The Stateless Rohingya Blog

The continued violence against the broader Muslim community stains any democratic reforms in a country, writes author. Photo:  A monk shows an anti-Rohingya slogan on his hand Harrison Akins Al Jazeera October 18, 2013   In Rakhine State in western Myanmar, during President Thein Sein's visit to the region earlier this month, a mob of hundreds of Buddhists descended on a Muslim village - more than 70 homes were burnt to the ground and a 94-year-old Muslim woman lay dead from stab wounds. This attack is just the latest in a series of clashes between the Buddhist and Muslim populations around the country. Despite the democratic and economic reforms in Myanmar over the past year and a thaw in this once isolated authoritarian state's relations with the West, the growing violence against the Muslim population is a tragic reminder that Myanmar is still far from fully relinquishing the problems stemming from decades of military rule. For many Muslims, part...

Report by Sindhi Khan | Written by M.S. Anwar RvisionTV News October 17, 2013 U-Daung is a Rohingya village in Southern Maung Daw, Arakan, Myanmar (Burma). However, by the village, there are some Model Villages established post 1990. These model villages are made up of Bangladeshi Rakhines (settled in Arakan after 1990), Ex-Rakhine militants and some slum-dwelling Burmans from central Burma. Nowadays, the rule is that even if there is only one Rakhine family living in a Rohingya village, the administrator of the village have to be from that Rakhine family. Therefore, as it is in other parts of Maung Daw and Buthidaung (the only Rohingya majority areas in Arakan), the village administrator of the village of U-Daung is a Rakhine racist called Htin Maung. The village administrator, with the collaboration Rakhine police and Hlun Htein (security force) etc, has been harrasing Rohingya villagers and extorting money from them for a long time. Below mentioned is a list of ...

KPN News October 16, 2013 Maungdaw, Arakan State: Rohingya community in Maungdaw had not able to celebrate the Muslim biggest festival of Eid-ul-Adaha mass praying, but able to sacrifice (Qurbani) today in Maungdaw, said Anwer, a community leader from Maungdaw. The village administration officer had collected from 2000-3500 kyat per sacrificed cow, in the name of U Kyi San, the admin officer of Maungdaw Township, Anwer said. The authority took all sale tax and other taxes while an animal- cow and goat-  was sale in the market, why again the village admin collected money  in the name of Maungdaw admin officer, it is totally unfair and it is also discrimination of religious, Anwer more added. We prayed our Eid praying in the houses with relatives and we sacrificed to cow as Qurbani, using to distribute the meat to the poor in Maungdaw. Most of Rohingya community who can able to sacrificed to cow as Qubani were giving their sacrificed meat to the poor who lo...

Rakhine terrorists inside Rohingya village during declaring of Act Of Law 144 inside the Sittwe town (Photo by Tim King) KPN News October 15, 2013  Maungdaw, Arakan State:  One minor girl was killed and another boy was seriously wounded by a Rakhine motorcyclist today morning while he was going to Inn Din village from Maungdaw Town, a close relative of the victims said on condition of anonymity for security reason.  “The victims are identifies as—Hamida,10; and Mohamed Siddique,12;daughter and son of Maulana Hamid, hailed from Gawra Khali village under the Police area No. 7 of Police No.4 Battalion Headquarters of Maungdaw Township. The Nasaka Headquarters is renamed recently as the “No.4 Battalion of Police”.   The victims were watching the rice, which was washed by water after keeping it in the sun, beside the road. This rice will be made into powder to make Nanpya (flat bread) in the coming annual Muslim Festival (Qurbani).  The motor...

Report by Sindhi Khan  |  Written M.S. Anwar RvisionTV.com October 13, 2013 Maung Daw Clock Tower Junction (Unknown Photo Source) The world witnesses how Myanmar government frequently attempts to forcibly Bengalize Rohingyas in Arakan. Hence, in this regard, authority in Maung Daw District is now taking pre-emptive actions to completely wipe out ‘Rohingya’ identity during 2014 Population Census all over Myanmar. This time, many district-level officers attended the monthly meeting with the village administrators held at the office of Maung Daw Administration at 1:30PM on 3 rd  October 2013. The officers attending the meeting were the head of the Maung Daw District Administration (U Aung Myint Soe), the head of Maung Daw Township Administration (U Kyi Than), the head of Maung Daw District Police (U Shwe Thein), Commissioner of Hlun Hteins (Security Force) [at the former NaSaKa Headquarter in Kyi Kan Pyein (Khawar Bil)], Maung Daw District Legal Advocate and Mau...

At Kawng Dok Ka camp near Sittwe, Rohingya mother Amina Katu, 25, cradles her five-day-old baby, who had not yet been given a name. (Photo: Vincenzo Floramo / The Irrawaddy) By ROBIN McDOWELL  Associated Press October 15, 2013 MAUNGDAW, Myanmar (AP) — The 10-year-old struggles up the hill, carrying buckets filled with rocks. Though he tries to keep a brave face in front of his friends, his eyes brim with tears. Every inch of his body aches, he says, and he feels sick and dizzy from the weight. "I hate it," whispers Anwar Sardad. He has to help support his family, but he wishes there was a way other than working for the government construction agency. He adds, "I wouldn't have to live this life if I wasn't a Muslim." The lives of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya children like Anwar are growing more hopeless in Myanmar, even as the predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million wins praise for ending decades of dictatorship. --- ED...

More than 90 refugees are being held at the Makassar Immigration Detention Center on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island after being pushed back from East Timor shores. (Photographer’s name withheld) By Simon Roughneen Irrawaddy News October 14, 2013 KUALA LUMPUR — Australia’s clampdown on refugees and migrants trying to reach the country’s shores by boat has prompted uncertainty among Rohingya who, facing state oppression and attacks by Arakanese Buddhists, have fled Burma in the tens of thousands in recent years. Since Australia’s now-ousted Labor government decided in July to prevent refugees traveling by sea from landing in Australia—saying that would-be arrivals would be taken to processing centers in neighboring Nauru and Papua New Guinea (PNG)—some Rohingya who had hopes of making it to Australia are now in a bind. “We are disappointed, we feel like we are stuck,” said Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani, president of the Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organization ...