From Pro-Democracy to Hypocrisy: The Other Side of Suu Kyi

FOR the first time anyone could remember, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has become the subject of criticism by the same pro-democracy advocates in the international community who have supported her and helped her rise into prominence on the world stage.

The sudden backlash came undone following her continuous dodging of the issue involving the systematic oppression and violence against the Muslim Rohingya minority by the Myanmar government.

Suu Kyi, who won the adoration of many human right advocates worldwide for championing democracy in strife-torn Myanmar, uncharacteristically chose the ‘safe way out’ when asked on her response on the routine discrimination against the Rohingya including the government’s refusal to grant them citizenship despite having lived in Burma for generations.

At a recent news conference held with singer Bono of rock band U2 in Dublin, she said, “The root of the problem is lack of rule of law (in Myanmar).”

Asked whether the Rohingya should be granted Myanmar citizenship, Suu Kyi replied curtly: “I don’t know.”

The news report from UK daily The Independent also described her responses to the issue at hand as “vague” and “scripted”.

Forsaking Democracy for Majority Buddhist Vote

No one except perhaps her closest supporters would have thought ‘The Lady’, who became widely known as the voice of Myanmar's downtrodden, would turn a blind eye on the plight of the Rohingya following the intensified conflict between the Muslim minority and Buddhist Rakhine in the last few months.

The Oxford-educated political activist-turned politician, who has been placed under house arrest for a total of 15 of the past 21 years since she began her political career, is apparently willing to forsake being labeled a hypocrite by the international community for political gain. Analysts say many of her political allies themselves vehemently oppose the Rohingya hence speaking out on the matter would only risk alienating the former and, ultimately, the Buddhist voters who make up the majority in Myanmar.

“She is no longer a political dissident trying to stick to her principles. She's a politician and her eyes are fixed on the prize, which is the 2015 majority Buddhist vote,” said a Myanmar expert and visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, Maung Zarni.

Plight of the Rohingya

Fighting between Buddhists and Muslims in the western coast state of Rakhine has left about 87 people from both sides dead since June, according to an official estimates, although rights groups fear the real toll is much higher. According to reports, the two groups attacked each other with spears and machetes and went on rampages burning homes and razing entire villages.

The Rohingya, who have been described as “among the world’s least wanted” and “one of the world’s most persecuted minorities”, have continued to suffer from human rights violations under the Burmese junta since 1978. They have been stripped of their citizenship since a 1982 citizenship law. They are also not allowed to travel without official permission, are banned from owning land and are required to sign a commitment to have not more than two children.

The government has been blamed by rights groups which claimed it did little to stop the violence in Rakhine initially before turning its security forces on the Rohingya with targeted killings, rapes, mass arrests and torture. Human Rights Watch which estimated that 100,000 people were displaced by the fighting has accused Burmese forces of opening fire on Rohingya. The New York-based organization also claimed that the government’s tally of 78 dead is “undoubtedly conservative.”

Last weekend, the government finally appointed a 27-member commission to look into the causes of the conflict and to propose solutions to the community mistrust between Muslims and Buddhists.

News reports claimed that the recent violence in Rakhine was initially triggered by allegations that a gang of Rohingya men had raped a local Arakanese woman. Apparently, the lynching of ten Muslims in response sparked days of rioting in the state formerly known as Arakan.

However, the tension between the immigrant minorities, namely from India, and majority Burmese have existed since the early part of last century. According to historian Thant Myint-U, the growing resentment against the minorities was due to the huge influx of Indian immigrants that resulted in the settlers outnumbering the Burmese (hence the two children per family restriction).

"At the beginning of the 20th century, Indians were arriving in Burma at the rate of no less than a quarter million per year. The numbers rose steadily until the peak year of 1927, immigration reached 480,000 people, with Rangoon exceeding New York City as the greatest immigration port in the world. This was out of a total population of only 13 million; it was equivalent to the United Kingdom today taking 2 million people a year." By then, in most of the largest cities in Burma, Rangoon (Yangon), Akyab (Sittwe), Bassein (Pathein), Moulmein, the Indian immigrants formed a majority of the population. The Burmese under the British rule felt helpless, and reacted with a "racism that combined feelings of superiority and fear."

The World Finally Responds

The long-standing conflict between the Rohingya Muslims and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists finally caught the attention of the international community following recent violence in Rakhine after decades of systematic persecution of the Rohingya. Various human rights, pro-democracy groups and Muslim nations have voiced deep concerns over the treatment of the stateless group.

The 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) condemned the violence at an emergency summit recently and said it will present its concerns to the upcoming United Nations General Assembly. At the summit, Saudi Arabia accused Myanmar of launching an "ethnic cleansing campaign" and King Abdullah announced that he would donate US$50 million in aid to the Rohingya in Myanmar. Meanwhile, Islamic hardliners in Indonesia and Pakistan have threatened attacks against the Myanmar government.

Democracy vs Hypocrisy

Sadly, the outrage against the persecution of the Rohingya stops at Myanmar's borders. As a politician, Suu Kyi is playing a different ballgame now that her opposition party is trying to consolidate political gains attained after they entered Parliament for the first time in April.

Suu Kyi is well aware that speaking out for the Rohingya is the right thing to do but Myanmar’s Buddhist majority appear to have resentment against these stateless Muslim minority. According to The Associated Press, the Rohingya are a deeply unpopular cause inside Burma, where much of the country's majority Buddhist population views them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Not only that, the Muslim minority have also been labeled as terrorists.

On the first day of the Muslim Eid ul-Fitr celebration, up to 100 ethnic Rakhine held a rally near a regional parliament building in Rangoon to protest against the UN and various non-government organizations’ for providing assistance to the Rohingya . The protesters held signs and banners that said: “Stop Creating Conflicts” and “Don't Bring Terrorists to Our Land.”

Myanmar and the rest of the world are aware that if there was anyone who could effectively take on the Rohingya cause it would be Suu Kyi. However, the problem for Suu Kyi is, how would she, as the most celebrated champion of democracy and human rights, justify hatred towards a certain ethnic minority, especially in these day and age. Any attempt to do so will not only not fly well with the international community which will won’t hesitate to condemn her for being a hypocrite, it could also potentially have repercussions on her vote counts come election in 2015.

Christians Also Targeted

It also appears as if the widespread resentment against minorities has been deeply imbedded in the psyche of the Burmese population and, apparently, the Muslims are not the only ones being targeted. According to the Chin Human Rights Organization’s (CHRO) latest report, ‘Threats to Our Existence: Persecution of Ethnic Chin Christians in Burma’, there exist “a serious ongoing human rights violations, even as the government claims to deepen its reforms in the country.”

“For years, state-sanctioned deep-rooted discrimination against the Chin on the dual basis of their ethnicity and religion has given rise to widespread and systematic violations of fundamental human rights, particularly religious freedom. … the Chin continue to be denied religious freedom and are targeted for induced and coerced conversion to Buddhism, in pursuance of an unwritten State policy of forced assimilation.”

All eyes are on Suu Kyi now as the world waits for her to come out with an unequivocal stand over the Rohingya issue. People want to know what the National League for Democracy (NLD) leader has to say about being selective in her championing of democracy and human rights.

So far, as the world sees it, Suu Kyi has failed to live up to her stature as one of the world's most celebrated pro-democracy campaigners. To the dismay of many, she may well be an angel in disguise who is the lesser of two evils.

The real culprits behind the violence in Rakhine state | Dr. Maung Zarni

It's great that US Ambassador to Myanmar, Derek Mitchell, has finally spoken out on the ethno-religious riots between Rohingyas and Buddhist people in the Rakhine state. 

He points out racism in Myanmar society at large, something some of us have been saying for so long.

But the problem with shifting the new focus onto popular racism is that it lets the real culprits - the generals and their troops - off the hook.

The Myanmar regime has a direct and immediate hand in the recent communal riots between the Rakhines and the Rohingya - who it only refers to as "Bengali Muslims" - by sending the message that these people do not belong in Myanmar, even though they were born on Rakhine soil and have been in the country for generations.

For the record, I place the ultimate responsibility for the outbreak of ethno-racial violence squarely on the Thein Sein government. Successive military regimes since Ne Win's reign (1962-1988) have used the tactic of ethnic and religious divide and rule. Precedents and contemporary cases abound. In 1967, Ne Win reportedly diverted attention from the failings of his socialist economy - which resulted in rice shortages across the country - by blaming "greedy Chinese merchants". That sparked anti-Chinese riots. When the mob in Yangon stormed the Chinese Consulate, the generally trigger-happy Burmese troops (when it comes to "restoring law and order") simply stood by and watched the mob kill the deputy chief of mission on the Chinese Consulate's premises. The regime is pursuing a scorched-earth military operation against the Kachins in the north while offering ceasefire deals to the other armed ethnic resistance groups.

This is the regime that has specialised in "law and order" for the past 50 years, since 1962. It deliberately let all hell break loose in western Myanmar because it suited the regime in multiple ways for the Rakhine and the Rohingyas to slaughter one another.

Burmese generals have never liked the Rakhines people, especially those who are ethno-nationalistic and want to push for genuine political autonomy for the Rakhine state.

Troops and all other security units stationed in western Myanmar, on the other hand, have turned all kinds of severe restrictions - in place for at least 30-40 years - into the basis for extorting and abusing the Rohingyas. For instance, the Rohingyas' physical movements and their ability to marry and have children were restricted, requiring permission from the authorities and security units. In effect, the Rohingyas were turned into cash cows by the local security units in western Myanmar.

For their part, the Rakhine people felt angry that the government security troops and authorities were benefitting economically from the Rohingya. (The Rohingya population in general are very poor, while there are a handful of wealthy Rohingya business families. Many Rohingyas who work abroad, however, remit money back to their families in western Myanmar.) Also, forced labour among the Rohingya population is disproportionately higher than in any other ethnic community including those in Myanmar's active war zones in the eastern and northern regions of the country. So, the authorities extract both cash and labour from the captive Rohingya population.

But the Rakhine people felt powerless in the face of the overwhelming might of the security forces on their soil, despite their perception of the regime's favouritism to the Rohingyas, whom the Rakhine have come to consider as "animals" on their soil.

So, naturally, the Rakhine people grew more hateful of the Rohingyas and the state security apparatus, and finally took it out on the weaker of the two - the Rohingyas.

When violence broke out, not only did the security forces not intervene to keep order and nip the initial violence in the bud, but troops - some Burmese and some Rakhine themselves - in places like Maungdaw decided to turn against their cash cows and forced labourers - the Rohingyas.

This time it wasn't the greed of the troops, who had long milked the Rohingyas for their money and extracted labour that led them to directly participate in the slaughter of the Rohingyas. Rather it was the Burmese and Rakhine people's general dislike of Muslims that finally compelled the troops in Maungdaw to machine-gun the Rohingyas in large numbers.

Evidence of the attacks keeps surfacing from various independent eyewitnesses. According to one local researcher in the country - whose account of the Rohingya slaughter at the hands of the Burmese and Rakhine security forces was published in Al Jazeera English ("Mass graves for Myanmar's Rohingya, August 9) - the troops that he interviewed openly talked about "how much they hate Muslims" and described coldly the manner in which they machine-gunned down the Rohingya.

This directly corresponds with the policies of Nay Pyi Daw. This is not simply troops in local areas shooting without orders from above and getting away with mass murder. In fact, the widespread view within the military is: "the bottom line is, we do not want more Muslims in our country". So there is not simply popular racism but vertical and official hatred of Muslims in general and the Rohingya Muslims in western Myanmar in particular.

To deny this is to add insult to injury. The focus of the current riot inquiry by the presidential commission and the international media coverage needs to focus on this direct connection between popular racism and the regime's racist and violent policies and practices of the last 40 years since Operation Snake King (or Nagamin) killed hundreds, if not thousands, of Rohingyas and drove hundreds of thousands more out of western Myanmar into Bangladesh in the 1970s, under the Ne Win-Sein Lwin regime. Ne Win was the godfather, and Sein Lwin was the butcher.

Muang Zarni is a visiting fellow at the Civil Society and Human Security Research Unit, the London School of Economics. A veteran founder of the Free Burma Coalition, Zarni advocated "principled and strategic engagement" with the regime as early as 2003. @ m.zarni@lse.ac.uk.

List of the Rohingya Women Raped in Baggona, Maung Daw

At Baggona, a village three miles far from and lies to the South of Maung Daw of Arakan state, more than 80 Rohingya women and girls have been raped and gang-raped by Military, Rakhine Extrmist-Terrorists, Police and Security Forces since the beginning of the violence in Arakan. Though we could not list all the names of the raped victims due to the highly shy and timorous nature of Rohingya women, we were able to collect the profiles of 32 raped victims. The list is mentioned at the end of the article. 

On 19th June 2012, armed Rakhine terrorists, security forces and police (Note: security forces and police in Arakan state are made up of mostly Rakhines, no Rohingya at all) raided Baggona village in Maung Daw and arrested young and old Rohingyas alike which numbered almost 100 (age: 12-80). (They were taken to unknown locations and nothing had been heard from them since then.) Therefore while the remaining Rohingya men were on hiding in the fear of being arrested, they raped and ganged raped the Rohingya women left behind to their heart’s content. Besides, they robbed and looted 700 houses and took away gold, silver, money and whatever possible. For the worse, these terrorists destroyed furniture, cooking pots and other properties which they could not take away. Currently the people in the village are having serious crises and the raped Rohingya women are in troubles such as being pregnant with these unknown terrorists and others. Therefore, they plead international communities to help them out from the hands of evils rather than giving mere lips services. 

Now President U Thein Sein has set up an inquiry commission into the violence of Arkan, which has 27 members, to investigate and find out the culprits of the violence. But sadly, the commission itself has the people who have committed the crimes against Rohingyas themselves. Therefore, the government will only be able to find out the real cause and culprits of the violence if they replenish the inquiry team with the representatives from the political parties of local Rohingyas and Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP) and use them to thoroughly investigate the real victims in the ongoing violence whether as a means of refilling to the present commission or to exactly find out the masterminds behind the brutal treatments of Rohingyas. 

Below is the list of some Rohingya women and under-aged girls raped by military, Rakhine terrorists, police and security forces.

The list of Rohingya Women Raped in Baggona, a village three miles farfrom Maung Daw to its South
No. Name Father’s Name Age Date of the RapeCasesRemarks1 Yasmine A. Gaffar 14 19.6.12 Yasmine&FulBaano are Daughter&Mother.Now, they are trying to commit suicides manytimes as they dare not see each other’s face.2 Ful Baano Khala Meah 353 Arefa Abdurahim 14 19.6.12 Armed weird Rakhine extremists, Nata

las andSecurity Forces (6 out of 9 members) raped thewoman and the girls at No. 1,2,3,4 at one time.4 Arefa MohammedHussein26 19.6.12 Mother of Two Children5 Daulu Suleman 42 19.6.12 Mother of Three Children6 Sameera Abul Hashim 22 19.6.12 An Extremely Beautiful Girl7 Khurshidah Amanat Shah 12 19.6.128 Rahenah Nazir Ahmed 16 19.6.129 Baanu Osman 19 19.6.1210 Shamshidah Rahimullah 13 19.6.1211 Jannat Bivi Kadir Hussein 13 19.6.1212 Noor Haba Sayyid Salam 15 19.6.12 The Girls in No.12 and No.13 are real sisters.13 DauLu 1314 Firuzaa Amir Hussain 1719.6.1215 Toyuba Islam 1719.6.1216 Hafsa Nazir Ahmed 1819.6.1217 Dil Nawaz MustakhAhmed1719.6.1218 Tasmin Shamshu 2119.6.1219 Maryam Bashar 4019.6.1220 TasminTaraYahya 1719.6.12Girls in No. 20 and No. 21 are sisters.21 Moe Moe 1222 Yasmine Yasin 1819.6.12Girls in No. 22 and No. 23 are sisters.23 Mamtaz 3124.6.1224 Isharat FatemaMohammedJohar1224.6.12No. 23 and No. 24 are mother and daughter25 Shahidah Furuk Ahmed 1524.6.12 No.25 and No.26 are daughter and mother26 Shahidah'sMother-------4027 Hasina ShamshuShamshuShamshu2524.6.1224.6.1224.6.12 No. 27, No.28 and No. 28 are real sisters.28 Raziyaa 2229 Shamshidah 1730 Khalidah MukhtarAhmed4024.6.1231 Noor Kiyas Yunus 1224.6.12No. 30 and No.31 are mother and daughter32 Minara Osman 2224.6.12This girl was a virgin and after being raped, shehas become pregnant and having troubles.

When Will Justice Be Done?

There is a violation still going on against the people called Rohingya whom were described as stateless in their own land by many. But today, they really have no homes and no foods and are living their lives under extreme sorrow due to lawlessness in their country. Besides, they are living chaotic, helpless, hopeless lives resulting from the killings and tortures of Thein Sein’s regime and its security forces in collaboration with Rakhine extremists. 

Although Thein Sein’s regime has to organize an inquiry mission into the violence in an attempt to cover up their crimes of ethnic cleansing, yet in reality on the ground, they are letting more violence be occurred against Rohingyas and other ethnic Muslims in Arakan state. Sadly, the inquiry mission team is made up with the people who themselves have committed the crimes against Rohingyas. Therefore, it is nothing but an attempt to deceive the world in general and OIC in particular. 

After all, what is this fraud inquiry mission is doing? 

Why couldn’t Thein Sein government halt the violence yet? 

In fact, what he has done so far is just beating around the bush by saying that the situation is being handled well and under control while he is neglecting what is happening on the ground. On daily basis, Rohingya elderly people and children are dying due to starvation, malnutrition and lack of medical access. Extreme weather is causing cold and floods in the places where displaced Rohingyas are living in fragile and vulnerable tents now full of mud. Rohingya youths have been being arrested by Burmese authority on lame reasons and sometimes they are abused in the custodies and prisons by Rakhine extremists. 

Above all, how can one expect from this inquiry mission that they will carry out an impartial investigation when they themselves involved in the genocide? Therefore, we invite International and OIC Inquiry Missions to Arakan to do investigation on the violence. 

Additionally, if we review why Thein Sein’s regime rejected International aids and media to the region and made Rakhine extremists protest against NGOs and INGOs etc, it is obvious that there is something they don’t want to expose or reveal. If they want justice and are not trying to cover up anything, why dare they not have such kinds of favorable international supports for the country? 

Moreover, when Malaysian Foreign Minister proposed Myanmar to offer humanitarian aids to all displaced people regardless of religion, Thein Sein’s regime refused the proposal saying that they don’t need any foreign aids and can solve their problems on their own. Contrary to this statement, Thein Sein said in his interview to VOA “we need foreign helps as we can’t alone help all the displaced people.” This trick has come after OIC’s proposal to offer humanitarian helps and to send a fact finding team to Arakan. It is another attempt to melt down the anger of International community towards Thein Sein regime concerning what he said to UNHCR Chief Antonio Guterres to put all Rohingyas into refugee camps or to deport them to third countries. 

Regarding the Rohingya issue, Thein Sein has always one-sidedly followed the desire of Rakhine National Development Party (RNDP). Like the members of RNDP, he, too, had accused Rohingyas as illegal Bengali immigrants from Bangladesh. Quite contrarily recently, he said “there are only a few Bengalis who migrated to Arakan and most of Bengalis have been living in Myanmar for decades. We need to see human as human. We need to follow human rights.” Why are there contradictions? Is not he an oxymoron? Why is he talking about human rights at this time and simultaneously continuing the genocide on the ground? Why is he so hypocritical? These are enough to prove their deception and hoax to the world. They fear that they will be punished for their crimes against humanity. That’s the reason why they are up to deceive the world again. 

When some Myanmar Buddhist Volunteer Organizations, Film Stars and 88 Generation Students Group visited the affected and affecting areas in Arakan state, they have only given aids Rakhines and neglected Rohingyas and other ethnic Muslims totally as if they are not human beings. But when Turkish Foreign Minister helped the affected people in Arakan and Saudi Arabia raised funds for all of them irrespective to race and religions, all the Buddhist racists showed their hatred and jealousy towards them and condemned their kind helps. The world should wonder how racist and extremist people they are! 

One more crucial point needs to be pointed out. On 17th August 2012, Thein Sein released an 18-paged statement in which he said “some political parties, monks and individuals incited extreme racial hatred and encouraged people to commit irrational racial attacks against Bengali Muslims (his own term for Rohingya Muslims).” But under the heading of religious affairs at point number 34, he said “Mosques, Islamic Schools and Religious scholars (Molvis) should be reduced within the boundary of law and legitimacy.” What is he trying to say? Is he indirectly saying that they will make every effort to eliminate Islam from Arakan gradually? So, at least taking this point into consideration, can we say Rohingyas are persecuted on account of their faith, Islam? Now, it has become very transparent why Rohingyas are persecuted. Besides, if one goes through this 18-paged statement, one can find many discriminatory and bigotry citations against Rohingyas. 

To sum up, by now it has become crystal clear to anyone who has humane sense that Rohingyas and other ethnic Muslims in Arakan are being tortured by administration authority, military and security forces in cooperation with Rakhine Buddhist extremists. Hence, the government itself is involving in the crimes. Therefore, we request to UN, OIC and all other international communities to send investigation teams to Arakan to find out the criminals against humanity in general and Rohingyas in particular. Or else, justice will never be done and evil doers will escape forever. And they will ignite conflicts again and again. Now, it is the high time to combat such kinds of genocides and atrocities altogether as “Injustice somewhere is the threat to justice everywhere.” 

Written by Snowy

Revised by Mohammed Sheikh Anwar

Thousands of Rohingyas dead'

Abul Kasim: Claims death toll higher than reported in mediaable

Number of growing casualties played down by authorities, says refugee

ROHINGYAS in Malaysia are claiming that media reports on the death toll in the Arakan region of Myanmar are grossly inaccurate, saying thousands of Rohingya villagers have become casualties of the growing unrest.

Contractor Abul Kasim, 34. who has been staying in Malaysia for the past 10 years, said the reported numbers were played down by the Myanmar authorities.

"This (the violence) is nothing new. It has been going on for some time, many years, in fact. All these years, there has been only discrimination, but the mass murders only started recently," said Abul Kasim, who fled Myanmar about a decade ago to escaped the mistreatment of Rohingyas by the Myanmar junta.

"They (army personnel) raped my cousin in front of me. They were hunting me down after realising I witnessed the incident. I couldn't take it any longer and decided to come to Malaysia to start a new life.

"I later learned that my cousin committed suicide." Abul Kasim was one of 30 Rohingyas who volunteered to pack supplies provided by Kelab Putera 1Malaysia, bound for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh next week.

"This is the only way I can help my fellow Rohingyas," he said. Abul Kasim said his father still lived in Yangon but had been stripped off all his property and land.

"My uncle still lives in villages near Arakan. From my last conversation with him, their homes have been burned and they are homeless," he said.

"We don't want anything from the government of Myanmar. We just want our freedom and citizenship." Abul Kasim said the Rohingyas who left Myanmar were not refugees trying to escape poverty as thought by many.

"It's not about money. We have millions worth of properties in Myanmar but they have been burnt down," he said.

"We were forced to travel all over the world, yet our hearts were never at peace because of what is happening."

He said he was hopeful that pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu-Kyi would be able to address the issue.

"We still support her. We understand her difficult situation."

Rohingyas shops owner lose their property in Maungdaw municipal market

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Rohingyas shops owner will lose their property for non-maintaining of shops by municipal office, according to a shop owner from market.

“The market was closed  by the authority since June 8 and the authority did not keep maintains the market since last year which the shop’s owners were complained for roof which was broken.”
“This year, the conflict between Rohingyas and Rakhines on June 8 and the market was totally closed and no one enter to the market and the owners were not able to control their shops while the raining. The  rain entered to the shops and destroyed all the goods inside the shops, especially the clothes shops.”
The municipal office open the market today morning from 7:00an to till noon. The shop’s owner went to the market and checked their shops. The shops were fully damaged by rain as the authority is not care the market. To save their goods, the owner try to carry some cloths to dry in their home,but the authority is not allow the goods from market. The cloths will be damaged if the cloths are  not dry on times,  said an elder from Maungdaw.
The authority only allowed the shops’ owner to carry 500,000 kyat cash from shops and the security personnel checked the owners when the go home. It is very difficult to owner for giving only 500,000 kyats to carry home.

Ground situation of northern Arakan State

Buthidaung Township:

The house of Mogul Ahmed, hailed from Phoneyu Lake village, under the Nasaka area No. 9 of Buthidaung south was robbed by army on August 19, at about 1:00 pm. The army robbed 50 Ticals of gold and Kyat 20 million after fastening all the family members, said a village elder from the village.
On August 7 and 8 in Kyangdang Village of Buthidaung Township, six girls including women were raped by army. They are identified Mostafa Khatun (35), daughter of  Abdul Hakim, Femani (40), wife of Subhan, Nur Ayesh (18), daughter of Eliyas, Afam (20), wife of Esague, Amina (16), daughter of Rafiqual Kader and Tasnima (19), wife Khaled Hussain. They severely beat up a female named Anzam (35), wife of Sayed Alam as she resisted the army’s attempt to rape and made hue and cry, according to a close relative of the victims.
The army, Nasaka, Hluntin and police raped many Rohingya women and girls since the violence was occurred in June 8.
“Taking the advantage of state of emergency and the act 144, the army, Nasaka, police Hluntin raped many Rohingya girls and women.  It is very strange that the state of emergency and the act 144 is only imposed to Rohingya community not to Rakhine community. Therefore, the Mogh freely attacked to Rohingya people with the help of police, Hlutin, Nasaka and army. What kind of emergency and the act 144 is?”
Maungdaw Township:
Yesterday morning, on August 23, a woman and her son were shot dead by the Nasaka. The victims belong to Godosara village of Maungdaw north. At first, the Nasaka shot to a cow owned by said female. So, she went to take her cow, but she was shot to death by the Nasaka. Seeing the event, her son went again to carry her mother, but this time also, Nasaka shot dead her son on the spot. This means, Nasaka killed the Rohingya people like birds after the new Nasaka director Lt Col Maung Maung Oo was appointed at Kawar Bill Nasaka Headquarters of Maungdaw, said a local trader from the village.
On August 22, in the evening, a Rohingya youth was stabbed by a Rakhine mob while he was riding a rickshaw at Maundaw town in front of the police, a youth said from Maungdaw.
Besides, on August 22, in the morning, a Rohingya youth named Sadek (15), son of Nasir Ahmed, hailed from Powet Chang village of Maugdaw township, went to his relative with a carrier of curry, but he was stopped near a Rakhine village by Nasaka accompanied by Rakhine villagers and seized his carrier of curry and sent him to his village again. The Nasaka ate all the curry and thrown his carrier to the paddy field, said a villager from the locality.
“In addition, another young Rohingya boy named Amran (16), son of Abu Kalam, hailed from Powet Chang new village of Maungdaw north was stopped nearby a Rakhine village by Nasaka while he was gong to his relative by riding a bicycle. He was severely beaten up and seized his bicycle.”
There is a Rakhine village between Rohingya villages and the Nasaka always stays at the village. Rohingya villagers have to cross the Rakhine village to go to other Rohingya villages. Taking this advantage, the Nasaka arbitrary harasses the Rohingya villagers while crossing the Rakhine village. They are looting—- goods, money and beat the travelers deliberately without finding any fault.
Besides, on August 23, the Natala villagers carried away pillars and other wood from Tha Yae Kone Dan Madrassa. The army provides full security to the Natala villagers, according to villagers.
On August 21, a Rohigya youth was severely beaten up by a group of Rakhine youths on the Shwe Zaar Bridge and leaving him on the bridge, the culprits ran away. It was done in front of the security police. However, a patrol car of Nasaka reached on the spot and picked up the victim and sent to Maungdaw general hospital for treatment, said a close relative of the victim.
The Nasaka personnel of Nasaka area No. 5, seized rice and chili from beggars on August 21 when they were crossing the Kular Bill-Nari Bill bridge. The Nasaka also collects Kyat 500 to 1,000 per head who crosses the bridge. This is the Nasaka out-post of Nasaka camp No. 12 of Nasaka area No.5, said a fisherman from nearby village.
“In similar way, the Nasaka personnel of area No. 6 also collect Kyat from the travelers who cross the Letpu Gong-Nari Bill Bridge of Maungdaw north.”
“The travelers who are not able to pay the money are fasten and later send to their camps and forced them to work in the camps. But, they are released before 5:00 pm.”
Rohingya people are kept in the house from 5:00pm to 7:00 am by imposing state of emergency and Act 144. Out of these curfew and state of emergency when people get out of the houses for their different purposes, Hluntin, police, army and Moghs arbitrary harass them on the road and elsewhere. Are these Rohingya people not human being? Why do the concerned authorities threaten as like as animals?, a village elder asked.
On August 22, at about 9:30 am, a group of Rakhine women and children with Muslim dress wandering in Maungdaw town by taxis and taking photographs by some civilian authorities to show the international community that the Rohingya people in Maungdaw Township were celebrating Eid-day (Eid festival) happily, said a local businessman.
“But, the authorities ordered to the Rohingya community not to celebrate Eid festival at mosque or Eidgha (big field). So, the Rohingya people were not able to celebrate Eid festival in northern Arakan.”
“Besides, Sarapa (Military Intelligence) with two cars went to the north of Maungdaw on Eid-day to take photographs of Eid celebration of Rohingya villages. But, they failed. As result, the Sarapa forcibly took some Rohingya villagers with Muslim dresses and forced them to pray in a mosque and took photographs in various angles. In this way, the Burmese authorities will try to show false documents to the International community that there is no religious discrimination in Burma.”
On August 19, the Nasaka personnel of Aung Mingla Nasaka camp of Maung Nama village tract of Nasaka area No. 6 of Maungdaw Township arrested Mohamed Solu (22), son of Amir Ahmed accompanied by six others. All belong to Maung Nama south village of Maungdaw township. They were arrested for driving an elephant herd from paddy field at noon. The paddy field was owned by one villager named Abu. The herd of the elephant destroyed over 5-acer of paddy field on the night, said a local farmer.
“However, the arrestees were released, on that day after paying Kyats 200,000 per head.”
“The Nasaka also arrested six others villagers who went to paddy field to join with first group to drive the elephant and were released after paying 100 bamboos per head.”
“It is learnt that all the arrestees are accused that they went to attack the Rakhine village.”
Rohingya villagers have no rights to protect their paddy field from destroying by elephant. It is clear that what kind of policy that the concerned authorities are using over the Rohingya community, said a politician from Maungdaw.
On August 21, twelve villagers, on August 23, four villagers and on August 24, eight villagers were arrested by Nasaka, police accompanied by Rakhines from the Udaung village of Maungdaw south. After arrest, they were severely tortured and sent to Nasaka camp of area No. 8 and detained, said a local elder.
Since August 22, five groups of Rakhine mobs, in turn, enter the Honsara village, destroying fence, cutting down old trees while the male villagers are absent. They (Rakhines) are holding long swords and enter the village with the help of police and Hluntin. Among the groups, there are at least 12 to 15 people in one group, said a youth from the village.
In similar way, since August 21, the Nasaka, police and Moghs have been arresting the Rohingya villagers. But, on August 24, four villagers from Kanpu village of Maungdaw Township were arrested by Nasaka.
On August 23, two Rohingya villagers were severely beaten up on Shwe Zaar Bridge by the Rakhine villagers of Aung Mingla village, said a town dweller.
Hakim Ali, hailed from Sambala village ( near Balu Khali) of Nasaka area No.3 and Abdu Sharif, the village chairman (village administrator) of Balu Khali under the Nasaka area No. 3 of Maungdaw township were severely tortured by army  for not providing young girls or women for their sexual enjoyment on August 21. They (villagers) were asked by army to provide them 10 girls or women per village, but the said village elders did not comply with their order, said a local elder.
On August 23, at about 11:30 p, Fokira Bazar was set on fire by some civilian Moghs and 31 shops including 3 big clothes shops .were burned down into ashes. Later, the security force and army went to the spot to see the situation.
On August 22, two dead bodies were found under the bridge of Khayakhali-Maungdaw by local villagers, but these bodies were not identified. People believe that they were killed recently, said a local elder.
On August 22, army destroyed a shop from Ghodora Bazar of Maungdaw Township and took away two goats and some fowls from the village.
On August 23, five villagers per village of Maungdaw north were called to Nasaka headquarters of Kawar Bill of Maungdaw township to train them, how to talk with the inquiry commissions that will come from Rangoon. They are the aides of Nasaka personnel. The villagers are very disappointed; the real report will not be reached to the hands of inquiry commission, said a school teachers
Rathedaung Township:
Most of the people from Tharapyin, Prynkhon, Kudan Gone, Thami Hla and Sango Daung villages of Rathedaung township have been taking shelter at Don Say Para and Shilkhli villages of Rathedaung west since one month ago as their villages were relocated by security forces and Rakhines. At present, they are facing acute food and shelter crisis. Some of the villagers had already been died of diseases and starvation. No NGOs and rations were reached at the place. So, the villagers requested to the NGOs and donors to help them immediately, otherwise, they will die soon. Villagers are not allowed to go out of their villages, according to a youth from Don Say Para.