The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Photo AP By Oman Tribune November 25, 2013 The stand of the Myanmar government in the context of the Rohingyas is crystal clear. These hapless people will continue to be third class inhabitants of Myanmar and their persecution will go on. This point was implicit in the rejection by a spokesman for President Thein Sein of a United Nations resolution calling on the Myanmar government to grant Rohingyas citizenship and to end the violence against them. “We cannot give citizenship rights to those who are not in accord with the law, whatever the pressure. This is our sovereign right,” said spokesman Ye Hut and added that only “Bengalis in Rakhine state who are in accord with the 1982 citizenship can become citizens.” According to rules minorities must prove that they have lived in Myanmar before 1823. That will be impossible. This means that more trouble is in store for the Rohingyas who number around 800,000 and most of them live in Rakhine state. A repeat of the riots som...

Displacement and discrimination continue to affect Rohingya (Evangelos Petratos EU/ECHO January 2013) By Rachel Wagley  F oreign Policy Journal November 25, 2013 On November 12, the United Nations General Assembly released its  draft annual resolution  against Burma, calling on the Burmese government to address 2013 “communal violence.” The terms “communal violence,” “sectarian violence,”  and  “inter-communal violence”  have become go-to descriptors of attacks against Muslims in Burma. Insofar as they are used to describe  specific incidents  during the June and October 2012 attacks in Arakan State, the terms are to some degree accurate. But the blanket use of these terms to describe  ongoing  anti-Muslim attacks throughout Burma is inaccurate and even incendiary. It normalizes the misconception that in 2013, Muslims as a community have been both victims and perpetrators. In Burma’s anti-Muslim climate, this misconcept...

I really felt sad to read about the plight of the Rohingya Muslims. I did not know that in a part of the world, such a people existed who are being persecuted because of their faith. The silence of the so-called champions of human rights over this issue is disgusting.  All the Muslim countries should boycott Myanmar and ask its government to take steps to check the situation and grant the Rohingya people nationalities. —  Waqar Ahmed ,  Riyadh

MYARF Report | By M.S. Anwar November 25, 2013 Rvisiontv.com Kamauk Seik, Maungdaw - On 23 rd  November 2013 morning, authority of Maungdaw township visited the village of Foira-Bazaar (Kamauk-Seik), northern Maungdaw. During a meeting with Rohingyas in the region, authority threatened them with up to 7-year-imprisonment if they refuse to be registered as Bengalis during the forthcoming population census. “On 23 rd  November 2013 morning, Maungdaw Township Administrator (U Kyi Than), Maungdaw District Administrator (U Tin Aung Myint Soe), Tactical Military Operation Commander in Maungdaw and other high-level officers visited the village of Foira-Bazaar (Kamauk-Seik), northern Maungdaw. They summoned a meeting with the administrator of the village and the administrators of the neighboring villages as well. During the meeting, they threatened Rohingyas attending at the meeting with up to 7 years imprisonment if Rohingyas refuse to be registered as Bengalis in the forthc...

By Press TV November 24, 2013 Press TV has conducted an interview with Sarnata Reynolds, Statelessness Refugees International, Maryland about the issue of the dramatic depravation of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar camps; them being violently persecuted by the majority Buddhist community assisted by the government, which has rejected a UN resolution. The following is an approximate transcript of the interview.  Press TV : When we want to take a look at the situation of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar it’s nothing new at this point, but this development of how the UN has pretty much urged the country, in this case to grant citizenship to the Rohingyas; but highlighting the case should invoke some kind of aid translating down.  Why is that not happening? Such as what we’re seeing in these camps in terms of the ones that have been displaced now living in these camps.  Reynolds : That’s a good question and the UN resolution I should say is such a positi...

By ROBIN McDOWELL Associated Press November 24, 2013 BA GONE NAR, Myanmar (AP) —  Noor Jaan  lifted her black Islamic veil and recalled the last time she saw her husband. He was among more than 600 Rohingya Muslim men thrown in jail in this remote corner of Myanmar during a ruthless security crackdown that followed sectarian violence, and among one in 10 who didn't make it out alive. Jaan said that when she visited the jail, the cells were crammed with men, hands chained behind their backs, several stripped naked. Many showed signs of torture. Her husband,  Mohammad Yasim , was doubled over, vomiting blood, his hip bone shattered. "We were all crying so loudly the walls of the prison could have collapsed," the 40-year-old widow said. "They killed him soon after that," she said of her husband. Her account was corroborated by her father, her 10-year-old son and a neighbor. "Other prisoners told us soldiers took his corpse and threw i...

M.S. Anwar | November 23, 2013 Rvisiontv.com Maungdaw, Arakan: Maungdaw Municipal Market was set ablaze at around 7PM today (i.e. 23rd November 2013) and is still burni ng. Most of the shops at the market are owned by Muslims, whereas only three to four are owned by Rakhines. Many shops are said to have been burnt down and the remaining shops are being looted by Rakhine extremists. “The muinicipal market at the downtown of Maungdaw caught fire at around 7PM today. Something unexpected had happened just before that. Government supplies electricity from 6:30PM to 11PM. But today, the electrictity came at 6:30PM as per schedule. And power was taken out some ten minutes after that. And the downtown sudddenly became totally dark. Soon after, the shops at the market caught fire. The fire started at the western-part of the market and later spread to the other parts. The western part of the market is facing a Rakhine village called “Dak-Rwa” under Quarter 1 of Maungdaw. H...