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.

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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.

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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.

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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.