The Stateless Rohingya Blog

HD MYARF April 11, 2014 rvisiontv.com Maungdaw, Arakan - Daw Than Than, wife of a Rakhine police officer in Kyeing Chaung of norrthern Maungdaw, is building properties by intruding into mosque premise. “Daw Than Than (Age 30), wife of Police Officer U Soe Chay, has been running a small shop attached to the premise of the Masjid (Mosque) of north hamlet of the village of Kyein Chaung (Bawli Bazaar), northern Maungdaw, and beside to the road of the village since 2011. Now, she has been extending the shop structure so as to make it into a shop cum house. Hence, she is now intruding into the premise of the mosque and building the house on it. Although mosque committee and the villagers complained against the intrusion to the concerned Police station and the village administration, none has taken action against it. She has been continuing to bulid the house for four days now” said a worried villager. “Hence, we request concerned authority to prevent this or anyone who’s

At the head of the table, US Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel, right, and US Ambassador to Burma Derek Mitchell, left, speak with reporters on Thursday at the US Embassy in Rangoon. (Photo: US Embassy) By Samantha Michaels  The Irrawaddy April 11, 2014 RANGOON — The US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs has raised concerns about the humanitarian situation in Arakan State during meetings with Burma’s president and other high-level government officials in Naypyidaw. Daniel Russel said he spoke “very candidly” during meetings on Wednesday and Thursday with President Thein Sein as well as Burma’s foreign minister, information minister and deputy minister for border affairs. The discussions focused on the government’s short- and long-term plans in restive Arakan State, as well as preparations for Burma’s Asean chairmanship and US concerns about press freedoms in the country. Accompanied by US Ambassador to Burma Derek Mitchell, R

By Sufyan bin Uzayr International Policy Digest April 11, 2014 Aung San Suu Kyi, October 22, 2013 (Claude Truong-Ngoc/Wikimedia Commons) Respected Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, Thanks to the internet, I have the luxury of putting together this open letter for you (though of course, a busy Nobel Laureate such as yourself must be having better things to do than reading this letter). Last month, at the third Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), you met the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina. Both of you discussed various issues, such as the importance of providing micro-loans to rural women and the need to restrict the trafficking of meth pills in the region. It was good to hear that steps were being taken for the betterment of the entire region. However, something was missing. Yes, the plight of the Rohingya people in Myanmar. Did you forget about them? Of course you did! You are a busy lady, after all!

By HD MYARF April 11, 2014 rvisiontv.com Rakhine Terrorists in Action. Arakan Liberation Army runs its operation from Bandorbon of Bangladesh and some camps based in Indian territory. (Photo: parisvisionnews.com) Buthidaung, Arakan - Rakhine (Magh) terrorists have posed an open threat against the Rohingya people living in the village of Payin Latt (Fouy Mali) on 8th April 2014. “On 8th April 2014 night, Rakhine terrorists attached a threat letter on the wall of the Jameh Masjid (Mosque) of the village of Payin Latt (Fouy Mali) in Buthidaung. The threat letter reads ‘we will soon set this mosque on fire. If any of you tries to stop us, we will destroy and burn down your entire village’” said a local of the village. Local Rohingyas are extremely worried because of this open threat and any possible arson attacks on them. “Some people witnessed that more than one hundred armed Rakhine (Magh) terrorists arrived at the village of Paya Pyin Aung Pa (Natala Rakhine)

Enumerators collect census data in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin state, in April 2014. (Photo: RFA) By Radio Free Asia  April 10, 2014 Myanmar's first census in three decades, which was scheduled to end Thursday, has been extended to at least the end of the month to cover those who could not participate in the 12-day natio nwide exercise, a senior official said.  The exercise, which began on March 30, had covered about 10 million of the country’s estimated 11 million households as of Tuesday, according to Myanmar's Director of the Population Department Khaing Khaing Soe.  Those who could not meet census takers during the exercise would have to provide their personal data to administrative offices closest to them or to a hotline that had been set up until the end of the month, she said.  "They have to go and provide their data to the closest local administration office. We have already informed village and township census committees about those

Suspected Uighurs are transported back to a detention facility in the town of Songkhla in southern Thailand after visiting women and children at a separate shelter March 26, 2014. Picture taken March 26, 2014. By Andrew R.C. Marshall & Amy Sawitta Lefevre Reuters April 10, 2014 After a two-hour trek through swamp and jungle, Police Major General Thatchai Pitaneelaboot halts in a trash-strewn clearing near Thailand's remote border with Malaysia. "This is it," he says, surveying the remains of a deserted camp on a hillside pressed flat by the weight of human bodies. Just weeks before, says Thatchai, hundreds of Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar were held captive here by one of the shadowy gangs who have turned southern Thailand into a human-trafficking superhighway. With Thatchai's help, Thailand is scrambling to show it is combating the problem. It aims to avoid a downgrade in an influential U.S. State Department annual report