The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Teknaf, Bangladesh:  Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) arrested twenty two Rohingyas from different entry points of border and pushed back to Burma recently, said an aide of BGB of Teknaf. “BGB arrested them in various raided while trying to enter Bangladesh without knowledge of Bangladesh authorities.” According to sources, on October 8, in the morning, eight Rohingyas were arrested from the entry point of Taungbro-border by BGB while they were crossing Burma-Bangladesh border. But, in the evening, they were pushed back to Burma after investigating.

Akyab, Arakan State: Over 1,800 Holy Quran and Hadith books were burnt down by Rakhine extremists with the collaboration of security forces, at about 2:00 pm, on October 7, in Akuab,( Sittwe), the capital of Arakan, said a local villager on condition of anonymity. “The Rakhine also tried to torch the central Mosque of Akyab, but security force, especially military gave protection from setting on fire. However, the Rakhine extremists burned down five houses in the compound of big Mosque. They also burned down a big library of over 1800 religious books- Holy Quran and Hadith books.”

A mother seeks medical attention for her baby at a makeshift camp in  Rakhine (photo by Daniel Wynn) Amidst commendable progress in Burma’s democratization, one voice in the country has been consistently silenced. The Rohingya people are quickly becoming the ethnic minority whose fate will likely be remembered as a “casualty” of democracy – a type of collateral damage symptomatic of states that make the transition from military regimes to full-fledged democracies. In the shadow of Burma’s democratic parading, the fact remains: the Rohingya, a 500,000 Muslim-minority group based in the Arakan region, remain amongst the most persecuted people on the planet — having suffered extreme persecution and discrimination throughout history.