English.sahartv.ir:
April 8, 2012
Myanmar has a Buddhist majority. The Muslim minority in Myanmar mostly consists of the Rohingya people and the descendants of Muslim immigrants from India (including what is now Bangladesh) and China (the ancestors of Chinese Muslims in Myanmar came from the Yunnan province), as well as descendants of earlier Arab settlers. Indian Muslims migrated to Burma during British rule to fill jobs in the expanding economy, especially in clerical work and business. After independence, many Muslims retained their previous positions and achieved prominence in business and politics. According to Human Rights Watch the Burmese government has denied citizenship to any Rohingya person who cannot prove their ancestors settled in the country before 1823, the beginning of British occupation of what is now Arakan State.
According to Amnesty International, the Muslim Rohingya people
have continued to suffer from human rights violations under the Burmese junta
since 1978, and many have fled to neighboring Bangladesh as a result.
Despite earlier efforts by the UN, the vast majority of Rohingya
refugees have remained in Bangladesh, unable to return because of the regime in
Myanmar. Now they face problems in Bangladesh where they do not receive support
from the government.[50] In February 2009, many Rohingya refugees were helped
by Acehnese sailors in the Strait of Malacca, after 21 days at sea.
Hello and welcome to the program Insight with me , when we come
back we will further examine Burma in Flame with Mohamed Ibrahim, who is the
media Secretary of European Rohingya Council (ERC) live from
Germany. So stay with us
Welcome to the show Mr. Ibrahim, my first question is
Q 1: What’s behind the sectarian violence in Myanmar?
There are few serious conspiracies behind this sectarian violence
in Myanmar. The first one is directed by some members of Thein Sein government
including Thein Sein himself and some members of the military. They are doing
this because they want to create a political excuse to grasp the power because
they are afraid of losing their grips on power after election in 2015. Thein
Sein definitely is one of these conspirators. In addition he wants to be more
popular than Aung Sann Su Sky among majority bhuddists by oppressing Muslims as
he knows that most of the Burmese Bhuddists are chauvinists.
Rakhines politicians are also firmly behind this violence because
they are afraid of that muslims specially Rohingya can get upper hand both in
politics and business if they will get equal rights when real democracy comes
to Myanmar. So they want to make Rohingya like refugees or illegal immigrants.
However every Bhuddist political force including opposition wants to get rid of
Muslims in the country. In other words they want Myanmar free for Muslims.
Q 2 : Who are the Rohingya?
The Rohingyas are one of the most persecuted communities in the
world. Al though, they have been living in the state of Arakan since the 7th
century (which is now part of Burma), the Rohingyas have been under extreme
scrutiny by the Burmese government. They haven’t been recognized as citizens of
The Union of Burma since 1962 coup dictated by General Ne Win. After decades of
oppression and margina lization, the passing of the 1982 Citizenship Law deemed
them officially stateless. Also I can say that Rohingyas are sons of Arabs,
Persians, settlers that came to Arakan as early as 7th century.
Q 3: What are the authorities doing?
We have ample of hard evidence that authorities are behind these
carnages. In many cases fire brigade for example used petrol instead of water
while they were called for help when hoses were set on fire. Police and other
law enforcement agencies have blocked Muslims from putting the fire off. In
fact many Muslims who came to help others were shot dead on sight while
Bhuddists terrorists were supplied with lethal weapons.
Q 4: What is the world saying?
World is doing nothing in practical term. Only few countries are
giving some lips services while a few countries are helping Burmese government
financially. This financial help in turn is encouraging terrorists to commit
more crimes against Muslims because they know that the worse the situation for
Muslims become the more they get. Develop countries are competing against each
other to be more friendly with Burmese government to fulfill their self-interest.
Human Rights Watch says tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees are
currently staying in makeshift camps in Bangladesh, with many living in
conditions that seasoned aid workers have described as “the worst they have
ever seen.”
As the result of this violence U.N. says 20,000 homeless after
Myanmar clashes
Q 5: What will become of these people?
I have actually no idea of what will happen to these people or who
will save them. We don’t have any hope or trust on the opposition that is
dancing on the tunes of Thein Sein regime. But I am sure that one day we will
come out of this conspiracy. I want to say that it will be very foolish of
Thein Sein and his accomplices, Buddhist terrorists to think that they can
exterminate us from the soil of Arakan.
Q 6: Is there a political agenda behind this?
As I mentioned before there is a clear political agenda behind
this. Every actor has their own agenda in addition to their common agenda of
reducing Muslim population in the country. Opposition is eyeing next election.
So they don’t want to alienate majority voters by voicing against genocide of
Muslims. Aung San Su Skyi is sacrificing Muslims for her dreams. She has
already forgotten that she is a noble laureate.
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