The Stateless Rohingya Blog

"Suu Kyi's denial of what Human Rights Watch has called "ethnic cleansing" and "crimes against humanity", deserves international scrutiny," writes Maung Zarni [AFP] Myanmar's Muslim minority, demonised and persecuted for decades, is facing a fresh wave of violence amid media silence. By  Dr. Maung Zarni Al Jazeera November 3, 2013 Aung San Suu Kyi, one of the contemporary world's most celebrated icons of human rights, non-violence and reconciliation, crossed the line into Myanmar's world of "Buddhist" Islamophobia. Disturbingly, on BBC Radio Four's flagship programme, "Today", she characterised the waves of organised violence and Nazi-like hate campaigns currently being committed by her fellow Buddhists - the lay public and clergy alike - as violence of two equal sides, claiming that Burmese Buddhists live in the perceived fear of the rise of great Muslim power worldwide. As a revered dissident,...

Photo Displaced Rohingyas  The Nation November 3, 2013  Fear of safety and communal strife is forcing the minority community to flee the country The UN refugee agency this weekend issued a statement warning about the possible exodus of boat people from Myanmar because of the outbreak of violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine state. Speaking at a press conference in Geneva, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) pointed out that more than 1,500 people had left Rakhine state by boat last week and there were reports that some of them had drowned off the coast. Fear of personal safety and instability in Rakhine state are some of the reasons why a growing number of the people are leaving, according to the UNHCR. The ongoing tension between the Buddhist and Muslim communities in Rakhine state this past year has resulted in numerous casualties. More than 140,000 are internally displaced. The violence has been largely desc...

By Burkely Hermann,  World War 4 Report November 01, 2013   It's not ethnic cleansing. The world needs to understand that the fear is not just on the side of the Muslims, but on the side of the Buddhists as well. No high-ranking US State Department official spoke these words. It was Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, in an  interview with BBC , dismissing credible claims of the genocide of Burma's Muslim Rohingya people, put forward by  Genocide Watch ,  Foreign Policy in Focus ,  UN Dispatch ,  Der Spiegel  writer Jürgen Kremb, the  Kassandra Project , Ramzy Baroud of the Pakistani publication  The Nation , and many others . Suu Kyi  continued , saying that she condemns "any movement that is based on hatred and extremism," that "the reaction of Buddhists is also based on fear," that the government should deal with these extremists so it isn't her responsibility, and finally that "Burma now needs real ch...

M.S. Anwar  | November 2, 2013 rvisiontv.com Pauktaw, Arakan- Around 1PM on 2nd November 2013, Rakhine terrorists killed an internally diaplced Rohingya in the forest nearby the village of Sin-Htet-Maw (Sandama), Pauktaw township. Later, the shoot out by the Military and Hlun Hteins (Secuirty Force) at the crowd critically injured five more internally displaced Rohingyas. “Five Rohingyas from the IDP (Internally Displaced People) camps at Sin-Htet-Maw (Sandama) went to the forest to collect woods at 6AM on 2nd November 2013. After a few hours, around nine Rakhine terrorists appeared and attacked them using swords and daggers. They defended against the attackers with the falchions (a type of sword used to cut wood) they had. Hence, the Rakhine terrorists ran away. Unfortunately, at around 1PM of the day, another Rohingya going to the forest stream for fishing encountered with the terrorists. The terrorists inhumanely slaughtered the man and threw the body into the str...

Rakhine state remains a seedbed of religious and ethnic hatred Photo  Reuters The Economist November 02, 2013   A SUNNI mosque looks as if it has seen better days. One of the minarets seems close to collapse. But the cool white floor-tiles are spotless, and the carpeted prayer-rooms well-kept. An elderly imam, whose features betray his Arabic ancestry, prepares for noon prayers. No muezzin calls; but the faithful in the town of Thandwe trickle in, some in prayer caps, others bareheaded but with long white shirts over their blue-checked longyis. Thandwe is in the south of Rakhine state in western Myanmar, once the kingdom of Arakan. The mosque is near its sprawling market, where Muslims, Indians and members of the ethnic-Rakhine majority sit side-by-side, trading fish and fresh vegetables, clothing, hardware and gold. It all looks peaceful. But a pagoda by the market now houses riot police and soldiers. And Thandwe is under dusk-to-dawn curfew. In early...

Two displaced boys in Rakhine state play in a river. Daily life is still a struggle for communities like theirs and some people risk their lives at sea in their search for safety and stability.© UNHCR/S.Kelly UNHCR (press release) November 1, 2013 YANGON, Myanmar, November 1 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has received worrying reports that more people are setting out to sea on smugglers' boats from the Bay of Bengal in search of a better life free from persecution. "This could signal the start of the annual sailing season – a deadly time when thousands of desperate people from Myanmar's Rakhine state risk their lives on rickety boats to find safety and stability elsewhere," a UNHCR spokesman said Friday. According to UNHCR's sources, more than 1,500 people boarded boats in northern Rakhine state and headed into the Bay of Bengal over the course of four days last week. "There have been reports of passengers drowning off the coast of R...

MYARF Report  |  Written by M.S. Anwar October 30, 2013 rvisiontv.com Maung Daw, Arakan:   A t around 12:15AM on 30 th  October 2013,  some unknown people torched  the market of Bawli Bazaar (Kyein Chaung), northern Maung Daw. More than four hundred shops belonged to Muslim Rohingyas were set ablaze. A local of Kyein Chaung reported the whole account of the blaze of the shops as follow. “At around 12:15AM, the fire started from the roof of an electronic accessories shop at the north-eastern corner of the bawli bazaar market located nearby Kyein-Chaung monastery and Rakhine neighborhoods. More than four hundred shops belonged to Muslim Rohingyas were set ablaze, whereas more than eighty shops turned into ashes. Rohingya shop-owners (at the market) lost more than Kyat 1,500 millions worth of goods and other stuffs as the consequence of the blaze.” “The fire started from the roof, not from within the electronic shop. Some Rakhines had earlier b...