The Stateless Rohingya Blog

A police officer stands near a mosque, which was burnt during a riot between Buddhist and Muslims in Lashio, Shan state on 29 May 2013. (Reuters) By AFP   November 20, 2013 Burma police said on Wednesday they had arrested three people suspected of planning bomb attacks on mosques, as the country grapples with religious tensions after waves of anti-Muslim violence. The suspects are all Buddhist men from the western state of Rakhine [Arakan], where two bouts of unrest last year left scores dead and some 140,000 displaced, mainly Rohingya Muslims. “They were planning to plant bombs at mosques, after attending training on the border in Karen state,” a police official in Rangoon told AFP on condition of anonymity, referring to the country’s eastern frontier. He said authorities were continuing to investigate the “ongoing case”. Burma remains tense after eruptions of religious conflict that have killed around 250 people and cast a shadow over much-praised political

Report by Aung Aung | Written by M.S. Anwar November 19, 2013 rvisiontv.com Buthidaung, Arakan - At 6:35PM on 17th November 2013, a gang of Rakhine hooligans beat up a Rohingya at the village of Pun-Chaung in Buthidaung Township for no reason. As a result, the victim got severe injuries and lost conciousness. “At 6:35PM on 17th November 2013, Rakhine hooligans led by Maung Hla Myint (son of) U Tin Aung surrounded and severely beat up a Rohingya called Zafar Hussain (son of) Noor Hussain (Age 25) at the village of Pun-Chaung, Buthidaung Township. He got fainted and lost conciousness consequently and people tried to get him admitted to Buthidaung General Hospital. However, the doctor in charge of the hospital denied the victim of admission to the hospital saying “Rakhine authority has instructed us to not treat any Kular here.” Now, the victim is under the care of Dr. Bashir, a Rohingya physician. The Rakhine hooligan leader was from the village of Pun-Chaung and the beaten

The majority of Rohingya in Bangladesh live in informal settlements, slums, or communities, with limited or no assistance. According to UNHCR, there are more than 200,000 undocumented Rohingya refugees in the country © Kyle Knight/IRIN By IRIN November 19, 2013 COX’S BAZAR - Limited humanitarian access continues to have an adverse effect on the lives of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in southeastern Bangladesh. Aid workers and activists say Rohingya communities fear that what little support they have might disappear as a result of threats made by the Bangladeshi government to further limit humanitarian activities.  “When we hear the humanitarians might leave I feel really bad. Whatever [medical] treatment and support we get, we wouldn’t get it anymore,” said Munrul Indrus, a Rohingya employee of an international humanitarian organization in the Cox’s Bazar area, who declined to give his real name. “At least now we have a latrine and running water and some [m

By ROBIN McDOWELL /  AP WRITER November 18, 2013  RANGOON — The secretary general of the world’s largest bloc of Islamic countries said emotional visits with members of the long-persecuted Rohingya Muslim community — chased from their homes in Burma by Buddhist mobs and arsonists — brought him to tears. “I’ve never had such a feeling,” Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said late Saturday, as he and other delegates from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation wrapped up a three-day tour to Burma that included talks with the president, government ministers, interfaith groups and U.N. agencies. But he said it was the huge, emotional crowds living in trash-strewn camps outside the Arakan State capital, Sittwe, that made the biggest impression. “I was crying,” Ihsanoglu said. Burma, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million, emerged from a half-century of military rule in 2011, but its transition to democracy has been marred by sectarian violence that has left more than

By PETER JAMES SPIELMANN Associated Press November 19, 2013 The General Assembly's human rights committee passed a resolution urging Myanmar to give the stateless Rohingya minority equal  access to citizenship and to crack down on Buddhist violence against them and other Muslims in the southeast Asian nation. The resolution, passed by consensus Tuesday, received mixed reaction in Myanmar. The director of the president's office, Maj. Zaw Htay, said steps were being taken to address the issue, and the opposition party headed by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi accused the rights committee of "interfering" in the country's internal affairs. Under General Assembly rules the body will unanimously pass the resolution later this year. Myanmar emerged from a half-century of military rule in 2011, but its transition to democracy has been marred by sectarian violence that has left more than 240 people dead and sent another 240,000 fleeing their homes, most of them