The Stateless Rohingya Blog

PressTV: April 23, 2013 New video footage has emerged showing Myanmar police standing by as Buddhist mobs wielding sticks and  swords  attack Rohingya Muslims in the Southeast Asian country. The footage is believed to have been shot by police officers in the town of Meiktila in the Mandalay region during several days of violence that left at least 43 people dead in late March.  The video shows Buddhist crowds looting and ransacking a Muslim jewelry  shop , cheering when Muslims are attacked, and setting fire to mosques and houses.  Both Buddhist monks and police can be clearly seen through much of the footage, with the monks often taking part in the violence and the police watching immobile as it rolls.  The footage surfaced on the day the European Union is expected to permanently lift the remaining sanctions against Myanmar.  Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch issued a statement on Monday, saying Myanmar’s authorities launched a campaign of “ethnic cleansi

PRESS RELEASE  Date: 23.04.2013 ERC Press Release on Burmese President Thein Sein’s Peace Award by ICG The international Crisis Group (ICG) should have awarded the prize to a person who has unique personality and actively worked towards a real democratic reforms and peace before awarding such a prestigious prize. The European Rohingya Council (ERC) strongly opposes the awarding of this prize to Thein Sein because he does not deserve it as he has been tacitly approving the offensive against Kachin community and committing human rights violation against Rohingya minority of Arakan State, Myanmar. President Thein Sein’s government has organized a genocidal campaign against Rohingya ethnic minority with his accomplices in security forces; Border Security Guard (Nasaka), Police, Hlun Tin (paramilitary), army and Rakhine extremists. Since June, 2012 communal unrests has brutally killed thousands of Rohingya have been killed, more than 1500 were sentenced to long term im

The government of Myanmar is conducting an investigatory commission into violence there. (Reuters) Indian Express: April 23, 2013 The United States has expressed concern over the situation of the minorities in the violence hit areas of Myanmar and asked it to take appropriate steps to prevent any further violence in the country. "We remain concerned about instances of mob violence and violence directed against religious and ethnic minorities in Burma, and we continue to call on the Government of Burma to take appropriate steps to prevent further outbreaks of violence, provide protection and support to victims of violence, and facilitate regular, unhindered and timely humanitarian access to all internally displaced persons and others in need," the State Department spokesperson, Patrick Ventrell, said yesterday. The United States is one of the few countries in the world which identifies Myanmar as Burma, even as the name was changed more than a decade ago. United

M-Media: April 23, 2013 M-Media Facebook pages and several other media pages, which represent democratic and minority rights for Muslims and ethnic minority groups in Burma, had been maliciously attacked. According to some sources, M-Media confirm that the attackers were the members of racist and neo-Nazi campaigns in Burma. The Burmese hackers based in several locations have been attacking M-Media web site,  m-mediagroup.com , since July last year when ethnic Muslims were being massacred in Rakhine state by the government and racists (please refer to Human Right Watch report here ( http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/22/burma-end-ethnic-cleansing-rohingya-muslims ). As you are well aware of, an anti-Muslim violence recently took place in central and several other places of Burma.  (Please refer to BBC World here –   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22243676 ). M-Media team realized that the Facebook must have received tons of rep

Al Jazeera (Inside Story) April 23, 2013 We discuss a Human Rights Watch report that alleges government involvement in the violence against minority Rohingya. Authorities in Myanmar stand accused of a campaign of ethnic cleansing of minority Rohingya Muslims. According to a report by Human Rights Watch, their actions amount to crimes against humanity, including murder, persecution and deportation.  It relates to violence in Myanmar's western Rakhine state in June and October of last year, in which more than 200 people were killed, and over 100,000 displaced.  Human Rights Watch says government security forces did nothing to stop the violence, and even took part in it.  The report comes as the European Union lifts sanctions against the country and President Thein Sein is given a peace award - the 'In Pursuit of Peace Award' is from the International Crisis Group (ICG).  The award recognises individuals for their outstanding contributions to th

Mohamed Farooq Mayupress April 22, 2013 The Burmese state regime is going to settle Bengali Buddhists from Bangladesh of different areas; Ali Kadam, Naikonchori, Ragamati, Bandarban, and Kagrachori to the host places of Rohingya majority area, the entire Maungdaw Township. Fifty Buddhist families are residing in the camps of Burmese Border Guards (Nasaka) at sectors (1), (2) and (3) respectively for settlement. Earlier this month, at least 300 families have been settled there. Bangladesh is a state of People’s Republic. There is freedom, safety, security and opportunity for every race of communities; Muslim, Christian, Hindu and Buddhist. No discrimination heads on against other minorities where almost ninety percent Muslims in total population of 16 crore. Thus, Bengali Buddhist minority has no reason to flee Arakan and the fact is only to root out Rohingya ethnic minority with the policy of Burmese regime. Twenty-six Bengali Buddhist families were temporary sheltere

Francis Wade Foreign Policy April 22, 2013 Buddhist monks have been major instigators of the recent violence against Muslims in Burma. In a small wooden office in the Mahamyaing monastery, Kyaw Linn rifles through a carrier bag of stickers emblazoned with 969, the logo that has come to represent Burma's budding anti-Muslim movement. Six months ago the head monk, Oo Wi Ma La, ordered the first batch of stickers from a nearby printing company. Now they're hard to avoid. Taxis, buses, and shop fronts across Rangoon and other major towns now display what some observers consider a symbol of Buddhist extremism -- a symbol that sees Burma's Muslim community as a threat to the country and its dominant religion. This sentiment has unleashed waves of violence over the past several months that have  left  more than 40 dead, and 13,000 displaced in 2013 alone. The monastery in Moulmein, southern Burma, is credited as the birthplace of the resurgent 969 movement. Prod

Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono talks at a Reuters Newsmaker event in Singapore on April 23, 2013, ahead of his visit to Burma. (Photo: Reuteres / Edgar Su) Irrawaddy News April 23, 2013 Persecution of the Rohingya ethnic group in Burma is expected to be raised by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during his visit to the country on Wednesday. “Indonesia hopes the Myanmar [Burma] government will handle the Rohingya issue wisely and fairly,” Yudhoyono said at a Jakarta airport on Monday ahead of his departure to Singapore. “We want to continue helping to reach a positive outcome.” Aleksius Jemadu, the dean of Pelita Harapan University’s School of Social and Political Sciences, said Yudhoyono’s leadership on the issue was essential. “Indonesia has been seen as a leader at the regional level and leaders need to take action to solve problems,” he told the Jakarta Globe. Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has also vowed to ra

The world keeps silence! The Massacre of Rohingya goes on in Arakan” Mayupress: April 23, 2013 (Mayupress) The sectarian unrest is no new strange human tragedy in Arakan, the northern province of Burma where minority Muslim Rohingyas have been attacked by Buddhists for quite again and again.  The persecution of the stateless Rohingyas had started for decades of years. The Muslims make up nearly five percent among more than 53 million populations. And the largest group of Burma’s Muslims is generally known as the Rohingyas, who mainly live generations to generations in the western state of Arakan or Rakhine. Elsewhere rape or murder is a crime, and there are laws to deal with a rapist or murderer. I am sure in Burma there must be instances of a Buddhist committing such crime against a Buddhist. Usually none bothers to find out what religion the rapist belongs to. It is completely unfair that Burmese Buddhists target the entire Muslim community with accusation to Mus