Tuesday 2 October 2012

Nasaka arrests three Rakhines for beating Rohingya fishermen in Maungdaw north


Maungdaw, Arakan State:  Burma border security force (Nasaka) personnel arrested three Rakhines who were beating Rohingya fishermen in Ywanyotaung village today, according to an official from Maungdaw.
“The Nasaka personnel from outpost camp 12 under Nasaka area number 5, received information of a group of Rakhines  are beating three Rohingya fishermen  in Ywanyotaung village, which was sent to Nasaka by village administration officer.”
The Nasaka personnel rushed to the area where the Rakhine group were beating the Rohingya fishermen,where the Nasaka arrested three Rakhines and other were fled  from the scene and ran away to the Rakhine village, according to an official of village administration office.
“The Nasaka had kept the arrested Rakhines in their outpost 12 for interrogation. The Nasaka officer found that three Rakhines – two from Bangladesh and one from Rathedaung- which was given by the arrestee.”
With this statement of arrestees, the authority didn’t know how many Rakhines were enter illegally in Maungdaw from Bangladesh and the concerned security forces didn’t know how many Rakhines had come to Maungdaw from other towns of Arakan.
The statement of arrestee Rakhines had given the picture that who are entering Burma from Bangladesh before and recently, that is Rakhines from Bangladesh not Rohingya from Bangladesh, said an elder from Maungdaw.
Similarly, the Immigration minister U Khin Ye told reporters after third round peace talk meeting with KNU and Thein Sein government, there are no illegal entering ( Rohingyas) in Arakan State after investigation and most of the Immigration officer are mostly Rakhines.
If the Immigration officers are Rakhines in Arakan ( Northern Arakan), how the Rohingya are entered illegally and holding fake ID card card.It May be possible for Rakhines from Bangladesh entered illegally and will hold ID cards as the officers are all Rakhines. The Rohingya who are facing so many restrictions in Arakan, the people from Bangladesh will not enter that place where no freedom is. They will move other countries- Middle East and Southeast Asian country –Malaysia for earning money.No jobs for Rohingya in Burma, how the Bangladesh people will come for jobs or to stay in the open jail, the elder more said.

Harassments increased in Maungdaw south

Maungdaw, Arakan State: The harassments are being increased in Maungdaw south against the Rohingya villagers by security forces since September 30, said a local elder on condition of anonymity.
‘On September 30, in the morning, a group of— army, Sarapa (military intelligence), Nasak (Burma’s border security force),— accompanied by some local Natala villagers went to Horsaraona  and Lamba Gona villages of Zawmatet village tract and tried to arrest the villagers. So the villagers ran away and the security forces beaten up some 30 women including Ms Madani and entered the house  looting  some gold, money, clothes and .destroyed household things.  They looted 35 cows, and over 50 goats from the village. They entered at least 40 houses and destroyed cooking pots and some new ones were taken away by them. They also arrest some villagers including Fazal Haque and were brought to the Nasaka camp. The Natakla villagers were holding long swords during the operation period of security forces.”
The same security forces also entered the Marulla Para (village) of Maungdaw south and took away eight family lists by Nasaka and asked the female villagers to choose it by giving money when their husbands arrived from hiding places, said a local elder.
They also went to Sarcombo village and its market and chased the villagers to arrest, but one villager named Fazal Ahmed (45) was arrested by the Nasaka. They also beaten up women villagers as they did not find their husbands. A woman from this village was severely beaten up by the security force as she barred them to take away her three cows. They also took away seven cows from the village, said  a local villager
Besides, the security forces entered the Kunna Para (village), and tried to arrest the villagers and insulted the females and some villagers were arrested, according to a youth from the village.
According to villagers, about 300 youths are being trained at Bawli Bazar army camp of Maungdaw Townshipto since last September. After training, they will be appointed   to Rakhine villages as Militants. The training is going from 8 am to 4pm. They will be equipped after training.   This makes Rohingya villagers frighten.

Rohingya females appeal for their properties to traveler on Maungdaw-Alay Than Kyaw highway


Maungdaw, Arakan State: Rohingya females from Maungdaw south were stopping vehicles to give informations of their properties which was looted by security forces and Rakhines (New settler) today, according to a school teacher from Maungdaw south.
“The Rohingya females – more than three hundreds- were geathers on the Roadside of Maungdaw – Alay Than Kyaw highway where they stopped every vehicles which ply on the road and sending their appeal massage to the people and official about looting their property.”
The females stopped a vehicle of Burma border security force (Nasaka)  by standing in the middle of road as the authority vehicles are not stop on the road expect their will.  After stopping the vehicle, the females group asked to the officer, to give protection of their properties which have been looting by security force – Nasaka, police, army, Hluntin ( riot police)and Rakhines- and their male family members are not able to stay in the home for fear of arrest. So, the females wanted for security as the Nasaka are controlling the security in the areas before and now, according to a village youth.
“But, the Nasaka officer said to the females group not to mention the name Nasaka in the looting.”
“The male villagers ran away from their village for fear of arrest and the security forces beaten up some 30 women and entered the house  looting  some gold, money, clothes and .destroyed household things.  The security forces looted 35 cows, and over 50 goats from the Zawmatact village tract. The security forces entered at least 40 houses and destroyed cooking pots and some new ones were taken away by them. The Natakla Rakhine villagers were holding long swords during the operation period of security forces.”
We need more voice from Rohingya community for security and role of Law in their areas. Protest the so called arrest warrant which was hold by police officer to extort money from  Rohingya community, said an elder from Maungdaw

Burmese president vows to tackle Rohingya issue

Chittagong, Bangladesh: Burmese President Thein Sein vowed UN leaders, would tackle ethnic unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in Arakan State which has raised widespread international concern, the UN  website stated  yesterday.
Thein Sein made the vow in a meeting with UN leader Ban Ki-moon at the end of the UN General Assembly summit, where Muslim leaders have led calls for action to help tens of thousands of Islamic followers displaced by the unrest.
Ban Ki-moon and Thein Sein discussed the fighting in Arakan “and the immediate and long-term perspectives to promote inter-communal harmony and address the root causes of the tension there,” said UN spokesman Martin Nesirky.
“The president confirmed the country would address the long-term ramifications of this question,” he said.
President Thein Sein said in June the government was only responsible for third generation Rohingyas whose families had arrived before independence in 1948 and that it was impossible to accept those who had ”illegally entered” Myanmar.
But, the Immigration minister U Khin Ye told reporters after third round peace talk meeting with KNU and Thein Sein government, there are no illegal entering in Arakan State after investigation and the person who born in Burma will hold citizen ( red) card as by born citizen and a persons who live in Burma since long times, we will give their third generation as citizen.
U Aung Min said that government had set up an independent commission on inquiry to investigate the violence between Rakhine Buddhist and Rohingya Muslims last week.
The Burmese leader vowed before the UN General Assembly that he would seek to tackle the problems in Arakan (Rakhine) state.
Meanwhile, the UN secretary-general yesterday urged the world’s largest Islamic body to “treat carefully” the issue of the stateless Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar because it could affect the reform process underway in the country,
Rights groups accused Burmese security forces of killing, raping and arresting Rohingyas after the riots.
An OIC committee set up to deal with the Rohingya issue met for the first time in New York this week and called for them to be given rights as citizens in Burma.
Burmese president is in a tight spot. Concessions towards the Rohingyas could prove unpopular among the general public, but perceived ill-treatment risks angering Western countries that have eased sanctions in response to human rights reforms.

Army seizes a truck with dead body near Molake ward of Akyab

Sittwe, arakan State: A truck with a Rakhine dead body was seized by patrol army personnel nearby Akyab University main campus adjacent to Molake Ward on September 29, in the morning, a trader from Akyab said on condition of anonymity.
“On suspicion, the patrol army personnel stop the truck while it was going to nearby Muslim village, searched the truck and found a dead body of a Rakhine. The army brought the truck to their camp with the people where they were detained. The dead body was handed over to the relatives or not, it is unknown.”
The dead body was brought to the Akyab university main campus nearby Rohingya village, Amla Para, Mowlake Para to throw it in the compound of university in the intention of that the Rakine was killed by Muslim Rohingyas, to mention it was threw by Rohingyas. By accusing the Muslim Rohingya villagers, they want to attack again the Rohingya villages—Mowlake, Handi Hola, Amla Para, and Hoshai Para —-like September 28 (Friday), event in Akyab. The Rakhine villagers and leaders of Akyab are not satisfying to that of Friday attempt to kill Rohingya villagers of Aung Mingala Quarter, Hoshai Para,and  Mowlake Para, he more added.
As a result, the Rakhine mobs will try to attack the remaining Rohingya villages in Akyab town. So, the lives of the Rohingya villagers are not safe. Rhingya villagers also do not trust on Burmese security forces such as— police, Hluntin, army though the army sometimes gave protection to the Rohingya people.
The similar case was recently happen in Maungdaw south. A Natala villager was dead at Mawra Waddi village of Maungdaw south and the Rakhine villagers tried to throw it nearby Rohingya village. But, Rohingya villagers have foiled the event in time. As a result, there was no untoward incident was happened.
Besides, in Akyab, on June, a Rakhine was arrested by Rohingya villagers and handed over to Myoma police station because of excessive collecting text from Rohingya shopkeepers. But, Rakhine mobs at Akyab accused the Rohingya villagers that the arrestee was killed by Rohingyas. Giving the reason, the Rakhine mobs tried to attack the Rohingya villagers, a village elder from Nazir Para said.
In addition, the dead body of Ms Thida Htwee was thrown to a nearby Muslim village at Kyauknimaw and accused the three Muslin youths including Thet Thet. They were accused that they had killed the Ms Thida Htwee after rape. But, according to the report of doctor, she was not raped. Really, the Rakhine leaders created the incident, and killed ten innocent Muslims in Taungupe on June 3 and continued so called sectarian violence in Arakan state, said a politician from Akyab.
As a result, the Rakhine community especially- RNDP, ALP, ALD members and other extremist Rakhines -  will create problems between two communities in any time to kill the Rohingya community. So there is no safety of Rohingya Muslims. Therefore, it is needed international security force immediately to protect Rohingyas, said a local leader from Maungdaw.

Rakhines and army attack a passenger bus on Maungdaw-Alay Than Kyaw highway

Maungdaw, Arakan State:  A passengers bus carrying  more than 35  Rohingyas- men, women and childrens- was attacked  by Rakhines and army today at about 2;30pm, according to an elder from Maungdaw.
“The passengers bus was coming from Inn Din village of Maungdaw south to Maungdaw  Township and the owner of bus is U Khin Zaw alias Shanuwas  son of master Abul Jamil  alias U Ba Maung.”
The bus was stopped by the army – the security forces for new settler (Natala) villagers-  Khaing Gyi  where most of their partner Rakhines – new settler of Khaing Gyi – were hiding near the check post. The army started checking the bus after stopping and the Rakhines were looting all the belonging of passengers.After that, both Rakhines and army started beating the passengers ( Rohingyas) who become seriously wounded. Some passengers ran ways from the bus and take shelter near Rohingya villages. The army and Rakhines destroyed the bus glasses and chairs, according to a villager.
“At last , the bus finally reach Maungdaw Township with some wounded Rohingya passengers  and reported to the concerned authority, but  no action was taking  to Rakhines  settler and army  till evening.”
Kaladan news tried to contact the District police station of Maungdaw, but no one give answer.
Besides, Oli Ahmeed son of Bodi Rahman, hailed from Pa Nyoung Bin Gyi ( Shaira) was beaten by Rakhine settler from Wethali village – near three miles Nasaka checked post- when  he  was coming from Ward number six ( 4 miles village), according to a villagers from Myothu Gyi village.
“No officers from three miles checked post were involved to save Oli Ahmed from Rakhines settler and he  was very serious position now.”
“Oli Ahmed was now in Maungdaw hospital  and getting treatment .”

Suu Kyi narrative on Rohingyas worrying: Analyst


The president of Myanmar under international pressure has, in his UN speech, promised to curb the human rights abuses against the Rohingya Muslims. 
The UN describes the Rohingya population as among the world's most persecuted people. The tension, violence and discrimination vents from the ethnic majority Rakhine Buddhists that view them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh although they have been native to Myanmar for centuries. 
Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace prize winner, has conspicuously remained silent on their plight, which has drawn international criticism. Tens of thousands of Rohingyas live in appalling conditions that has been forced upon them. 
Press TV has interviewed Mr. Raza Kazim of the Islamic Human Rights Commission in London about the repression and abuse of the Rohingyas and the lack of international response the issue has attracted. 
What follows is an approximate transcript of the interview. 
Press TV: Let's look at it in general, why do you think that it is continuing although there has been pressure especially from the Muslim nations and communities. In some cases it almost seems as if the government there in Myanmar is not really paying a whole lot of attention to it? 
Kazim: That's right… and the problem has been that people are turning a blind eye to what's actually going on - the powers that be, the focus, the media and so on has been very much different in terms of the way that people are looking at this. 
And I think one of the problems has been the way that Aung San Suu Kyi was made into a darling of the West, paraded around Western capitals and seen as if all the problems in Myanmar have gone away because she has been freed because her own narrative on the Rohingya Muslims was in itself quite worrying in terms of some of the parallels that you see with nationalist movements, which are not particularly taking into account the rights of minorities.
And when you have a leader, a so-called democratic leader, whose attitude is more nationalistic than actually recognizing that there are people, all people that need to have rights, then that becomes a problem. 
What’s happened as a result of that, people in the West are thinking this is something - the problem there, is in the process of going away, when in fact it's been exacerbated and become a lot worse because of her attitude. 
Press TV: What do you think, you're representing Islamic Human Rights Commission in London - What do you think needs to be done in order to put the pressure on the government there in order to get results for these Muslims? 
Kazim: I think we need to look at how and what influence of China in particular who has had a relationship in the past… what kind of pressure can be brought to bear from that side. 
I think there is also pressure that needs to be brought to bear on the idea of continuing to make sure that the boycott and sanctions against the Myanmar government continue - it's something that needs to be continued in that kind of narrative. 
Press TV: What about the amount of media attention or the lack thereof, especially in the corporate media - What do you see behind this, especially in the West, there is a very short term memory that if it is not repeated constantly it's almost as if it no longer exists - What is the reason behind that? 
Kazim: It's about an agenda… partly to do with resources; it's about making sure that the resources that the Western governments will have access to as a result of recognizing the government as it currently exists - giving favorable treatment in terms of having access to those resources. And that's one the most fundamental problems - that's an agenda of the government. 
And unfortunately media organizations are following the lines of the Western governments rather than actually critiquing it and analyzing the reasons for the stances that governments have taken. 
You know, when we talk having about a media that will question and see what the issues are for the stances that governments have taken, we don’t see that independence actually being carried out in terms of what is a responsibility of the media in the different Western countries. 
That problem is quite embedded within the culture of the media and it's something that if they're not going to be on message with, then they are going to be brought to book. And it's something that is continuing and that is what you see as a result of this - a lack of independent scrutiny of the actions of the Western government's with regards to this particular case.

Bangladesh in the Same Game- A Comparison with Arakan Violence By M.S. Anwar


Tuesday, 2nd October 2012 ,Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a longtime admirer of Burmese murderous regime and their political strategy of how to sustain the power and remain in power, unsurprisingly deployed a political strategy recently same to her Burmese counterparts’ (i.e. scapegoating the minorities). Before going further, it is very important to mention that she has always been hostile to one of the world’s most persecuted people, Rohingyas. And she is infamous for blocking the border for the escaping Rohingya victims and pushing them back to the sea.
A pre-planned and organized attack was carried out against Buddhist minority in Ramu, Cox’s Bazaar district, Bangladesh on Saturday night. The attack set ablaze or destroyed more than a dozen temples and monasteries and at least 50 homes. Besides, property was looted, including statues of the Buddha. According to Bangladesh media, the attack was in apparent retaliation for a picture of a burned Quran holy text tagged on the Facebook account of a Bangladeshi Buddhist called Uttam Barua by a Facebook ID “Insult Allah.” 
Unsurprisingly, Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir told reporters in Dhaka that "Rohingyas and political opponents of the government were also involved in the attacks." But how far is it true and believable? When you go inside and think deeply of Bangladesh political patterns, you will not be surprised but rather shocked. The whole attack was engineered by special Indian Intelligence Unit of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in coordination with Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI) under an operation named “Operation Tango.” 
Sheikh Hasina had known the whole game plot in advance to the violence. She had been briefed by the intelligence that the violence would help her to get the sympathy of Bangladesh minorities and hence they would become her vote bank in the election next year. She was also briefed that she could not take advantage over Rohingya issue politically because BNP is also of the same stand with her party over the issue. Therefore, it is the most proper time to carry out the attacks in the name of retaliation to the defaming Quran on Facebook as her opposition parties are protesting over anti-Islam movie and hence differing stands from her party. 
The attacks will not stop here. There will be many more attacks against the minorities coming and organized media to run a continuous news propaganda naming the violence as an effort to Islamize the hill area and the opposition parties specifically BNP is behind the communal attack.[1] Ridiculously, Sheikh Hasina who is attending UN General Assembly in US ordered the government to tighten the security and to protect the minority. She seems to be a perfect student of Burmese tyrannical and cunning regime. 
Many more similarities can be found besides these. But the differences are the political context and the level of freedom between Burma and Bangladesh. While in Burma, the main opposition has no power and stands over the violence in the violence against Rohingyas especially its leader DASSK, in Bangladesh, the main opposition party BNP has its own great political power and can speak up. While in Burma, Arakan is locked region where International national media and independent observers can’t get free access to, it is quite opposite in Bangladesh as it is a democratic country. 
Unfortunately, Rohingyas, a voiceless and defenseless people, has become a football who is getting kicked from net to net in the political match of Bangladesh and Burma. They are again unfairly and without any evidence dragged into the affairs of the violence by the Bangladesh government. It is known to the world that Bangladesh has pushed back the escaping Rohingya victims of Arakan violence. Those who managed to sneak into Bangladesh have no legal status to move around. In such situation, one should wonder how they would dare attack those minority people who have legal status in Bangladesh, which might exaggerate the violence against them in Arakan. Bangladesh government should stop playing insane and rather play good human beings. 
While the ruling governments in both Burma and Bangladesh playing filthy political games, minorities in the countries are paying high cost. Therefore, any kind of victimization or scapegoating of and violence against minorities whether politically or economically, no matter who or where they are, must be condemned and be brought to the end.

Divided town challenges Myanmar's democracy hopes


SITTWE, Myanmar--There are no Muslim faithful in most of this crumbling town's main mosques anymore, no Muslim students at its university. 
They're gone from the market, missing from the port, too terrified to walk on just about any street downtown. 
Three-and-a-half months after some of the bloodiest clashes in a generation between Myanmar's ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and stateless Muslims known as Rohingya left the western town of Sittwe in flames, nobody is quite sure when -- or even if -- the Rohingya will be allowed to resume the lives they once lived here. 
The conflict has fundamentally altered the demographic landscape of this coastal state capital, giving way to a disturbing policy of government-backed segregation that contrasts starkly with the democratic reforms Myanmar's leadership has promised the world since half a century of military rule ended last year. 
While the Rakhine can move freely, some 75,000 Rohingya have effectively been confined to a series of rural displaced camps outside Sittwe and a single downtown district they dare not leave for fear of being attacked. 
For the town's Muslim population, it's a life of exclusion that's separate, and anything but equal. 
"We're living like prisoners here," said Thant Sin, a Rohingya shopkeeper who has been holed up since June in the last Rohingya-dominated quarter of central Sittwe that wasn't burned down. 
Too afraid to leave, the 47-year-old cannot work anyway. The blue wooden doors of his shuttered pharmaceutical stall sit abandoned inside the city's main market -- a place only Rakhine are now allowed to enter. 
The crisis in western Myanmar goes back decades and is rooted in a highly controversial dispute over where the region's Muslim inhabitants are really from. Although many Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for generations, they are widely denigrated here as foreigners -- intruders who came from neighboring Bangladesh to steal scarce land. 
The U.N. estimates their number at 800,000. But the government does not count them as one of the country's 135 ethnic groups, and so -- like Bangladesh -- denies them citizenship. Human rights groups say racism also plays a role: Many Rohingya, who speak a distinct Bengali dialect and resemble Muslim Bangladeshis, have darker skin and are heavily discriminated against. 
In late May, tensions boiled over after the rape and murder of a Rakhine woman, allegedly by three Rohingya, in a town south of Sittwe. By mid-June, skirmishes between rival mobs carrying swords, spears and iron rods erupted across the region. 
Conservative estimates put the death toll at around 100 statewide, with 5,000 homes burned along with dozens of mosques and monasteries. 
Sittwe suffered more damage than most, and today blackened tracts of rubble-strewn land filled with knotted tree stumps are scattered everywhere. The largest tract, called Narzi, once was home to 10,000 Muslims. 
Human Rights Watch accused security forces of colluding with Rakhine mobs at the height of the mayhem, opening fire on Rohingya even as they struggled to douse the flames of their burning homes. 
Speaking to a delegation of visiting American diplomats earlier this month, Border Affairs Minister Lt. Gen. Thein Htay described Sittwe's new status quo. Drawing his finger across a city map, he said there are now "lines that cannot be crossed" by either side, or else "there will be aggression ... there will be disputes." 
"It's not what we want," he added with a polite smile. "But this is the reality we face." 
While police and soldiers are protecting mosques and guarding Rohingya in camps, there is much they cannot control. One group of 300 local Buddhist leaders, for example, issued pamphlets urging the Rakhine not to do business with the Rohingya or even talk to them. It is the only way, they say, to avert violence. 
Inside Sittwe's once mixed municipal hospital, a separate ward has been established to serve Muslim patients only; on a recent day, it was filled with just four patients whose families said they could only get there with police escorts. 
At the town's university, only Rakhine now attend. And at the main market, plastic identity cards are needed to enter: pink for shopkeepers, yellow for customers, none for Rohingya. 
The crisis has posed one of the most serious challenges yet to Thein Sein's nascent government, which declared a state of emergency and warned the unrest could threaten the country's nascent transition toward democracy if it spread. 
Although the clashes have been contained and an independent commission has been appointed to study the conflict and recommend solutions, the government has shown little political will to go further. 
The Rohingya are a deeply unpopular cause in Myanmar, where even opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and former political prisoners imprisoned by the army have failed to speak out on their behalf. In July, Thein Sein himself suggested the Rohingya should be sent to any other country willing to take them. 
"In that context, we're seeing them segregated into squalid camps, fleeing the country, and in some cases being rounded up and imprisoned," said Matthew Smith, a researcher for Human Rights Watch who authored a recent report for the New York-based group on the latest unrest. 
In places like Sittwe, "there is a risk of permanent segregation," Smith said. "None of this bodes well for the prospects of a multi-ethnic democracy." 
In the meantime, the government's own statistics indicate the crisis is worsening -- at least for the Rohingya. 
While the total number of displaced Rakhine statewide has declined from about 24,000 at the start of the crisis to 5,600 today, the number of displaced Rohingya has risen from 52,000 to 70,000, mostly in camps just outside Sittwe. 
The government has blamed the rise on Rohingya it says didn't lose homes but who are eager to gain access to aid handouts. Insecurity is also likely a factor, though. Amnesty International has accused authorities of detaining hundreds of Rohingya in a post-conflict crackdown aimed almost exclusively at Muslims. And in August, 3,500 people were displaced after new clashes saw nearly 600 homes burned in the town of Kyauktaw, according to the U.N. 
Elsewhere in Rakhine state, the army has resumed forced labor against Muslims, ordering villagers to cultivate the military's paddy fields, act as porters and rebuild destroyed homes, according to a report by the Arakan Project, an activist group. 
In Sittwe, mutual fear and distrust runs so high that most of the 7,000 Rohingya crammed inside a dilapidated quarter called Aung Mingalar have not set foot outside it since June. It's the last Muslim-inhabited block downtown, a tiny place that takes about five minutes to cross by foot. 
Thant Sin, the Rohingya shopkeeper who lives in Aung Mingalar, said the government delivers rice but getting almost everything else requires exorbitant bribes and connections. There is just one mosque. There are no clinics, medical care or schools, and Thant Sin is worried his savings will run out in weeks. 
The married father of five has been unable to open his market stall since authorities ordered it shut three months ago. One told him, "This for the Rakhine now," he recalled. 
"All we want to do is go back to work," he said. "The government is doing nothing to help us get our lives back." 
All four roads into Aung Mingalar are guarded by police, and outside, past the roadblocks of barbed wire and wood that divide the district from the rest of town, Rakhine walk freely -- sometimes yelling racial slurs or hurling stones from slingshots. 
Across the street, a 57-year-old Rakhine, Aye Myint, leaned back in a rusted metal chair and peered at a group of bearded Muslim men in Aung Mingalar. 
"I feel nothing for those people now," he said. "After what happened ... they cannot be trusted anymore. To tell the truth, we want them out of here." 
Hla Thain, the attorney general of Rakhine state, denied there was any official policy of forced segregation, saying security forces are deployed to protect both sides, not keep them apart. But he acknowledged that there were not enough police or soldiers to make the two communities feel safe, and that huge obstacles to reconciliation remain. 
"We want them to live together, that is our goal, but we can't force people to change," he said. "Anger is still running high. Neither side can forget that they lost family members, their homes." 
For now, he said, the government is studying every possibility to make life "normal" again. For example: having Rakhine students attend university in the morning, while Rohingya go each afternoon. 
Thein Htay, the border minister, was more blunt. 
"We may have to build another market center, another trading center, another port" for the Rohingya, he said, because it will be "very difficult otherwise."

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Maung daw, Arakan state, Myanmar (Burma)
I am an independent man who voted to humanitarian aid.