The Stateless Rohingya Blog

who has branded Muslims as "the enemy". Photo: AFP   Kate Hodal Guardian April 18, 2013 Thousands watch YouTube videos of 45-year-old 'Burmese Bin Laden' who is inciting violence against country's Muslim minority His name is Wirathu, he calls himself the "Burmese Bin Laden" and he is a Buddhist monk who is stoking religious hatred across  Burma . The saffron-robed 45-year-old regularly shares his hate-filled rants through DVD and social media, in which he warns against Muslims who "target innocent young Burmese girls and rape them", and "indulge in cronyism". To ears untrained in the Burmese language, his sermons seem steady and calm – almost trance-like – with Wirathu rocking back and forth, eyes downcast. Translate his softly spoken words, however, and it becomes clear how his paranoia and fear, muddled with racist stereotypes and unfounded rumours, have helped to incite violence and spread misinform...

On occasions of Muslim persecution around the world the Saudi government is very often one of the first to speak out Al-Bawaba   April, 18 2013 Last summer when riots broke out in Rakhine state, Myanmar, much of the world became aware of what would be described as ethnic and religious tensions between the Rakhine Buddhists and the Rohingya Muslims, who have been deemed stateless by the government since 1982. By almost all accounts the Government of Myanmar was condemned for the harshness of its crack down and in many cases accused of being complicit if not directly involved in the violence against the Rohingya. The events that followed the riots were less observed; largely the massive displacement of Rohingya fleeing the violence, reports of continued violence, rape, and extortion by police and military officers against Rohingya, and the placement of Rohingya into locked refugee camps. To call it collective punishment is a gross understatement. Famously, the UN has called...

Oman Tribune: April  18, 2013 On Sunday, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) asked the government of Myanmar to grant entry to a fact-finding ministerial delegation to look into the horrible violence against Muslims. Whether such a visit will serve any useful purpose remains to be seen as long as the government looks the other way or tacitly backs atrocities against the Rohingya Muslims and Muslims of other stock. In fact, the current violence is not a new phenomenon. In the 1990s too, the Rohingyas were subjected to a lot of persecution and hundreds of thousands fled to Bangladesh. Voices were raised around the world in their support. The OIC and the Gulf Arab also joined the chorus. But the effect of the hue and cry was minimal and now years later, the situation has grown worse. The plight of the Rohingyas and Muslims in other parts of Myanmar is worse than before, mainly due to the indifference of successive military governments. It seems like the governmen...

 (Muslim men gather in front of a mosque heavily damaged during recent violence in town of Gyo Bin Gauk, some 150 km (93 miles) north of Yangon April 4, 2013.Reuters /Damir Sagolj ) By Dr. Habib Siddiqui Jack Haley has been at the forefront for struggle for human rights for many years. His excellent article on the use of religion to justify violence, and Buddhist terrorism in Myanmar and Sri Lanka can be seen in the Huffington Post.  He writes, "The Rohingya minority in Arakan/Rakhine state in western Burma is often considered one of the most disempowered peoples in the world. Formally stripped of citizenship and recognition in 1981, tension has long simmered along these people who live not far from the border with Bangladesh. The current tensions and violence has been abetted by government  security forces and that is unsurprising. What is disturbing is that the discourse from some in the opposition democracy camps that received so much support internatio...

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Burma border security force (Nasaka) are harassing and disturbing Rohingya fishermen without any reason in Maungdaw south since April 13 –stared of Buddhist water festival-, said a fishermen on condition of anonymity from Aley Than Kyaw.   “Nasaka personnel from Shilkhali Nasaka out-post, under Nasaka area No. 7, harassed and tortured Rohingya fishermen who returned to their village –Aley Than Kyaw- from the sea on April 14 without any reason. The fishermen have permission from Nasaka to fish in the sea.” Some victims of fishermen are:- Shafi (35), Dilu (33), Yonus (40), Abdu Rakim (30), Dolusan and Lal Meah (32). Some fishermen were jumped into the water to escape and some were injured while Nasaka tortured the fishermen and Nasaka threw fishes into water which were caught from the sea, said an elder from the village. “The injured persons have been taking  treatment in the village privately as they are not able to go to the governme...

Jakarta Post: April, 16, 2013 TANGERANG: The police of Mauk district, Tangerang regency, detained on Monday 16 migrants from Myanmar who were hiding on an offshore floating fish trap. Chief Insp. Suhendar said that local fishermen filed a police report after discovering the migrants on the fish trap earlier in the day. “We are collecting data on the migrants. We will hand them over to the immigration office for processing,” Suhendar said. Khalid Husain, 27, one of the migrants, said they had traveled from Myanmar on a vessel heading for Australia via Malaysia and Indonesia. “We are so scared of the ongoing political conflict that has claimed many lives,” he said, adding that each of them had paid the equivalent of Rp 3 million (US$309) to an agent who promised to help them enter Australia to seek asylum. Indonesia has sheltered many migrants from the Rohingya ethnic group in Myanmar. The Rohingya, who are not recognized as a minority group by the Myanmar...

Unregistered Kutupalong refugee camp in raining   Kutupalong, Bangladesh: A sudden rain gusted up Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh on April 16 at 3:30 pm, according to Anwar from Refugee camp. “The sudden rain gusted up the camp upside down, most of shacks from unregistered camp were destroyed and refugee are now facing very difficult to stay inside the shacks as heavy rain fell in the camp.” “I fixed the roof of my shack in the summer as prepare for coming raining season, but the sudden rain gusted up and blew up my roof from shack. How I manage again to fix it, it is very expenses to collect woods, bamboos and plastics,” said Amina Begum, a widow from the camp. The sudden rain gusted the Kutupalong Refugee camp – registered and unregistered – are facing same problem – the roofs – but unregistered camp is more effect than registered. The registered camp’s sheds are repairing by the government of Bangladesh and UNHCR, but the unregistered are not able to re...