Current Situation of Arakan | 30th July 2012

"There are several hypocritical attempts ans steps taking by the government in Arakan to deceive the visiting UN Special Rapporteur, Mr. Tomas OjeaQuintana about the actual situation of Arakan and to cover up the crimescommitted against Rohingyas.

Attempt 1

The authority are forcing the leaders of Rohingyas in Maung Daw and Buthidaung to say to Mr. Quintana that they are in peaceful situation and government has only arrested those who involved in the violence. 

Attempt 2

The authority are clearing all the blocks to show that people can move freely and forcing Rohingyas to re-open the remaining businesses.

Attempt 3

Until two days ago, Rohingyas were not allowed to do their lifeline cultivation of crop rice. Now, the NaSaKa in Maung Daw are forcing Rohingyas to start their cultivation and subsequently taking photographs of them.

Attempt 4

NaSaKa is behaving as if they are giving some food rations. The foods given to Rohingyas are taken back by NaSaKa after the completion of their photographic sessions.

Attempt 5

Authorities in Sittwe are repairing few remaining Mosques and painting them. 

Attempt 6

Authorities and Rakhine leaders are visiting the Rohingya camps, persuading Rohingyas and calling them as if their brothers.

Attempt 7

The government also ordered all people to attached the postcards with the symbol "NSK" to their the shirts." Rahim from Maung Daw reported.

In short, authorities in Arakan commanded all Rohingyas and Rakhines that they must, though externally, show solidarity and live like friends from 1st August to 5th August. This pseudo-solidarity and peacefully living together for five days is certainly an attempt to deceive the visiting UN Special Rapporteur, Mr. Tomas Ojea Quintana. C'mon, tyrannic regime and extremist Rakhines! Don't be afraid to show your true faces. Don't try to

deceive the world.

Moreover, according to one of the internal source, the police custodies in Maung Daw and Buthiduang have become Burmese Version of Nazi Extermination Camps where many Rohingyas arrested and locked up are being killed through tortures and various other means. The Rohingyas including under-aged ones are kept without water for days. When they are given foods, it is not on the plates but on the ground. Then, their hands are tied with ropes and they are forced to eat using their mouths. Besides, authorities of the custodies frequently put SALT into wounds of Rohingyas resulted from the tortures. Whoever dies is buried inhumanely wherever possible. Therefore, it is quite similar to how Jews were treated in Nazi's extermination camps. 

Furthermore, it has been known to the world that the monks in Rakhine state are restricting Rohingyas' access to foods, rations and medication. The monks boycotted 22 Rohingyas villages in Kyauktaw township. No Rohingya from these 22 villages are allowed to go out of their villages in search of foods and making them (Rohingyas) die by starvation inside their villages. To add more horrors, according to a reliable source from Maung Daw, about 2

to 3 Rohingyas per day (including children) are being slaughtered in "Allu Daw Bray (Byay)" monastery opposite to the government hospital in Maung Daw. During the raids by the police and Lunthin (security guards) which are made up of Rakhines, hundreds of Rohingyas were arrested. Some of them were killed on the spot, some have been kept and being tortured in police custodies and some were handed over to the concerned monastery to

be slaughtered. The people who are not allowed to inflict pains even on insects, whose religion teaches Metta (loving-kindness), are slaughtering human beings. Unbelievable! These people who are hiding behind saffron might not be Buddhists. They might be influenced more by Hitler than Buddha himself. 

Meanwhile, arresting of educated Rohingyas and their religious leaders continues in Buthidaung and Maung Daw.

The people of the world regretted and mourned after the holocaust of six millions Jews. Then, they decided and took oath to not let happen such kind of atrocities, ethnic cleansing, genocides and the crimes against humanity take place on the earth again. Yet, it is taking place against Rohingyas in Arakan state of Burma. Do come forward to save them before it

is too late.

Turkish Foreign Minister meets with representative of Rohingya

 

Turkish Foreign Minister  Ahmet Davutoğlu   and Dr. Mohammed Yunus

30 July 2012 

Davutoglu received Yunus, representative of Arakan Muslims, in the Turkish capital, Ankara. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday received Mohammed Yunus, representative of Arakan Muslims, in the Turkish capital, Ankara. 

  

The meeting at Davutoglu's residence was held closed to news media.Head of Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs Mehmet Gormez accompanied Yunus during the meeting.

Turkish diplomatic sources have said Yunus had asked for Turkey's support in dealing with the humanitarian crisis which forced many Rohingya Muslims to flee oppression into Bangladesh.

Sources also cited Yunus as asking for support to mobilize international community to step up and send aid to the displaced Rohingya Muslims. 

Sources cited Davutoglu as telling Yunus that Turkey would continue to monitor developments closely and that he was set to send a letter to his counterpart in Myanmar.

Britain must defend Burma's Muslim Rohingyas

The abuse of the Rohingyas by the Burmese government is a human rights catastrophe. 

 By RUSHANARA ALI

The Rohingyas have lived in Burma for generations, but under the 1982 Citizenship Law they are not recognised as citizens. Photograph: Getty Images.

The past year has seen impressive progress in Burma – the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and hundreds of political prisoners, preliminary ceasefires with many ethnic minorities in Burma and the first elections in 20 years which saw pro-democracy candidates elected to parliament. Alongside this internal progress, international progress is being made with sanctions being suspended and political relationships starting to form, not least with an invitation from Prime Minister David Cameron to Burma’s President Thein Sein to visit the UK later this year. 

Burma’s President Thein Sein has been working hard to convince the world his government is changing. Yet this story of progress and reform hides a far more complex and troubling truth. Burma is taking some initial, fragile steps towards democratisation, but there is still a very, very long way to go. Several hundred political prisoners remain in jail, a brutal war continues many ethnic minorities including the predominantly Christian Kachin people in northern Burma, and there are still systematic human rights abuses – civilians in Kachin talk of forced labour, torture and extra judicial killings and at least 75,000 people have been forcibly displaced.

And there is the tragedy that is the plight of the Muslim Rohingyas. In June, a devastating cycle of violence spiralled out of control in Arakan State in western Burma. Sparked by the rape and murder of a Buddhist Rakhine woman allegedly by Muslim Rohingyas, decades of racial and religious hatred erupted into several weeks of sectarian violence in which hundreds were killed, dozens of villages torched and at least 90,000 people displaced. Both communities committed violence, but the Rohingyas were the primary victims.

The effects were seen far wider than Arakan State. Throughout Burma, and among Burmese exiled communities abroad, including in the UK, blatant and shocking anti-Muslim racism came to the fore with threats against Rohingyas as well as those who campaign for them and crude comments on social media depicting the Rohingyas as “Bengalis” and “terrorists”.

Back in Burma, as the violence subsided, the security forces began a violent crackdown going house to house arresting Rohingyas who have now seemingly disappeared without charge and without trial. Those who could flee had nowhere to run except the jungle. Those who could not flee faced jail or death. This is a human rights and humanitarian catastrophe in the making.

Underlying this entire issue is the question of citizenship. The Rohingyas have lived in Burma for generations, but under the 1982 Citizenship Law they are not recognised as citizens. The Burmese government, and many in Burmese society, describe them as “illegal immigrants”. For years, they have faced severe restrictions on marriage, movement, education and religion in Burma, because they are deemed “foreigners”. They are among the most persecuted, marginalised people in the world.

Bangladesh, however, will not take them either. Although an estimated 200,000 Rohingya refugees have lived in dire conditions along the Bangladesh-Burma border for years, Bangladesh refuses to give sanctuary to any more. Those fleeing the current crisis have been turned back from the border, sent to face an uncertain fate. Those who have escaped from Burma on boats have been turned away from Bangladesh’s shores, often to die in stormy seas or be shot at by Burmese troops.

In early July, President Thein Sein escalated the crisis even further, by reportedly telling the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees that his government will not recognise them. On the same day Britain opened a trade office in Naypyidaw and the US lifted sanctions, Thein Sein wanted to hand the entire ethnic group to the UNHCR to look after until they could be resettled in a third country. He described the 800,000 Rohingyas in Burma as “a threat to national security”.

There is an urgent need for international pressure on President Thein Sein, to repeal the 1982 Citizenship Law and introduce a new law that is based on international norms and human rights. No one born in Burma should be denied citizenship. No ethnic group should be written off as “a threat to national security”. Such racial and religious intolerance is unacceptable.

The British government must make this issue a priority. If Burma is to become a truly free nation, with all the responsibilities and benefits that come with that, it must respect human rights for all its people. Britain must push for open access for humanitarian aid and human rights monitors to all areas of Burma, the release of all political prisoners and for an immediate stop to the violence and persecution - including rewriting the Citizenship Law. Without this, the process of reform and reconciliation in Burma cannot move forward.

‘Open Prison’ for Rohingya Muslims | Nay San Lwin

Rohingya Muslims in Burma complain of a catalogue of discrimination in their homeland

BERLIN – The ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims was initiated in the 1970s with a long-time plan. Rohingyas were one of the recognized ethnic groups in Burma during the parliamentary government after the independence of the country.

But a 1982 citizenship act was implemented by the world’s most notorious dictator Ne Win to make the Rohingya a ‘stateless” minority. The act imposes restrictions on Rohingyas in terms of marriage, travel, business and so on.

Getting a marriage contract is a “mission impossible” for Rohingya Muslims. The application must be submitted to the authorities in advance without assurances to get the contract. The process could take up a couple of year or more, depending on how much the couple can pay bribes to the authorities.

The agreement must be signed by the Muslim couple that they would not have more than two children. The approval of the permission would not be obtained without bribing. As having more than two children is prohibited, the extra children become undocumented children.

Another headache for Rohingya Muslims is the freedom of movement, which is strictly controlled. Moving from one village to another needs an authorization from local authorities, let alone the time spent and money paid to get the travelling approval paper.

It is more restricted for Rohingya Muslims to travel from the capital, which becomes an easy task as long as the person is able to offer huge bribes to authorities. Travelling to Burma’s former capital, Rangoon, is impossible for Rohingya Muslims, even if the person can offer attractive bribes to authorized personnel of the government. These travel restrictions cause Rohingya Muslims to lose lives over inability to get medical help.

Many checkpoints are erected across villages and towns to verify travel permissions. If someone fails to present the permission, he will be sentenced to prison. The prison period for violators depends on how much bribes can be paid to authorities.

In some circumstances, Burmese authorities allow visits to neighboring Bangladesh with border-pass passport for a few days. But if the traveler failed to show up on time, he will not be allowed back into the country.

Many Rohingya Muslims, who have been getting medical treatment abroad, have become illegal immigrants in Bangladesh because they could not return back home on time and the authorities refuse to hear their complaints as the government is happy to see Rohingya leaving the country.

Under official restrictions, Rohingya Muslim students were denied the right to study at medical and engineering universities, which are only available in Rangoon and Mandalay.

The regional college is available in the State’s capital Sittwe, where Rohingya students have to get travel permits to be allowed to studied, but the permit is only given for a few weeks and the students find no other way but to go back for renewing.

The delay in issuing travel permits by authorities causes the attendance records of Rohingya students not to meet the requirement for sitting for the examination. Some students do not get the travel permit during the examination time. All these restrictions cause only a few Rohingya students continue their study till graduation.

Open Prison

Rohingya are also banned from working as high-ranking officers in governmental sectors since the introduction of the new citizenship act. They don’t also have a chance to even work as low-ranking officers. This even applies to businessmen, where Rohingya businessmen find no other option but to pay huge amounts of money to Rakhine (Buddhist) businessmen to get business permits. They are occasionally extorted and habitually jailed without any reasons.

Rohingya working in the Middle East and south-east Asian countries have left their families in Burma, but they do not find a way to return home. Many complain that once a Rohingya Muslim leaves the country, his name will strike out from family registration paper.

Rohingyas are widely used as forced labors. They are forcibly ordered to work till projects are completed as well as in houses of authorities’ personnel.

In the wake of the recent communal unrest in Maungdaw Township, Rohingya were used as forced labors to build up the damaged houses of Rakhine Buddhists. Rohingya men were brutally tortured for refusing to carry out the order and some were arrested.

The Rohingya people always have fear. During last month’s communal unrest I had conversations with some relatives. They don’t feel free to talk about the brutal killing and the attacks. Their properties were looted and the houses were burnt down into ashes. They were forced to leave from the town where their generations lived for centuries. They are in trouble for lack of foods and medical treatments.

Worse still, the Rakhine Buddhist monks and the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) are barring assistance from NGOs. Restrictions on access of international media stumble efforts to produce the true news how the violence was taken place there.The Rohingyas are living in an “open prison”, which can be broken by the pressures of the international community, the United Nations, ASEAN and the European Union. The economic interest of the United States on Burma should be carefully scrutinized again as the ethnics Kachin and Rohingya are still suffering.

Rohingya Need Urgent Humanitarian Aid | BROUK

BROUK today called on the international community to protect Rohingya people immediately. During the last two days, BROUK has received the following information from the ground;

1. In Buthidaung Jail 43 dead bodies of Rohingya Muslims were buried in a mass grave near the jail's fencing on the 24th of July they were tortured jointly by the Rakhine and jail’s authorities. There are over 500 Rohingya prisoners arrested from Maung Daw and Buthidaung recently. BROUK received reports that most of them have been tortured, leaving without food and drink which leading to death.

2. Even though the violence stopped 5 weeks ago, Rohingya people cannot go out from their village and people are dying day by day as they are not able to buy any food.

3. RNDP party has instructed Rakhine people not to sell any rations to Rohingya Muslims. We also received reliable information from Rangoon that Central government has instructed all the authorities in Rakhine state not to sell any rations to Rohingyas in any towns of Arakan. 

If anyone is found to be selling Rations to Rohingya Muslims, he will be punished.

4. According to sources from Sittwe, no one can go to Sittwe Central Market to buy their rations.

5. During the last few days, government authorities have step up arresting many Rohingyas, including religious teachers and village wise people after inviting them to a meeting. Many Rohingyas were killed during police custody and the dead bodies were not returned to their family members, according to a reliable source.

6. On 21st July, Rohingya Muslims were not allowed to pray in the Mosque and 9 Mosques were sealed off by Nasaka (Border Security Forces).

BROUK President Tun Khin said “During the state sponsored violence Rohingyas were killed by lethal weapons. The current situation is worse as government authorities are killing Rohingya by cutting the rations. Today Our Homeland Arakan State becomes silent killing field. According to some humanitarian agency, in Sittwe some monks were posted near Muslim displacement camps, checking on and turning away people they suspected would visit for assistance. There is serious humanitarian crisis and Rohingyas are daily dying of starvation. Those with bullet injuries and disease are in acute mental and physical pain without medical care and treatment.”

Tun Khin also said “We appeal to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to immediately intervene in order to save lives, property, honour and human dignity of the Rohingya people. The international community must take action immediately to save Rohingya lives. We would like to urge US, UK, UN, OIC and the international community to take immediate steps to put pressure on Thein Sein government. The UK government should release a public statement on this crisis and should raise it with ASEAN countries and other counterparts. It is time for the UK government to re-consider its invitation to President Thein Sein to visit the UK.”

For more information, please contact Tun Khin +44 (0) 788714866

Ahamed Jarmal

General Secretary

Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK)

London

Asean Must Act to Help Rohingyas In Myanmar, Komnas HAM Says

A student in Banda Aceh holding a photograph of Rohingya refugees on Sunday in a demonstration of solidarity with the minority group. (Antara Photo/Ampelsa) 

Rangga Prakoso, Ulma Haryanto & Markus Junianto Sihaloho | July 30, 2012

The National Commission on Human Rights and lawmakers have asked the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to help end the alleged slaughter in Myanmar of minority Rohingya Muslims. 

Ifdal Kasim, chief of the commission known as Komnas Ham, said on Sunday that his office had sent a letter urging the Asean human rights commission to quickly gather its members so that concrete steps could be taken to end the mass killings of Rohingyas. 

“The Asean commission must speak and call a meeting so we can take immediate action,” Ifdal said. “They have the authority to do so.” 

Ifdal said the killings severely damaged Asean’s human rights image on the global stage and should not be viewed as Myanmar’s domestic affair. “The killings are already a regional problem,” he said. 

Separately, the National Awakening Party (PKB) issued a statement calling for Asean and the United Nations to intervene. 

Hanif Dhakiri, the secretary of PKB’s faction at the House of Representatives, said the events in Myanmar constituted a gross human rights violation and the systematic destruction of the Rohingyas. 

“That’s why the PKB demands that the UN actively get involved to stop the massacre,” he said. 

Hanif called on Asean to quickly hold an emergency meeting to decide how to respond to the issue. 

Predominantly Buddhist Myanmar does not recognize the Rohingyas as citizens, saying they migrated from Bangladesh during British colonial rule. Bangladesh has also disavowed the group, saying they are Myanmar’s problem. 

Amnesty International has reported that hundreds of Rohingyas have been killed, raped, beaten and arbitrarily arrested since Myanmar declared a state of emergency in northern Rakhine state, on the border with Bangladesh. 

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi last week called for laws to protect the rights of the country’s ethnic minorities in her inaugural address to the country’s fledgling Parliament. 

The ongoing violence has driven Rohingyas from their homes in Myanmar’s northern and western states, and they have turned up in waves as asylum seekers and refugees in neighboring Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia. 

Asean secretary general Surin Pitsuwan said last week that the association was seeking an explanation from member state Myanmar about the recent ethnic violence targeting the Rohingya group. 

The explanation, he said, would be given at the United Nations headquarters in New York in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. 

Surin said the Asean secretariat had held talks with Myanmar’s foreign minister, U Wunna Maung Lwin, but added: “We haven’t heard anything specific or concrete on the matter.” 

Meanwhile, Indonesian charity organization Rapid Relief Action (ACT) dispatched a lone mission on Sunday to visit Rohingya refugees in camps in Myanmar and Bangladesh. 

“We will be represented by Andhika Purbo Swasono, who departs this afternoon,” ACT spokesman Feri Kuntoro told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday. “He will conduct a field assessment on the needs of the refugees.” 

Andhika was originally scheduled to depart with a medical professional, Rio Pranata, but Rio’s visa was not approved. “We want to represent Indonesia’s humanitarian diplomacy,” Feri said. “Last year we were the first team from Indonesia to go to Mogadishu [in Somalia].” 

Neither President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono nor Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa have spoken out on the killings in Myanmar, although both are known for their quick comments on issues relating to human rights. 

Many observers have said they are holding their comments because they fear criticism would derail Myanmar’s democratization progress. 

Foreign Ministry spokesman Michael Tene only said, “We hope that the commitment from the Myanmar government for national reconciliation continues.”

Welcoming UN Special Rapporteur Tomas Quintana with made-up preparations | Nay San Lwin

Welcoming UN Special Rapporteur Tomas Quintana with made-up preparations | Nay San Lwin

UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Mr Tomas Ojea Quintana will be visiting Burma from today for four days. Quintana will visit Arakan for one day as described in the recent statement of Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). 

The military personnel are placed everywhere in Maungdaw Township. Rohingya people can move freely now wherever army personnel are posted. The military is selling rice for Rohingya with high price. Rice-sack porters also are happy for earning something. But some policemen who sheltered beside the clock tower are looting money from the people and collecting toll on every rice-sack. The Rakhines are gathering at refugee centers in Maungdaw as they are victims of the riot and are further victimized the Rohingya by not giving access to foods and medicines by the authority 

The ancient mosque nearby Sittwe airport is under renovation by the local municipality as to show up that the government is taking care of the damages. The lands of destructed houses and mosques have been bulldozed. The situation of Rohingya refugee camps in Sittwe is still unchanged. People are dying by starvation and lack of medical treatments. 

Malaysian government offered aids for displaced people but Burma’s foreign minister Wunna Maung Lwin rejected it. Human Rights expert Mr Ansar Burney was rejected the entry visa to Burma. Turkish Red Crescent is waiting for the response of Thein Sein government to assist the Rohingya people. Iran government is urging the UN to send peacekeeping forces to Arakan. Independent media access is still controlled. 

Amnesty International and many Human Rights Organizations issued the statements that there are arbitrary arrests, mass killings and security forces are targeting Rohingya people. The security forces raid every night the villages in Maungdaw to arrest Rohingya men. The Rohingya women were raped in absence of men as almost men were not sleeping at home for the fear of arrest. 

According to reliable source a monk confirmed that about 60 Rohingya youths were kept at Buddhist monastery in Maungdaw and each time 3 to 4 were taken away for execution. Recently Burmese Rohingya Organization (UK) confirmed that 43 dead bodies of Rohingya Muslims were buried in a mass grave near the jail’s fence in Buthidaung jail on July 24. More than 500 Rohingya youths and educated arrested from Maungdaw and Buthidaung Townships. The confirmed news posted on Rohingya Blogger that 178 Rohingya were arrested from Rathedaung Township and took them to Sittwe jail but only 172 appeared at Sittwe court and no account or news about the remaining six arrestees. 

The campaign to drive out Rohingya from the country is still going on. The Buddhist monks are fueling the campaign. Even two Indian workers work for ESSAR oil Company were brutally beaten up by Rakhine people in Sittwe. The government’s attitude towards on Rohingya people is unmoved. The demonstrations by anti-Rohingya activists on support to the President Thein Sein’s suggestion to UNHCR held abroad and organizing to seize inside the country. The religious abuses over the social medias is going on .The rumors spreading by bias media is continuing. 

Violating human rights beside the unrecognizing citizens is likewise keeping the people at silent killing field. Many people are living in open area without any shelter but sometime they were brought to designated places and taken pictures to show up that they were in safe places. As described in the news report of Rathedaung Township which is in Burmese version, the villagers were taken to the places where the hand-made weapons are keeping and the pictures made with those weapons to define them as the culprits of the violence. 

Mr Tomas Quintana visited Burma many times in the past by prior notice to the regime as each time need to obtain the entry visa. He or anyone is incapable to make surprise visit. The political prisoners enjoyed the comfortable stay in the bars whenever he visits to the bars. As many human rights and other organizations are observing and always visiting although the regime doesn’t like them but allowing them to keep good relation with international community. The regime knows how to fabricate and what to do before the delegation arrive. Therefore the situation in Arakan is little bit calm down just within these days but it will be back to original position once Mr Quintana leaves from Burma. 

Of course Mr Quintana will visit the villages in Arakan to see the situation but I don’t think the vulnerable Rohingya people will dare to speak to him. If anyone who speaks the truth will be tortured upon leaving of Mr Quintana. It is a worry that the government will make some Rohingya as their puppets and let them meets with Mr Quintana and will hide the reality and cover up their crimes against Rohingyas.