The recent situation of Maungdaw and Rathidaung Townships

The concerned authorities brought many Rakhine poor villagers from different parts of northern Arakan to Maungdaw and are kept under the Nasaka camps of Maungdaw south to show them as Rakhine refugees to UN delegation that will come next to survey the situation of Maungdaw.

The police personnel from Maungdaw loot goods from Rohingyas villagers who were returning to their home after buying goods from Rakhines’ shops. Some elder Rakhine, monks and police told the shopkeepers not to sell any goods to Rohingyas.
It is not a communal riot between Rakhines and Rohingyas. It is really a pre-planned government responsible attack along with some a group Rakhine racists against the Rohingya community.
Special court in Maungdaw
Recently army and Nasaka arrested Rohingyas from various villages from Maungdaw are being trialed at special court in Maungdaw police station where the court sentenced to imprisonment on the spot and sent the Rohingya to Buthidaung Jail. The court used Act 148/506 on arrested Rohingya. In Buthidaung jail has 168 Rohingya with this Act. In the jail, the authority registered the Rohingyas with photograph.
The army, Nasaka and police are arresting Rohingya community, mostly young, educated and well to do family persons without finding any fault. Then, the authority tortured the arrested persons first in the police station after arrest.
As a result, the villagers have been passing nights out of villages without any sleep for fear of arrest. The villagers are mostly stay in jungles or paddy fields to avoid arrest. Taking this advantage, army and Nasaka assault the Rohingya females. They loot all the food items and destroy from the villages. So, the villagers are facing shortage of food and children will die in future, if there is no foods supply to Rohingya community in Maungdaw.
The Rohingya community is staying in the open sky in this monsoon season as their houses have been destroyed and burned down by army, police and Nasaka. So the community need settler to stay in this monsoon season. The tropical diseases are spreading all the villages and need medical team to help them.  Diabetic and heart disease patients are facing short of medicines as they are not able to buy any medicines due to all the shops are being closed and their lives are at risk.
Arrest
Ms.Soe Mya Mya, 30, (an NGO worker) and her sister, daughter of late Dr. Yah Yah from Ward number 2,  Maungdaw, were arrested by police today morning, reason is unknown.
Reaza Waddin from Habib village and Anam Ullah from Shwezarr village were arrested by Nasaka from Bomu village at noon today while they were going to their relatives’ houses for help. All the arrestees belong to Maungdaw.
25 Rohingyas – educated and leaders- from Anukpyin Village of Rathidung Township were arrested by police with Township administration officer on June 21 and brought them to Rathidaung police station.
Besides, all the children over 10- year old from Anukpyin village of Rathidaung township were brought to primary school in the said village by  police with Township administration officer on June 22 and kept them there as a house arrest, but they  have not been provided  any food even drinking water. The arrested children were tortured by the authority, of them four children asked drinking water where the Township administration officer provided them a bottle of urine of him in the place of drinking water.
Killing and wounded
Ms. Nurfatema, daughter of Idris from Bagonena Village of Maungdaw Township was shot to death by army and Nasaka on June 22 at broad daylight. Another daughter of Idris named, Nur Begum was tortured till her death.
Hashim Ullah and Idris from Tharaykuntan (Barsawra) village, were slaughtered by Rakhines, while they were goingt o their village from hiding place in evening on June 22, after crossing a Rakhine village near their village.
Some of dead bodies are floating in a stream named Mawrinyam sawra nearby Shilkhli village of Nasaka area number 8, Maungdaw south today. The villagers of Shilkhli believe that the dead bodies are those people who were arrested by army three days ago.
One, Rickshaw puller named Kala Meah was dragged from in front of his house and killed by a group of Rakhine youths at Maungdaw football ground while he was preparing to work for his family survival toady at about 3:00pm.
150 Rohingyas were killed and 157 wounded while Rakhines along with police offcer of Kudaung police station of Rathidaung Township attacked to the Anaukpyin village–a Rohingya village of 5,000 Rohingya residents—on June 21 on daytime where the Rohingya villagers defensed against Rakhines around 2 hours and 30 minutes.On information, a group of army rushed to the spot and the situation was under control of army.
Kudaung Police officer shot to death two Rohingya villagers from Anauckpyin village by his service pistol, but they left all the dead bodies in the village. The next day, the Township administration officer of Rathidaung, police officer of Rathidaung and police officer of Kudaung and its team went to the village where they arrested 25 villagers and taking away the two Rohingya dead bodies. But the dead bodies were returned to the villagers after taking the bullets.

Latest Rathedaung Township’ deadliest news

Dear all Brothers and sisters who concerned in this regards

Date on 19.6.202, some (20) Rakhine hooligans and members, of Sumaashin (reserved secret forces of USDP) in the supervision of Rathedaung Township administrator, secretly entered under the cover of nightfall in Anukprin village where the villagers are completely Rohingyas Muslims residing. All Rakhine hooligans are being well equipped with deadly weapons such as knives, daggers, bare swords, (unsheathed), swords in scabbard, machete like sword with a crescent shape tip, spares, bayonets, and inflammable materials to destroy, kill and fire the villages as seen by the people around the world. These Rakhine hooligans are being reinforced by local police and paramilitary who are purely Rakhine bloods.

Usually, to attack, destroy and burn to ashes Rohingya Muslims’ blocks in the Sittwe city and to fire the villages of Rohingyas along Rakhine state at this current situation, Rakhine manipulators usually hire the Rakhine hooligans from different places. That means to fire Sittwe, the hooligans are from somewhere of Rakhine state, may be from Punnagyun, kyauktaw, Rathedaung or else. In the deliberate burning incident of Sittwe city, the Rakhine hooligans are almost not likely from Sittwe.

Likewise to attack, destroy and burn Rathedaung Township Muslim villages in the past two or three days, the Rakhine hooligans might have been from ‘Punnagyun’ or elsewhere but not exactly from Rathedaung Township. The helpless villagers from Anukprin village, Rathedaung township were being alert at those nights as they got prior information of Rakhine hooligans’ invasion to the villages at the night fall, the alerted villagers have already designed to defend only some kinds of traps such as booby traps, snares and holes in the grounds to could seize the hooligans who were unaware of the Muslims villages’ geographical situation. Some unnamed (6) hooligans were already trapped and died in the snares as pre-planned by the Muslims. Having known about the incident in the field, the rest Rakhine hooligans have retreated back to Rathedaung Township and they might have reported these experiences to the Rathedaung Township administrator. Then, under the direction of the administrator, multi-organs from Rathedaung Township have set out to the concerned villages and randomly arresting and harassing the people sorted seven year old boy to 70 years elderly Rohingyas male. According to local people who have managed to run away from the killing, at least (30) Rohingya people from Anukprin village have already been tortured to dead. Due to unfortunate trapping and dead body of the Rakhine hooligans, the free hand authorities from Rathedaung township has got a free selection to arrest, torture and taking away Rohingya innocent to unknown place and at last the rest family feel they might have been killed without any hint under the absent of clues, or strong evidence to prove later on at local and international.

Until now, as per the local, thirty people from Anunkprin village were being tortured to dead including some pregnant women, and from Nyaunpingyi village there are 53 male and female have already been tortured to dead. Some (21) arrested and taken away to unknown destination people’ names from Anaukprin village are as below mentioned.

1) U Yusoop (f) KasimAli, former village chairman

2) U AbduRahman@Maung Maung Win (f) Yusoop, current village chairman

3) U Ba Tin (f) Mohamed Alam, former Secretary, 70 years old

4) U Ali Akbar (f) Kalu, 60 years

5) Huson chay(f) Sayed, currently village council member

6) U Zayid Hussan (f) Dil Mohamed, 30 years

7) U Mamet Ali@ Maung Maung Khin(f) Dil Mohamed, 18 years

8) U Laydaryar (f)Mohammed

9) Mrs. Banu (f) Zawbaur

For the rest 12 more people, we don’t still have available information.

Regarding the above multi human prepared atrocities and deliberate attack by Rakhine hooligans on innocent and vulnerable Rohingyas, there have been untold miserable tragedies against Rohingyas helpless people since more than two weeks now without any strong voice and action either from the local government or international community body to stop crime against humanity and the massacre.

Due to some sort of slight demand to stop the rampage and to restore enforcement of law and order in Rakhine state from both international governments and local government, the Thein Sein government had done some arrangement to be lessening the Rakhine organized hooligans’ mass atrocities against Rohingyas along the Rakhine state which have been beautifully run day in day out by Rakhine holigans. Despite the order issued no. 144 by president, the restoration of law has not been effective to stop the hooligan’s violence on Rohingyas completely. Rather, since then, there have been more Rohingya houses were being burned down to ashes by Rakhine in ignorance of law and order issued by President. The curfew is not for Rakhine people, but for Rohingyas. The curfew has not been protecting The Rohingyas but sheltering the hooligans. Taking cover of the curfew, the police, paramilitary let the Rohingya houses burned down during nights. Rohingya have been sleepless watching the perilous and series of attacks by the hooligans. Rakhine do not abide the order, there is no action against them because all officials concerned are Rakhine national people. But Rohingyas are under 24 hours curfew order, meaning not only night, but also the whole day, Rohingyas aren’t being secured to go out for searching for food, opening shops, doing daily works, not only within a single township but also entire Rakhine state where there are Rohingyas. Our overall social conditions are very frustrated, deteriorated, humiliated, dehumanized and hopeless while, in one hand, the government of Myanmar does not taking loyally our security and livelihood issues and, on the other hand, the helpless Rohingyas depending and expecting heavily on international communities are only still busy with negotiation without taking any pressing effective action step as we are on the verge of extermination by the Rakhine hooligans in this critical condition.

Our Rohingyas community in Rakhine state is in the mouth of death ghost (Rakhine chauvinistic and organized hooligans) and we earnestly request international community to save us in time from the unsafe plan of both government of Myanmar and Rakhine people’ master plan to annihilate us from our ancestral land.

On behalf of entire Rohingyas community, the urgent and a very effective combined international community’s efforts as the most urgent matter to save our lives from this jeopardy is highly appreciated. Please, help us in time.

Mohamed Mufiz, a son of victim from Rakhine state

Rohingya Boatpeople Sentenced on Immigration Charges

In a similar incident in 2008, a group of boatpeople were detained on the Thai island of Koh Sai Baed.

Eighty-two Rohingya boatpeople have been sentenced to one year in prison by a court in Ye Township, Mon State, charged with violating immigration laws after they were rescued at sea last month by Mon fishermen while sailing to Malaysia.
The 82 were sentenced on June 19 by a township court in Ye following their arrest in Tavoy [Dawei] by Burmese marine authorities. They were apprehended in Tavoy only after they had attempted one more time to sail to Malaysia following their rescue in Ye Township, some 150 km farther north on the Mon coast.
May 25 article here: http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/5072
“Each of them was sentenced for one year for violating an immigration law, which does not allow them to travel,” said a police officer in Ye who spoke to The Irrawaddy by phone on Friday.
He said that of the 84 people that had been picked up by marine authorities, only two had not been imprisoned—because they were children.
“The boatpeople are all currently being held in Moulmein Prison where they were sent on Tuesday,” said the policeman.
According to NGO the Arakan Project, 108 ethnic Rohingyas—or “Bengalis” as the Burman press prefers to call them—set sail from Sabrang in Bangladesh on May 10. Among the passengers was a woman with her two children who was trying to join her husband already living in Malaysia.
It is unknown whether the boatpeople originally set off from western Burma and stopped in Sabrang on their intended journey to Malaysia.
They were rescued in the Andaman Sea by Mon fishermen who spotted their boat in distress with engine failure. The fishermen towed them to Aim Dein village in Ye Township where they were fed and given water by local villagers.
Although they could not speak Burmese, the boatpeople were apparently able to convey to Mon locals that many of their fellow passengers had died at sea from disease or starvation, and their bodies had been dropped overboard.
Having repaired the engine on their boat, the 84 remaining people (originally reported as 85)—only one of whom is a woman—departed from Aim Dein on May 23, and it is assumed but not confirmed that they were picked up and detained some days later off the coast of Tavoy.
According to the policeman who spoke to The Irrawaddy, the Tavoy authorities then sent all the boatpeople by land back to Ye where they faced charges. They were detained at a local football stadium because there was not enough space in the local jail. On June 19 they were sentenced in absentia while being held at the stadium, and were then moved to Moulmein for incarceration.
The two children have been separated from their family or families and are currently being held in Thae Koung village in Kawzar Township, south of Ye, according to a local Mon Buddhist monk.
“It is unacceptable that these boatpeople are sentenced on immigration charges for being caught in their own country,” said Chris Lewa, the director of Arakan Project. “This is a result of statelessness and one of the root causes to the recent violence that needs to be urgently addressed.”
Maung Kyaw Nu, the president of the Burmese Rohingya Association of Thailand, appealed last month to Burmese MPs and to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to assist the almost 2 million Rohingya living in Burma and elsewhere.
Rohingya people perennially leave their homes and families in Burma and Bangladesh where they face extreme discrimination and are denied citizenship.
The Muslim Rohingya often find they have little alternative but to try to travel illegally across the Andaman Sea to try to find work in Thailand, Malaysia or another third country.
They are frequently described by human rights groups as “one of the most persecuted people in the world.”
The Rohingya issue drew international attention in 2009 when the Thai military was accused of intercepting boatloads of Rohingyas, sabotaging their vessels, and abandoning them at sea.
Earlier this month, a series of deadly incidents led to riots and sectarian violence in Arakan State between ethnic Rohingyas and Buddhist Arakanese. Many Rohingyas have subsequently attempted to cross the border into Bangladesh, but those caught have been sent back to Burma.

The Rohingya, myths and misinformation

Rohingya worshippers gather for Friday prayers in Sittwe on 18 May 2012. (Reuters)


Ethnic strife is a defining facet of Burmese political life.

However, few examples appear so eerily orchestrated as the hounding of the Rohingya whom the UNHCR term “virtually friendless.” Much hot air has been expelled to debate the origins of the minority group since communal tensions erupted in late May and early June, but perhaps more telling is the now common refrain that they are “terrorists”.

On the 10th of October 2002 the U.S. embassy in Rangoon sent a rare cable home to Washington D.C. — rare because it contained intelligence direct from the Burmese military.

It asserted that members of the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) had met with Osama Bin Laden. Further that members of the organisation had sought weapons training in Afghanistan and Libya. The group was then attempting to get bases on the Thai border and join forces with the ethnic armed groups.

“Five members (names still under inquiry by the GOB[Government of Burma]) of ARNO attended a high-ranking officers’ course with Al Qaeda representatives on 15 May, 2000.”

On the same day that the cable was sent, across town the US senate approved President George W Bush’s war against Iraq. Both stories were based on a myth — one that was crystallised the previous year in a New York courtroom.

To try Bin Laden in absentia for association with the East Africa embassy bombings of 1998, the prosecutor in the trial needed evidence of an organised network under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act (RICO).

The FBI and the prosecution had one witness who had worked with Bin Laden in the early 90′s called Jamal Al Fadl. He “was more than happy” to provide what Jason Burke, author of the seminal work Al Qaeda, told the BBC was the basis of the “first Bin Laden myth” — that there was an organised hierarchical structure in a group called Al Qaeda with Bin Laden at its head.

This was not the case.

Al Fadl had fallen out with Bin Laden after embezzling some $110,000 from him and in return for the key evidence needed to prosecute him under laws used against drug and mafia gangs, the Sudanese militant placed under witness protection and given money from the FBI.

Prior to September the 11th, the term Al Qaeda was not used by Bin Laden. Sam Schmidt a defence lawyer in the trial of the embassy bombings said that Al Fadl “lied in a number of specific testimonies” in order to make them, “identifiable as a group and therefore prosecute any person associated with Al Qaeda for any acts or statements made.”

Named in the 2002 cable is Salim Ullah of the ARNO. Now a resident in Chittagong, he admits that the group did once maintain arms but renounced armed struggle about a decade ago.

He denies the accusation of Al Qaeda links, calling it propaganda and asks, “Karen, Kachin and other people are fighting with the government, they are defending their people, they are fighting for equal rights, so they are freedom fighters, but when we struggle, we are terrorists, is this logical?”

Indeed the U.S. embassy felt they were given the report for a reason, concluding in the 2002 cable that:

“The Burmese view all these [ethnic armed] groups as terrorists. Their purpose in giving us this report is to make sure we are aware of the alleged contacts between ARNO and the Burmese insurgent groups on the Thai border. Presumably, they hope to bolster relations with the United States by getting credit for cooperation on the [Counter-Terrorism] front”…. “Its purpose is probably to draw a connection between Al Qaeda, which has supported ARNO, and Burmese insurgent groups active on the Thai border.”

Just like in Bush’s ill-fated war in Iraq, where the weapons of mass destruction and links between Sadam Hussein and Al Qaeda have yet to be unearthed after almost a decade, no such connections have been made with the Rohingya.

“Have you heard a shot from the Rohingya in the last two decades?” asks Ullah.
“However, there is no evidence of camps or jihadi terrorists in Burma”

But now as the violence rages in Arakan state, with riots and burnings by mobs on both sides, the director of President Thein Sein’s office and a graduate of the elite Defence Services Academy, Zaw Htay (aka Hmu Zaw) took to posting his take on the violence in Arakan state on Facebook.

“It is heard that Rohingya Terrorists of the so-called Rohingya Solidarity Organization [formerly a part of the ARNO] are crossing the border and getting into the country with the weapons. That is Rohingyas from other countries are coming into the country. Since our Military has got the news in advance, we will eradicate them until the end! I believe we are already doing it.”

He continues, “we don’t want to hear any humanitarian issues or human rights from others. Besides, we neither want to hear any talk of justice nor want anyone to teach us like a saint.”

Much like the decision to go to war against Iraq, a sovereign nation with no relation to the attacks on the World Trade Center, the vile act of rape and murder by three individuals was used as an excuse to attack Muslims or those who fit the stereotype with absolutely no connection to the initial crime, which resulted in the June 3rd massacre of ten non-Rohingya Muslims on a bus returning to Rangoon.

Any claims that it was a direct reprisal is illogical by way of the fact that the rapists had already been detained by that date. Discrimination was thus not an issue of being ‘Rohingya’ per se, or indeed according to another US Embassy cable even a matter of religion:

“Hindu residents of the state, most of who are ethnically Indian, suffer the same lack of citizenship rights and restrictions on travel as their Muslims neighbours.”

The common denominator being what the state-run Myanmar Alin newspaper would designate as being ‘Kalar’ — a pejorative racial slur derived from the Sanskrit word for black or dark.

Warning shots

Zaw Htay’s eradication mission aimed at the Rohingya was reported by Radio Free Asia. Burmese military helicopters refugees claimed had been firing on boats of civilians on the Naf River, which divides Burma and Bangladesh as Rohingyas attempted to cross into the safety of the neighbouring country.

Salim Ullah and others note that Rohingya victims of the rioting have been turning up in hospitals on both sides of the border with bullet wounds, even though the mobs of ethnic vigilantes on both sides have only possessed crude weapons. He asserts that no Arakanese have suffered similar injuries.

Activists have noted that the military has acted in concert with Arakanese vigilantes, although this is hard to confirm but the argument has strong historical precedent. In both 1978 and 1991 the military committed serious pogroms against the Rohingya, which resulted in hundred of thousands fleeing their homes.

The U.S. embassy struggled to find evidence of organised violent actions that other ethnic armies have undertaken. In 2003 they noted:

“There has been no serious insurgent activity in northern Rakhine State for several years,” only finding that, “a French NGO worker related an incident from 2001 in which four members of the security forces were murdered at night in their camp. He believed it had something to do with forced prostitution or trafficking in women and was probably not insurgent related. After the murders, she continued, the security forces rounded up the inhabitants of a nearby village and penned them in a field for two days with no food or water. Two toddlers, who were left at the village, reportedly died.”

The murder of the security forces they note was probably “the result of local resentments and outraged husbands or fathers.” A similar crime, it must be noted, as the awful murder and rape of Ma Thidar Htwe.

Like most myths there is a grain of truth that germinates into a political tool. Bin Laden of course was himself a financer of jihad, but he was not the leader of an international, organised hierarchy and especially did not have support from Iraq during the Sadam era.
“The spinning of the myth in both cases serves grander strategic aims”

Similarly, Bangladesh has violent Islamist groups, some of whom have links with groups in other Muslim countries. They have probably utilised the desperation of individual Rohingya, either domestically in Bangladesh or in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

However, there is no evidence of camps or jihadi terrorists in Burma, least of all running around burning down houses.

The ARNO likewise may have received funding and assistance from Islamist groups but the very notion that they were part of a large organised criminal conspiracy is made highly questionable by the lack of terrorist activity. The Karen National Union receives support from churches, despite having had a more active war over their lifetime.

The spinning of the myth in both cases serves grander strategic aims. For the Burmese military the idea of sovereignty and the institution’s raison d’etre are intwined.

On Armed Forces Day this year, state TV reported that in 1988 the armed forces prevented the country from falling into “foreign servitude.”

The idea that the protests in 1988 were caused by a foreign enemy is of course a fantasy but the notion is to split patriotic sentiment from dissent. Suu Kyi and the 88 protesters by the rationale were ‘foreign stooges’.

Now some of those that the military would have labelled ‘foreign stooges’ have in turn joined in rounding on an imagined army of ‘foreign servitude’– the Rohingya.

The 88 student group’s Ko Ko Gyi stated that the problems in Arakan state were because of “illegal immigration,” and that “they were offending the sovereignty” of the country.

There is nothing to suggest however that the murderous libido of the rapists was influenced by their legal status in the country.

“If the powerful countries forced us to take responsibility for this issue we will not accept it,” Ko Ko Gyi said in an interview. “If we are forced to yield we, the army and the democratic [forces] will deal with the issue as a national issue.”

The sense of being threatened by an outside enemy is palpable in his words. This addresses two quarters — the imagined jihadi army and the same concerned international community who supported him and his comrades through decades of military rule (much to the anger of the military government).

It is reminiscent of the decision to move Naypyidaw to the precise middle of the country where, as the President’s chief political adviser Ko Ko Hlaing said, it was as far away as possible from all the imagined threats on the borders.

Ko Ko Gyi’s prominent colleague Min Ko Naing, a nom de guerre which translates to ‘Conqueror of Kings’, was more measured but with no sense of irony when he said, “it is most important to prevent incitement that would cause riots.”

Min Ko Naing was incarcerated precisely for inciting riots in 1988 and 2007.

If 800,000 of the poorest people in a country infringed upon its sovereignty, then the Burmese migrants in Thailand have surely conquered that Kingdom several times over.

In the end there are no winners from this strife apart from the military. By creating a phantom enemy and exploiting long present communal tensions the military has gained vital cross-section support and thereby power.

‘Burma’s Rohingya minority are the Roma of Asia’

THE FIRST WAVE OF VIOLENCE (REPORT FROM JUNE 15) 

More than 80 people have been killed and thousands displaced in a wave of violence between Muslims and Buddhists in west Burma. Among those targeted in the clashes is the Muslim Rohingya minority, called “Asia’s Roma” by researcher David Camroux.

By Charlotte Oberti

Western Burma has been rocked by violence since the start of June, when the rape and murder of a 27-year-old Buddhist woman, allegedly by local Muslims, triggered a series of reprisals between communities.

By FRANCE 24

The attacks have left more than 80 people dead and have displaced thousands, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency in Rakhine, a state formerly known as Arakan.

According to David Camroux, a researcher at the Paris-based Sciences Po-Ceri (Centre for international studies and research), the wave of communitarian violence was a disaster waiting to happen in a country torn between different ethnic groups.

A deeply divided society

Named after a Buddhist ethnic group that makes up the majority of the population, Rakhine state also counts a sizeable Muslim minority, which includes the Rohingya, a particularly persecuted group.

The 800,000-strong Rohingya are pariahs: they are stateless, and pejoratively called “Bengalis” by the Burmese, who consider them to be refugees from neighbouring Bangladesh.

 

DAVID SCOTT MATHIESON, SENIOR RESEARCHER AT HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, ON BURMA AND THE LONG-STANDING ISSUE OF ROHINGYA MARGINALISATION




But those who have tried to flee by boat to Bangladesh, where they are equally despised, have been turned back.

“The Rohingya are the Roma of Asia, nobody respects their human rights,” David Camroux told FRANCE 24.

In a country where 89% of the population embraces Buddhism and only 4% Islam, anti-Muslim sentiment is rampant.

“British colonisation left its mark on Burma. Britain’s strategy was to divide and conquer, pitting the various ethnic groups against each other. After independence [in 1948] the Burmese became more nationalist, and nowadays xenophobia is common,” said David Camroux.

The Rohingya, who were stripped of their Burmese citizenship in 1982 by military dictator Ne Win, are not represented in parliament, whereas other ethnic minorities such as the Karen, the Shan and the Kachin are.

“They have no political leader and they live in poverty,” said David Camroux.

Forgotten by the international community

Since securing independence in 1948, Burma has struggled to create a feeling of national unity from a patchwork society. The Burmese government, which has renamed the country Myanmar, officially recognises 135 distinct ethnic groups – but the Rohingya are among them.



Opposition figure Aung San Suu Kyi called for national reconciliation in her Nobel Peace Prize speech in Oslo last Saturday.

On her first trip to Europe in two decades, she also told Burmese exiles “we have to avoid saying and doing things that will make the problem worse, we have to calm it down,” referring to the sectarian clashes.

“But she stopped short of adopting a clear stance [on the Rohingya issue],” said David Camroux. “The Rohingya have been forgotten by the international community.”

Meanwhile, the situation on the ground remains unclear, especially as much of northern Rakhine state is a no-go area for journalists and independent observers, making it difficult to verify conflicting versions of events.

While local authorities say calm has returned to the area, a statement on Thursday by the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organizations Malaysia (Merhrom) said the situation was becoming “worse day by day”.

Burma - Post Mortem of A Sectarian Violence

By Kanbawza Win

Meticulously planned by the hardliners of the quasi civilian government of Burma has successfully produced a sectarian violence between the Muslim and the Buddhist communities in Western Burma of Arakan State.

At the time of this writing the official figure shows more than 50 person were killed and thousands have been homeless, but the real figure will be as usual much higher. It is still very fragile

The Target

Their main aim is to:-

(1) Revitalise the importance of military and that in time of crisis only the military is reliable and capable to protect the people from violence and lawlessness and that NLD led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi cannot do anything in time of crisis like this and this point has driven home.

(2) The government is very worried about the support commanded by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at home and in her trip to Thailand which discredited the military and now in her trip to Europe want to discredit her by forcing her into a position where she has to make a pro-Rohingya public statement that could damage her popularity among Burma's Buddhists, where anti-Muslim sentiment runs high or on the other hand, if she remains silent she will disappoint those who support her firm stand on human rights. i.e. she is damned if she does and damned if she doesn't and put her in a very difficult situation, which could seriously damage her reputation and erode much of her popularity. In this respect they miserably failed because she was wise and target the absence of law and order (the current administration claims to be the ancestors of State Law and Order Restoration Council ) and internationally her popularity increase instead of being diminished.

(3) The government wants to lure the pro-democracy movements, particularly the exiled Burmese media and the 8888 generation leaders which are very influential, appeal to the resourceful Burmese Diaspora community and the other ethnic nationalities who agree with them that Rohingya is not from Burma and does not belong to the recognized ethnic nationalities of Burma. In this aspect it is partially successful as most of them like Ko Ko Gyi falls into their trap.

(4) To divert the attention from its prolong military offensive against the Kachin where more than half of the military strength has to be used and over 300,000 Kachin have become refugees while the military losses were substantial running into thousands.

(5) The Generals have successfully implement the policy of , “Let the minority fights the minority” a sort of a divide and rule strategy, where the soldiers came out as a victor.

Implementation

This was meticulously plan including the evil genius Than Shwe, who paints the picture that he was on his dead bed but actually is very active and slyly stay out of sight. He is very allergic to the name of Aung San Suu Kyi and at the same time want to divert the country's attention from his gross human rights violations and ethnic cleansing policy now going on with might and main in Kachin State.

The best way is sectarian violence and earlier Burmese Chinese incident sprang up in Mandalay but he knew the potential of the China and its influence and quickly squashed it. Now he found the scapegoat in Kalar a Burmese degrading term for the darker complexion of Indian origin. The Burmese saying of not being able to conquer Kalar beat up the Rakhine was skillfully turned into being unable to tackle the Chinese turned on to Kalar by giving authority to Aung Thoung who have now taken up a new influential position of one of Secretaries of USDP, the ruling party. Aung Thoung planned the secondDepaeyin Incident by going back to his native village WetLaung village near Kyaukse, in middle Burma and recruited all the bad hats, cut throats and after lavishing them with money and much needed resources transport them to Taunggoke. In the meantime Na Sa Ka via immigration has recruited one bad Rohingya, name Shaun Shou (aka Htet Htet or Phyo Zayyar Kyaw) by giving him some cash and Burmese citizen card, he in turned organise Marme (aka Yaw Pi or Hla Win) and Lu lu (aka Myint Swe, or Wushee) to go after a girl Thida who is quite flirt and to have sex with her,. The end result was a rape case but they did not rob the girl of her belonging. The next day it was highlighted in the media including the state control media. (1) How can the media be made known in minutes from such a remote area where there is no electricity if it is not pre arrange?

Then the Muslim pilgrims returning home were killed by a lynch mob, but my research indicates that it was not the mob but the bad hats and cut throats transported from Wetloung village by Aung Thoung. So the question is (2) Only the security persons at the check gate knew who were the people inside the car, they give word to these bad hats which explicitly means they were conniving. (3) The killing of these Muslim passengers were done in the vicinity of the town and yet none of the security intervene, Why. The confidential report which I got is that some of the dark skin security personals were torching the Buddhist villagers posing themselves to be Rohingya while some light skin torch the Muslim villagers as if they were Arakanese Buddhist youths. In some cased police were seen acting alongside Arakanese in torching homes of Muslims, while several reports have emerged of police opening fire on crowds of Muslims.

The end result of this orchestrated events led to sectarian violence and got out of hand resulting hundred killed (official figure put it as 50 plus) and thousands of home burned. But many people with enough brains suspected this set up and finally the accomplice Shaun Shou was silence in the custody and declared that he committed suicide. (4) How can a person commit suicide when his is in the custody of the security authorities?

Epilogue

In a place where the atomization of society on the laissez-faire economic held together solely by an economic nexus and had no social or cultural ties it became problematic. The ruling generals have effectively exploited it for their own agendas. By killing each other, the people themselves become the ultimate losers. It is the military that ends up as the clear winner. The government's initial passivity in enforcing law and order in Arakan state has led the public to demand decisive military intervention.

The longer the conflict goes on, the more likely it is that the army will emerge as the indispensible defender and savior of "national security." The timing of the conflict clearly benefits the rulers to coincide with Daw Aung San Suu Ky’s European tour in 24 years and the government's proxies painted that that she's promoting herself and her personal popularity while her people suffer back at home. Obviously they would be quite happy to see her on a perpetual world tour and media circus to keep the world's attention away from their wars against the "ethnic" nationalities, their rapes, murders, looting and atrocities against the population. Now the rapacious "developers" of EU led by Myanmar Egress and US led by Cheveron are smacking their lips to join in the rape of the human and natural resources of the country.

The Rohingya problem has to be decided by the people of Arakan and the government where humanitarian concern must be considered. Recognizing them as citizens who have been living in the country for more than centuries will have no problem at all but the individual verification will be problematic considering the rampant corruption among the security personals as many recent arrivals from Chittagong holds National Registration Cards. This is because of the long rule of the corrupt military administration especially among the immigration and the National Registration and there is no rule of law.

However, to recognize them as one of the ethnic races is out of question because the Yandabo Treaty Chronicles (In the final phase of the treaty of Yandobo when Burma was annexed to the British Empire in the 1850s,) the British had pain stain kingly collected the general census of all the ethnic tribes residing in British Burma and there was no Rohingya except it describe Mujahid a seasonal Muslim migrant workers from India (at that time there was no Pakistan or Bangladesh). Besides when the Union of Burma was born in 1948s the northern part of Arakan where these Mujahid resides went to Ali Jina founder of Pakistan imploring him to take this northern enclave of Arakan into East Pakistan. It was rejected. This authentically proved that the ancestors or Rohingya did not have any allegiance to the Union of Burma. Another factor to be noted is that all the ethnic nationalities residing in Burma recognize the lingua franca but not the Rohingya whose language is the same as Chittagonians, nor do their leaders attempted to do so. The majority of the Arakanese Buddhist construe them that there will be another attempt to take this northern part of Arakan into Bangladesh and probably will be the only ethnic race that is not genuine to the Union of Burma.

However, it must be admitted that Rohingya have been mistreated for decades in Burma, with Rohingya children born out of wedlock denied travel permits, the privilege of attending school or even the ability to obtain marriage certificates. This discrimination is even apparent among Burma’s pro-democracy leaders, the so-called “forces for change” in the country and harbour a wrong notion that “if western nations really believed in human rights, they would take the Rohingya from us.” Indeed most comments either in English or in Burma seldom tackles the unfolding crisis, but instead exploit it as a means to vent their own bigotry.

What has happened recently is just more of a symptom of a long history of really horrible discriminatory treatment of the Rohingya. The military administration that have ruled the country repressively for half a century have handled this situation very badly for decades and have encouraged this mentality. It made little efforts to integrate them or resolve this problem in a sustainable way and is not an integral part of any reconciliation program involving ethnic groups but instead the Generals have exploited the Rohingya by giving them voting rights in Burma’s landmark 2010 elections promising citizenship, if they voted for the military regime’s representatives. However the promise was never implemented. Hence as long as the vestiges of the Burmese generals are in power they will never really attempt to solve this problem and will even try to prevent anyone from doing so lest the raison d’ etre to have the army will be none.

However, a very strong international reaction, including a strong statement from the United States that put the Rohingya of Burma as “country of particular concern” in its annual surveys on international religious freedom is something to be thought of by the upcoming leaders of Burma. Let us see how the Generals will react to the Amnesty International call for investigation or probably will fall to deaf ears like UN Commission of Inquiry (CoI) and prevent the genuine reconciliation.

Breaking News on June 20, 2012 morning

Open fired on Gawdusara village, Maungdaw south
Army open fired on Gawdusara village Toady noon and the villagers – young and elder male- run away from village to escape fear of arrest.  The village become unrest and only female are staying in their houses. The female are also fear for rape and harassment.

Arrest and beat
Ba Lwin a private Rohingya tuition teacher from Ward number 1 was arrested today morning. Yesterday night, Zaw Zaw Let a private  Rohingya tuition teacher also from Ward number 2 ( Fayazee para) was arrested .
Nur Kamal son of Syed Amin from Shwezarr was arrested yesterday night.
Fayas – nail shop owner- and his son  from Ward number 5was arrested by police yesterday night after beating in the house.
Kaisar son of Bashar from Asheeka para ( Paungzarr)  yesterday night.
Syed Alam ( ex-village chairman) with other 16 villagers from Labawzarr were arrested yesterday night.
Osman son Syedul Rahaman  from Sarforddin bill was arrested yesterday night.
Rakhine from Ward number 4 beat Alam  45 year old a staff of Maungdaw court who fell down on the road unconsciousness and no security force protected the old men from Rakhine.
Looting and robbery
Police personnel from Maungdaw police station entered to the house of Fayas (nail shop owner) robbed   816.5 gram of gold and 1o million kyats. The police officers also loot the household item.
Army is looting the village of Gawdusara today after open firing to the village.
Collaborators making difficulty the village situation
Molana Jamal son of Moonsur  (ex-police) and son in law of Abul ( ex- clerk  of Cooperative shop) of Shwezarr village  is informing to authority against Rohingya from Shwezarr. Yesterday authority summoned   10 Rohingya elders from Shwezarr where   Nur Kamal son of Syed Amin was arrested by authority and others flee for fear of arrest. Jamal is informing to the local Burma border security force (Nasaka)  since last 7 year  to harass the villagers, according to an elder from Maungdaw. “we don’t know  many people are in the list which  Jamal gave to authority.”
The Burmese authority is using a new tactic which made Maungdaw town upside down – younger male and leading  village elders  were arrested   with lists where they authority said they have photo who create the problem. But, acutely the photos were from family photograph which Nasaka yearly took as a family list checking project and the collaborators also supporting the authority to harass the Rohingya people. So, the Rohingya again start to flee to Bangladesh by small boats – only able to board 10-13 people-  as the Rohingya are fleeing for fear of arrest as Burmese armies are picking up Rohingya young people village by village with their so called list, according to a young Rohingya from Maungdaw. “The authority now picked up those who is like smart or worked before any organization, educated person.”