The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By Nurul Islam, Chairman, ARNO May 01, 2014 The Rohingya people are one of the world’s most persecuted, voiceless and underrepresented peoples. Their longstanding problem is an ethnic, religious and political persecution. It is a manmade tragedy deeply entrenched in Burmese regime’s anti-Rohingya policies of de-Muslimization, exclusion, intolerance and extermination. Their aim is to rid Arakan of the Muslim population and turn it into a Rakhinized Buddhist region. Particularly from 1962 military rule, the Rohingya have been subjected to institutionalized persecution. The human rights violations and abuses against them include severe restrictions on their basic freedoms – freedom of worship, movement, marriage, education – deprivation of citizenship, summery execution and mass murder, rape, razing houses and destruction of villages, forced eviction, torture, disappearance, arbitrary detention, looting, extortion, forced labour, forced relocation, and food insecurity. On top...

ARAKAN ROHINGYA NATIONAL ORGANISATION ARAKAN Date: 24 April 2014 Press Release: ARNO Confutes Rohingya  accept Bengali classification Our attention has been drawn to the news item appeared in Bangkok post, dated 23/04/2014 under caption, “Rohingya accept Bengali classification” where the newspaper quoted U Myit Kyine, head of the Immigration and Population Department, stating “More than 6,000 families came and told officials to register them as Bengali,” Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) believes the above statement is but another physiological approach of the government to influence the Rohingyas to identify themselves as Bengalis, a term that implies they are illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. Backing out of its earlier promises to implement the census in line with the international standards allowing anyone to self-identify his ethnicity, now the government has not only barred the use of the term ‘Rohingya’ as ethnic identity b...

Joint Statement on Aung San Suu Kyi’s outrageous remarks on Muslims   October 26, 2013 Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) and Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) strongly condemn Burmese opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for her outrageous comments on Muslims in an interview with BBC on Thursday, 24 October 2013. Her remarks on Burma’s peaceful living Muslim minority communities are full of prejudice based on fanatical patriotism and islamophobia. In a situation of injustice, ethnic cleansing and genocide against Rohingya and other Muslims in Burma, she tried to defend Buddhist extremism saying that Buddhists in Burma are terrified by “global Muslim power” where there is no such threat from Burma’s numerically very small and insignificant Muslim population. This is a pretext or a fictitious reason, where Burma is a predominantly Buddhist country, particularly when the Rohingya are rendered stateless with no basic freedoms, in order to conceal t...

ARAKAN ROHINGYA NATIONAL ORGANISATION ARAKAN, BURMA PRESS RELEASE Declaration of the 5th Congress of the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation The 5th Congress of the Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) was held on 3rd October 2013 in the border area of Arakan State, Union of Burma/Myanmar, with party leaders, community representatives, academics and religious leaders of the Rohingya people. A new Central Executive Committee (CEC) of ARNO has been formed with Mr. Nurul Islam and Mr. Habibur Rahman respectively as Chairman and Vice-Chairman.   The Congress issued the following declaration: 1.We reiterate that ARNO is a peaceful political movement, a leading representative organization of the Rohingya people, to achieve the Rohingya people's legitimate 'right to self-determination' under the Union of Burma/Myanmar. 2.The unity of the Rohingya people worldwide is indispensable; and the unity between Rohingya and all peoples of the Union of...

Mr. Nurul Islam President of ARNO PressTV October 24, 2013 Aung San Suu Kyi is lauded as an international champion of human rights, welcomed at the home of the British Prime minister but for Rohinghya campaigners, her attention to abuses being suffered closer to home has been absent. They say it’s not too late for the country’s most prominent opposition leader to speak up on their behalf. Myanmar’s military junta is desperately trying to be reintegrated in the international community. Activists say the visit of prominent opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to London could be critical in helping to raise the issue of the human rights abuses being suffered by the Rohingya people. Whether she chooses to do so is another matter entirely.  The UN refers it to ‘as one of the most persecuted groups in the world and the hope is global attention will bring a halt to the rights abuses being suffered where scores have been killed and injured with thousands displaced. ...

DateJuly 14, 2013 Joint Statement: by Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) and Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) After decades of persecution, state sponsored deadly violence against the Rohingya and Kaman Muslims was carried out in Arakan in June and October 2012 that resulted in the killing of many thousands people, massive rape and large scale destruction of villages, homes and properties  and displacement of about 150,000 Muslims. In addition the evidences of mass grave have been uncovered by the creditable human rights groups. Although more than one year has passed from June 2012, still there is no improvement in the human rights situation of Rohingya people. There is no change of attitude of the Burmese government and Rakhine Buddhists towards them. No action has yet been taken against the perpetrators. On the contrary, silence extermination of Rohingyas has been increasingly carried out forcing them to live in squalid living conditions in overcrowded ...

Radio Australia June 14, 2013 European MPs have jointly condemned the violence against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, and called on the government to do more to protect them. The European Parliament has passed a motion saying it condemns the grave violations of human rights against the Muslim minority in Rakhine state. The motion says it "deplores the failure of the Myanmar government to protect the Rohingyas against organised violence." The Rohingya diaspora has welcomed the motion, but has also called for an international investigation into what they call a 'genocide'. Presenter: Sen Lam Speaker: Nurul Islam, president, Arakan Rohingya National Organisation, London NURUL ISLAM: This is very encouraging and we're very much thankful to the European parliament for adopting this resolution, and we take it as a proper encouragement for the Rohingyah people. LAM: Do you think it might improve the situation for them? NURUL ISLA...

ARAKAN ROHINGYA NATIONAL ORGANISATION  ARAKAN, BURMA  Press Release  April 28, 2013  We condemn the police shooting, on 26 April 2013, of a group of Rohingya children for their peaceful protest chanting “Rohingya, Rohingya” when hostile operational team consisting of immigration, military, NaSaKa, police and village administrators came to Thet Kay Byin village near Ba Du Pha Rohingya displacement camp in Arakan’s capital Sittwe (Akyab), to perform the current operation forcing the Rohingya to register as “Bengali” for the census. A 15 year old boy namely Mohammad Ali S/o Kabir Ahmed of Thet Kay Bin was injured in the shooting and is now taking treatment in a private clinic. From 26 April the police have arrested six innocent Rohingya people under concocted charges. They are U Ba Tha (47), U Kyaw Myint (46), Mohammad Hussain (45) Saw Lay Ma (35), San Lin (45) and Kyaw Khin (40). The police are also hunting down more Rohingya elders in an attem...

ARAKAN ROHINGYA NATIONAL ORGANISATION  ARAKAN, BURMA  Press Release  April 24, 2013  UN Intervention and Commission of Inquiry Most Urgent  Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) welcomes the 153-page report of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) dated 22 April 2013 which titled “ ‘All You Can Do is Pray’: Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State” .  In its report, HRW has said that crimes against humanity have been committed by the Burmese authorities and Rakhine Buddhist groups in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State.  The report revealed that government authorities destroyed mosques, conducted violent mass arrest and blocked aid to the displaced Muslims in Arakan since June 2012 deadly violence. The Buddhist mobs attacked the Muslim communities in nine townships, razing villages and killing residents while security forces stood asi...

ARAKAN ROHINGYA NATIONAL ORGANISATION  ARAKAN, BURMA  PRESS RELEASE   (07 April 2013)  Statement of ARNO on the news item appeared in Daily Independent, Dhaka, Bangladesh on 6 April 2013  Our attention has been drawn to the news item dated 6th April 2013 of the Daily Independent, Dhaka, Bangladesh under the caption, “180 Rohingyas arrested in Cox’s Bazar”.  We strongly reject the news which says, “Arakan Rohingya National Organization (ARNO) activists gave money to thousand Rohingyas on refugee camp of Teknaf and Ukhiya to participate in Hefazate Islam Bangladesh (HIB) long march.” This is a baseless allegation devoid of truth and evidence.  The news item further states, “Ukhiya police launched drives in Mariccha, Curt Bazar, Ukhiya Sadar, T&T area on Teknaf-Cox’s Bazar highway and arrested 180 Rohingyas who were going to participate in HIB long march.” All those 180 people who were arrested are Rohingya refugees. They w...

ARAKAN ROHINGYA NATIONAL ORGANISATION ARAKAN, BURMA  PRESS RELEASE  (23 March 2013)  STOP SYSTEMATIC KILLING OF MUSLIM IN BURMA Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) strongly condemns the increasing anti-Muslim propaganda and organized killings of the Muslims in Burma/Myanmar. Since Wednesday March 20, many Muslims were killed, at least 14 mosques with hundreds of Muslim homes were destroyed, shops damaged and looted, and more than 20,000 displaced in the central Burma town of Meiktila and around the airport area of capital Naypyidaw. The violence spread to Yameithein tonight where a mosque was destroyed. A lot of Muslim residents have fled their homes. Extremist Buddhist mobs with Buddhist monks armed with sticks and lethal weapons are prowling the streets and hunting the Muslims. 4 Islamic religiousteachers and 28 madrassa students, who included children as young as 12 years old, were among those killed. The police and security forces did noth...

ARAKAN ROHINGYA NATIONAL ORGANISATION ARAKAN, BURMA PRESS RELEASE   (14 January 2013) UN intervention is most urgent to protect the Rohingya After June 2012 deadly violence in Arakan, the human rights situation of the Rohingya has become more deteriorating with story of “dead and dying”. Campaigns of genocide and extermination against them are carried out day in, day out. Rape, murder, arbitrary arrest, looting, extortion, criminal atrocities, hunger and diseases are persistent and widespread. Their burned down and depopulated villages are being populated with Buddhist settlers warmly invited from within and from Bangladesh.  These are the main ‘push factors’ that cause the migration of Rohingya to neighbouring countries for which the Burmese government and Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP) with Dr. Aye Maung are fully responsible.