The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Photo: OCHA/Gemma Connell  Maungdaw, Arakan State: The Burmese government – Maungdaw district administration office and Township administration office - has resettled over 130 Buddhist from neighboring Bangladesh, are being resettled in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State recently, according to a local villager who denied to be named.   “Local authorities had welcomed 133-member of 44- family of Buddhist people - Rakhine, Maramagyi (Baroa) - hailed from Bandarban district of Bangladesh.  They are from Mosoni Para and Aye Maung Para of Bandarban, Bangladesh.” The new comers were organized by some Rakhines from Arakan State to go to Arakan State luring them will  get many facilities in Arakan from government and local Rakhine community. The new comers are poor people, said another local villager.   On 2nd January, 25-family and on 29th January 19-family crossed the Bangladesh- Burma border through Lemosari point (land border), said the villager quoting the new comers.   O

The Nation February 4, 2013  The Rohingya immigrant issue is an internal affair of Myanmar, which Asean members should address on humanitarian grounds, former Association of Southeast Asian Nations secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said yesterday. At the root of the problem is the fact that Myanmar's constitution and internal laws do not recognise the Rohingya as citizens, he said. Other groups in Myanmar don't accept the Rohingya, who are based mainly in Rakhine and number about 800,000 in all, he said, adding: "This has to be dealt with gradually, as Myanmar authorities are worried about intervention from the outside world." "The United Nations has been working on the Rohingya issue, but has to be careful in dealing with it, and Asean needs to address it, especially on humanitarian grounds," he said. Surin was speaking at a school in Nakhon Si Thammarat run and sponsored by the Pitsuwan family. HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn made a p

Members of The European Rohingya Council (ERC) peacefully demonstrated in front of European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium on January 21 at about 13:00 to 15:00 hrs. ERC along with other Rohingya organizations worldwide urged EU to urgently send a   special inquiry team to the affected areas in Arakan State and Humanitarian aids to rehabilitate the displaced Rohingya in their own villages and recognize Rohingya as Burmese ethnic group. ERC, in the Memorandum, mentioned that the systematic genocide against Rohingyas and Kamans is being carried out since 8 th  June 2012 by Burmese military regime together with Rakhine ultra-racists and extremists. Following are some instances of the atrocities being carried out against them. 2)      Rohingya   women   and under-aged girls were raped and gang-raped by government forces and Rakhine extremists. Their Properties are being looted and destroyed on daily basis and their mosques and religious places have been sealed off. 4)      No Rohi

Sailors help a rescued boy to disembark from a Sri Lanka Navy vessel at Oluvil harbour today. Sri Lanka's navy on Sunday rescued 138 Bangladeshis and Myanmar nationals from a sinking fishing vessel off the island's east coast, officials said. France 24 English 03 February 2013 AFP - Sri Lanka's navy on Sunday rescued 138 Bangladeshis and Myanmar nationals from a sinking fishing vessel off the island's east coast, officials said. One passenger was found dead while many of the 138 plucked from the boat were dehydrated, said navy spokesman Kosala Warnakulasuriya, adding that the vessel had been adrift for 10 days before it sank on Sunday.

Maungdaw, Arakan State:  Burmese border security force (Nasaka) arrested a crop field watcher – Rohingya – while watching his crop field (winter paddy) at night on February 1, according toan elder from Udaung village. "He was arrested over allegation for living at night in a hut of crop field from escaping from so called arrest warrant of June 2012 riot.”

About 145 Rohingya boat people were found crammed inside a vessel without  food  or water for 48 hours off Mook island in Trang's Sikao district on Sunday. The refugees told authorities that they were headed to  Malaysia but their food and water had run out before they reached shore. Feeling exhausted and fatigued from hunger, they then decided to float their vessel off Mook island in the hope of being able to ask for food and water from the locals before they would go on, Pol Col Arthit Damsanit, chief of Marine Police Division 9, said.

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Two Rohingya villagers were arrested and extorted by police recently over the allegation that they were involved in the violence occurred in June last year between Rohingya and Rakhine communities, said a close friend of the victims on condition of anonymity. “The arrested were identified as Basa Meah (35), son of Fazal Rahman and Kala Meah( 26), son of Noor Mohamed. Both of them belong to Kilaidaung village of Maungdaw east.” The first one was arrested by police on January 30, and the second man was on January 31 by police of Maungdaw police station, the friend added. However, on January 30, in the evening, Basa Meah was released after taking Kyat 400,000 and two big cocks that cost at Kyat 15,000, said a relative of Basa Meah. In similar way, Kala Meah was also released today in the morning, after taking Kyat 600,000. Earlier, two months ago, his father was also arrested by police in the same allegation and was released after paying Ky

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-013-2013 01 February 2013 --------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA: Islamic community leader unfairly tried and imprisoned over communal violence ISSUES: Arbitrary arrest and detention; administration of justice; state of emergency --------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received detailed information concerning the case of a prominent retired medical doctor and Islamic community leader in the west of Burma imprisoned for allegedly sending news abroad about the first wave of violence in his town during mid-2012. Border security personnel detained Dr Tun Aung in June and accused him not only of sending news but failing to notify them of events that would lead to violence,

Aljazeera - Myanmar Rohingya refugees rescued in Thailand Jakarta Globe : February 03, 2013 Khao Lak .  The future of more than 1,500 recent Rohingya boat arrivals in Thailand is unclear, despite a government reprieve allowing them to stay for another six months. “Their long-term fate remains uncertain,” Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, an advocacy group for the Rohingya, told IRIN. “In the short-term, they should not be held in overcrowded IDCs [immigration detention centers] and police cells. Alternatives to detention have to be found such as open facilities under regulated conditions where they could at least move around.”

Some of the arrested Burmese being held by police on Phuket last night Photo by phuketwan.com By Sert Tongdee Saturday, February 2, 2013 PHUKET: Crime Suppression Division police raided a Phuket construction site at 5.30pm yesterday and arrested 84 Burmese workers with no documents. The arrests took place at the Phanason Grand View Bang Jo at Thalang, in central Phuket, where police also reported finding an unregistered - and therefore non-tax paying - backhoe. 

By---Shuja The Violence against Rohingyas and the Stand of Bangladesh The pogroms of Muslim Rohingyas and Kamans in Arakan, Burma started on 8 th  June 2012. The continual heinous crimes against them, since then, makes their situation worse than the situation of Jews in Nazi Extermination Camps during WWII, Muslims in Bosnia in the late 90s and Hindus in Sri Lanka in the recent years. Deservingly, their plights are having enough media coverage across the globe. Many concerned Human Rights Groups are openly calling Burma to end the genocides of Rohingyas and Kamans. Being a bordering country, Bangladesh is unable to avoid the aftermaths of the violence against Rohingyas and Kamans in Arakan.