A checkpoint leads into the Aung Mingalar sector of Sittwe. Photograph: Tom Farrell Buddhist extremists are stirring up hatred of Rohingya and other Muslims in a display of racism that is part of a political agenda By Tom Farrell The Irish Times August 19, 2013 Just beyond the administrative buildings in Sittwe, capital of the state of Rakhine (Arakan) in northwestern Burma, a checkpoint halts all unauthorised travel into the town’s last Muslim quarter. The police sit around looking listless in the tropical heat. A few hundred metres beyond is Aung Mingalar, into which about 7,000 mostly Rohingya Muslims were confined following last year’s violence. In June and October last year, vicious clashes between Muslims and Buddhists convulsed Rakhine. Buddhists, who form the majority, targeted the Rohingya, a much despised minority. They were divested of their citizenship in 1982 and have so far seen few benefits during the rapid liberalisation after March 2011 w...