The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By Dr. Habib Siddiqui November 26, 2013 An OIC (Organization of Islamic Countries) delegation, which included foreign ministers and senior officials from its member states Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Djibouti, and Bangladesh recently visited Myanmar. It was led by the OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu. The OIC delegation pressed for unhindered access of humanitarian aid to all affected people and communities, including Rakhine (Arakan) State, without any discrimination. They also stressed the need for clarifying misconceptions and misunderstandings on both sides and for building mutual trust and interfaith community harmony. As has become the norm in this mostly Buddhist country that has come to signify the den of intolerance and hatred of our time, the OIC delegation was, however, met byangry demonstrators, esp. in the Rakhine state, which has seen more than its share of ethnic cleansing of the Muslim minorities. Some 3,000 protesters, led b

Rohingya fishermen in Bangladesh rely on informal -- often exploitative -- work  © Kyle Knight/ IRIN  DHAKA, 26 November 2013 ( IRIN ) - The Bangladeshi government’s recent announcement of a “Rohingya strategy” has some observers concerned that this could spell a continued crisis for up to 500,000 Rohingya in the country, while  local media  reported that a survey will be conducted to identify all Rohingya living illegally in Bangladesh. “There are documented and undocumented refugees from Myanmar in Bangladesh, which is a big risk for the country,” the government’s Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan  told reporters  in September 2013. The Rohingya , a Muslim minority numbering approximately 800,000 and living in neighbouring Myanmar, have long faced persecution and discrimination there, including being stateless in the eyes of  Burmese law . Violence and inter-communal clashes between the Rohingya and Buddhists in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, most recently in J