The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Ukhiya, Bangladesh:  Ms Baroness Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, the Senior State Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom (UK) visited Kutupalong official and makeshift refugee camps on February 20, said Sayed Alam, a member of Refugee committee from makeshift camp. Ms Baroness Sayeeda Hussain Warsi checking the computer centre of camp Yesterday at noon, British foreign Minister accompanied by UNHCR, Feroz Salah Uddin, the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioners (RRRC),Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ruhul Amin, Police Super Mohammad Azad Mia and other government officials were present during the visited the both camps and observed the situation of the camps. During the British foreign Minister’s visit, the refugees of Kutupalong official and unofficial makeshift camps raised the different issues of their conditions that they have been facing problems in the camps. Ms Baroness Sayeeda Hussain Warsi and group meeting w

Source Bangla Times: February 21, 2013 By Mohamed Farooq The Burmese Government has been distorting centuries-existence of Rohingya in Arakan, Burma to illegal immigrants from neighboring country Bangladesh. Bangladesh uttered controversially that Rohingya are not her citizens and they are citizens of Burma for hundreds of years passing still today. One 03 June 2012, 8 Burmese Muslim pilgrims (Tabliq-e-Jamaat) from Yangon to Akyab, one bus helper and one woman were killed by Rakhine mob in Taunggok. But no one was arrested and no legal action for the killers yet. Since last 08 June 2012, thousands of Rohingya Muslims were killed and shot dead, thousands of houses burnt down, more than 100 Mosques torched into ashes and hundreds of Rohingya arrested mostly preferred to  the educated persons, wealthy men and youths, raping  till to die  or critically injured many women and teenage girls, looting specious properties like money and gold. But no killers and terrorists caugh

By Alan Morison and Chutima Sidasathian Phuket_Wan:  February 21, 2013 PHUKET: Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr has promised an extra $2.5 million in humanitarian assistance in Burma's Rakhine state, where the Rohingya tragedy continues to unfold. While the additional aid will be welcome, people in displaced person's camps and ghettos where Rohingya are corralled in segregation say that most international aid so far has been diverted away from the outcast Muslim minority. Mr Carr, in Bangkok today on a visit to the region, offered support to Thailand in accommodating Rohingya who are fleeing by boat and landing in Thailand on the way to Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia. The suggestion came a day after a Canadian envoy proposed face-to-face talks between Burma and Thailand to attempt to resolve the Rohingya issue.  Canada's Ambassador to Thailand, Philip Calvert, made the suggestion in talks with Thailand's Interior Minister, Jarapong Rungsuwan

On November 20, 2012, President Ramos-Horta (left) visited the Yunus Centre and Grameen Bank with fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus. (Photo: ramoshorta.com) The charge that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants to Myanmar is false, say Jose Ramos-Horta and Muhammed Yunus, respectively the 1996 and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winners. “There is evidence that the Rohingya have been in present-day Myanmar since the 8th century,” they said, writing for the  Huffington Post . “It is incontrovertible that Muslim communities have existed in [Rakhine] State since the 15th century, added to by descendants of Bengalis migrating to Arakan [Rakhine] during colonial times.” The comments by Ramos-Horta, the former President of Timor-Leste, and Bangladeshi banker and philanthropist Yunus are sure to raise eyebrows in Myanmar where historical facts surrounding the origin of the Rohingya community are hotly contested.  “The minority Muslim Rohingya continue to suffer unspeaka