The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh: More than 3,923 Rohingya were arrested and pushed back to Burma by the concerned authorities of Bangladesh in 2012, said a local source from border. “They were arrested from the Bangladesh-Burma border by the concerned authorities of Bangladesh while they were taking shelter after entering the Bangladesh.”

[Author’s Note: Keynote speech delivered at the International Conference on “Contemplating Burma’s Rohingya People’s Future in Reconciliation and (Democratic) Reform,” held on August 15, 2012 at the Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand]  As a conscientious global citizen of our planet, I have been writing for the past 32 years since my days as a university student on a plethora of issues, which include history, culture and civilization of the peoples of the South Asia and the Middle East. I have also studied and written on international politics, human rights and terrorism. In my decades of studies I have not found a people that are more persecuted than the Rohingyas of Myanmar, or what used to be called Burma. 

Thai authorities intercept 73 Rohingya refugees off the coast of Phuket, southern Thailand. Photo: AP  Source VOA News: Thai authorities say a boat-load of Rohingya Muslim refugees allegedly fleeing sectarian violence and persecution in western Burma must be sent back to their homeland. The 73 migrants, including  women  and children, were found drifiting in a small, overcrowded boat off the Thai resort town of Phuket, well short of their final destination of Malaysia.

Maungdaw, Arakan State:  There is no safety for the Rohingya community in Arakan State, Burma because Rakhine community and concerned authorities are harassing- arrest, killing, extortion, rape, looting – continuously the Rohingyas, said a village administration officer on condition of anonymity. “Since occurring clashes in June 2012, hundreds of Rohingya Muslims were killed by the Rakhines and Burma’s security forces. But, thousands of Rohingyas had already been displaced from their own villages as well as many Rohingyas have been languishing in different jails in Arakan state.”

                                                            Bandarban bus station Maugdaw: 14 Buddhist families from Bandarban District under Chittagong Hill Tract in Bangladesh have sought shelter in Burma after entering into northern Maungdaw in Arakan State. An official from the area told Narinjara that they have now been provided with temporary shelters in the central school in downtown Maungdaw after being taken from Nasaka Area No. 01 in northern Maungdaw Township on the Bangladeshi border.