The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Muslims gather at a mosque in Rangoon after praying as part of the Ashura religious festival in November 2012. (Photo: Reuters / Minzayar) By Lawi Weng  Irrawaddy News October 11, 2013 RANGOON — Muslims hiding out in Rangoon say they are among more than 100 followers of Islam who fled religious violence in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township last week to seek refuge in Burma’s biggest city. An argument between an Arakanese Buddhist and a Muslim in Thandwe spiraled out of control on Sept. 29 and eventually led to the spread of violence in surrounding villages over the next three days. Five Muslims were killed and more than 100 houses were burned to the ground. Zaw Moe Win, a Kaman Muslim, was among those who fled Thandwe last week. He told The Irrawaddy that he booked a flight out of the coastal town, opting not to take the cheaper overland route from Thandwe to Rangoon for fear of his safety. “There are at least 100 of our Muslims who fled from Thandwe and ca...

By KPN News  October 10, 2013 Maungdaw, Arakan State: Security force – Hluntin – from Oodaung outpost demanded money from a foods carrying vehicle of World Foods Program –WFP – while its carrying foods to Maungdaw south to distribute on September 9 evening, said a transport owner from Maungdaw.  Six Hluntin personnel from Oodaung outpost camp demanded 10,000 kyats from driver Syed Alam who was driving vehicle number 5E/6176 and the vehicle owned by Islam, a Rohingya. So, the Hluntin asked money from the vehicle as usual as collecting money from Rohingya owned vehicle, the transport owner said. But, the driver explained the security force-Hluntin- that the vehicle was under WFP and carrying the foods for aids program to poor people from Maungdaw south, so he can’t able to pay the demanded money. After hearing the refused to pay demanded money, the six Hluntin personnel started to beat the driver till the driver become unconscious, said a driver who play on this road. ...

Myanmar Conflict: An Apathetic Government Gives Little Hope to Threatened Muslims © AP By  Usaid (Muneeb) Siddiqui  PolicyMic October 10, 2013 A fresh outbreak of violence in the troubled Rakhine state of Myanmar  claimed the lives of five Muslims  in the town of Thandwe earlier this month. In addition to that, nearly a thousand Buddhist protestors torched nearly 50 homes of belonging to Muslim residents including a neighbourhood mosque. A general anti-Muslim sentiment  has proliferated in post-military Burma . The Rohingya Muslim sect in particular has been at end of extreme violence from the majority Buddhist population of Rakhine. Coupled with the institutionalized discrimination faced by the Rohingya on a daily basis, their place in Burmese society remains precarious at best. Condemnation from  around the world  has been profound, where even the highest Buddhist authority, the Dalai Lama, has called for an immediate end to Muslim...

Members of a Muslim family react to the loss of a relative who died in the recent spate of violence in Thapyu Kyain village, outside of Thandwe. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun) By Fayas  KPN News  October 10, 2013 In the background of recent violence (0n October 1, 2) in Sandoway Town, Arakan (Rakhine) State, the continuous persecution of Kamans has made news again. Unfortunately, it is becoming all-to-familiar a tale. This time, majority Buddhist community showed their wrath over a news item that a Muslim shopkeeper had verbally abused a Buddhist taxi driver as he was trying to park outside his shop. People point out, how deeply rooted communal tensions are and the increasing likelihood small brawls turning into bloody riots. In recent violence in Sandoway Township, even as the President Thein  Sein came to western Burma’ to urge and end to sectarian violence, security forces---police and military--- could not prevent  Buddhist mobs from torching ...

A.F.M. Khairul Basher  The Daily Star October 9, 2013 IN the backdrop of recent violence in Rakhine province, the incessant persecution of Rohingyas has made news again. Unfortunately, it is becoming all-to-familiar a tale. This time, majority Buddhist community showed their rage over a news item that a Muslim shopkeeper had verbally abused a Buddhist taxi driver as he was trying to park outside his shop. This, political analysts say, indicates how deeply-rooted communal tensions are and the increasing likelihood of small scuffles turning into bloody riots. Bangladesh, having sea and land border with Myanmar, needs to draw due attention of the international community to this issue through diplomatic channels. The Bangladesh government must have means to identify Rohingyas for security reasons, and deal with the issue considering national interest and the human rights charter. On the diplomatic front, the UN and OIC along with leading countries like China and US...

The Buddhist Rakhine consider Muslim Rohingya to be Bengalis and have directed most of the sectarian bloodshed at them, writes Francis Wade [EPA] By  Francis Wade Al Jazeera October 9, 2013 Myanmar's president made his first trip to the violence-hit town of Thandwe last week, days after a  94-year-old Muslim woman was slain by Buddhists  in a nearby village. Spurred on by an unrelated argument between a Muslim political leader and a Buddhist taxi driver two days prior, a mob approached her home in a nearby village on October 1. Her daughter managed to escape, but returned to find a charred house and a mother with cuts to her neck, head and stomach.  The state-run New Light of Myanmar later quoted President Thein Sein as saying that he had suspicions about the nature of the Thandwe attacks, where close to 100 houses were razed. "Ethnic Rakhine [Buddhists] and ethnic Kaman [Muslims] have been living here in peaceful co-existence for many years,” he s...