UN leader says Myanmar tensions could spread

Source AFP,

UNITED NATIONS — UN leader Ban Ki-moon warned Saturday that Muslim-Buddhist unrest in Myanmar’s Rakhine state could hit the country’s landmark reforms and spill across borders, a UN spokesman said.

Muslim leaders have made prominent calls at the UN General Assembly for action over the deadly unrest which Ban raised in talks with Myanmar’s President Thein Sein and the head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Thein Sein, who has embarked on fast-paced reforms in Myanmar, promised Ban he would tackle fallout from the unrest, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

But Ban later told Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general of the 57-nation OIC, the Rakhine troubles must be "treated carefully because of the potential wider implications of the Rakhine issue on the overall reform process in Myanmar as well as on other countries."

Fighting between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine erupted in June. According to an official toll, about 90 people have been killed but rights groups say the figure is probably much higher.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Myanmar forces of opening fire on Rohingya Muslims, an accusation denied by the government.

Myanmar’s government considers the estimated 800,000 Rohingyas to be foreigners while many ordinary Myanmar people say they are illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

But Bangladesh has stopped Rohingyas from crossing the border and prevented aid groups from helping more than 200,000 Rohingyas in the country, according to HRW. The New York-based rights group says this is to send the message to the Rohingyas that they should stay in Myanmar.

Ban and Thein Sein discussed the Rakhine fighting "and the immediate and long-term perspectives to promote intercommunal harmony and address the root causes of the tension there," said Nesirky.

"The president confirmed the country would address the long-term ramifications of this question," he said.

The Myanmar leader vowed before the UN General Assembly that he would seek to tackle the problems in Rakhine state.

Ban also called for "concerted efforts" to end the government’s war with ethnic rebels in Kachin in the north of the country where the Thein Sein has led reform efforts over the past two years.

Thein Sein has been in New York at the same time as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and in a landmark speech to the General Assembly praised her efforts for "democracy."

"The secretary general commended the president’s political vision and leadership and encouraged him to continue to focus on the reform process and on its consolidation."

Ban organized a ministerial meeting of the Friends of Myanmar group on Friday with representatives from the United States, European Union, China, Japan and other states.

Ban’s special advisor on Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, said ministers hoped progress made in Myanmar over the past year "will continue and result in the strengthening of democratic institutions and forging peace with all ethnic and religious groups in the country."

Violence continues against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims

Source Press-tv, 29 Sept

A Rohingya Muslim woman is seen crying on an intercepted boat trying to flee a deadly hate campaign in Myanmar. (File photo)

Extremist Buddhists have once again laid a brutal siege to areas where the Rohingya Muslims are residing in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, reports say.

The extremist Buddhists have surrounded the Muslim areas of the state capital Sittwe as well as the city of Maungdaw and have set up several checkpoints.

According to media reports, people in the besieged areas stay indoors because they are terrified of the ongoing deadly sectarian violence. Families have lost their income as most of the men have fled the area in fear of being murdered by the extremist Buddhists.

Myanmar’s army and police have been deployed to the region but they have turned a blind eye to abuses of the Muslims by the Rakhine Buddhists.

This is while the army and the police forces have raided several houses and abducted dozens of Muslims including women and there are reports of sexual abuse of the female detainees.

In an incident, the police forces raided a house in the Marjalipara village in the Rakhine State on Thursday and took a woman and her daughter when they could not find the father of the family. The army forces sexually abused the abductees and finally released them after receiving money.

The silence of the human rights organizations towards abuses against the Rohingya Muslims has emboldened the extremist Buddhists and Myanmar’s government forces.

The Buddhist-majority government of Myanmar refuses to recognize Rohingyas, who it claims are not natives and classifies as illegal migrants, although the Rohingya are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origin, who migrated to Myanmar as early as the 8th century.

According to reports, thousands of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims are living in dire conditions in refugee camps after government forces and Buddhist extremists started burning down their villages on August 10.

The UN human rights authorities blame Myanmar’s security forces for the violence, who are believed to have been targeting the Muslims rather than bringing the ethnic violence to an end in the country.

TNP/JR/SS

About 75,000 Rohingyas in Myanmar camps: Refugee International

Source The Hindhu, 29 Sept

AP A refugee carries a child in Baw Du Pha refugee camp in Sittwe, Rakhine State, western Myanmar, on August 1, 2012.

Up to 75,000 Muslim Rohingyas are housed in temporary camps under poor conditions, four months after violence broke out between Buddhist and Muslim communities in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, Refugees International said Saturday.

“There are somewhere between 65,000 to 75,000 Rohingyas living in camps in Sittwe,” said Sarnata Reynolds, programme manager for statelessness at the advocacy group for refugee rights.

Although the camps in the state capital, located 500 kilometres north-west of Yangon, are receiving humanitarian aid from the United Nations and Medicines Sans Frontiers, sanitary and health conditions were bleak, it said.

“We went to a school that has 1,800 living in it in one big room with two latrines and no showers,” Ms. Reynolds said. “There is acute malnutrition and some cases of tuberculosis.” A Refugees International team was permitted last week to visit eight camps for Rohingya refugees in Sittwe.

The refugees have been living in the camps since mid-June when communal fighting in Sittwe forced the vast majority of the Muslim Rohingya population to flee.

Out of the 12 Rohingya neighbourhoods previously in Sittwe, one remained. Its estimated 8,000 residents have been barricaded into the neighbourhood.

“This community was able to defend themselves during the violence, but now they are restricted to their neighbourhood,” Ms. Reynolds said. “If they leave, they face attack or arrest.” An informal system of traders is providing the community with food, she said.

Refugees International called on the Myanmar government to take steps towards bringing the Rohingya displaced by the violence back to Sittwe and in the long term to provide citizenship for the Muslim minority group.

The Rohingya, who number about 800,000 in the three northernmost Rakine townships, have been legally discriminated against in Myanmar for decades.

Their statelessness dates to the 1982 Citizen Law, which identified 135 ethnic minority groups in Myanmar. It excluded the Rohingya and stipulated that people of Indian and Chinese descent who could not prove their ancestry predated the 1824-1948 colonial period were not entitled to citizenship.

The plight of the Rohingya came to world attention with the June clashes, which left at least 89 dead and about 90,000 displaced.

About 3,000 Buddhist Rakhine were also displaced by the violence and they also continue to live in temporary camps, Ms. Reynolds said.

Condition of Sittwe and Maungdaw towns from afternoon of 28 Sept

Source NDPHR(exile),

The Rakhines about 3,000 with long swords, knives, and catapults and involving hundreds of monks from the front surrounded the Aungmingala (Mole Fara) Quarter until additional 400 military forces deployed there.

According to internal sources, Rakhines are frustrated with the government for not fulfilling their 18 demands made in Mayu Conference held in Rathedaung town on 25-26 Sept. The demands include to remove the muslim villages along the main communication streams in the Rakhine state that requires the removal of the surrounding muslim villages beside the both Sittwe Universities.

However, gathering of such large number of Rakhines was with false incitement by Rakhine leaders that one of the Rakhine boy (Aung Naing Oo) missing was killed in Rohingya village etc..

(Photo sent by Thuya)

In Maungdaw, several villages- Mraung Fara near Kiladaung, Quarter 3, Quarter 4, Quarter 5, Dil Para and Hawabil were surrounded by Rakhines and began various attacks.

According to ARU(media), yesterday some Rakhines from Natala village near the Rohingya village Kiladaung tried to kill a Rohingya boy from Mraung Fara near Kiladaung. But the villagers rushed on the spot after hearing the boy’s screaming. The villagers followed the Rakhine kidnapers and snatched the boy from Rakhines` hands. Later, the Rakhines entered again in the village with the help of army and harassed and tortured villagers. In fact, the Rohingyas in these villages expressed grave concern over their security and feel need of International Peacekeeping Forces for their protection.

The Psd. Thein Sein did curtail intl pressures by delivering kind speeches at the 67th UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday 27 Sept whether they are true or not that the people inhabiting in our country, regardless of race, religion and gender, have the rights to live in peace and security. A national level independent investigation commission has been established to investigate to ensure impartiality, the composition of the Commission is made up of representatives from all strata of the society, including the widely respected personalities from the Buddhist, Muslim, Christian and Hindu faiths.

(According to Maung Min, the 18 demands made in Mayu Conference held in Rathedaung town on 25-26 Sept, are as follow);

1.To build strong fence both along the sea and land of the western border of Myanmar as there are illegal inflow of foreigners.

2.To render full support in setting up economic zone in the Rakhine state with the lead of Rakhine people in order to refill the shrunk population.

3.To enjoy proportionate share of the natural resources of Rakhine state according to the international standard.

4.To prescribed an effective law for controlling the birth rate of Bengali people.

5.To put restrictions on the immovable properties of non-citizens.

6.To form and deploy People’s Militia with modern weapons in all villages of Rakhine.

7.To materialize exact practice on 1982 citizenship law.

8.To closely monitor the activities of UN and INGOs in the region.

9.To reveal the roots of Islamist inside Burma and take action accordingly.

10.To regain the lands of those who fled due to 1942 Muslim-Buddhist riots and after-1948 Mujahid’s revolt and establish the villages for the generation of those on these lands. The resettlement should be on the equal propotion of Muslims and Buddhist.

11. To remove the Bengali villages along the main communication streams in the Rakhine state and also to remove the surrounding Muslim villages of Sittwe University for peaceful schooling of the students.

12. To promptly implement the Saing Tin Water Fall to generate hydro electric power for local people.

13. To assure security of all the government services employee along the border area.

14. To prescribe the curriculum of Madrasa from the concern authority and watch closely whether the same is in action.

15. To execute the words that the president have urged the UNHCR officer on 11-07-20012 regarding Rohingyas. The Rakhine communities whole heartedly support these words and demand to implement the same.

16. To return the all kinds of lands, lakes, creeks confiscated by the concerned military, department and organization.

17. To stop the auction system on creeks, streams, seas which are the main sources of family earning for the common people.

18. To quickly implement the rail road, motor road between villages and townships.

Earliest inhabitants of Arakan and Rohingya

Comment of Mohammed Sheikh Anwar on FB,

Again Bengali and Bengali again! At least use the correct spelling of the word "Bengali." And once and for all, Rohingyas are not Bengalis.
Here is the brief history of Arakan.

"The earliest inhabitants of Arakan were a pro-Australoid people called Negritos settled in the Neolithic period. They were known as Rakkhasha (cannibals). They were dark-skinned people much like Africans and Rohingyas of today. They did not look like Mongoloid Rakhines or Maghs of today who falsely claim to be of their descendants. The second earliest people of Arakan were Indo-Aryans (i.e. Indians) followed by Mro and Saks. Their settlements dated back to B.C. 3323. Most of the earliest Kingdoms in Arakan history were Indian Kingdoms namely Dhannyavadi Kingdoms and Vaishali (Vesali) Kingdom. These earliest Indians, that is to say the forefathers of Rohingyas, were the followers of Hinduism, Buddhism and Animism. With the advent of some Arabs as traders and Islamic propagators to Arakan in 788 AD, most of local Indians converted into Islam. It is very important to note that it was Islam that came to Arakan in 788 AD, not Muslims. Yet, the indigenous Indians who had converted into Islam (known as Rohingyas today) later came to mix with foreigners as their settlements continued throughout its historical periods. Usage of the term “Rohingya” in form of “Rooinga” can be found as early as 17th century.

Rakhines of today was the last significant people of single Mongoloid stock to arrive in Arakan with the Mongolian invasion in 957 AD. Later, a new civilization took place as they came to mix local Indians and formed into Indo-Mongoloid people, while many remained purely of Mongoloid origin. And they re-established Buddhism in Arakan but in the form of Theraveda this time. With the continual invasions by the feudal kings of Tibeto-Burman people of Mongoloid stock from Upper and Lower Burma, the people of Arakan were gradually formed to be of more Mongoloid origin and Indian-Originated people consequently decreased or were outnumbered. Therefore, the later Kingdoms of Arakan such as in Lemro and Mrauk-U Periods were rather Indo-Mongoloid or Mongoloid Kingdoms than Indian Kingdoms. However, Muslims (of both Indigenous Indian Origins and foreigners settled in Arakan) played many at times as phenomenon Kingmakers and other very important roles during Mongoloid Arakanese Kingdoms.

Despite being the sons of Indigenous Negritos and Indo-Aryans, today Rohingyas are being labeled as Bengalis and recent illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. It is perhaps because they look similar to Bengalis in appearance. In fact, Rohingyas, Bengalis, Indians of today’s India and Pakistanis etc are generally referred as South-Asians or Indians. They are of single roots. Yet, Rohingyas are linguistically and culturally different from Bengalis."

If the DNAs of Rohingyas to be checked up, it will be similar with the DNAs of South Asians in general which includes Bengali as well. Similarly, Bamas as well as Rakhines also need to get their DNAs checked up. Their DNAs will be similar with Mongolians and Chinese. If Rohingyas have to leave Arakan because they have Indian DNAs in their blood, they will also need to leave Burma and go to China and Mongolia because they have the DNAs of Mongolian and Chinese in their blood. And make Burma a land with no people.

Anyone who is interested to discuss more on Arakan history is warmly welcome but on one condition: he or she needs to be polite.

Ethnic Cleansing Nightmare: Buddhist Bloodstains on Burma’s Barren Soul

Source Salem News, 20 Sept

Political Perspective by Tim King Salem-News.com

Warning: Extremely Graphic Photos – CAUTION!

Two Rohingya brothers brutally slaughtered by Rakhine terrorists and security forces and killed in Ah Nauk Pyin village.

(SACRAMENTO, CA) – Just what is it that forces human beings to behave like the most savage beasts? Here are a couple of insights I am gleaning from my work.

First, when committing war crimes, be sure to do a really thorough job of destroying the person or people you attack. Make their final appearance ‘unacceptable’ to the photo editors and then your murders of civilian innocents will never be seen by anyone!

For example, I have photos from the Sri Lanka government Genocide against Tamils in 2009 where part of a fetus is sticking out of the slain mother’s belly. It is just too grotesque to use, so the public never sees it because even hardened human rights and war reporters like myself are too squeamish to do so.

War Crime lesson 2… when your vaunted political heroes show us they are not who you thought they were, give them a big award for doing nothing, such as Barack Obama who stated he would close Guantanamo Bay and instead failed to keep his word and was given a Nobel Peace Prize, or…

Aung San Suu Kyi Picks Up Congressional Gold Medal – 18 Sept 2012 ABC News)

Yeah, this is the one that bugs me. The little birds fly around Suu Kyi’s head singing in unison like in a Disney cartoon; in Beyond Rangoon they portray her as having the ability to stand down a whole regiment of soldiers without a word. I spent so many years just smiling if I pictured her face because I thought, ‘someday Burma will be free and she will be at the top politically where she deserves to be’. I believed that day would come and that it would always inspire people.

Setting fire to Rohingya villages- an act that was carried out by Rakhine & Security forces

Rohingyas victims in Myanmar

I believe she gave millions faith, only now I realize it is more like false hope. She has already had the opportunity to be a real human rights activist come and go.

The Muslims in her formerly locked down country are being slaughtered in ever increasing numbers by this woman’s Rakhine Buddhist brethren and it is one pathetic fucking mess that deserves nothing less that an onslaught of government control.

That won’t happen because Buddhists who become killers operate under and as part of a Buddhist state terrorism government, and are among the most dangerous people on earth.

It is exactly what happened in Sri Lanka; time and time again the Sinhala Buddhists led attacks against Tamil Hindus and Christians, and the common denominator is that statue of a fat guy that they all get very intense over.

But it means nothing because these two cultures, it is statistically fair to say, are largely comprised of bloodthirsty people willing to not just kill, but torture and rape and chop human beings into pieces.

The remains of the people they oppose are often found after torturers stuck rods through their bodies and cut off their genitalia; gashing them so that the intestines fall out in
this tragic nightmare of ethnic cleansing.

Rakhines holding weapons during declaring of Act Of Law 144 inside the Sittwe town (2)

Aung San Suu Kyi may have made some comment I don’t know about deploring the murders of thousands of Rohingya Muslims since the last time I wrote about this unfolding and unaddressed tragedy- about four weeks ago, but like I said, I don’t know of anything like that happening.

But I know from hearing it over and over again on NPR that she won that Congressional Gold Medal.

It sounds like something that you would earn at a sporting event doesn’t it?

Who cares, it is pomp and circumstance and the lady gets a bunch of gratitude for having to live under house arrest while other Burmese are just ruthlessly cut down. She wasn’t even in jail.

I sound angry because of what I just read before writing this story.

My friend and contact Aung Aung in Sittwe sent photos of what the Rakhine Buddhists are doing each and every single day to the Rohingya Muslims; they are remorseless killers and they are roaming the streets on motorbikes with machetes exactly like when the Hutu began slaughtering Tutsi after the 1994 Genocide began.

Rakhines holding weapons during declaring of Act Of Law 144 inside the Sittwe town- I think the far left sword has blood on tip (1)

Bulldozer Team arrives from Yangon to clear all the buildings of Rohingya in Sittwe downtown. (6)

The code phrase uttered over and over by a pro-Genocide Rwanda radio station, "cut down the tall trees," was a call for the Hutu to start killing the Tutsi.

But the United States isn’t saying shit and they do not care. Let me say this again, Hillary Clinton does not care about the terrible genocidal slaughter taking place on her watch and we will NEVER let her forget it and again, the parallels with Sri Lanka’s Tamil Genocide are endless.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her entourage of business interests are in my opinion, as I stated before, staring and drooling over Burma like a gang of football players getting ready to nail a 16-year old virgin.

It is a nightmare scenario and the country is one of the few places so expansive in the world that has for all practical purposes, not been exploited by modern business.

Clinton and the U.S. administration are well aware of Burma’s past human rights record which is dismal; one of the very worst on the earth, and they failed to address this most important issue when making their business deals and signing contracts, in spite of cries from Human Rights Watch and members of our own team like our Human Rights Ambassador William Nicholas Gomes and myriad other voices.

Bulldozers Team clearing out the Arabic University near Aung Mingalar Rohingya village (1)

Rakhine Terrorists & Security forces marching together towards Rohingya village (Than Taw Li) in Sittwe

Very obviously: Rakhine terrorists are dismantling Mosque in Zailya Para Rohingya village in Sittwe.

The Americans really have lost their soul and while they made deals to earn a bunch of money off Burma’s inexperienced back, the Muslims in this Asian nation are being slaughtered like the Jews, Roma and Poles of the 1930’s; the Cambodian victims of the Khmer Rouge in the 70’s’ the Rwandans in the 90’s’ and Sri Lankans in this new century.

So here is what was reported to my contact from the town of Maungdaw, regarding violent attacks on 16.9.2012 and 18.9 2012:

• 16.9.2012: Salimullah, son of Hanfujja, 38-years old, from Dushiradan (Kadeerbil) went fishing for survival, on the way to home Rakhine from Maungdaw and Bangladesh chopped Salimullah into pieces. When people knew it, they reported the crime to the Kayindan Police Station but police did not investigate the case even when the officers saw the victim was cropped into pieces as an inhuman way.
• 18.9.2012: Dudu Miah and 5 other Rohingyas accompanied 2 ladies travelling from Yaung Chaung, Southern Maungdaw to Khayang Chaung in a Jeep, on their way to Khayang Chaung. Police stopped them and beat them severely; the two ladies were raped by the polices from the police station.
• 18.9.2012: In Minpya township of Arakan State, Chief Police officer, U Saw Pyu, Sergean Kyaw Win and other 3 police raided the house of Zafar, son of Amir Ali while he was not present at home, they took all properties and raped the ladies who were at home.

For those who haven’t considered or studied these highly charged issues, rape is traditionally a psychological tool of horror and war used to terrorize populations in ways that no civilized society can even comprehend.

I noted many Afghans who looked Russian, had Slavic features, and then I quickly learned that they were the result of ten years of Soviet soldiers raping women and ‘leaving their seed’ which is a different type of warfare but nothing new at all of course and totally illegal under international law.

So in conclusion, it is obvious that I am not holding back on the photos because these are recent examples of the debauchery that is coming to define Burma”s Rakhine Buddhists and Aung San Suu Kyi is sure working out for the benefit of the Americans.

Rohingya man from Ward -4 was slaughtered by Rakhine Terrorists very brutally in Pauk Taw Township.

I am extremely troubled and disturbed and hear from many people in regard to this daily ‘purge’ of otherwise happy, functioning people who have lived in Burma for hundreds and hundreds of years.

One of the favorite claims of the Rakhine Buddhist community is that these indigenous Muslims are ‘illegal immigrants from Bangladesh’ and this is not only untrue, but Bangladesh absolutely refuses to accept the residents of Burma who manage to take to the water in boats and escape.

One of the saddest pictures I have ever seen is of a Royhingya man pleading to a Bangladeshi soldier not to send he and his family back to a terrible fate.

And the Americans and their little media dogs from ABC and CBS and CNN and NY Times give these suffering people little to no airtime, they all should have their broadcast and print licenses pulled for failing to represent their duties with regard to humanity.

They are about profit, Clinton and her gang are about profit, even Suu Kyi is now about profit, and those who follow a Prophet are being laid to waste in the streets where they were born and raised.

I had a conversation with a friend today who is a U.S. Army Reserve officer; we spent some time in Afghanistan’s ‘Pesh Valley’ where all kinds of terrible things keep happening to Americans fighting there, it is right on the Pakistan border. After this duty he was sent straight to Iraq for the ‘surge’ and he said they lost a person every 24-hours. One day a kid who was 15-years old rode up to a convoy and blew himself up.

My friend was on the scene, he recalls this kid lying all over the ground torn up and the only thing he thought while looking at the mangled child was, "Wow he has nice hair". He says to this day it is the only thing he can call up about that kid, that day.

When people are moved to commit violence and they follow the call of a government’s military or in some cases a religious leadership, they loose touch with the real world.

My friend has just a touch of PTSD and he knows how weird it all is, and seems, but there are coping mechanisms that kick in and aid a person charged with doing this type of work.

Imagine when there are no moral barriers or boundaries, and all women and girls are targets and prizes to rape and abuse and likely kill; consider that for a moment. What the hell allowed Buddhist people to fall so low to the ground?

Two Rohingya brothers brutally slaughtered by Rakhine terrorists and security forces and got dead in Ah Nauk Pyin village, Rathedaung

Rohingya man from Ward -4 was slaughtered by Rakhine Terrorists very brutally in Pauk Taw Township.

Where is Aung San Suu Kyi? Where is the Dali Lama?

Why is the Buddhist community being silent?

These are questions that hopefully we will some day have the answers to.

For now, I hate for the legacy of these murder victims to show such gruesome scenes, but they must be seen and these religious maniacs have to be stopped.

What it all comes down to is that people being crowned as Human Rights champions are often more limited in scope than any of these organizations let on.

For example, I would be shocked if Israel ever gave a medal to a Jewish citizen for saving the life of a Muslim; or if a Christian group gave a Muslim or a Hindu a high level reward; I’m sure that has happened but not very damned often.

Life and humanity are not about taking care of only one kind and ignoring the rest; all of humanity is exactly deserving of the same things according to international law.

So now you know, please do something to help raise awareness, join The Rohingya Awarenss Project on Facebook, thank you!

Below are Government Colonized Proof documents of Rohingya Muslims. As referenced above, the Buddhists of this place like to claim that Muslims are all people who moved across from Bangladesh are are ‘illegal aliens’.

These documents clearly demonstrate that is not the case.

“Ongoing situation of Sittwe town in the present of international pressure and aid workers”

source from NDPHR(exile)

From today afternoon, Aungmingala (Mole Fara) village has been surrounded by about 2,000 Rakhines involving monks from the front and chanting to leave all ‘kalars’. Military and police forces are already there and just watching the activities.
Yesterday evening, a Rohingya boy from the same village accompanied with a military going to the market, was took over by Rakhine gang and the military too was threatened. When police followed the scene, the boy was found throwing near the drain.

The observers say the attacks would be developed by night. This is only village exist in the town and as a result of non-stop disturbances by Rakhine, most of the villagers had been sneaked out from this village. So, the lives of a few remaining villagers mixed of Kaman and Rohingyas are in the worst.

Maungdaw town
27 Sept (Kaladan Press): Today, 3 Rohingyas- Mohamed Shafi-21 s/o Habi Rahaman, Azizullah-23 s/o Abul Kalam and Habib Ullah-25 s/o Abu Taher from Soung Hodar Bill village of Kyandaung village- were arrested and detained by the Burma’s border security force (Nasaka) over the allegation that they went to Bangladesh.
According to a local villager, a group of Nasaka personnel from the Nasaka camp of Aley Than Kyaw accompanied by a collaborator Biala went to their homes at night and arrested them with the fabricated case while they were sleeping. After arrest, they were severely beaten up on the spot and brought to their camp by the Nasaka personnel where they were detained in the camp and demanded Kyat 500,000 per each to be released.

Besides, on 25 September, 6 Rohingyas were arrested by the Nasaka personnel of Nasaka-out post camp of the Nasaka area No.(5) of Maungdaw north. Of them, two arrestees are identified as Mv Rashid s/o Sayed Hussain and Salim Ullah s/o Nukmal from Hoktuma village under the Ngkura village tract. They have been detained in the camp, so far. Nasaka personnel demanded huge money for their release.

(Kaldan Press): A Rohingya youth, Mohamed Alam-35 s/o Shofi Rahaman from Tharat Oo village, was killed by the Burma border security force (Nasaka) of Kawar Bill Nasaka Headquarters yesterday night and and the dead body was not handed over to his parents. He was arrested by the Nasaka of Kular bill Nasaka personnel of Nasaka area No.(6) on September 15, from his house over the allegation that he was involved in the recent riot between Rakhine and Rohingya community. After arrest, he was brought to Kyigan Pyin (Kawar Bill) Nasaka headquarters, where he was severely tortured and detained.

(Kaladan Press): Today, the armies decided to construct three army camps at Maungdaw south of Aley Than Kyaw, Horsora and Kyauk Pandu (Shita Purika) villages. The armies accompanied by Sayedullah (Nasaka agent from Aley Than Kyaw ) are collecting Kyat 10,000 and two-big bamboo per house. The villagers have to provide forced labor in future to build the army camps. Rohingya villagers are forced to pay money, materials to those constructions.

There is an agreement between Burma and Bangladesh not to build any army camp within 16 miles from zero-line boundary. The Burmese army’s attempt to build army camps within the restricted border area is acceptable to Bangladesh or not.

OIC urged to help with Rohingya crisis

Source Gulf Times,

Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni has urged the member-states of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to contribute to addressing of the root causes of the Rohingya problem.

She urged the OIC to help in the rehabilitation of the internally displaced Rohingya popupation and reconciliation between Muslim and non-Muslim communities in the North Rakhine State of Myanmar.

She was speaking at the first meeting of the OIC Contact Group on Rohingya Muslim Minority held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Wednesday on the sideline of the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, a foreign ministry official in Dhaka said yesterday.
She said that Bangladesh has been extremely sensitive and supportive to Myanmar’s Muslims from North Rakhine State.

In strict compliance with the principle of non-refoulement, Bangladesh has been hosting hundreds of thousand of Rohingya refugees on Bangladesh soil, in co-operation with UNHCR, the official quoted the foreign minister as saying.

The foreign minister said, it is important to address the issues of citizenship rights of the Rohingyas, and their continued trafficking and emigration. While citizenship rights is at the core of the problem, a large number of them have left the North Rakhine State for secured livelihood opportunities in Bangladesh, Asean countries and Gulf countries.

She emphasized that these two issues merit comprehensive solutions for the sake of peace and stability of the Rakhine State.

She also held a bilateral meeting with the Pakistan Foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, on Wednesday at the United Nations Headquarters.
The two ministers reviewed bilateral relations and exchanged views on issues of common interests at the UN and other multilateral fora.

An appeal for peace in Rakhine State

Mizzima news, 27 Sept

(Commentary) – One thing that kept the military regimes in place in Burma for more than 60 years is the ability of the Burmese military to divide and rule. They have used divide and rule tactics between Burmans and ethnics, between Burmans and Burmans and between ethnics and ethnics. They have also used divide and rule tactics between Rohingya and Rakhine.

Tun Khin of the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK. photo: screenshot

My older relatives tell me of a time when there wasn’t the same level of mistrust or even hatred between Rohingya and Rakhine. There was no voice of opposition heard from any quarters, including Rakhine, over the recognition of Rohingyas as an ethnic group during U Nu’s era.

My relatives remember government radio broadcasting in the Rohingya language during U Nu’s time as prime minister. I remember as a child playing with Rakhine friends and visiting each other’s homes to eat.

The reasons for the current level of mistrust and violence between the communities are many, but by far the greatest reason, and at the root of why the situation has become so bad, are lies and propaganda that began to be spread about the Rohingya when Ne Win became dictator.

Ne Win rewrote history, invented Burmese propaganda and lies, and introduced discriminatory policies against the Rohingya. Some of these policies where enshrined in law, such as the 1982 Citizenship Law, while others were in practice, increasing harassment by security forces and discrimination.

Decades of lies and propaganda, underpinned by the 1982 Citizenship Law, which stripped us of citizenship and the rights that come with it, have institutionalized the hatred and discrimination. Of course there were always some tensions, as there often is when two communities of different ethnicities and religions live side by side. But Ne Wins lies and propaganda encouraged those differences, and encouraged hatred, rather than building community cohesion and understanding.

It breaks my heart to see the situation in Rakhine State today. There is so much suffering. In the recent violence and then the attacks by government forces, mainly Rohingya have suffered, but I know that some Rakhine people have suffered as well.

Aid being promised by Muslim countries and the international community could be used not just to assist in the current humanitarian crisis, but also for long-term projects to fight poverty and promote development in Rakhine State.

International donors should not just be talking to the government about aid and development. Instead they should talk to local community leaders, and let us work jointly together to promote development that not only helps both communities, but also in the process promotes communal understanding and brings us closer together. Let both sides experience first-hand the benefits of us working together, how it will benefit both communities. Because fighting poverty together, as well as politically struggling for democracy and human rights, united and working together, we are all stronger.

Rohingyas with a long history in Arakan are an integral part of Burma’s society. All Rohingya people want is to live peacefully in Burma, with our human rights respected.

Burma is our homeland. It is impossible to force all Rohingya people out of the country. The only solution is for us to work together to find a way to live peacefully together.

That means Rakhine trying to understand the situation from a Rohingya perspective, and Rohingya also trying to understand the concerns of Rakhine. They are living together with their Rakhine compatriots in the same place, drinking the same water and breathing the same air.

There is no point in being antagonistic to each other. It hurts all of us, our children and their children to come. Unless both Rohingya and Rakhine cultivate the political will to change this situation, we both suffer.

Divided we all suffer. The only winner is President Thein Sein and the military and ex-military, which have oppressed us all for so long. Let us revive our traditional relationship for the sake of our children. Let us work together on democratic principles with mutual respect, love and affection.

That is my appeal to all Rakhine.

Relief aid ship finally sets sail

26 Sept, Source Malaymail

Sinar Bima carrying 500 tonnes of relief items for victims of Myanmar conflict

by Azril Annuar

Location:
KLANG

HIGH SEAS: The Sinar Bima, with the Jalur Gemilang on its bow, leaving Port Klang for Myanmar after it was flagged off by Muhyiddin yesterday – Pic: ASHRAF SHAMSUL AZLAN

KELAB Putera 1Malaysia’s humanitarian aid trip to Rakhine, Myanmar, was finally flagged off when the cargo vessel Sinar Bima left Port Klang’s North Port yesterday.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin flagged off the vessel at 10.50am. It carried 500 tonnes of food, medical supplies, medication and other relief items in 40 containers.

Muhyiddin said that as an Asean member, Malaysia has a commitment to assist its neighbours involved in any conflict.

"This humanitarian trip will assist everyone regardless of whether they are Muslims or Buddhists. It’s a honourable mission and it’s not an easy task," he said.

"The club has taken up the challenge to provide assistance and support to those who need it there.

"Their initiative will send a global message that Malaysia is always keen to help its neighbours. However, I do believe this is just a temporary relief exercise and it will not be permanent.

"I trust the Myanmar government is doing its very best to find an amicable solution to the problems there."

He urged the Malaysian aid team to be alert at all times as the area is not stable.

Club president Datuk Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, who is leading the team, said they have the Myanmar government’s support and will be protected by a military convoy.

Asked whether they are prepared for possible violence, akin to the ill-fated Somali mission which saw the death of Bernama TV cameraman Noramfaizul Mohd Nor in September last year, Abdul Azeez said they have had "training".

"We are have undergone training and we also have bullet proof vests. However, our embassy at Yangoon said the vests are not needed. Only the military carry firearms," he said.

Abdul Azeez and the team will depart from LCCT and land in Yangoon International Airport. From Yangoon, the team will travel by land for about 900km till it reaches Sittwi City in Rakhine state.

The advanced team is expected to leave on Friday and the main team will be leaving on Monday.

The vessel will be heading for Yangoon Harbour and from there, a tugboat will lead it to Sittwi Harbour.

About two months ago, a murderous wave between the Buddhist Rakhine majority and the Muslim Rohingya minority erupted in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.

The violence started after it was reported on May 28 that a 26-year-old Buddhist woman had been raped and killed by Muslim men. Three Muslim men were detained the following day.

The incident lit the fuse for communal violence in the area. On June 3, about 300 Buddhists attacked a bus in Taungup, killing 10 Muslim men, reportedly in front of policemen and soldiers who did not intervene.