The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Postnoon: 20 June 2013 Rohingya refugees from Burma continue to pour into Hyderabad and no proper account of them seems to be maintained. Though a humanitarian issue, the security risk involved is ignored. From 5,000 a few months ago, the number of refugees from the strife-torn Myanmar (Burma) has risen to some 12,000 now in the absence of any check on the inflow of Rohingya refugees from the Rakhine state of Burma. Myanmar’s 8,00,000 Rohingyas are stateless people today after the ethnic Buddhists drove them out. They are denied citizenship in Myanmar and are rejected by Bangladesh. The UN calls them, “one of the most persecuted people in the world.” In the past one month alone, 35 families totalling 200 members reached the City. A revisit to the camp in Balapur, Shaheennagar and surrounding areas shows that the government of India and the State government appear unconcerned about them. Many of them have no refugee status and some claim to have cards from the UN high

KPN News :  19 June 2013  Nasaka (Burma border security force) officers nearly killed a Rohingya man from southern Maungdaw after a unprovoked beating that left him unconscious and bleeding from the mouth, according an elder from his village. “Nasaka personnel from area 7 went to Molana Mohamed Jalal, 40; son of Nazir Ahmed, home in Aley Than Kyaw village at midnight on June 17. They tried to enter the home after breaking the door.” After the home owner woke, he screamed for help after seeing the armed men at his door speaking in Burmese, according to a Nasaka source. Villagers rushed to the scene after hearing the screams, but Nasaka fired shots into air, according to various sources. Jalal was then dragged from the house and beaten still he was unconscious. Villagers believe the Nasaka officers went to Jalal’s home to rob him. They only beat after he accused them of stealing and this made them very angry, a close relative of the victim said. Later, Jalal

(Photo: Dr. Maung Zarni  Facebook) BERNAMA: June 19, 2013 KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 (Bernama) -- Former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi urged the Muslim minority in Asean countries, including those in Myanmar, to give priority to education. He said that the Muslim communities should seek to empower themselves with education and pursue knowledge which is relevant to their needs in the 21st century. Abdullah said this in his keynote address at the International Forum on Plight of Muslims in Burma in the 21st century: An Initiative for Solution and the Way Forward, held at the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS), here, Wednesday. He said that apart from education, the development of youths and economy of the Muslim communities were also important aspects to be considered in order to achieve a better future for the respective Muslim minority. However, Abdullah, who is patron of IAIS Malaysia, stressed that in trying to achieve this, t