The Stateless Rohingya Blog

By bdnews24 May 15, 2014 Bangladesh has sought the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) support for repatriation of Myanmar’s Rohingya refugees. Foreign Minister Abul Hasan Mahmood Ali asked the UNHCR Chief in Dhaka Stina Lgungdell on Thursday to work with Burma government to this end when she met him. Ali pitched for their early repatriation as Bangladesh had been sheltering for decades thousands of Myanmar nationals who fled the Rakhine state. The minister said Bangladesh remained confident in starting the repatriation process for them at an early date through bilateral negotiations with Myanmar. He expressed his hope that the UNHCR would work with the international community in creating “a conducive condition” in Myanmar’s Rakhine State for their return. Mahmood Ali also said Bangladesh’s relations with Myanmar had never been better and the present government was pursuing “pro-active and constructive diplomatic engagements” with Naypyidaw both bilat...

(Photo: European Commission DF ECHO) By Knox Thames The Diplomat May 14, 2014 Its recent opening notwithstanding, Myanmar still has a long way to go when it comes to religious freedoms. As has been well reported, Myanmar’s democratic opening has coincided with serious and alarming violence against religious minorities. These depredations often fall along ethnic lines, creating a difficult witches’ brew of issues that would challenge any government, but are ones Naypyidaw must now confront. The recent report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), where I work, recently put forward a roadmap that could address these abuses and move Myanmar forward. Myanmar’s leadership needs to understand that the assault on Rohingya Muslims must stop. In April, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power expressed deep concern for the ongoing violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Daniel Russel, the Assistant Secretary of State for Ea...

By Ibrahim Shah Burma Times May 14, 2014 Kutupalong, Ukhiya, Bangladesh : The Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh refugee camp encounter unsecured life nowadays as the newly recruited Camp-in-Charge (CIC) increasingly perpetrates violations. On 13/5/2014, at 10 am, two elderly men were sent to police custody. Since 6 months, two youths—Abdul Mabud( MRC no. 02624, Shed 42, Block E)  and Zuhra Begum( MRC no. 10007, Shed 33, Block F), both aged 17, were engaged in love affairs. Fearing the parents’ disagreement for early marriage, both the bride and bridegroom fled the camp. Afterwards, the respective parents brought them back. Ex-CIC Mr. Jalal Uddin ordered the parents to keep them separately because they are not aged to legal marriage. Last week, the two fools of love affairs fled again. When their parents informed to concerned authority to postpone the immature-marriage; immediately, Md Amin, father of bridegroom and Ayoub Ali, father of bride, were arrested and...

Myanmar Police in Maungdaw District, composed of mainly Rakhine extremists, have been exploiting all means possible to persecute helpless Rohingyas. By MYARF RvisionTV May 14, 2014 Maungdaw, Arakan state- Rohingya passers-by are daily harassed and looted by Rakhine Police stationed at the monastery in a Rakhine village under Tharay Kunbaung (Sair Kunbaw) tract, southern Maungdaw. “Hefzur Rahman is a local of Quarter 2, Maungdaw, and sole trader of live-stocks such as chicken in the township. While on his way back to his village with the chickens he had bought in Maungdaw south, around 12:30PM on 12th May 2014, he was stopped by Police stationed at Monastery in Rakhine village of Tharay Kunbaung village tract. They charged him Kyat 1,000 as usual for going through the Police’s check-post. And they grabbed Kyat 3,000 more asking who gave him permission to trade chickens” said a witness of the incident. “These Police Officers always harass Rohingya passers-by. T...

Photo: Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP By   Carlos Sardiña Galache The Christian Science Monitor May 13, 2014 Five years ago, a Buddhist converted to marry a Muslim in Myanmar's conflict-torn Rakhine State. He now hides his prior identity due to the threat of retribution by majority Buddhists. Mohammed Saed is a man with two names and two identities. On one side of a checkpoint, he is a Muslim living in a wretched refugee camp. On the other side, he belongs to the majority Buddhist community in northwestern Myanmar's Rakhine State. The checkpoint separates Buddhists and Muslims in a region that erupted in sectarian violence in June 2012, forcing more than 70,000 internally displaced Rohingya Muslims into camps.  When Mr. Saed passes the checkpoint and goes to the market to buy food and goods for his family and his Muslim neighbors, he goes by the name on his Myanmar ID card: Aung Lay Tun. He risks being beaten and possibly killed if Rakhine extremists disc...

(Photo: Andre Malerba/Getty Images) By  Sir Geoffrey Nice & Francis Wade Foreign Policy May 13, 2014 Burma's Rohingya minority could fall victim to full-scale genocide if the international community doesn't intervene.  In conflicts that have potential to produce the worst of human atrocities, states and international actors must take action to identify the precursors of mass killing and stop it from ever happening. That's precisely what is needed now in western Burma, where the Rohingya minority faces attacks so violent that state crime experts fear a full-on genocide is in the making. The Muslim minority, numbering around 1 million, shares the state with Rakhine Buddhists, who consider them to be illegal Bengali immigrants. The Burmese government, which shares this view,  denies  them citizenship as well as limiting their access to education and healthcare. Organized mob violence in late March, which wrecked the entire aid infrastructure ...

By Ibrahim Shah Burma Times May 12, 2014 An unauthentic and illogical commentary by Derek Tonkin: ( The ‘Rohingya’ Identity –The British Experience in Arakan 1826-1948 ) Never, I thought I would have to write against Derek Tonkin, former British diplomat to Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, an advisor to Bagan Capital Limited and Editor of Network Myanmar. However, I have to unwillingly write against Derek Tonkin who intentionally writes unjustly for endorsement the genocidal practice of Burmese chauvinistic rulers against Rohingya. The Burmese imperialistic rulers have been imposing double stand policies in western Burma, Arakan( Rakhine) to eradicate an existing ethnic group also known as Rohingya from this earth since 1044 AD. Arakan was a sovereign kingdom until 1784 in which year it was annexed by Burmese king Maung Wei. Afterwards, it became a part of Burma known as western Burma. With the Census in Myanmar on its way to completion, I looked to ...