminating? Is it reality of Buddhism?

18. I believe Siddhartha Gautama as a great teacher, I respect him as I respect to all Prophets. I don’t see racism in his teaching, why are you insulting him in the name Buddhism?

Yours Faithfully
Aung Aung Oo
Chin Pain Road
Kun Dan Quarter
Sittwe (Akyab)
Myanmar

My comment : My anger bringing : 

The  Amitabha Buddha is coming towards them. This is the time end of Siddhartha Gautama Buddhism. Rise of Amitabha Buddha. I can see,but my religion and belief dont except this. But their believe have to show by GOD. GOD can do anything. Is there anything in this part of world.

According to tradition, these 10 qualities are those of a bodhisattva (someone who is on the path of Buddhahood).

1. generosity
2. Virtue, Morality
3. Renunciation
4. Insight
5. Effort, diligence
6. Patience
7. Honesty
8. Determination
9. Loving-kindness, Compassion
10. Serenity

(Hoping Shan VP can bring ethnic right in Burma) Myanmar names naval chief as new vice president

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's parliament on Wednesday appointed the country's politically moderate naval chief as one of the nation's two vice presidents, ending weeks of speculation over who would fill the post.
Vice Admiral Nyan Tun, 58, replaces Tin Aung Myint Oo, whose resignation for health reasons was officially announced last month.
Tin Aung Myint Oo was considered a hard-liner, and there has been speculation he had disagreed with the reformist agenda of President Thein Sein, who has instituted sweeping political and economic change since taking power from the country's former military junta last year.
Nyan Tun was nominated by military lawmakers, who make up 25 percent of the legislature and have the right to name one of the country's two vice presidents.
National Assembly speaker Khin Aung Myint announced the appointment during a legislative session in the capital, Naypyitaw, and Nyan Tun was sworn in shortly afterward.
Nyan Tun has been Myanmar's naval commander since 2008. He served briefly with military intelligence in the 1980s and has since held various positions within the navy.
Myanmar has two vice presidents who have equal power under the constitution. The other, Sai Mauk Hkam, comes from the large Shan ethnic minority.

American Muslims Launch ‘Burma Task Force USA’

WASHINGTON DC—Prominent Muslim American groups have come together to launch Burma Task Force USA with the objective of raising the profile of the Rohingya issue while speaking out against alleged atrocities and human rights violations which have forced thousands to flee and seek refuge in neighboring Bangladesh.

“We demand that those responsible for the mass rapes and mass murder of thousands of Rohingyas be charged with crimes against humanity and genocide by the International Court of Justice,” Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, chairperson of Burma Task Force USA, demanded on Monday.

The Burma Task Force is based on a previous successful effort of American Muslims, the Bosnia Task Force, where its members worked with the interfaith leadership and women’s rights organizations against the genocide of Muslims in the former Yugoslavia.

Mujahid said the objective of the group is to stop perceived ethnic cleansing in Burma. “We will be working with leaders of other faith groups, interfaith groups, women’s rights organizations and peace movements to put pressure on the US government and the American business community to warn the Burmese government to stop the ethnic cleansing,” he said.

American Muslims are taking their cue from the previous efforts of Coalition Against Genocide, wherein Muslims of Indian origin living in the US worked with other communities to revoke the diplomatic visa of Narendra Modi, the chief minister of the western Indian State of Gujarat, for his alleged role in communal riots there some 10 years ago.

Many of the founding members of Burma Task Force USA have been actively working to stop this new violence in western Burma ever since it first flared in June, said Mujahid.

Dr. Shaik Ubaid, who has been advocating the cause of Rohingyas since 1992, was instrumental in getting the Indian Muslims to rally India’s interfaith community to put similar pressure on the government of India. Other leaders have been active in putting pressure on Bangladesh’s government to open its borders, he said.

“Rohingya Muslims were shorn of their citizenship and have suffered sustained and horrific persecution for decades. The campaign by Suu Kyi to obtain the help of the West for the democracy movement in Burma gives us an opportunity to use the American and the world community’s influence to stop the waves of ethnic cleansing,” said Dr. Ubaid, a board member of the task force.

“Aung San Suu Kyi had promised to support the citizenship rights of the Rohingya Muslims in 2005; she gave [a] statement in response to my query on a BBC program. We will hold Suu Kyi accountable,” he said.

The Burma Task Force said its New York chapter is currently planning a rally in front of the Burmese mission there. The communal violence in western Burma has claimed at least 77 lives and left more than 90,000 displaced, according to official figures.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has ordered US $50 million in aid be sent to Rohingyas in Burma. A report on the Saudi state news agency said the Muslim community had been “exposed to many violations of human rights including ethnic cleansing, murder, rape and forced displacement.”

Furthermore, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation announced on Saturday that it received the green light from Burmese President Thein Sein to visit Arakan State and assist Rohingya Muslims displaced by sectarian violence.

Saudi Arabia gives $50 mln aid to Myanmar Muslims

(Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has ordered $50 million in aid be sent to a Muslim minority in Myanmar which a human rights group said has been targeted by the authorities since sectarian riots in June.

A report on the Saudi state news agency said the Rohingya community had been "exposed to many violations of human rights including ethnic cleansing, murder, rape and forced displacement"."King Abdullah ... has ordered that assistance of the amount of $50 million be provided to the Rohingya Muslim citizens in Myanmar," said the report which was carried by Saudi media on Sunday. It did not say who was to blame for the abuses.However, Human Rights Watch said on August 1 that the Rohingyas had suffered mass arrests, killings and rapes at the hands of the Myanmar security forces. The minority had borne the brunt of a crackdown after days of arson and machete attacks in June by both Buddhists and Rohingyas in Rakhine state, the monitoring group said.
Myanmar, where at least 800,000 Rohingyas are not recognised as one of the country's many ethnic and religious groups, has said it exercised "maximum restraint" in quelling the riots.
Saudi Arabia sees itself as a guardian of global Muslim interests thanks to being the birthplace of Islam and home to some of the religion's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina. However, Riyadh also regularly draws criticism from campaigners for its lack of democracy.
Last week the Saudi cabinet condemned the violence against Muslims in northwest Myanmar and at a meeting on July 31, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the kingdom's second city of Jeddah urged members to send Rohingya Muslims aid.
The OIC is holding a summit in Mecca on Tuesday.
(Reporting By Angus McDowall; editing by David Stamp)

Talk to Myanmar on Rohingya: PM

 

 

British Secretary of State for International Development Affairs Andrew Mitchell meets Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her hotel suite in London Sunday evening. Photo: PID 

UNB, London

Source: The Daily Star

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said Britain and the countries concerned about Rohingya refugees should talk to the Myanmar government regarding the refugee issue instead of pressurising Bangladesh.

The prime minister said this when British Secretary of State for International Development Affairs Andrew Mitchell met her at her hotel suite in London in the evening.

After the meeting, PM’s Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad briefed reporters about the outcome of the meeting.

Abul Kalam said the premier informed the British minister that Bangladesh, despite being an overpopulated country, is already hosting over 28,000 Myanmar refugees at two camps in Cox’s Bazar.

On the influx of Myanmar refugees to Bangladesh, the prime minister said her government is providing them with food, medicine and even some financial assistance before repatriating them to their own country.

About climate change, Hasina appreciated British support for Bangladesh’s efforts to combat its adverse impacts and sought cooperation from the UK for the Climate Vulnerable Forum and its activities.

Hasina also thanked the British government for its assistance for education, health, sanitation, natural disaster prevention and attainment of MDGs in Bangladesh.

Mitchell appreciated various successes of the present government, including those in agriculture, education, health and energy sectors, under the able leadership of Sheikh Hasina.

He thanked the prime minister to attend the World Hunger Event in London although August is the month of mourning in Bangladesh.

Hasina said she attended the programme responding to the invitation of British Prime Minister David Cameroon, and above all the topics of the event attracted her.

Ambassador at-Large M Ziauddin and Bangladesh High Commissioner to London Dr Sayeedur Rahman Khan were present.