The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Source: Myanmar Muslim Media 17 February 2013 A mob of about 300 Buddhist extremists attacked an Islamic Religious School in Thar-Kay-Ta Township, Man-Pyay region 18×19 Street, Yangon, Myanmar today 17th February 2012. The mob began the attacks around 12 PM today while some member of the NLD party and ex-political prisoners tried to settle the outbreak, however according to the Yangon local sources, the Buddhist extremist mob refused to listen to them. Two Muslim men, U Tin Maung Than and his colleague U Zaw Min Lat were fiercely attacked by the Buddhist extremist mob and were injured. The two Muslim men were there this afternoon just to find out the situation. U Tin Maung Than is an ex-member of Rakhine Conflict Investigation Commission formed by President U Thein Sein last year. According to local sources this evening from Yangon, five Islamic religious groups in Myanmar will held a meeting to discuss the situation in appropriate manner and to questi...

photo: RFA/ Nay Thwae Source  Relief Wueb: By Tomás Ojea Quintana, 16 February 2013, Yangon International Airport, Myanmar I have just concluded my five-day mission to Myanmar - my seventh visit to the country since I was appointed Special Rapporteur in March 2008. I would like to express my appreciation to the Government of Myanmar for its invitation, and for the cooperation and flexibility shown during my visit, in particular for my visits to Rakhine State and Kachin State. In Naypyitaw, I met with the Home Affairs Minister, parliamentarians, the Chief Justice, Attorney General, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Minister for Border Affairs, and the Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement. In Yangon, I met with prisoners of conscience released since my last visit, members of the Interim Press Council, visited the offices of the Myanmar Times, met with members of the 88 Generation, protestors involved in the Moehti Moemi gold mine and Letpadaung...

M-Media February 17, 2013 By Aye Maung     A crowd of about 300 Buddhists attacked a Muslim Religious  school in Yangon this morning. The crowd also attacked Muslims who tried to stop the violence. The school is located between 18th and 19th street in Thar Ka Ta township. As permitted by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the school has existed since 2001 and it now requires fixing the roof. After receiving necessary permission from the municipal authority, the school administrators started repairing the roofs. But the Section In-charge or Sae Ein Mu (literal meaning: the person who is in-charge of 10 houses) was upset about it, and some extremists started the attack, followed by other residents. A Buddhist eyewitness said, “The crowd attacked the school by saying ‘Kalar are perky. They are trying to make the small one into a big one. They can’t do like that. Kalars have to be kicked out from the land of Myanmar’”. During the a...

Sailors help rescued survivors at Oluvil fisheries harbour in eastern Sri Lanka Photo  03 February 2013 Source Channel News Asia: 03 February 2013  COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's navy on Saturday rescued 38 Myanmar nationals who were drifting off the island's east coast, the second batch of boatpeople to be saved in as many weeks, officials said. Sri Lankan naval craft responding to a distress call plucked the 38 people from a rickety boat drifting about 250 miles (400 kilometres) off the east coast, a navy official said. Four of the rescued passengers required treatment for dehydration and they were being brought to the southern port of Galle, he said. "Four people required medical attention and are out of danger," the navy official, who asked not to be named, said. "They will reach shore by tomorrow (Sunday)." It is the second time in less than two weeks the navy has gone to help a crippled foreign boat. On February 3, the navy re...

BANGKOK, Feb 16 (Bernama) -- All member countries of the Asean have been urged to jointly seek solutions to the growing problem of Rohingya migrants in Myanmar, Thai News Agency (TNA) reported. Speaking in Bangkok on Friday at a seminar organised by Chulalongkorn University, a key panelist, Somchai Homla-or from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), acknowledged that the 10-nation bloc has never done enough to address the growing problems of Rohingya migration, but rather leaving destination countries, like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, to address the problem. Other panelists said decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya ethnics stateless and inaccessible to employment, education, medical care and land rights. Destination countries were, however, suggested to enforce their existing women and child laws to ensure basic humanitarian support to these boat people. According to Somchai and other key panelists, giving up Asean's principle of non-...

The United States should play a key role in negotiating with Myanmar to take back thousands of Rohingya migrants who are being sheltered in several provinces of Thailand, a seminar was told yesterday. Col Teeranan Nandhakwang, deputy director of the Strategic and Security Affairs Division at Royal Thai Armed Forces, said Thailand should ask the US to help negotiate with the Myanmar government to move Rohingya migrants back to the country. Col Teeranan was speaking at the seminar titled "Rohingya: Testing for Asean" held by the Institute of Asean Studies of Chulalongkorn University. He said Thailand cannot pressure Myanmar to accept the Rohingya migrants as a lot of Thai businesses are currently investing there. But he believed the country can ask for help from the US, which wants to play a role in this region, he said. "Myanmar is opening up its country and wants to counterbalance the power with China while the US wants to return to Myanmar,...

Medical staff monitor two of the Rohingya men admitted to hospital on Friday with stomach complaints. (Photo by Piyarach Chongcharoen) Source Bangkok Post: February 15, 2013   KANCHANABURI - Police have taken 16 Rohingya men to hospital after they suddenly developed stomach pains after breakfast on Friday. Somjate Laoluekiat, director of Phaholpolpayuhasaena Hospital, said the patients had mild stomach aches and suggested that the cause might be from food poisoning. Pol Lt Col Artorn Wongjaikuer, deputy superintendent of the Kanchanaburi Immigration Bureau, said that 150 Rohingya people ate the same food but only 16 of them got sick. He said that if the illness had been because of the food, then the number of sick people should be higher. However, he noticed that not all the illegal migrants ate with the utensils provided, using their hands instead, so they might have picked up some bacteria that caused stomach problems. The patients will undergo ...