The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Sittwe displaced Rohingya  Khawaja Umer Farooq Arab New: July 30, 2013   The article on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar by Aijaz Zaka Syed was a thoughtful article. The problem of the Rohingyas is indeed historical, and the British are in large measure to blame for encouraging the uncontrolled migration of Indians — Hindus and Muslims — into Burma from the mid-1850s onward. I thought Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr got it right with his depressing comments his recent visit to Burma. There is a political dimension which is often overlooked. The British recognized that the Indian influx into Burma had created considerable problems, but it was too late to remedy these before the Japanese invaded in 1941. As James Baxter put it in 1940: “There was an Arakanese Muslim community settled so long in Akyab District that it had for all intents and purposes to be regarded as an indigenous race.” This was before the events of 1942 when the Muslims were forced to seek refug...

Aijaz Zaka Syed Arab News July 25, 2013 THE United States says it’s concerned over the growing Islamophobia around the world. In its annual report on the state of political and religious freedom around the world, the State Department has denounced a sharp spike in anti-Muslim sentiment and violence: “Government restrictions, which often coincided with societal animosity, resulted in anti-Muslim actions that affected everyday life for numerous believers.” From Western nations like Belgium, home to European Parliament, where the veil is seen as the flag of invading Islamic armies, to emerging Asian giants China and India, many usual and unusual suspects find themselves in the dock. However, it is Burma or Myanmar, lately the scene of raging atrocities against Rohingya Muslims, that justifiably attracts the strongest censure. Senior officials and security forces are seen as openly fanning the waves of attacks that have killed hundreds and displaced hundreds of thousands. The p...