The Stateless Rohingya Blog

Letter from Rohingya Mohiuddin Yusof, the president of New York based Rohingya Concern International (RCI) has urged the worldwide Rohingya people – organizations and leaders – to pledge which will never allow anybody to endanger the existence of  Rohingya community in Arakan yesterday. “Let us pledge that we will never allow anyone to endanger our existence as a moderate, tolerant and peaceful minority ethnic people in Arakan state where political choices will be made by the peaceful dialogue and reconciliation with the Rakhine community. Its leaders for the greater interest of both Rakhine and Rohingya people in the future,” Mohuiuddin said in a massage to overseas Rohingya community. We need to persuade the Rakhine leaders to come to the right path and accept the ground reality of the Rohingyas who are the natives of the Arakan region, failure to bring the Rakhine leadership for peaceful negotiation should be recorded and alternative course of self defence for sur...

Rohingya migrants sit on a police van in southern Thailand. Pic: AP. By   Washington Post Editorial May 16, 2014 FOR SOME time now, tens of thousands of  Rohingya Muslims  have been  fleeing persecution  and economic deprivation in Burma, also known as Myanmar, by boat. While some go off to work and send money home, others have staked all on a permanent exodus, setting sail in search of better times. They don’t always find it. Hundreds have died at sea and others have been pulled into a growing vortex of human smuggling. In 2013,  Reuters published a series of remarkable articles  that added a new dimension to the Ro­hingya exodus. The news service said its investigation showed that some Thai naval security forces work with smugglers to profit from the fleeing Rohingya. In a July 17 dispatch , Reuters said the lucrative smuggling network transports the Ro­hingya mainly into Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation that the Rohingya view as ...

Compiled by M.S. Anwar RvisionTV May 16, 2014 1- SaRaPha Officer Extort Money from Rohingyas in Northern Maungdaw U Si Thu Aung is a SaRaPha (Military Security Affairs, SaYaPha) Officer in charge of the village of Kyein Chaung (Bawli Bazaar) and surrounding region, northern Maungdaw. Around 11AM on 15th May 2014, he and his best man,  Abu Toyub (son of) U Furuk from middle Kyein Chaung, extorted Kyat 50,000 from U Ali, a bamboo trader, hails from the village of Dun-Paik of Aung Sit Pyin village tract. The accusation against him (U Ali) was that he sent one of his daughters abroad in marriage with a man. On 5th May 2015 as well, he extorted Kyat 30,000 each from the following shopkeepers at Kyeing Chaung market under arbitrary accusations. 1) Shariff 2) Farid 3) Habi ullah 4) Laung dor 5) Fedaan Ali and other 10 pharmacists. Besides, he threatened people “I will do the way I want to. You can complain against me to anyone. I am afraid of none...

By Reuters May 15, 2014 WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama extended some economic sanctions against Myanmar for another year on Thursday, telling Congress the step is needed despite some progress on reforms made by the country formerly known as Burma. Obama notified leaders of Congress in a letter that he was renewing for another year the National Emergencies Act, which prohibits U.S. businesses and individuals from investing in Myanmar or doing business with Myanmar figures involved in repression of the democracy movement since the mid-1990s. Obama, who visited Myanmar in 2012, said the Myanmar government had made much advances in critical areas such as the release of more than 1,100 political prisoners, progress toward a nationwide ceasefire, the legalization of unions and taking steps to improve the country’s labour standards. However, he said, “Despite great strides that Burma has made in its reform effort, the situation in the country continues to pose an...

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...