Photographer, Greg Constantine captures plight of Burmese Rohingya

At least 90,000 people have now been displaced by the conflict in Western Burma.



Photographer captures plight of Burmese Rohingya (Credit: ABC) 

And with the monsoon season getting underway, a refugee crisis is looming, with the World Food Program saying it's provided food to more than 65,000 people and estimating a further 25,000 are in need of help.


Those refugees are mostly Muslim Rohingyas who flee to neighbouring Bangladesh - which already has a population of stateless Rohingya refugees.

Bangkok-based photographer Greg Constantine has been photographing those refugees for a number of years and he's releasing a book of those photographs in a collection called "Exiled to Nowhere: Burma's Rohingya".

Presenter: Wayne Shields

Speaker: Greg Constantine, photographer


CONSTANTINE: I've been photographing the Rohingya in Bangladesh since 2006, so the photographs in the book, "Exiled to Nowhere", were taken over the course of eight different trips to southern Bangladesh from 2006 until the very beginning of this year. The last trip that I made was in February 2012.

SHIELDS: Ok Greg so maybe a little bit of background prior to this current conflict in western Burma, which has led to a lot of Rohingya moving to Bangladesh. But the people that you were taking these photos of, how did they mainly end up there?

CONSTANTINE: Over the past 40 years there's been really a history and a legacy of persecution of the Rohingya minority group, particularly in north Rakhine state, which is a series of townships in Rakhine where the recent violence has been taking place. And over the past 40 years there's been several different waves of persecution of the Rohingya in Burma, and that has openly ended up forcing a lot of people outside of their home country and fleeing to Bangladesh. And over the course of the years the last big wave was 1991-92, and since then several hundred if not thousands of Rohingya trickle over the Burmese-Bangladesh border every single year, pretty much seeking sanctuary from the various forms of abuse that they face at the hands of the Burmese government.

SHIELDS: So how many Rohingya do you think are now in Bangladesh?

CONSTANTINE: I don't think anybody particularly knows all the strict figure of how many people live there. But the estimates range anywhere from 200 to 300-thousand people from this particular group Rohingya live in southern Bangladesh, pretty much clandestinely, there is probably 29 to 30-thousand officially recognised Rohingya refugees who live in two UNHCR monitored and administered refugee camps. But the other 200, 250-thousand are people who are not recognised by the Bangladesh government as being refugees, and they basically eke away a hand-to-mouth existence in southern Bangladesh.

SHIELDS: Late last year the new government of Burma agreed to take back registered Rohingya refugees, and since then as we've mentioned the mood has changed and more Rohingya want to leave Burma. You've been there on the ground, what do these people go through when they decide to set off for Bangladesh?

CONSTANTINE: Well one thing to make clear is that the area where most of the Rohingya live in Burma, in north Rakhine, is completely closed off to pretty much everyone, for the exception of some larger international organisations. North Rakhine is completely isolated and closed off to the press, to the media, to tourists, I mean it really is a locked down area of Burma. And so getting into north Rakhine and being able to photograph and tell the story of the Rohingya there is pretty much impossible. So my method has been to try to spend as much time in southern Bangladesh over the years to get the stories of people who have been coming out of Burma. And the problems that Rohingya face in Burma are numerous from forced labour to arbitrary land seizure to extortion and heavy taxes to even heavy restrictions on the right to get married, is probably one of the most extreme cases in the sense that Rohingya who want to get married in north Rakhine actually have to obtain formal permission from the local authorities, which is called an Nasaka. And a lot of these administrative kind of procedures that the Burmese government has put in place over the past 20 years or so really make life for the Rohingya miserable. And miserable enough to make the hard decision, do I stay here in Burma or for me to move forward with my life whether it be to be able to provide food for my family, because Rohingya cannot travel freely even from one village to the next in north Rakhine? Do I go to Bangladesh and live as an unrecognised person there and try to provide for my family there?

SHIELDS: Ok so you've mentioned it's a fairly miserable existence in Burma. How would you describe the condition of the people you found in Bangladesh?

CONSTANTINE: Well in my first trip in 2006 when I saw the conditions in which the Rohingya were living in the first question that came to my head, and I'm sure it's the first question that comes at least when I talk with other journalists who've spent time in southern Bangladesh, the first question that came to their mind was when you look at the conditions that they're living in in Bangladesh you wonder this is really, really horrible, how much worse could it actually be in Burma for them to make the conscious decision to actually leave and place themselves in this desperate situation in Bangladesh? So if that's any indication, the situation on both sides of the border really is quite desperate.

SHIELDS: Of the people that manage to find work, what type of work are they generally doing?

CONSTANTINE: Well they do manual labour jobs, and I think kind of the precarious part of all this is that the Rohingya, there are so many Rohingya in southern Bangladesh that they really have become an essential source of labour for a number of different businesses in economic sectors in southern Bangladesh, anywhere from 70 to 80 per cent of rickshaw drivers in a lot of towns in southern Bangladesh, in the Teknaf Cox's Bazar area are all Rohingya. The salt fields, the back-breaking work in many of the salt fields in southern Bangladesh are done by Rohingya. The fishing industry is basically incredibly reliant on the manual labour of Rohingya. You can look at pretty much any sector of the Bangladesh economy in southern Bangladesh, particularly in the Teknaf and Cox's Bazar area, and local Bangladeshi business owners are saving a lot of money by hiring Rohingya for rock bottom prices.

SHIELDS: Given that your focus was very much documenting how difficult life is for these people. How were you greeted or accepted by the Rohingya that you've taken photos of for your book?

CONSTANTINE: Well I think most of my trips are quite long and I've built relationships over the past six years with a number of different Rohingya in the community. I think that for myself there's always an element they have absolutely no reason to trust who I am as a foreigner or trust anyone for that matter, because I think that a lot of people from western governments to bodies in the UN have really failed this particular community. So they have every reason not to trust me. But I think that I spend a lot of time talking with people before I start taking pictures, and I think in general that a lot of the Rohingya that I talk to, they want their stories to be heard because they have so little voice in the international community. There's not a very substantial Rohingya exiles kind of organised exiled community out there right now, it's growing. But I think that the Rohingya want people to know their story and I just happen to be one of the people helping to share that story with other people out there.

SHIELDS: Greg there doesn't appear to be any joy in the photographs that I've looked at, no pictures of children smiling or laughing, that's obviously a conscious decision that you've made. But there must have been some joy?

CONSTANTINE: Well yeah, I mean I think the fact is that kids are kids, and I think that children in a lot of ways, specifically little children, they don't particularly understand the gravity of the situation in which they're existing in. So there's always moments that you're going to find a kid flying a kite, or find kids just being kids. But the reality of it is that there is an equal amount of situations in which I've met children who are Rohingya who didn't have smiles on their faces. And I think that when you see kids who don't have smiles on their faces and aren't being kids, then you really realise how serious the situation is, because the weight of a community's situation and desperation has now been kind of transferred over on to the shoulders of the child, and that to me is a pretty dramatic thing. I think it's a really good indicator of how desperate a situation is, and hence the reason why the particular photographs that I've chosen appear in my book.

SHIELDS: They say that every picture tells a story, is there a particular personal story that touched you that you could share with us?

CONSTANTINE: Well I think there's a number of stories that have left an impact on me over the years. I wouldn't particularly want to share one in particular, but I think that one of the big things for me has been talking to youth, people anywhere from the age of 25 to 18 who are Rohingya, and I think that as of right now or over the recent years, one of the probably the primary reason why Rohingya youth end up fleeing from Burma into Bangladesh is not so much because of violence, and not so much because of forced labour, but it's really because I would hear these stories over and over and over and over again, is the restrictions on marriage, and basically how young Rohingya who want to lead a normal life, get married, start families, are prevented from doing so because of this web of administrative restrictions that are put specifically on the Rohingya community, which makes them end up really realising if I want to move forward with my life, there's no way that I can do it here in my homeland, because the Burmese government is now allowing me to do things that normal human beings are able to do, which is get married and start a family. And because of that, they end up, that's the primary reason why people, why youth I think end up leaving north Rakhine and going to Bangladesh to seek sanctuary. Those are the kinds of stories I think that have really left a profound imprint on my mind, many of them are quite personal, but these are the kind of stories that people would share with me. And that I'm trying to share with people in this book through the voices of the Rohingya that are in this book as well.

SHIELDS: Alright Greg you're launching it this week, if people want to know more give us some website and social media details so they can have a closer look?

CONSTANTINE: Yeah a website was just launched of the project, it's www.exiledtonowhere.com. People can get a lot of information about the Rohingya, about the book on the website. There's links on there as well about how to purchase the book. My Rohingya work is only a chapter of a larger project that I've been working on for six years called Nowhere People, which basically documents the consequences that the denial of citizenship and statelessness have on ethnic minority groups all around the world. And the Rohingya is probably one of the more extreme examples of the consequences that statelessness has on a community. So people can also visit, www.nowherepeople.org to also find out not only more about the Rohingya, but about the global phenomenon of statelessness, which it really is becoming a global crisis in the sense that over 12-million people, according to the UN worldwide are without a nationality or denied citizenship and really belong to no country in the world.

Dangerous Waters for Burma's Rohingya Minority

Monday 25 June 2012
John Sparks

Asia Correspondent

As Burma's rulers claim the country is embracing democracy, Asia correspondent John Sparks reports on the perilous attempts of native Rohingya people to seek refuge in Bangladesh.

At the end of a jetty in the town of Teknaf in Bangladesh, the sound of misery rose up above the wind and the waves. 140 men and boys were caught by the coastguard at first light, and a camera team filmed as they pleaded and prayed for their lives.

After weeks of violence in north west Burma, members of that country's Muslim minority, also known as the "Rohingya", are trying to flee. But no one wants them. We filmed as members of the Bangladesh coastguard handed out water and packs or rice and bread rolls before ordering them back onto their boats.

They were a sorry-looking group, many of whom were crying uncontrollably. Their boats were leaky and badly overloaded, but it wasn't the voyage they men fear most - they are petrified of returning to Burma.

"They'll kill me," said one man who had to be dragged on a boat. Our camera team heard the reply from a member of the coast guard: "Allah will save you. Now go back."

In Burma's Rakhine state, the fires have been burning for several weeks now. Homes have been raised and lives taken by hate filled mobs. Ethnic Buddhists and the Muslim Rohingya blame each other for the violence, but hard facts are difficult to come by.

International NGOs have pulled their staff out - too dangerous they say - while Burma's government refuses to let independent observers in. The result is an information vacuum - no-one knows what the death toll or how many have escaped the violence.

The United Nations says 90,000 people have been displaced by the violence but they have little more than guesswork to rely on. The head of the UNHCR in Bangladesh, Craig Saunders told us: "It is very, very difficult to get an accurate picture of what is actually going on."

Information is scarce, but our camera team found people willing to talk. They spoke to Rohingya refugees who'd made the crossing to Bangladesh. Some have hidden in farmers' shacks. Others have been taken in by sympathetic locals - and most were seemed deeply traumatised.

One illegal entrant, called Shahara, said: "My sisters, brothers and other relatives were burnt alive. They burnt my own children. We couldn't bear it any more so we came to Bangladesh. The coastguard turned us back three times - and we floated at sea for four days and four nights. Then we managed to sneak in. Three of our children were burnt to death in Burma. Another two died in the boat getting here."

Her husband Mohammad told us that local policemen and members of the military in Burma had sided with the ethnic Buddhists - participating in attacks on Muslims. He said he saw a Burmese helicopter attack boats packed with refugees: "There were three boats together when we set off - and another three followed us. The three boats that lagged behind where attacked by a helicopter and caught fire."

He thinks almost 50 people were killed, adding: "We saw something reddish fall on the boats and instantly they exploded into flames."

A regional official in Burma today denied this allegation, pointing out that there was "only one" helicopter in Rakhine state which is "unarmed".

We don't know what happened to the men and the boys we filmed on the jetty in Teknaf.

A local contact said five of the boats, pushed back into the sea, had disappeared by the next morning - but like much of the tesitmony we've heard, we have been unable to verify this.

Still, events in Burma are a catastrophe for the Rohingya, a little-known group of people who nobody seems to want. Only dialogue and generosity and human decency will prevent further loss of life.

No way home for Myanmar's Rohingya

The recent inter-ethnic riots between Rakhine and Rohingya communities in Myanmar highlight some of the major human security issues the country must face as it embarks on democratization and peace-building processes.

While there are no questions asked about the citizenship of 135 officially recognized ethnic groups across Myanmar, the majority of which straddle the country's borderlands with India, Bangladesh, China and Thailand, the Rohingya are viewed by the state as outsiders.

The Rohingya have lived in the border region between Bangladesh and Myanmar for generations, but as the aftermath of the riots shows, Myanmar citizens - elites and commoners alike - hold  little sympathy for their stateless plight.

A typical post-colonial "indigene-settler" dispute exists in Rakhine state. The Buddhist Rakhines consider themselves as the original inhabitants of the land and perceive the Muslim Rohingya as "Bengali settlers". The Rohingya make conflicting historical claims to their rights as Myanmar citizens.

The recent tensions between the two communities escalated after the horrific rape and killing of a Rakhine girl in Kyat Ni Maw on May 28. Photos of her brutalized corpse were disseminated on the Internet, shortly after which news stations reported that three Rohingya were detained as suspects in her murder.

This prompted hundreds of Rakhines to rally against the crime in front of a police station and the local administrative agency of Rakhine state. Days later, on June 3, a group of Rakhines turned to vigilante justice when they reportedly killed nine Rohingya in a revenge attack on bus passengers in Taung Kote, Rakhine state.

Angered by the local media's slanted reporting of the murder and its provocative references to the Rohingya as kala, Rohingya in Yangon staged their own protests.

Although the word kala derives from the Pali word meaning "noble", it also means "black" in the Hindi language.The term is associated with racist connotations in the Burmese language, and is often used to refer to outsiders from the subcontinent, including Bangladeshis, Indians, Nepalis, Sri Lankans and Pakistanis.

To Rohingya, being called kala is to deny their historical connection to Rakhine state. The word "Rohingya" derives from the word "Rakhine", evidence of their connection to the land, Rohingya claim.

The Rohingya's protest over kala references also reflects their frustration over their official exclusion from Myanmar society. As the country's democratic reforms move ahead, many disfranchised Rohingya hope to gain citizenship rights, but so far there are no indications this is in the cards.

Myanmar's 1982 Citizenship Law established that the Rohingya, along with several other communities such as the Gurkhas (an ethnic community with historical links to Nepal), were not among the 135 officially recognized ethnic groups in Myanmar entitled to citizenship.

Myanmar's next census is scheduled for 2013, but no changes in the Rohingya's status are likely given that even the country's most respected leaders are approaching the issue with caution in the wake of the recent riots. Pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi said recently that "the problem should be tackled by fair application of the law", presumably the already standing Citizenship Law.

Ko Ko Gyi, an icon from the 1988 pro-democracy protests brutally suppressed by the military and until recently a prominent political prisoner, has openly opposed the Rohingya gaining citizenship. He also implied that sympathetic foreigners should stay out of the issue, in line with the military's long-held view on the matter.

"Now it is time that we announce our view on the Rohingya clearly. The Rohingya are not one of the ethnic groups of Myanmar at all. We see that the riots happening currently in Buthedaung and Maungdaw of [Rakhine] state are because of the illegal immigrants from Bangladesh called Rohingya and the mischievous provocations of some international communities," Ko Ko Gyi said.

"Therefore, such interfering efforts by some powerful nations on this issue without fully understanding the ethnic groups and other situations of Burma will be viewed as offending the sovereignty of our nation."

Empowered by Myanmar's recent lifting of restrictions on the Internet, citizens now freely communicate on social-media networks such as Facebook. Many have used racially charged language about the Rohingya that previously would have been banned or censored.

Their online postings have highlighted grassroots perceptions among Burmans that the Rohingya should not be considered citizens of Myanmar. Not only are the Rohingya referred to askala on these posts, but they are also being viewed as "terrorists".

One representative post, for example, read: "We have a right of self-defense. I hope DASSK [Daw Aung San Suu Kyi] would understand that this is not bullying the minority. They are not a minority anyway. This is a sovereignty issue and this is just terrorism and they are evil enemies of freedom."

By mid-June, the government had declared martial law and imposed a curfew in several districts of Rakhine state. More than 80 have been killed and thousands of homes torched since the clashes first erupted. Sporadic violence has continued since the imposition of emergency rule over the area.

More than 800,000 Rohingya reside in Myanmar, but the violence is pushing a new wave of refugees into Bangladesh. The United Nations estimated there were already 300,000 Rohingya living in refugee camps in Bangladesh, many of whom fled earlier rounds of state suppression against their communities in Myanmar.

Myanmar and Bangladesh will hold talks about the Rohingya situation in early July - Myanmar's President Thein Sein is due to start a three-day visit to Bangladesh on July 15. Some hope the persecuted minority will be granted some sort of quasi-citizenship after the talks. If this should fail, then the Rohingya will remain in a legal and physical limbo hoping for refugee status somewhere abroad.

Jacob Zenn is an international-affairs analyst based in Washington, DC, who formerly worked at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Malaysia.

Arakan Conflict: The Rates of Death and Displacement Can Be Much Higher

Yangon – The Arakan conflict in western Burma might have taken many more lives than the official report of 50 plus deaths. According to sources from Arakan state, more Rohingyas have been killed, but an exact number of deaths and displaced people is difficult to obtain as the government has barred journalists and relief organizations from visiting various places.

According to a letter submitted to a Member of Parliament U Shwe Maung by a Muslim community representative from the town of Sittwe, 159 Rohingyas were killed and 1,240 people are missing. The list that accounts for the Sittwe area from June 9 to 18 shows that 800 people have been injured (bullet and knife wounds). The list also shows that 94,613 Rohingya minority people have been displaced.

An email exchange between Rohingya activists in Thailand and Europe indicates, however, that the actual numbers are much higher.

A freelance reporter, who remains to be anonymous, predicts that Rohingya people in places where journalists are denied access to might be facing severe treatments including extra judicial killings and forced relocation.

Information shows that Border Administration Force (or Na Sa Ka) and security police have been raiding the homes of the Rohingyas, randomly shooting people, and secretly disposing bodies.

A Rohingya youth in Germany told MMSY News that he lost three relatives in Sittwe and that one is still missing. He added that Muslims’ homes are being bulldozed in the town of Sittwe.

Mg Win, a Rohingya migrant worker in Bangkok whose family lives in Sittwe, said, “People have been taken away, but they were not told where they have been taken to”.

The Burmese media, especially the domestic Burmese language journals, including Weekly Eleven, the Voice, and 7Days News have been reporting that Rohingyas are burning down their own homes.

Mg Win complaints, however, that the media reports are not accurate as houses are being burnt down by ethnic Rakhines and authorities.

Win Than, a migrant woman in Bangkok, agrees with Mg Win. She said her house in Sittwe was burnt down, and her family has been living in her grandparents’ village. She added that Na Sa Ka and security police are forcing Rohingyas to sign that they burnt down their own homes.

Although the scene in Sittwe seems calm presently, widespread but silent killing and house burning are still happening in various places. Rohingyas are specifically targeted by the authorities. “Even in Sittwe, Muslims (not just ethnic Rohingyas) are being forced out of their homes,” said Win Than.

Families who lost their family registration papers due to fire are being arrested. Burmese authorities are charging them with illegal entry without carefully examining whether they are residents or illegal immigrants.

Rohingya women have been targeted for rape as well. On June 15th, Na Sa Ka and security police located in the Maungdaw township raped five women between the ages of 14 and 35.

During the climax of the conflict, entire Rohingya villages were burnt down by Na Sa Ka. People were killed in their own homes; they could not leave due to Curfew. The bodies were transported by military trucks.

When sources were asked why the Rohingya side is still not able to provide photos or evidence of killing and burning experienced by the Rohingya, the sources said that it is difficult for Rohingyas to get photos. Many are still hiding in their houses as they have been shot as soon as they step outside their homes. Taking photos of the incidents and/or communicating information to outside world is virtually impossible.

Meanwhile, journalists and relief organizations are not allowed to freely collect information in Arakan state. The actual extent of killing, displacement, and injuries (estimated to be at a higher rate than previously disclosed) will continue to be unknown to the public.

On June 22nd, the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) warned the public that the Arakan state could face “severe humanitarian crisis” due to the conflict.

Arakan Roit News update on June 25, 2012

Akyab (Sittwe):

There are five Rohingya villages that were not burned down yet. Rohingya people from other villages those homes were burned down into ashes or destroyed have been taking shelter in the said villages. So far, a group of Rakhine racist mobs have been surrounding the villages with lethal weapons such as— knives, sticks, swords— though the armies were deployed in Akyab. Few Rohingyas were sneaking out in fear of death and the rest are staying to face whatever happens to them at night, according to an elder from Akyab.

So far, there is no international representative to monitor the situation. The UN representative sent to Burma last week was taken to the military’s selected places, not to original places of Rohingya villages where people have been locked in the homes, where food is quickly running out in that areas and no international journalists are able to cover the situation, he more add.

The government sent a few Burmese military personnel to protect in those villages, is only watching them. This is a shame.

What is happening in the Arakan is not a communal riot and it is a controlled genocide? We urge the international community to force Burma to allow International observers and media personal, which appear to be the only way to stop the ongoing genocide, said a Rohingya leader from Akyab.

“In Akyab only, over 30,000 Rohingya Muslims become homeless due to burning homes by police and Hluntin accompanied by a group of Rakhines mob. The security forces totally give security to the Rakhine people while they were torching the homes of Rohingyas or Rohingya villages. The security forces shot on fire to the villagers while they protected their homes from torching by Rakhine mobs. The security forces killed and wounded many villagers along with Rakhines racists and many women including girl were raped.”

No Rohingya can go out due to curfew order, if any one is found out side of the home or village, he/she can be shot dead. Most affected villages are East and west Barsara village, Rohingya Para (old market of Mawlake), Nazir Para including seven small villages. Half of the villagers were killed accompanied by wounded. This is very difficult to communicate each other in Akyab and to counts the dead bodies, missing people and wounded persons are very difficult as the security personnel were taking the dead bodies with them where the arrested persons are unknown where the arrestees are, said a ward administration member.

“About 2,000 villagers had been killed from Nazir Para only by police, Hluntin and Rakhine mobs,” according to the villagers.

Maungdaw Township:

Fake Army – Rakhine (Settler) – rob Rohingya village in Maungdaw

Today, at about 4:00pm, a group of Natala villagers — Rakhine (settlers) who were brought from Barisal town of Bangladesh by Military intelligence in 1980 and settled in Bagonena village east side – with the uniforms of army, numbering in 15 with two guns and lethal weapons entered the Nyaung Chaung Village of Maungdaw Township and try to loot the villager – Abul Kalam’s house- where he realized that the army was fake and shouted for help. Hearing the hue and cry, the villagers rushed to the spot and Bangladeshi Rakhines run away from the spot seeing the villagers approaching. However, they fired to the villagers wounding three villagers, said villagers from Nyaung Chaung.

The village administration officer informed to the three miles camp about the incident, but the Nasaka came lately and sent two wounded villagers to the Maungdaw hospital and the another one was given fast aid.

The villagers now believe that all the robberies and looting in the villages of Nurullah para and Bagonena were committed by Natala villagers after pretending as army.
Another thing is very serious matter that is concerned authority equipped the Natala villagers to harass the Rohingya villagers.

Forced signature

Today, Nasaka from three miles camp of Maungdaw town forcibly took signature from a current village Administration officer of Myothugyi village of Maungdaw, in which 50 villagers were involved in the recent communal riots. The authority intends to extort money from the listed villagers and to arrest some of them who are not able to pay the money they demand.

Kill, loot and wounded
Today at about 11:00 am, a group of army and another group of Nasaka (Burma’s border security force) went to Sanda Para (village) and arrested 35 villagers, mostly young. The villagers were running away while the army was firing bullets to the villagers. However, two youths were killed on the spot and seven villagers were wounded. One of the wounded is a 12-year-old boy and a son of Mohamed Ali, age 80, was severely tortured by army after entering his house. The arrested villagers were brought to unknown place by truck, so the relatives and villagers are very sad regarding their fate.

Besides, today in the evening, 40 villagers from Khorza Bill south (Kanhpoo), mostly young villagers including Sayed Hussain and his brother were arrested by army/ Nasaka and were brought to the Nasaka camp. The Natala villagers who accompanied by the Nasaka and army looted four shops owned by Rohingyas and destroyed them.

 
Sittwe, Arakan State

4 Rohingya houses were burned down by Rakhine and authorities in Sittwe Mawleik Quarter.

60 Rohingya girls were selected and taken by government authorities from Aaung Min galar quarter, Sittwe since 22nd June Friday evening still don’t know where they are.

Many Rohingya houses lists were taken by immigration authorities. Burned down Rohingya villages will be provided to Rakhine according to authorities.


Remaining Rohingya villages and houses were forcefully removed from their houses by the authority from Sittwe town area and relocating them in the remote area of Sittwe according to BBC Burmese news.

Maungdaw Township, Arakan State

NSAKA warned villagers of Myo Thu Gyi, Maung Daw to provide them 20 million kyats before Wednesday. If the villagers cant provide the money by Wednesday , will arrest young people from the village and will rape young Rohingya girls ( Confirmed by villager).


Estimated 400 Muslim Rohingyas people from Maungdaw were arrested and shifted to Buthidaung Township to investigate due to the violence happened June 8, 2012.During the police custody, some unnamed six Rohingyas Muslims were died, our source said The dead bodies were not handed over to the next of kin. The authorities have been arresting randomly Muslims only and harshly investigating unrelated questions. Whereabouts of the dead bodies are still unknown.


A Twenty Six year old young man, Called Bashir son of Jamal, was killed by “NASAKA” in Nurulla Para village without any reason.

Rathadaung Town

10 people from Anunkprin village (Rathadaung Town) were being tortured to dead including some pregnant women, and from Nyaunpingyi village (Rathaedaung Town) there are 17 people( male and female )have already been tortured to dead. In the police custody in Anaukprin village, Some (21) arrested and taken away to unknown destination people’ names from Anaukprin village are as below mentioned.


1. U Yusoop (f) KasimAli, former village chairman

2. U AbduRahman@Maung Maung Win (f) Yusoop, current village chairman

3. U Ba Tin (f) Mohamed Alam, former Secretary, 70 years old

4. U Ali Akbar (f) Kalu, 60 years

5. Huson chay(f) Sayed, currently village council member

6. U Zayid Hussan (f) Dil Mohamed, 30 years

7. U Mamet Ali@ Maung Maung Khin(f) Dil Mohamed, 18 years

8. U Laydaryar (f)Mohammed

9. Mrs. Banu (f) Zawbaur

For the rest 12 more people, we don’t still have available information.
More than 15 selected Rohingya arrested in Buthidaung Township.

Additional Information

Aung Thaung USDP Minister brought some people from central Burma on 6th June to create riot in Arakan according to rioters relatives from Mittihla, Burma.(Unconfirmed).

Source : BROUK

Myanmar, Bangladesh leaders 'to discuss Rohingya'

YANGON (June 25, 2012): The leaders of Myanmar and Bangladesh will discuss the issue of Rohingya refugees and related unrest near their shared border next month, Bangladesh's ambassador in Yangon said Monday.

The topic will be on the agenda when Myanmar President Thein Sein travels to Bangladesh from July 15-17 to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Major General Anup Kumar Chakma told AFP.

"It is expected the Myanmar refugee issue will be discussed with more seriousness this time," he said.

"Bangladesh supports all actions (and) measures that are being taken by Myanmar to restore normalcy in Rakhine State as early as possible."

Myanmar government officials said they were unable to confirm the planned trip.

Myanmar's Rakhine state, bordering Bangladesh, has been rocked by rioting, arson and a cycle of revenge attacks involving Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya this month, prompting growing international concern.

More than 80 people have been killed in the violence, with sporadic outbreaks of violence still occurring, according to the Myanmar government, which has placed the whole of Rakhine state under emergency rule.

"The overall situation in Sittwe district is under control although the curfew is still in force," he said by telephone.

About 800,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar, according to the UN, which views them as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

In recent weeks Bangladesh has turned away hundreds of Rohingya Muslims fleeing the violence in Myanmar despite pressure from the United States and rights groups to grant them refuge.

The impoverished South Asian country is already home to a Rohingya refugee population estimated at 300,000.

Speaking a Bengali dialect similar to one in southeast Bangladesh, the Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants by the Myanmar government and many Burmese, prompting many to attempt to flee to third countries in rickety boats.