Rohingya Muslim killed in Buthidaung jail

Buthidaung, Arakan State: A Rohingya Muslim was killed in tortured by the concerned authorities in jail of Buthidaung on September 11, said a businessman on condition of anonymity. 

“He was arrested from Maungdaw Township by the Nasaka personnel over allegation two years ago.” 

The dead body was identified as Moulvi Mohammed Rafique son of Gul Mohamed, hailed from Gudu Sora of Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, Burma. 

According to a reliable source, Rafique had completed his jail term over two years in the Buthidaung jail. 

The source also said, he was severely tortured and beaten up furiously by the concerned authorities in the jail after occurred communal violence between Rakhines and Rohingyas. There were some spots in the dead body’s face and whole body. 

Like Rafique, many Rohingya Muslim prisoners were severely tortured and killed by the concerned authorities and buried without knowledge of their relatives during the communal violence, different sources said. 

However, the dead body was not handed over to his family members by the Burmese authority, but he was buried in a Rohingya cemetery nearby Buthidaung jail, a villager elder told at Kaladanpress. 

The prisoners are now languishing in the critical condition. They are suffering from food, medical assistance and etc. They can’t bathe every day, but they can bathe once in a week and the water is very limited. The prisoners are provided food with Dal very imperfect twice a day, but no curry and no breakfast. So, many prisoners are suffering of skin diseases and food in the jail, said a man not to mention his name. 

The man also said, the Rohingya prisoners had been severely tortured and beaten up by the concerned authorities since a month after arrest in communal violence. During the torturing, the concerned authorities ask, how to feel “Bangli Kala”? They (prisoners) could not talk with each other inside the jail before. Now, they can talk little bit with other there. 

According to police and Hluntin from Maungdaw Township, about 450 prisoners are detained in the jail since (June the riot was occurred in Maungdaw. However, according to SBTO, of Buthidaung, over 880 prisoners are detained in the jail. 

The situation of Maungdaw: 

On September 16 at about 2:00 am, a group of Nasaka personnel (Burma’s border security force) from 3-mile went to Khanda Para (village tract) of Maungdaw township and arrested three Rohingyas from the houses, said a villager. 

The arrested were identified as Younus son of Abdul Karim, Abdul Latif son of Abdur Rahim and Kasim, they belong to Khanda Para village of Maungdaw township, Arakan state, Burma. 

They were arrested by the Nasaka personnel at night without giving any reason. The Nasaka personnel also destroyed Younus’s house. 

According to sources, Nasaka personnel’s’ intention was to loot houses and rape women, but they failed. So, they were arrested by the Nasaka personnel. Now, they are detained in the Nasaka camp in 3-mile. 

Sources also said, many Rohingya Muslims have been arbitrary arrested and harassed by the Nasaka personnel, Hluntin and police over allegation, but the persecution is not stopped after US team and the Foreign Minister of Turkey visited in Arakan State, Burma. The persecution is increasing and the situation is worse day by day.

ICAPP makes clear Dhaka's stand on Rohingya issue

ICAPP vice chairman Abdul Matin Khasru has made clear Bangladesh's stand on the Rohingya issue that Dhaka would not accept any more Rohingya refugee, reports BSS.

"Bangladesh could no longer afford to accept any more Rohingya refugee from Myanmar," Mr Matin, also MP and Awami League law secretary, said while holding meetings with top leaders of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the National League for Democracy (NLD) during their visit to Myanmar from September 11-13.

The delegation held meetings with NLD Chairman and Member of Myanmar Parliament Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar parliament speaker Thura U Shwe Mann and USDP Secretary General U Htay Oo in Myanmar's new capital Nay Pyi Taw.

During the meeting with Suu Kyi, the Special Mission of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) congratulated Aung San Suu Kyi on her party's victory in the last by-elections and especially on her becoming MP of Myanmar. 

During the meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, Mr Matin informed her about Bangladesh's position about preventing the influx of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. 

"They are neither recognised by Myanmar nor Bangladesh as their citizens and they are now stateless in the world of God", he said. 

Mr Matin appreciated the actions and measures being taken by Myanmar in the Rakhine state and also Kyi's statement regarding the need for reviewing the Myanmar Citizenship Law of 1982. 

He hoped that the untold miseries of these stateless people of the Rakhine state would lessen to a great extent on review of the citizenship law and action taken thereafter,. 

He conveyed greetings of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and invited her (Suu Kyi) on behalf of the Bangladesh premier to visit Bangladesh.

Suu Kyi also stated that she was very concerned about the situation in the Rakhine state, especially because it had been happening from time to time. 

She felt the need for looking at such untoward events pragmatically and for taking practical measures including the need for justice being done to all. 

Mentioning the porous border between Myanmar and Bangladesh, she stressed the need for ensuring more vigilance and security at the borders to prevent cross-border movement.

Humanitarian mission for Rohingya ‘not enough’

The humanitarian mission to Myanmar should be further empowered by having the Indonesian government exert political pressure on Myanmar in order to ensure the protection of the Rohingya Muslims, lawyers have said.

“We are sending them logistical aid, treating them as though they were victims of natural disasters, when what they need most is legal status, adequate livelihoods and a stable future,” Mahendradatta, one of a team of Muslim lawyers, said in Jakarta on Saturday.

“The most significant problem is their legal status, and Indonesia’s government should put more pressure on the Myanmar government to grant them citizenship,” he added.

According to data from the Foreign Ministry, 394 Rohingya have sought refugee status in Indonesia, with 124 of them ready to settle in other third countries. 

The remaining 270 displaced persons are being sheltered at a number of refugee camps in the country.

According to Mahendradatta, the Indonesian government cannot offer them citizenship because the law does not allow refugees to apply for citizenship.

“These people have no legal status. They can’t get jobs. They can’t own land. It is as if they were living dead,” Mahendradatta said.

“The only way is to force the Myanmar government to give them legal status, and to ensure their security as citizens,” he added.

Meanwhile, some of the Rohingya refugees who are in Indonesia have expressed their refusal to return home, fearing the ongoing dispute between the Muslims and the Buddhist majority.

Farouk Husein, 32, arrived in Medan, North Sumatra, in December 2010 after traveling for months, having escaped from Rakhine state.

He and his children fled first to Bangladesh, then moved to Thailand and ended up arriving in Indonesia, where they are waiting to move on again to seek asylum.

“We are heartened by the fact that Indonesians have welcomed us so warmly, and we have been given security and aid. But, please don’t send us home. We are in the process of seeking asylum in another country,” Husein told The Jakarta Post.

“I would rather kill myself than return home and face that torture again,” he added.

Husein is one of 173 Rohingya refugees who are living in Medan. He said that his brother had been killed in a clash between Muslims and Buddhists in 1992.

“Some of our people were killed when they tried to get away; but when I fled to Bangladesh, they just let us go. It’s as if they no longer want us there in the country,” said Husein.

Muhammad Kasim, 35, a Rakhine Muslim who has been in Medan since 2010, said he had left Myanmar to seek a better future.

“We were living like animals. We had no legal status. We had identity cards but it was written on them that we were only living in Myanmar temporarily, even though we were born there,” Kasim said.

Last week, the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) signed a cooperation agreement with the Myanmarese Red Cross to provide financial and technical assistance for short- and long-term programs.

The PMI, chaired by former vice president Jusuf Kalla, had also sent personnel and humanitarian aid, comprising eight staff, 500 sanitary kits, 3,000 blankets and 10,000 sarongs, valued at more than US$100 million. (nad)

Asean solution for Rohingya plight

WHY is Asean silent on the issue of Rohingya Muslims, who have been suffering for centuries under the Myanmar army junta? Recently, they were told to leave the country to a third world nation willing to receive them. This is cruelty towards their own people and it seems that the world is just watching the injustice done to them, without any assistance, support or solution.

In June 2012, over 2000 people were displaced in sectarian violence in Myanmar, in which most victims were Muslims. The government promised a full investigation. Representatives from different religions and minorities condemned the atrocities inflicted on the Rohingya Muslims which is a serious human rights violation that the United Nations should stop immediately. 

In June 2012, 11 innocent Muslims were killed by the Burmese Army and the Buddhist mobs after bringing them down from a bus. A vehement protest was carried out in the Muslim majority province of Arakan, but the protesters fell victims to the tyranny of the mob and the army. People were reported killed and millions of homes destroyed in fires as Rohingyas and Buddhist-ethnic Arakanese clashed in western Myanmar.

Myanmar has a Buddhist majority. The Muslim minority in Myanmar are mostly the Rohingyas and the descendants of Muslim immigrants from India (including what is now Bangladesh) and China, as well as descendants of earlier Arab and Persian settlers. Indian Muslim were brought to Burma by the British to aid them in clerical work and business. After independence, many Muslims remained in the country. 

Over the years, thousands of Rohingyas have fled to Thailand. According to reports, there are roughly 111,000 refugees housed in 9 camps along the Thai-Myanmar border. In February 2009, there was evidence of refugees being towed to sea and abandoned and other reports of brutality by the Thai military in which Thailand's then prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said that there were "some instances" in which Rohingyas were pushed out to sea.

Will the present generation see the light of day? They are part of mankind, why then are we responding apathetically towards them? Asean must respond immediately to solve their issues. Please be sympathetic and empathetic towards the Rohingyas.