The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Australia Network News: July 16, 2013 The UN's refugee agency says the closed border policy introduced last year by Bangladesh hasn't stopped asylum seekers fleeing Myanmar. It has though had the reverse effect, encouraging more people to attempt risky sea journeys to countries like Australia. As Stephanie March reports from Bangladesh, last year the government started pushing back Rohingya across the border and turning boats around from Myanmar.

The Nasaka headquarters is seen in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy) Irrawaddy News: July 16, 2013  RANGOON — A national police battalion has been deployed to Arakan State after the government’s notorious Nasaka border guard force was abolished four days ago, a state government spokesman says. “Police have been stationed in areas where security is a concern to replace the Nasaka,” Myo Than, a secretary for the Arakan State government’s information team, told The Irrawaddy on Monday. He said the border guard force had been stationed in Maungdaw and Buthidaung townships, which are largely populated by the Rohingya Muslim minority. “The police there have nothing to do with the Arakan State Police but are under a Union-level directorate,” he added. The Nasaka, known officially as the Border Area Immigration Control Headquarters, comprises army and police officers as well as customs and immigration officials. In addition to monitoring Burma’

By Dr. Habib Siddiqui July 15 2013 When history is twisted, humanity loses. No country epitomizes this notion to the hilt better than Buddhist-majority Myanmar where history is twisted not only to deny human rights but also to justify genocidal campaigns against religious minorities. There is no historical record of Buddha ever visiting any part of Arakan and Burma, and yet the popular Mon and Myanmar oral tradition, including the chronicle Sasanavamsa, and the belief of the Arakanese Rakhines suggest that the Buddha visited their king and left behind an image of himself for them to worship. The Sasanavamsa mentions several visits of the Buddha to Myanmar and one other important event: the arrival of the hair relics in Ukkala (Yangon) soon after the Buddha's enlightenment. Modern historiography, of course, dismisses these stories as fabrications made out of national pride, as the Myanmar had not even arrived in the region at the time of the Buddha. Myanmar is a cou