Some armed Rakhine miscreants robbed Rohingya fishermen in fishing Kaladan River in Kyauktaw Township on Monday, the reliable sources said.

The miscreants making their way from Kyauktan Rakhine village arrived in the middle of the river by boat, where the Rohingya fishermen were fishing. They pointed out their guns at the fishermen and robbed their fishes, fishing nets and money.

“The fishermen hail from Let Saung Kauk village in Kyauktaw Township. They were robbed by the armed Rakhine extremist at the gun-points. So, when the victim fishermen complaint to the Border Guard Police (BGP) based nearby Kyauktan village, the BGP rather scolded them than taking action against the armed miscreants” said local Rohingya in Kyauktaw Township.

The Kyauktan Rakhine village is situated to the east of the Kaladan River, whereas Let Saung Kauk is a Rohingya village located to the west of the river. The economically boycotted and crippled Rohingyas from the village hardly have any other means to survive but by means of fishing in the river.

A Rohingya village in Maungdaw Township has been under the assault by the Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) since Monday, according to the reliable local sources. 

The village called Nyaung Chaung (also known as Khadir Bil) in southern Maungdaw has come under the assault over the death of the in-charge of the village following the attacks on him and his bodyguard by two of the villagers.

It has been learnt that the two villagers have been arbitrarily accused by the Burmese authority of inciting violence in June 2012 and since then, subsequently being continuously chased down for arrest. The in-charge of the village has often cooperated with the authority in attempt to arrest the two villagers.

“The in-charge of the village, Maung Zakir; and his bodyguard, Zubair (son of) Taandu, were on their way back from helping the Border Guard Police in raiding Rohingya villages around 2:15AM on Monday. Meanwhile, the two people waiting stand by launched attacks on them.

Then, the BGP arrived at the village upon information. They sent both of them to the hospital. And in the hospital, the village in-charge passed away” said a local Rohingya on the condition of anonymity.

After his death, the BGP has been continuously assaulting Rohingya homes in the village and indiscriminately vandalizing them on pretext of searching for the culprits.

A Rohingya woman in the village said “around 5:00PM on Monday, around 40 BGP personnel from the camps at Three-Mile Area and Gawdusara village arrived at Khadir Bil village. They raided and vandalized many unconcerned homes at the village. And men in the village went into hiding in fear of the arbitrary arrests by the BGP. They harassed the women that remained at home.

They shouted that they would arrest any Rohingya man found in their way (guilty or not) as per the order by the BGP Commander in Maungdaw, Lieutenant Colonel Tin Ko Ko.”

The Bodygaurd of the in-charge survived from the attacks and gave statement that the attacks were his villagers.. Though the BGP has identified the culprits, they still raided their homes, looted every valuable property and destroyed the rest. They did similar things in the houses of many innocent people in the village.

As it usually happens, the villagers are worried that the BGP will arrest many innocent people under arbitrary allegations and rape women in the absence of the men in the village.

“Though they have not arrested any people not related to the incident, we are worried that they might do so because they have untold records of committing atrocities against us. We are worried they may commit rape against our women at the gun point in our absence.  

They are still carrying out the raids and behaving barbaric” an elderly Rohingya identified to be, ‘M,’ said.

By M.S. Anwar 

As Myanmar’s government is all set to resume the census on Rohingya population tomorrow, the Rohingyas in Arakan (Rakhine) State fear that they will be forced to accept ‘Bengali,’ instead of ‘Rohingya,’ as their ethnic identity.

During the nationwide census carried out in March and April last year, the Myanmar government took extremely brutal measures against the Rohingya people. However, the people were steadfast and still resisted from being forcibly classified as Bengalis.

The so-called citizenship verification process will be conducted according to 1982 Citizenship Law of Burma which will render the Rohingyas to be without the legitimate citizenship.

The local Rohingyas in Arakan view that the attempt by the Myanmar (Burmese) government to classify them as Bengalis is being made in direct response to the Resolution by United Nations (UN) to give full citizenship to the Rohingyas. The Burmese government is notorious for ignoring the international calls to respect the human rights or rather acting contrary and continuing committing crimes against humanity.

Once Rohingyas are verified as Bengalis by force, tortures or any means, the Burmese government can ignore the UN’s call and in turn, urge the UN to use Bengalis for Rohingyas in the international field.

The attempt by the Myanmar (Burmese) government to classify them as Bengalis is being made in direct response to the Resolution by United Nations (UN) to give full citizenship to the Rohingyas.

“We urge all our people, at home and abroad, to stand united and show solidarity at this critical time. Like we did to resist the forced classification of our people as Bengalis during March-April last year! It is a litmus test for us. Once we pass this test as a people or a nation, the government will have to act according to the call by the United Nations. And we will get back our full citizenship which we lost due to 1982 Citizenship Law” said an elder Rohingya in Maungdaw.  

As preliminary steps, the Burmese authority has already started posing threats to tortures, imprisonments or even death threats to the Rohingya people after linking them with the now non-existent rebel groups such as Rohingya Solidarity Organizations (*RSO).  Besides, the locals see the (so-called) citizenship verification process as an ethnic cleansing act by the Burmese government.

“Many Rohingyas have National Registration Cards (NRC or in Burmese). And their NRC numbers mentioned in the family registration list or the existing census documents of the government. Therefore, the authority is said to change the current family registration list with new ones so that no NRC numbers no remain on the official documents.

At the moment, if any Rohingya is on a journey or away from home for months during census, the authority truly write that he is on a journey. But this time, he/she is absent from home at the time of the census, the authority will permanently erase his/her from the official census documents. Consequently, he/she will not be able to come back home and live there legally. Hence, it is an obvious sign of ethnic cleansing.

Besides, it is said that the authority will list down the numbers of the Muslim Religious scholars separately” said a Rohingya Activist behalf of MYARF, a group of Human Rights Activists in Maungdaw.

On the other hand, during the recent visit by the Rakhine State’s Chief Minister, Maung Maung Ohn, and other government officials to the Thakkay Pyin village also known as Sakki Fara in Sittwe (Akyab), he asked Rohingyas to participate in their (self-coined) citizenship process according to 1982 Citizenship Law. He tried to coax Rohingya people using some sugar-coated words of the significant improvement in the socioeconomic life of the people if they participate in the process.

It is extremely crucial for the Myanmar’s hybrid civilian government to have more than 1 Million votes of Rohingyas in their favor against the National League for Democracy (NLD) going to participate in the election in full-fledged form this time.

 

However, the Rohingyas are said to have replied to the minister saying “we have been living here since the time of immemorial. We are not illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. Bangladesh has come into existence only after 1971. Our forefathers have lived here. We are living here. We have been here since before 1823.

Therefore, we are by birth citizens. We need not go through any citizenship verification. We need not apply for any citizenship newly.”

 

Last but not the least; Myanmar has announced that the country’s election is going to take place later this year. Therefore, it is extremely crucial for the Myanmar’s hybrid civilian government to have more than 1 Million votes of Rohingyas in their favor against the National League for Democracy (NLD) going to participate in the election in full-fledged form this time.

Since the government’s recent proposal on granting suffrage to the *white card holders met with strong objections from the oppositions, it is required for the government to issue a kind of legal document to the white-card holders for getting more votes. On the other hand, it (the legal document) should not ensure the white card holders to have the status of the full-fledged citizenship. That is where the citizenship verification process of Rohingya according to of 1982 Citizenship has come into implementation. A successful implementation of the law against the Rohingyas will lead them to lose their ethnic identity ‘Rohingya’ forever

  MS Anwar

For decades, Rohingyas have been the victims of racial and religious persecutions in Myanmar largely dominated by Neo-Nazi Buddhists. Hence, oppression against this community is nothing new and had been going on silently until the state-sponsored violence that started in June, last year. The violence against them, which is going on until today, is just a transformation of the silent persecution into an open and widespread violence.

United Nations call them to be one of the most persecuted people on the earth. There is a Human Rights Watch (HRW), one of most of the credible human rights watchdog in the world, which announces with all the evidences that Rohingyas have been subjected to Ethnic Cleansing. In reality, many in the international community are calling it Genocide. President Obama, Desmond Tu Tu, Dalai Lama, Ramos Hortha and many other famous personalities urged Burmese government to stop the ethnic cleansing. But does it have any impacts on Burmese regime? No impact at all! In fact, the violence against Muslims is escalating even more.

The more the Burmese regime is urged to stop the violence, the more the violence is taking place. After all, why? The answer might be simple to those who know about Burmese socio-political structures. Though the violence is portrayed as sectarian, in reality, it is a politically motivated violence targeting Muslims, their religious infrastructures and their properties and businesses. Therefore, no matter be how great one’s personality or how pious he, he cannot influence to cease the violence.

There is a Neo-Nazi fascist skinned-head called Wirathu, the abbot of the Mandalay Masurein Monastery, who has been propagating Islamophobia in the so-called defense of Buddhism. Buddhism is a philosophy that doesn’t need any defense. The fascist monk might know what Buddhism teaches but he doesn’t follow it at all. The very first tenet of Buddhism is “Do No Harm” to the creatures let alone killing human beings. Nevertheless, all his speeches are about “Doing Harms.” A member of Buddhism can’t break its very first ruling in its defense!! We can only label such fanatic extremist as a terrorist. This terrorist head has so many terrorist gangs under the name of 969.

Coming to the point, in Myanmar, one can’t, yet, protest or propagate anything without the consent of the government or that goes against the government. The reforms that are portrayed to be taking place in Myanmar by the western media are just nothing but full-packed lies for their own benefits. Therefore, Wirathu and his 969 gang are well-supported by the government itself. Many at times, the Burmese regime and Wirathu have spoken the same language regarding anti-Muslim violence with vested political interest. Hence, it goes without saying that they are the birds that are flocking their same feathers together!!

Therefore, the violence in Myanmar will not simply stop contrary to some people’s thought that it can be solved through diplomacy. To go through diplomacy, one must be able to find someone who understands the language of diplomacy or is willing to work diplomatically. For instance, to communicate in English, one must find out a man who understands English or willing to communicate in it! Awfully, Burmese regime is deaf to any diplomatic language. They neither understand it nor will to go through it even if they understand.

Someone, recently, has rightly pointed out that diplomacy is all about lying. You lie for your interest, I lie for my interest. Obama lies. Thein Sein lies. What is so new in it? Obama said he urged Thein Sein to end the violence but never seems to exert pressure to do so. Thein Sein, in turn, said he will try to quell the violence. See what happened right after his trip to USA. Many houses, shops, businesses, religious buildings owned by Muslims in Lashio, Shan state, were destroyed by the government sponsored 969 terrorist Gangs. Besides, few Muslims were killed as well. This is what you call a real DOPLOMACY!

So what to do to stop the ever escalating violence and ethnic cleansing in Myanmar? There is a saying that “one must use diamond to shape another piece of diamond.” If you don’t take lessons from distant people, you must at least learn something from other ethnic people in Myanmar and their struggles. Kachins, Karens and Shans are recognized as ethnic communities in Myanmar. Yet, they revolt and take up arms because they are considered inferior and not treated equally by the Burmese supremacists. Now, these communities have got opportunities to have dialogues with the government to demand the due rights and status they deserve. All because of their difficult armed-struggles! Alas, even if Rakhine extremists, who are killing Rohingyas, can have armed militant wings called Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) and Arakan Army (AA), why can’t Rohingyas who are subjected to ethnic cleansing take up arms for their survival.

So what are you waiting for if you want to survive with dignity on your own land? Stop giving speeches in the air-conditioned rooms, issuing and sending letters and begging for your due status and rights. Go and take arms up. It is all legal according to both all the major religions and the international laws. In the Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is mentioned “whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law.”

No people in the world had, are having and will be having their freedom without sacrificing their wealth, blood and lives. And Rohingyas can’t be exempted from this reality.

Four dead bodies of unknown Rohingyas were found in the valleys of the mountains in southern Maungdaw yesterday, some Rohingya firewood gatherers said.

The firewood gatherers believe that some armed Rakhine miscreants have killed the people as they were crossing the mountains.

“We went to collect firewood in the mountains nearby Kaing Gri Rakhine hamlet of Tharay Kunbaung village tract yesterday morning. There in the valleys, we spotted four dead bodies of unknown Rohingyas covered under leaves. When we tried to examine the corpses more, some armed Rakhine miscreants saw us and started firing their guns at us. Therefore, we were unable to know more details about the corpses” said a Rohingya firewood gatherer.

“No other people are allowed to go to the place and see the dead bodies by the possible terrorists. The victims killed are likely from Buthidaung Township. They might have been killed as they were crossing the mountains on their way to Maungdaw Township” he added.

Several Rakhine Buddhist Model villages have been established on the confiscated lands of Rohingyas in southern Maungdaw in the recent two decades. Of the villages, armed Rakhine extremists in the villages such as ‘Kaing Gri and Maw Ra Waddy’ have been notorious for committing crimes against the vulnerable Rohingya people with the cooperation of the Military and the Border Guard Police (BGP).

Myanmar’s Border Guard Police (BGP) has been notorious for facilitating the human trafficking in Arakan state, but nowadays they expel the Rohingya people by pushing them into the hands of their partners in human trafficking, according to reliable sources.

The BGP and their partners have started to abduct innocent Rohingya children and hand them over to the human traffickers waiting standby on boats within Myanmar’s water of the Bay of Bengal not so off the sea coast in southern Maungdaw Township.

“There is a human trafficker named Abul Hashim (son of) Ishaaq at Kyauk Pandu village also known as Shitaaf in southern Maungdaw. He, with the supports by the Border Guard Police (BGP) in the region, coaxes and gathers the innocent people on the pretext of sending them to Malaysia. Then, he uses an engine boat owned by his co-villager, Kifayatullah (son of) Kaasim, to send the people to the fishing trawlers waiting in the Bay of Bengal. And the human traffickers need to bribe the BGP Kyat 10,000 person.

Therefore, when the human traffickers and BGP are unable to coax enough people for their trafficking business, they abduct innocent children and forcibly send them to the boats waiting in the Bay of Bengal.

And the fishing trawlers take the people to Thailand and many of the people die on their way” said a local Rohingya that have witnessed many such cases in southern Maungdaw.

It has been learnt that in December 2014, they together abducted a 12-year-old ‘Salimullah’ and sent him to their boat. Now, the child is said to have been still held by the two human traffickers in Thailand, ‘Abbas and Islam,’ siblings of Abul Hashim because the child’s parents are unable to pay the ransom that they (the human traffickers) demand.

Following numbers of people have been smuggled by Abul Hashim with the supports by BGP on the following dates respectively.

On January 18, 2015, fifteen people

On January 17, 2015, fifteen people

On January 15, 2015, eight people

On January 14, 2015, five people

On December 3, 2014, twenty seven people

On December 27, 2014, eighty people

These people included both children and adults whom the human traffickers has either coxed or abducted.

A UNHCR report says more than 20,000 Rohingya people (trafficked by the well-connected agents) have risked their lives in Indian Ocean enroute to Thailand. However, this could be estimated figures. The actual numbers of the people that have died in the sea and in the hands of the human traffickers since 2012 violence could well exceed 40,000.

The Myanmar Border Guard Police (BGP) nowadays carry out money extortion business at the expense of the innocent Rohingya people all over Maungdaw Township like a legal licensed business, the locals say.

The police label arbitrary accusations against the people, harass, arrest and torture them for ransom. They plunder their properties. The similar illegal activities are being carried out with absolute impunity by the BGP in Buthidaung Township as well.

The following cases are some of the recent incidents of money extortions by the BGP.

Case #1: January 17

A group of 20 BGP personnel were on a patrol at Zeepin Chaung (Zeeyaung Khali) village in northern Maungdaw. The BGP team, in service under the battalion in Taung Pyo sub-Township, included the commander of the battalion as well.

Meanwhile, three of them arrived at the shop of a villager named U Musaa and grabbed away some biscuits, breads, cigarettes and other dry foods. After around 30 minutes, they arrived at the shop again to ask for the more dry foods. The shopkeeper fell asleep and so he was unable to open the shop’s door.

Therefore, having destroyed the door, they robbed Kyat 12,000 (Sales Money) and; Drinks and Dry foods worth Kyat 10,000.

___________________________________________

Case #2: January 19

Three Border Guard Police (BGP) personnel from Kyar Gaung Taung Camp carried out a raid in the cinema hall in the nearby village called Ye Kay Chaung Kwet Sun village around 11:30PM on January 18. The police are said to have picked up a Bangla phone in the cinema hall.

However, the next day, around 11:00AM, the police accused an innocent ‘Ye Kay Chaung Kwet Sun’ villager named Noor Amin of owning the phone and arrested him subsequently. The police demanded Kyat 500,000 for his release and at the end, having extorted Kyat 100,000, the police released him.

Similarly, some four members of the same BGP Camp arbitrarily held Mohammed Rafique, a 10-household-head, on his way back home and beat him up severely. Then, the police extorted two chickens from him for his release.

The BGP harasses the local Rohingyas in the region for ransom day in and day out.

_____________________________________________

Case #3: January 17

A BGP patrol team (လွဳပ္ရွားမွဳးအဖဲြ႕) led by second lieutenant (ဗိုလ္ေလး) raided the village of Kyauk Pandu also known as Shitaaf in southern Maungdaw around 11:00PM on January 17. They arrested three innocent Rohingya villagers accusing them of human trafficking. The police released them around 4:00PM on January 18 after extorting 150,000 from them.

Earlier, in the same village, around 1:00PM of the same day, the lieutenant officer forced two Rohingyas to stop as they were travelling by their motorcycles. He abused them saying “I don’t want to see you, Kulars, riding motorcycles anymore.” And, he extorted Kyat 10,000 from each.

_________________________________________________

Case #4: January 5

The Border Guard Police in Inn Din (Aan Daang) extorted Kyat 200,000 from each of the following people under the accusation of feeding the robber gang (*Abdul Hakim Dacoit Gang) on January 5.

Mv Jaabir (son of) Saleh

Mv Rahmat Ullah

Mv Sayed Ullah

Mv Rashid

MV Riyaaz (son of) Shobi

The Border Guard Police in cooperation with the village administrator, a Rakhine extremist, always harass the villagers for money.

Al-Fatih: بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ الْحَمْدُ للّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ الرَّحْمـنِ الرَّحِيمِ مَـالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ إِيَّاك نَعْبُدُ وإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ اهدِنَــــا الصِّرَاطَ المُستَقِيمَ صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنعَمتَ عَلَيهِمْ غَيرِ المَغضُوبِ عَلَيهِمْ وَلاَ الضَّالِّينَ

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz died on Friday and was replaced by Crown Prince Salman, the OPEC-kingpin's royal court said in a statement. The late monarch's half brother Moqren was named crown prince, according to the statement. King Abdullah, 90 had been in hospital for a few weeks suffering from a lung infection. In 2005, Abdullah came to the throne but had suffered frequent bouts of ill health in recent years. King Salman, 79, had recently taken on the ailing monarch's responsibilities. The late king's half brother Moqren has been named the new crown prince, the official statement said. King Salman called on the royal family's Allegiance Council to recognise Moqren as his crown prince and heir. "His Highness Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and all members of the family and the nation mourn the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, who passed away at exactly 1am this morning," the statement said.

The Burmese government has ordered the release of a doctor and high profile Rohingya leader, arrested in 2012 on the pretexts of creating violence between Buddhists and Rohingya muslims in the western state of Arakan (Rakhine). Activists and pro-human rights organizations welcomed the news, but point out that – in spite of the promises of the reformist president Thein Sein – there are still dozens of political prisoners in Myanmar’s jails.

Since the fall of the military regime, in 2011, the Burmese government has ordered the release of more than a thousand prisoners of conscience or political detainees; a move that has served to ease international pressure and the removal of some sanctions. Even today, however,the country’s prisons are crowded by dozens of journalists, activists, peaceful protesters and peasants who rebelled against the forced expropriation of land.

The story of Aung Tun, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison following a “farcical” trial gained considerable attention internationally. In June 2012 he was accused of fomenting violence between Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist Rakhine and imprisoned for this. However, according to local witnesses and activists in the area, the same Burmese authorities had asked the doctor and leader to intervene to stop the clashes.

In these two and a half years of captivity there have been repeated appeals and initiatives to secure his release; the international mobilization on his behalf has been decisive for amnesties, curtailment of the sentence and, most recently, the presidential pardon. Greeting his release, activists and pro-human rights organizations point out that the government of Naypyidaw released some political prisoners, and then arrested a couple more.

Myanmar is composed of more than 135 ethnic groups, who have always struggled to live in a peaceful manner, in particular with the central government and its majority Burmese component. Since June of 2012 the western state of Arakan( Rakhine) has been plunged into violent one sided attacks by Rakhine extrimists to Rohingyas, which has left at least 200 killed and 250 thousand displaced.

According to United Nations estimates ,Myanmar – a predominantly Buddhist nation, with 50 million inhabitants – is also home to 1.3 million belonging to the Muslim minority, which the government considers illegal immigrants and that is why they are subject to abuse and persecution.

There are still 140 thousand displaced persons confined in refugee centers who, according to the Burmese government, must accept the classification of being Bengali – and obtain citizenship – or stay in the camps “for life”. Inside they are deprived of basic rights, including health care, education and the possibility of work. The Catholic Church in Burma has intervened on several occasions against marginalization and neglect faced by the Muslim minority.

The United Nations has called the Rohingya Muslims one of the world’s most persecuted minority groups.

Fleeing  persecution in Burma, the Rohingya see Malaysia, a Muslim country, as a potential safe haven.  But Malaysia has not signed the U.N. convention on refugees, so the Rohingya  find they cannot work legally, or send their children to school — not even those who were born here.

Activists estimate at least 18,000 have arrived in recent months.  Most  had no option but to flee.

A violent attack left Ayub Khan’s arm and neck partially paralyzed. “I tried to run away from the mob, but they caught up to me and slashed me on the shoulder,” he said.

Another refugee, Nayeemah, said human traffickers killed her husband as they wereforced flee with their children via Thailand to Malaysia.

In my country, there’s so much killing, torture and violent attacks, so there was no alternative to live there,” she said. “I had no option except  to leave the country and head to Thailand.

Eman Hossein left on a ship with some 400 others.

When the people died they just threw them in the ocean,” he said. “At least 50 to 55 people died.

About 40,000 Rohingya in Malaysia are registered with the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, giving them some protection from arrest and deportation.  But activists estimate at least that many remain unregistered.

New arrival Nayeemah hopes to leave Malaysia.

If I stay here, I will not be able to send my kids to school, so I want to be resettled to another country,

she said.

Rohingya activist Mohammad Sadek estimates that only about 1,000 Rohingya have been resettled to date.

Many of the refugees are waiting for more than three decades,” he said. “They still remain in the same condition without having any hope. So the UNHCR should resettle them as soon as possible.”

There’s a slim chance of that happening, perhaps. But life as a refugee living in poverty on the margins of Malaysian society is still a life — something many here say is an improvement from where they came.

Two more Rohingya genocide victims have died in southern Thailand after trucks packed with dozens of members of the Myanmar Muslim minority Rohingya group were captured by authorities, police said today.

The two men, both believed to be aged 20, died in hospital of hunger and dehydration yesterday, a day after police reported an innocent Rohingya woman had died from suffocation while making the same journey through the kingdom.

On Sunday Thai authorities found five pickup trucks carrying nearly 100 Rohingya – mostly aged under 18 – in the Hua Sai district of Nakhon Si Thammarat province on the Gulf of Thailand.

“These two men were found to be in a serious condition,” provincial police commander Kiattipong Khawsamang said. “We took them to two local hospitals, where they died from hunger and dehydration.”

Two of the Thai pickup drivers arrested at the scene have been charged with human trafficking, the commander added.

“We are investigating others involved in the trafficking ring and believe we can issue arrest warrants against them soon,” he said.

The 95 surviving migrants are currently being held in shelters in the southern province as Thailand’s social development ministry opts whether to deport them back to Myanmar.

Thousands of Rohingya – described by the UN as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities – have been forced to flee deadly as result of state sponsored violence in western Burma’s Arakan (Rkhaine) state since 2012.

In recent weeks Thai authorities have discovered scores of the group fleeing dire conditions by making hazardous journeys across the ocean, taking advantage of the slightly apaiser winter waters in the Andaman Sea to head south.

Burma views its population of roughly 800,000 Rohingya as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and denies them citizenship.

Rights groups say the genocide victims of Burma often fall into the hands of human-traffickers.

They have also criticized Thailand in the past for pushing boatloads of Rohingya entering Thai waters back out to sea and for holding genocide victims in overcrowded facilities.

The ruling junta says it has taken significant steps to combat trafficking since June, when the United States dumped Thailand to the bottom of its list of countries accused of failing to approach modern-day slavery.Thai deputy foreign minister Don Pramudwinai recently laid out new regulations including a ban on workers under 18 in the fishing industry.

Buthidaung, Arakan State, The rampant and extreme tortures by the jail authority have killed two innocent Rohingya victims of arbitrary detentions in Buthidaung prison recently, a local Rohingya said on Monday.

The victims are some of the many Rohingyas that have been detained arbitrarily over the allegation of inciting the 2012 violence and without any fair trial or any right to legal procedures.

“Rakhine extremists burnt down Rohingya homes and villages in June-July 2012. However, the Myanmar has arbitrarily arrested hundreds of innocent Rohingyas over the allegation of triggering violence and torching Rakhine homes. Subsequently, the people have been arbitrarily handed long-term imprisonments” a local in Buthidaung said.

It has been learnt that, since then, the jail authority has been brutally treating and rampantly torturing them. Therefore, many people have facing untimely and unfortunate demises.

“Three innocent people have recently died due to tortures. They are:

• Nazir Ahmed (son of) Shabbir Ahmed, 33, died at 2:00PM on January 2, hailed from Padin village, Maungdaw Township
• Zainal Uddin, 40, died around 5PM on January 5, hailed from Maung Ni hamlet of Myoma Kayintan (Shidda Fara) village tract.

Their dead bodies were not handed over to their respective families for proper burial according to their religions. But rather, they were buried in the premise of the prison” he continued.

Rohingya Aid Team recently visited the major flood affected areas of Malaysia in Kelantan district of Malaysia and distributed aids to the victims on Saturday, an aid team volunteer said. 

The Rohingya Aid Team consisting of 20 members from Kuala Lumpur headed to the major flood affected areas in Kelantan where both Rohingya and local communities have been suffering from shortage of food, water and shelters.

 The Team delivered 600 sacks of rice, 600 packs of sugar, 600 packs of oil, 600 packs of Maggi, 600 tooth-brush and 600 tooth-past loaded on two lorries. The aids were contributed by Rohingya individuals in Ampang area of Selangor. 

“We, as a team along with necessary aids, started our trip to Kelantan at about 10PM Friday and reached to Kuala Kerai, Kelantan at 9am Saturday morning. We met with the chairman and some elders of Malay community and Rohingya community there” said Sayid Hussain, a member of the Rohingya Aid Team.

 “The both communities welcomed the Rohingya Aid Team and suggested that the aids should be distributed equally to the both communities. With the suggestion of the chairman the aid were distributed to both communities at Dewan Jabatan Haiwan Gushi 7, Kuala Kerai. Sacks of rice, packs of oil and sugar and tooth brushes and tooth-past 200 each were distributed” he continued.  

 Then, the team headed to Kampung Cina Jaya, Kuala Kerai where most of the victim’s complaint that no any aid has reached to them as they stay out of town at about 11am. The team distributed aid to 56 Malay and Rohingya families.

 The team went to some major effected areas of Kelantan and one of them was Kampung Pahi. The team met with the Imam of Kampung Pahi Masjid and called all the villagers and distributed aid to all of them.

 Finally the team headed to Kampung Budi, Kelantan and the remaining aid were distributed to the villagers together with the chairman and elders of that village. While the Malay community thanked Rohingya Aid Team for extending hands to the major flood victims at the time of need.

 The team headed to Kuala Lumpur back at about 4PM on Saturday.

Manrique who had witnessed the coronation of the King Salim Shah II, used the Muslim name only,he did not use the Magh name of the king. Not only one king but almost all reigning for more than two hundred years used the Muslim names and inscribed the same in the coins. In striking the coins the policy of inscribing Islamic creed (kalima) and the Muslim names of their kings in Arabic or Persian character, modern Arakanese Muslims believe for certain that those Arakanese kings were Muslims. There is no evidence that they were not Muslims.

By Abul Faiz

Myanmar’s military gang-raped a 10-year-old Rohingya girl in Maungdaw Township on January 6, according to the reliable sources.

The 10-year-old girl, just identified to be ‘K,’ was brutally raped by a gang of the military under the Battalion 565 in northern Maungdaw in the afternoon of the day.

“A 10-year-old girl, ‘K’, was taking care of her cattle at a farm land in Kha Mauk Seik village also called Foira Bazaar on 6th January afternoon. A gang of by-passing military belongs to the Battalion 565 held and gang-raped her brutally. Consequently, she started bleeding heavily, severe injuries and has lost consciousness since then. She has not recovered yet” said a local in the village on the condition of anonymity.

Kha Mauk Seik is a Rohingya village located around 48 miles away to the north from the downtown of Maungdaw.

It has been learnt the Military arrived at the raped victim’s house afterwards and posed death-threats to her parents if they bothered to report the incident to any authority or media. The Myanmar military is notorious for using rapes against the ethnic minority women as war weapons.

Besides, according to the sources, some International NGOs based in Maungdaw Township has already known about the tragic incident.

Buthidaung, Arakan An innocent Rohingya man is believed to have been recently killed by Border Guard Police (BGP) in Buthidaung Township, according to the reliable sources.

The victim is identified to be Kadir Hussein, 54, hails from Kadira hamlet of Attet-Kyuay-Cho-Maw village, Buthidaung Township.

“A Rakhine extremist named U Maung Pyo Thar from Rakhine hamlet of Attet-Kyuay-Cho-Maw (အထက္ကႊ်ဲႀကိဳေမာ္) village has arbitrarily accused Kadir Hussein of stealing a cow. Then, he filed a complaint against him (Kadir Hussein) to the Border Guard Police (BGP) of Camp 16 in Nyaung Chaung (ေညာင္ေခ်ာင္း) village in Buthidaung Township.

Therefore, the commander of the BGP camp arrested the innocent Rohingya man on December 27 without any investigation. The BGP took him to their camp and kept him in detention. In the detention, the BGP punched him, kicked and beat him with wooded and iron rods for two days. His health condition became extremely critical due to the tortures.

Even then, the BGP said on Saturday that they would be transferring him to the Buthidaung police station.

However, people think the police lied so to cover up their killing of Kadir Hussein. Since then, nobody has known Kadir Hussein’s whereabouts. He has been incommunicado” said a local Rohingya on the condition of anonymity.

It has been learnt that he has seven family members including wife and six children. They are extremely worried because of the highly possible killing of Kadir Hussein.

On Saturday, the BGP commander arrested another innocent Rohingya from Pho Kaung Chaung (ဖိုးေခါင္ေခ်ာင္း) and has been still torturing him.

“Besides, he is now to forcibly collect money from Rohingya motor-vehicle owner per month. He announced on Friday that every Rohingya motor-vehicle owner has to give him Kyat 1000-Kyat 2000 every month. And that is against the law.

The previous BGP commander was somehow fair enough. The new major-commander of the BGP camp 16 in Nyaung Chaung is brutal and inconsiderate” added the local Rohingya man.

Rakhine extremist doctors and nurses killed a pregnant Rohingya woman during her delivery in the Sittwe General Hospital yesterday, according to the reliable sources. 

The deceased victim is identified to be Salimah, mother of three children, hailed from Paikthay village also known as Zailla Fara in Kyauktaw Township.

“28-year-old Salimah (daughter of) Mv Yahya started suffering from labor pain last Saturday. She struggled with the pain for four days. Eventually, her family decided to admit her to the Sittwe General Hospital hoping that she would have less pains and smooth baby delivery. So, her husband Mohammed Twahir and her elder sister Bibi Maryam accompanied her as her caretakers to the hospital.

They admitted her in the Sittwe Hospital around 4:00PM yesterday. But the hospital authority forced her husband back to Kyauktaw Township saying that there was no need of him since his wife got admission to the hospital.

Unfortunately, the hospital authority informed her relatives at Furan Fara village in Akyab (Sittwe) that she together with her new born baby passed away around 10:00PM on the same day.

The authority discharged dead bodies of the mother-baby-duo and handed them over the deceased’s relatives in Furan Fara around 4:00PM today. Afterwards, her funeral was performed by the Rohingyas in Furan Fara.

Her family including the parents, the husband and the children wanted to go to Sittwe to see and bury her dead body. However, the authority didn’t allow them. She has left three children, one boy and two girls, behind” said a local Rohingya in Kyauktaw Township.

It has been learnt that the locals are extremely worried about the situation of the caretaker of the patient, Bibi Maryam, who has been still held by the hospital authority.

“The authority said that they would send her back to her native village, Paikthay, Kyauktaw Township soon when she requested she wanted to accompany her sister’s funeral. They have not even freed her yet.

On the other hand, the body of the deceased woman, Salimah, was full of bruises and severe injuries possibly resulting from beatings and tortures. It is highly possible that the hospital’s Rakhine extremist doctors or nurses have killed her. We will know what happened exactly when the caretaker is freed by the hospital authority” he continued.

This is not the first time that the Rakhine extremists that administer and operate the hospital have killed Rohingya patients. Killings of the Rohingya patients have taken place many times before. It may be called Rohingya exterminating halls.