The Stateless Rohingya Blog

The Arakan Rohingya Union Conference is being held at the OIC headquarters in Jeddah. (AN photo)  Jeddah: Nadim al -Hamid  Arab News, June 7, 2013 Under the direction of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia is making all-out political and diplomatic efforts to support the cause of Rohingyas on the international level.  “The Kingdom is exerting pressure on the world community,” said Abdullah Maaroof, president of the International Rohingya Center and leader of the Burmese community in the Kingdom.  Speaking at the Arakan Rohingya Union Conference, which opened at the headquarters of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) yesterday, he said: “We will soon see the positive the results of these efforts.” He described the efforts as strong and effective because of the Kingdom’s political and Islamic leverage on the international level. He said Saudi Arabia will work on many fronts to exert pressure on international organi...

Tehran Times ‎: July 7, 2013 TEHRAN – Myanmar has welcomed Iran’s proposal to hold a dialogue between Muslim and Buddhist religious scholars in order to help ease sectarian strife in the south Asian country.  Visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi put forth the proposal during a meeting with Myanmar’s Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin on Friday.  Araqchi expressed grave concern over the ongoing clashes between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims and the appalling situation of displaced Muslims, urging Myanmar’s officials to take effective measure to help resolve the conflicts.  The senior Iranian diplomat also said that Tehran was ready to help Myanmar’s government settle the crisis and send humanitarian aid to the affected people.  Sectarian clashes between Buddhists and Muslims have erupted on several occasions.  Muslims make up about 5 percent of the nation’s roughly 60 million people and are denied citizenship by Myanmar gove...

KPN News July 6, 2013 Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh:  A commander level flag meeting between Burma border security force (Nasaka) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) was held at Cox’s Bazar regarding the issue of landmines on July 4, according to BGB source. “They discussed especially the issue of landmines and drug trafficking especially Yaba  smuggling during the meeting. The meeting was held at a rest house nearby beach of BGB at Cox’s Bazar.” According to sources, the members of BGB complained to the delegation of Nasaka that the Burma’s authority had planted landmines along the Bangladesh-border from the border pillars No. 37 to 40 within the distance of 70-100 yards from the Bangladesh border line. Regarding the landmines, the representatives of Nasaka denied it. However, the official level of Bangladesh will make a survey along the border areas very soon, sources said. The Commander of BGB Battalion No. 17, Col.  Muhamad Nuzurul Islam l...

Jiranun Cheamcharoen is the director of the Phuket Shelter for Children and Families on Koh Sireh. Photo: Chutharat Plerin Jiranun Cheamcharoen, 46, from Ratchaburi, received a BA from Thammasat University and an MA from Ramkhamhaeng University. She has been a social worker since 1991 and the director of the Phuket Shelter for Children and Families on Koh Sireh for four years. Here, she talks about the difficulties of housing Rohingya children and what action she took after they ran away from the shelter.   Phuket Gazette: July 7, 2013 PHUKET: When the Rohingya children ran away, the first thing my staff feared was me. They were afraid I would blame them. But I don’t blame them at all. We did our best to take care of them and worked 24 hours a day to look after them. The responsibility of taking care of these children is not just ours, it is the responsibility of the province and the government as well. I didn’t want them to run away, nobody did. But our shelte...

By Dr. Habib Siddiqui Shenali Waduge is a die-hard apologist for Buddhist crimes against others, esp. Muslims. So it is not surprising to note Shenali's intellectual inability to discern truth objectively. Instead, what we find is an attempt to rewrite history distorting facts with fictions, myths and lies. Before Islam came to the Indian subcontinent, Buddhism has already been marginalized by powerful Hindus. Even in Bengal, which is closer to Bihar where Siddhartha Gautam Buddha was born, Hindu Brahmins/leaders/rulers were able to reclaim their control over the people. As a matter of fact, had it not been for Islam, Buddhism would have totally been wiped out by Hindus in entire India. Shenali and other Buddhist apologists for Buddhist crimes may like to read the scholarly writings of unbiased area experts on this issue rather than swallowing poisonous pills that are distributed by chauvinist monks like Wirathu to clear their indefensible ignorance and despicable hostil...

·          ADVANCE FOR USE SUNDAY, JULY 7 AND THEREAFTER - In this May 25, 2013 photo, partially burned Islamic religious books rest among the debris of Himayathul Islamic Boarding School in the Mingalar Zayone neighborhood of Meikhtila, Myanmar. On one of the country's single darkest days since its post-junta leaders promised the dawn of a new, democratic era two years ago, 36 Muslims, most of them teenagers, were slaughtered there on March 21, 2013, before the eyes of police and local officials who did almost nothing to stop it. Photo: Gemunu Amarasinghe ______________________________________________________________ Todd Pitman Associated Press July 5, 2013 MEIKHTILA, Myanmar — Their bones are scattered in blackened patches of earth across a hillside overlooking the wrecked Islamic boarding school they once called home. Among the smashed fragments of skull and jaw lie the sharpened bamboo staves attackers used to beat dozens of people to th...

Luke Hunt The Diplomat July 5, 2013 As Myanmar continues its reform process, the politics is throwing-up a bevy of contrasts – some welcomed and others not. One tour company is offering free beer while the government has banned the recent issue of TIME Magazine, featuring a cover of a Buddhist monk blamed for the recent carnage against Muslims in the country’s north. The July 1 edition of Time carried the cover photo of  Burmese monk Ashin Wirathu , a known fundamentalist and head of the 969 group, which has deployed the age-old technique of mixing rabid nationalistic and religious sentiment to stir up hatred against minorities. He would like to see a ban on the marriage of people from different faiths and remains unapologetic for the waves of anti-Muslim violence that has to date claimed more than 200 lives in the country and forced another 150,000 people from their homes. In a recent interview with the Global Post  he even added : “Muslims are like the...