The Stateless Rohingya Blog

A group of Rohingya women and children at Khao Lak shelter in southern Thailand (Photo: IRIN) Wednesday, 30 January 2013  THE BANGKOK POST Nearly 350 illegal Rohingya migrants were found crammed inside two vessels entering Thai waters in southern Ranong and Phuket provinces on Tuesday. In Ranong, a boat carrying about 140 Rohingya migrants was spotted floating about 5.5 kilometres off Phayam island in Muang district about 8.30am by a naval patrol boat.

Maungdaw, Arakan State:  A Rohingya youth was severely tortured by Burma’s border security force (Nasaka) on January 26, in the evening in Maungdaw north for sending his two elder sisters to their father-in- laws’ houses after visiting their parents’ house, said a close relative of the victim on condition of anonymity. “The victim was identified as Abdullah (22), son of Hussain, hailed from Nari Bill village under the Nasaka area No. 6 of Maungdaw north.”

Oman observer:  Wed, 30 January 2013 By Hasan Kamoonpuri - MUSCAT — Omani representatives along with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), world’s top Islamic body, have visited Myanmar’s Rakhine state several times to survey the fallout from deadly attacks on Rohingya Muslims. “Oman has great concerns” about the humanitarian situation in Rakhine, Oman Charitable Organisation (OCO) chief Ali bin Ibrahim al Raisi, told the Observer in an exclusive interview.

Maungdaw, Arakan State: More than 150 acres of arable lands were confiscated by the government authority and have provided to the Natala villagers in Maungdaw south recently, said a local farmer on condition of anonymity. “They confiscated lands had already been grown winter paddy (paddy after paddy) by the farmers when it was seized by the authority. The all seized lands are belonging to Rohingya villagers of Sarcombo and Gudusora villages under the Maungdaw south.”

 Rohingya boat arrivals from Myanmar/Burma as well as Bangladesh show conditions of  desperation among the mostly Muslim displaced in the region. Image: NlK Source Women News Network: (WNN/IRIN) Khao Lak , THAILAND: The future of more than 1,500 recent Rohingya boat arrivals in Thailand is unclear, despite a government reprieve allowing them to stay for another six months. The mainly Muslim Rohingya have long faced persecution in Myanmar, where they are de jure stateless under Burmese law; in Bangladesh most Rohingya refugees are unwelcome and face discrimination.

Source The Nation  January 30, 2013  The best place on earth to discuss the Rohingya issue is Myanmar - and it's timely to raise the issue with the authorities in Nay Pyi Taw now as they are in the process of seeking political reform for national reconciliation. And reform cannot take effect unless the Rohingya issue is addressed.

An estimated 200 Rohingya refugees landed on the uninhabited island of Koh Racha Noi, 25 kilometers south of Phuket, this morning. Photo: Royal Thai Navy Phuket Gazette  January 29, 2013 PHUKET: An estimated 200 Rohingya refugees landed on Koh Racha Noi this morning, as reports simultaneously flooded in of another convoy, carrying about 180 men, women and children, coming ashore at Koh Phra Thong on the Phang Nga coast.