PRESS RELEASE
STOP KILLING OF MUSLIM IN BURMA (MYANAMR)
Date: 25.03.2013
The European Rohingya Council (ERC) strongly condemns
the indiscriminate killings of Muslims and destructions of their properties and
religious places by Bhuddist including monks.
Since 20 March 2013, hundreds of Muslims has been
killed, at least 14 mosques and hundreds of Muslim homes were destroyed. Shops
damaged and looted, and more than 40,000 has been displaced in the central
Burma town of Meiktila and around the airport area of capital Naypyidaw.
The violence spread to Yameithein Saturday after
relative calm and a mosque was destroyed. Muslim residents have fled their
homes. Extremist Buddhist mobs and monks armed with sticks and lethal weapons
are prowling the streets and hunting the Muslims. 5 Islamic religious teachers
and 28 Madrassa students including children as young as 12 years old, were
among those killed.
This was a pre-planned attack on Muslims minority with
the help of Military Intelligence (MI) personals and other security forces.
During recent weeks, anti-Muslim campaigns have been getting stronger in Burma.
President Thein Sein’s government has incited the attacks and ignored the
growing anti-Muslim campaigns. A monk, who was arrested for similar acts in
2003 and subsequently released, has been preaching the ‘cleansing of Muslims
from whole Myanmar for months now.
The security forces are just watching while the mobs
are destroying and burning Muslim’s houses. Cleansing of Muslims in Burma is
happening under the noses of the international community. These are not
communal clashes; this is not equal sides fighting. These are well-organized
attacks to cleanse of Muslims. As a result, the vast majority of those killed
and displaced are Muslims.
The government is fully responsible for allowing such
kind of crimes against Muslim minority like a former Yugoslavia genocide
encouraging propaganda and Islam phobia in Burma (Myanmar). This is the worst
carnage after the genocide carried out in the western state of Arakan State
(Rakhine) last year that left more than 9000 Rohingya and Kaman Muslims killed,
missing or drowned and about 140,000 displaced, have been kept in segregation
under government’s ‘neo-apartheid policy’. It is apprehensive that the Rakhine
academics and monks backed by the local administrations are inciting a third
massacre of the Muslims in Arakan State.
Myanmar has manifestly failed to protect its Muslim
population. So, we urge to the international community to play a key role and
take the responsibility for providing protection to prevent mass atrocities.
We call upon international communities to put
concerted pressure on President Thein Sein’s government to ensure that
displaced people can return to their original villages safely, freely and stop
anti-Muslim activities and racism in Burma and to bring the perpetrators is to
justice.
On behalf of European Rohingya Council (ERC)
Mohamed Ibrahim
Media & Information Secretary (ERC)
media@theerc.net
0049 17634161906
