Arakans sentenced to hard labor for refusing Myanmar census

Source worldbulletin, 20 Dec

file photo 

Many Rohingya have previously refused to register as "Bengalis" because they say the term implies they are illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

World Bulletin/News Desk

Eight Arakan Muslims (Rohingya) from Northern Maungdaw Township in Arakan State were sentenced to two years for refusing to participate in census conducted by Myanmar Border Guard Police, Rohingya Blogger reported.

Myanmar's national government gave around a million members of the persecuted Arakan Muslims a bleak choice: accept ethnic reclassification and the prospect of citizenship, or be detained.

On August 1st, 2014 the Border Guard Police conducted a census in the name to register Arakans as illegal Bengali immigrants. As the census referred to Arakan Muslims as illegal Bengali immigrants the villagers refused to participate. Although the whole village refused, nine were targeted and arrested, according to the report. One of them was released on that day and eight were tried and sentenced to two years prison with hard labor.

The court decision was made on December 2, 2014 at Maungdaw Township court, according to locals. They were tried under Burma panel code 353 which is assaulting a public servant during the time they are on duty. The arrestees didn't convince anyone in the village to refuse participation in the census nor organized any event to deny the unofficial census conducted by BGP. They simply stayed at home not willing to participate if the term 'Rohingya' is forbidden. The authorities targeted against them for the term "Rohingya" and they were punished unjustly.

During the hearing at the court, the families were not allowed to attend and the arrestees were not allowed to hire a lawyer.

Ages of the eight Arakan Muslims who were imprisonment for two years with hard labour are ranges from 17 to 50.

Most of Myanmar's 1.1 million Arakan Muslims already live in apartheid-like conditions in western Rakhine, where deadly clashes with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists in 2012 displaced 140,000 people, mostly Rohingya.

The government plan proposes Rakhine authorities "construct temporary camps in required numbers for those who refuse to be registered and those without adequate documents".

Many Rohingya lost documents in the widespread violence, or have previously refused to register as "Bengalis", as required by the government under the new plan, because they say the term implies they are illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

Rights advocates say it could potentially put thousands of Rohingya, including those living in long-settled villages, at risk of indefinite detention.

The government will offer citizenship for those that accept the classification and have required documentation.

Many Arakan families have lived in Rakhine for generations. They are stateless because the government does not recognise the existence of the Rohingya ethnicity, and has to date refused to grant the majority of them citizenship.

Accepting the term Bengali could leave the Rohingya vulnerable should authorities in future attempt to send them to Bangladesh as illegal immigrants.

Turkish aid agency sends aid to Rohyinga muslims

Source worldbulletin, 17 Dec

file photo

The Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency has distributed food, clothing, and stationary to the people of Myanmar in Arakan state.

World Bulletin/News Desk

The Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency has distributed food, clothing, and stationary to the people of Myanmar in Arakan state.

Along with AFAD (Turkish State Emergency Services), distributed food, clothing, stationary to the Rohyinga muslims of Arakan state – 600,000 people have benefitted from the distriubtion that took place in the Yangon area, with two separate shipments of 600,000 tons to the capital Sitwe.

The Rohyinga Muslims live 20km away from the capital city where they are in 10 different towns and districts. The organisation of the distribution was done jointly with TIKA and local ngo's.

In the press statement, it was explained that many were in camps and faced difficult condition with nearly 300,000 were close to starvation and the local organisations thanked TIKA and AFAD.

At the same time, the Myanmar United Nations Food programme had reduced their limit and as a result many Muslims in Rohynga are starving.

The Muslims who live near in the camps and villages expressed their gratitude for the people of Turkey for helping them in their difficult time.

32 Rohingyas Arrested And Tortured By Arakan Army, To Be Sold as Slaves In Thailand

Source RB news, 15 Dec

Maungdaw, Arakan – 32 Rohingyas working in four fishing boats owned by a Rakhine businessman from Aley Than Kyaw village tract of Southern Maungdaw Township in Arakan State were arrested and tortured by Rakhine Militia, Arakan Army. They will be sold in Thailand according who escaped. 

On Saturday night, December 13, 2014, four fishing boats owned by Than Htay (a.k.a) Maung Saw Tin from Aley Than Kyaw village tract of Southern Maungdaw Township, carrying 40 Rohingyas fishermen who were fishing at sea. The Arakan Army came by Thai boat which is commonly used for human trafficking and terrorizing the fishermen while they are fishing. 

Among 40 fishermen, 8 could manage to escape from the brutal attacks and torture of Arakan Army on their fishing boats. The remaining 32 were tortured on their boats and later they were detained and taken onto the boat of Arakan Army. 

On the Thai boat operated by the Arakan Army approximately 200 Rohingyas were carried. Normally such boat carried 600 but as the Rohingyas in Northern Arakan were alerted of the risk to be victims of human trafficking, the human trafficking led by Arakan Army received less than they expected, picking up the fishermen from the sea and torturing them. Their intention is to sell all these Rohingyas as slaves in Thailand, according to 8 survivors. 

The four fishing boats remain in the location they were left at and blood stains remain on the boats as 32 Rohingyas were brutally tortured and terrorized before they were taken to Thai boat by Arakan Army men, according to a local. 

Although three ships from Myanmar Navy at the Naf river saw that the Rohingyas on the fishing boats were being tortured by the Arakan Army they ignored the crimes and didn't rescue them because they were Rohingyas. 

As many tactics have been used by Myanmar government to cleanse the Rohingya minority from Myanmar, sometime the local authorities collaborate with Rakhine rebels to attack the Rohingyas, the authorities themselves bring the ships from Thailand and organizing the local Rohingyas to go to Thailand and Malaysia, and arresting the innocent Rohingyas in Northern Arakan so they will leave from the country.

20 Muslims Facing Trial on Terrorism Charges

Source Irrawaddy news, 9 Dec

  

An aerial view of Mandalay prison, where 20 Burmese Muslims are detained on terrorism charges. (Photo: Steve Tickner / The Irrawaddy)

RANGOON — Twenty Burmese Muslims remain in prison awaiting a verdict almost five months after they were detained and accused of links to terrorism, with a lawyer representing some of the defendants saying odds for a fair trial look slim despite a dearth of credible evidence against the accused.

The detained men and women are from Taunggyi, Kyaukse and Naypyidaw, and were arrested in August in Konhein Township, Shan State, while they were traveling to a wedding in the town of Konhein.

"They were charged with Article 5(j) and 5(l)" of Burma's Emergency Provisions Act, said Khin Moe Moe, a lawyer for 12 of the detained. "They did not have any contact with insurgent armed groups, they were just traveling for a wedding. … They are just normal people. Even the police bringing charges could not provide evidence at court about links to an armed group."

Win Khaung, the national police chief, has disputed that claim, telling Radio Free Asia that the 20 detainees had links to an unspecified armed terrorist group and were planning to carry out an act of terrorism, allegations to which the police chief said the accused had confessed.

Both charges carry a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

"I do not think that these victims will get fair justice," Khin Moe Moe added. "I believe that there are instructions for the court in Taunggyi from top officers about how to punish these victims. The judge will sentence the victims even though the victims are innocent and even though police do not have [sufficient] evidence."

The 20 Muslims are all Burmese nationals, and some are even members of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), according to their lawyer.

The accused have been held in a prison in Mandalay since August, with their lawyer objecting to their incarceration while the investigation is ongoing.

"Prison is for those who have been sentenced. These people are not guilty yet," she said. "An investigation is ongoing. They should not be in prison."

She said prison authorities have refused to let the families of the detained Muslims visit them. The four women and 16 men have appeared in court 20 times already, according to the lawyer.

Khin Moe Moe also claimed that monks aligned with the Buddhist nationalist 969 movement were interfering in the case. A group of 969-affiliated monks has attended every court hearing convened, and Khin Moe Moe said she had received a threat from a 969 member on Facebook.

"They come to show their power whenever the victims appear in court. They were waiting in front of the court during the victims' trial. They showed their power to create trouble sometimes. I told the victims' families not to come to the court out of concern," she said.

Members of Burma's Muslim minority are severely repressed in western Arakan State, but elsewhere in the country they have largely managed to avoid discriminatory treatment by authorities, despite rising interreligious tensions in recent years.

More than 200 people, mostly Muslims, have been killed in clashes between Buddhists and Muslims that have broken out sporadically since mid-2012. The most recent violence erupted in Mandalay in July, when one Buddhist and one Muslim were killed during rioting that lasted two days.

In Arakan State, more than 100,000 Muslims remain confined to displacement camps after they fled their homes in the 2012 violence.

More people risk lives across Indian Ocean despite abuse, deterrence

Source UNHCR, 5 Dec

Small boats in Teknaf, Bangladesh, carry passengers across the Naf River.                                                                                                     

Boys play football on a beach in Teknaf, Bangladesh, next to fishing boats often used to ferry passengers to larger vessels in the Bay of Bengal bound for Thailand or Malaysia. In the distance, across the Naf River, lies the coast of Myanmar.

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 5 December 2014, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

A new UNHCR report has found that more people are risking their lives on smugglers' boats in South-East Asia despite the prospect of horrific violence en route.

UNHCR estimates that 54,000 people have undertaken irregular maritime journeys in the region so far this year, based on reports by local sources, media and people who survived the journey. This includes some 53,000 people leaving from the Bay of Bengal towards Thailand and Malaysia, and hundreds of others moving further south in the Indian Ocean.

The outflow from the Bay of Bengal tends to peak in October, when calmer waters follow the end of the rainy season. Departures this October surged more than in previous years. Some 21,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshis have set sail since then, a 37-per cent increase over the same period last year. About 10 per cent are believed to be women. Roughly one-third of arrivals interviewed by UNHCR in Thailand and Malaysia were minors under 18 years of age. Children as young as eight years old are known to have made the journey alone.

In total some 120,000 people are believed to have embarked on these voyages in the Bay of Bengal since the start of 2012. With payments ranging from US$1,600 to US$2,400 demanded for each passenger, smugglers plying this route are believed to have generated nearly US$250 million in revenue in the last three years.

Myanmar/Bangladesh

While the majority of people paid smugglers for the journey, there were isolated accounts of people who said they were forced onto boats, sometimes at gunpoint, in Myanmar and Bangladesh. UNHCR staff met two Rohingya boys in Malaysia who said they were kidnapped off the street in northern Rakhine state in late September and forced onto boats.

Conditions on the smugglers' boats were dire. Survivors consistently described overcrowded conditions and daily rations of one sparse meal and one to two cups of water. People who asked for more or tried to use the toilet out of turn were beaten with belts or kicked down ladders by the armed crew on the deck above. An estimated 540 people have reportedly died this year at sea from such beatings, starvation or dehydration, and their bodies thrown overboard.

Thailand

Survivors told our staff that they were ferried from the big boats on smaller boats to Thailand. There they were held in smugglers' camps and made to call relatives to pay for their release. When payment was not immediate, they were beaten or subjected to other acts of torture. A large number of survivors were able to show signs of serious mistreatment on their body.

Since last year, hundreds of people are alleged to have died in the camps from illness, starvation, dehydration and killings by smugglers when they tried to escape or could not pay.

According to survivor accounts, raids by law enforcement agencies in Thailand since the beginning of the year seem to have led to a marked reduction in the number and size of smugglers' camps in the country.

Some of the survivors UNHCR interviewed had gone through the camps more than once. They were rescued in government raids, placed in immigration detention, then opted for deportation or escaped and re-entered the smuggling cycle to escape the prospect of indefinite detention.

Rohingya and Bangladeshis who arrived in Thailand in recent months have been systematically screened by government multi-disciplinary teams to assess the potential for human trafficking. If found to be victims of trafficking, they are transferred to shelters to facilitate their rehabilitation and investigations of suspected smugglers. UNHCR hopes that this ongoing screening can be expanded to an assessment of all international protection needs.

Malaysia

Most arrivals in Malaysia crossed by land from Thailand and were kept in holding houses in northern Malaysia, usually for a few days. UNHCR staff met a teenage girl who married a Rohingya man after he paid for her and her brother's release from a holding house.

As a result of the abuse and deprivations they suffered on smugglers' boats and camps, this year nearly 200 people approached UNHCR in Malaysia with beri beri disease, a form of Vitamin B1 deficiency that left them unable to walk.

Several boats arrived directly in Malaysia from the Bay of Bengal this year. Nearly 300 people who arrived on three boats were arrested. UNHCR has been able to access people from the first two boats and is seeking access to the third group.

Yet others arrived by boat undetected and are living in the community. In interviews with UNHCR, they said they disembarked on Langkawi island off Malaysia's north-western coast or were ferried by speedboat from the Andaman sea to the mainland.

Indonesia

Two-way boat traffic continued between Indonesia and Malaysia, with some Rohingya moving to Indonesia after spending some time in Malaysia. More than 100 Rohingya were registered with UNHCR in Indonesia this year.

UNHCR staff spoke to some Rohingya who tried to sail onward to Australia but returned due to bad weather, engine failure or interception by Australian authorities.

Australia

In 2014 there were 10 known interceptions of boats carrying 441 people hoping to reach Australia. Seven boats with 205 people were returned to Indonesia. All but one of 79 passengers on two boats were returned to Sri Lanka. Separately 157 people on a boat from India were transferred from the Australian mainland to an offshore processing centre in Nauru, where they remain detained.

Of the more than 6,500 people of concern to UNHCR who travelled by sea and were put in detention in the region, over 4,600 were held in Australia or the offshore processing centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Committee against Torture recently added their voice to UNHCR's own set of concerns about these practices.

Link to access the full report:http://storybuilder.jumpstart.ge/system/places/video/479/processed/2680__boats-web.mp4

http://storybuilder.jumpstart.ge/en/unhcr-imm

Myanmar and its Manufacturing Genocidal Racism towards Rohingya

Source maungzarni, 29 Nov

There was inter-ethnic solidarity for the Rohingya/Muslims of Arakan dating back to 17 May 1978, the year of the first state-sponsored campaign of terror and destruction against the Rohingyas.

"We, the Representatives of the peoples of Kachin, Karen, Palaung, Lahu, Shan and Wa, in deep sorrow, hereby express our heart-felt sympathy to the defenceless Muslims who fled to escape the compound racial and religious persecution by the Rangoon Government armed forces."

Read on the solidarity statement from 1978 in the attached full text (in 2 JPEG files).

Note the Ngagamin Operation (or King Dragon Operation) launched under the then Home Minister Brigadier Sein Lwin, known as the Butcher of Rangoon in 8.8.88 reached Sittwe in Feb 1978 - in fact on 11 Feb 1978, ironically one day before the Union Day, to celebrate Burma's ethnic diversity in unity!)

By the end of June 1978, over 200,000 - some say a quarter million - Rohingyas and other Muslims fled the country across the border into Bangladesh.

The Bangladeshi Government then led by General Zia Raman opened the border and let the Muslim refugees in to his country to escape the immediate violence, death and rape by the Burmese and Rakhine combined forces (local law enforcement in Rakhine state were made up primarily of Rakhine while senior commanders and administrators were Bama from Rangoon, starting with Home Minister Brigadier Sein Win in Rangoon and Western Command commander based in Sittwe).

Subsequently, Ne Win's Foreign Minister Tin Ohn was invited to Bangladesh capital where Bangladeshi senior officials veiled a threat of arming Rohingya refugees - number over 200,000 - if Burma did not take back their own nationals - Muslims from Arakan.

Bangladeshi general and PM Zia also traveled to Indonesia, Malaysia and other Muslim countries to rally support for the persecuted muslims in Arakan. 

Finally, Ne Win backed down and agreed to take the Musim refugees back from Bangladesh. 

By July and August UNHCR got involved in repatriating Rohingyas back to Arakan.

In the next 2-3 years, Ne Win and his anti-Muslim/anti-Rohingya deputies including Rakhine academics such as San Thar Aung (physics professor and director general of higher education) and Aye Kyaw (Australian-trained historian of nationalist movements in Burma) connived a legal strategy - and the result was the drafting of the 1982 Citizenship Act.

By Oct 1982, the draft was completed and Ne Win's legal adviser and clerk Dr Maung Maung (British and Dutch-trained lawyer and legal scholar who had a stint at Yale Law School) oversaw the whole legal campaign to strip the Rohingyas of nationality by a stroke of a legal pen. (Hitler and his legal advisers also enacted laws stripping the Jews of Germany of nationality and paving the way for the eventual physical destruction of the Jews as a national/ethnic/religious community in Germany and throughout Nazi-occupied Europe).

Like the Germans under Nazi rule who were told that the Jews were a threat to German nation, the Burmese public has been told a similar genocidal lie about the Rohingyas. (Myanmar Peace Center's Dr Min Zaw Oo is also playing the role of a Nazi-ish adviser, writing a series of delusional essays in Burmese framing the Rohingya issue in the larger equally delusional discourse of 'the War on Terror' - published in THE VOICE - portraying the helpless, half-starved Rohingya as an Islamic threat to "Buddhist" Burma!)

In 1978, the estimated population of the Rohingyas was 1.3 million.

In 2014, Khin Yi, Immigration Minister, former military intelligence and ex-police chief put the Rohingya population at 1.3 million.

Meanwhile the country's overall population is estimated to have grown from 26 millions in 1978 to about 50 million in 2014. 

Meanwhile the Burmese regime is telling the public that there is a Rohingya population explosion posing a serious demographic threat to the country, parading around in the Burmese official media some Rohingya family - perhaps rare exceptions - with 4 wives and 30 children (not exact number). 

(Khin Yin, Kyaw Yin Hlaing and Ban Ki-Moon's Special Envoy Vijay Nambia were lobbying the UN and governments around the world to drop the Rohingya's self-identity - Rohingya - and telling every official they meet 'Rohingya is a toxic name that will inflame popular opinion among ultra-nationalist "Buddhist" Rakhines, thereby making it difficult to resolve the 'sectarian conflict' - a verifiable distortion of the fact that it is the military - and successive military regimes since Ne Win - that initiated the campaign to destroy the Rohingya, both symbolically via the erasure of the name, the identity and history - and literally as a cohesive ethnic, religious and national group). 

This Zero Growth in population is the DIRECT result of a genocidal policy of Burma maintained since 1978. 

Ex-General Khin Nyunt also confirmed that there was NO IN-FLOW Muslims from "Bengali', only the fleeing of Arakan's Muslims across the borders into Bangladesh. He did so in his 'top secret' lecture, to a cadre of officiating Burmese brigadier generals at the then National Defense College, (Khin Nyunt was the founder of the notorious Na-Sa-Ka, Burmese equivalent of SS as far as the Rohingyas in Arakan). 

It is incredibly pathetic that the entire regime of Nwa Thein Sein - in fact all successive regimes of Bama generals - have been feeding the Burmese public this racist poison for the past nearly 40 years.

All genocidal atrocities are typically preceded by constructing a target community or people as 'viruses' 'threats' 'pests' 'illegals' etc. As Amartya Sen - who lived through violent racial and religion-justified killings in South Asia - Lahore - observed perceptively any otherwise good and peaceful people can be turned to a genocidal lot by carefully crafted state-manufactured propaganda. 

Every year the Burmese military regimes since Ne Win's era brought hundreds of Burmese senior and junior teachers to Civil Servant Training School at Hpaung Gyi where high ranking military officers, including Khin Nyunt, would come and spread lies, fear and hatred of the Rohingyas among the country's educators - teachers and other civil service members.

Tragically for those of us the 'good and informed Burmese', our country is populated by the good Buddhist public who have been thoroughly duped and brainwashed into behaving like the German Nazis in the Third Reich. 

The result of nearly 40 years of Burmese military's genocidal propaganda is that our country in 2014 is overwhelmingly genocidal and racist towards the Rohingyas. Hatred is never defeated by historical facts. Germans in the Allied- occupied Germany post-Hitler denied any knowledge of atrocities committed against 6 million Jews and another 4-5 millions Poles, 'gypsies', Russians, German communists, the disabled German, Jehovah Witnesses, etc. The American troops forced these defeated ordinary Germans to go and see - and remove by their hands - piles of hundreds of corpses in numerous concentration camps. Even then some Germans, both men and women, were seen laughing and giggling - before they entered these camps as if they were heading to a community picnic! Only when they saw first hand rotten corpses, gas chambers, charred bodies, etc. were they forced to accept that their nation was GENOCIDAL. 

No two genocides or cases of mass atrocities are exactly alike. 

But denial on the part of the perpetrators and perpetrating nations is an integral to all genocides. I was 15 feet behind (through the glass wall in the International Tribunal Chamber) Brother Number Two of Khmer Rouge - a Thammasat University (Bangkok)-trained law student and education minister - claiming his innocence and 'I was not aware of the atrocities' - during his closing statement. 

The Burmese public is of course going to deny that they are genocidally racist. Many a good people who know better keep to themselves against the overwhelmingly genocidal Burmese public sentiment towards the Rohingya. 

Back in 1978, other minorities such as Wa, Lahu, Kachin, Karen, Shan, Palaung, etc. dared express their solidarity and empathy for the persecuted Muslim minorities of Arakan.

Now in 2014, even the Kachin Independence Organization's spokesperson ex-Colonel James L. based in BKK denied any knowledge of Rohingya and denied showing any sympathy for the Rohingya. 

That IS the direct effect of Nazi-like anti-Rohingya propaganda by the Psychological Warfare Department of Ministry of Defense in Burma. 

The thought of Burma's good "Buddhists" turning Nazis really gives me chills down my spine. I hope it does for you too.

UN passes resolution on Myanmar: Give Rohingyas citizenship

Source the independent, 23 Nov

UN passes resolution on Myanmar

The United Nations adopted a resolution Friday urging Myanmar to grant citizenship to its Rohingya Muslim minority, ramping up pressure on Yangon to scrap a controversial identity plan, reports AFP from the United States. The measure was adopted by consensus in the General Assembly's rights committee following some wrangling with countries from the 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which had sought stronger language.

The resolution expresses "serious concern" over the plight of the Rohingya in Rakhine state, where 140,000 people live in squalid camps after violence erupted between Buddhists and Muslims in 2012.

Under a controversial government-backed plan, the Rohingya would be forced to identify themselves as Bengali—a term seen as disparaging—in order to apply for citizenship. Those who refuse would be forced to live in camps.
Many in Myanmar's government and local Buddhists view Rohingya as illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh, but the community maintains its has ancestral roots in the country.

The resolution urges the government to protect the rights of all inhabitants of Rakhine state and allow "equal access to full citizenship for the Rohingya minority," to "allow self-identification" and ensure equal access to services.
Myanmar's representative voiced opposition to the use of term "Rohingya" in the resolution and warned this would stoke tensions in Rakhine state.

"Use of the word by the United Nations will draw strong resentment from the people of Myanmar, making the government's effort more difficult in addressing this issue," said the delegate.
The representative emphasized that the government was seeking to address the issue.
The measure drafted by the European Union now moves to the full Assembly, where it is likely to be adopted again by consensus. A vote is held if the country targeted by the resolution requests it.

Despite criticism of the Rohingya's treatment, the resolution welcomes "continued positive developments in Myanmar" toward reform and notes that the government is making efforts to address the "complex situation in Rakhine state."

It calls for an office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to open "without delay" in Myanmar.
Attacks by Buddhist mobs have left hundreds dead and 140,000 trapped in camps, and other Rohingya are fleeing the country. But this week, President Thein Sein called reports that the Rohingya are fleeing alleged torture a "media fabrication" during an interview with Voice of America.
Myanmar's ambassador on Friday said that language in the resolution referring to "attacks against Muslims and other religious minorities" are misleading and can only contribute to inciting hatred.

The Rohingya have emerged as a sensitive issue as Myanmar tries to move away from decades of repressive military rule toward democracy.
The resolution approved Friday also addresses international concerns over next year's presidential election, saying Myanmar should allow "all candidates to fairly contest" the vote.

There has been uncertainty over whether opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi could hold the presidency. A clause in the constitution bars anyone whose spouse or children are loyal to foreign countries from becoming president or vice president. Suu Kyi's two sons are British citizens, as was her late husband.

Demolition of the Mosque of Yamethein Mandalay to build Buddhist Religious Building

Source Mmedia, 21 Nov

On 20th November 2014 at 8:00 am, it was started to destroy mosque building which is situated at the west part of Muslim ward, Ma Naw Hary road, Yamethein, Yamethein district, Mandalay Division, which build 350 years ago.  

It is know  the Buddhist Ma Ba Tha Chair person Monk Oo Sabdaw Ba Tha Ka announces that after abolishion of the Mosque building  they will replace with the Buddhist Religious building (Maha Wizaya) on the Place . 

Destroyed Mosque Phoro

Myanmar Army’s Major Tun Hlaing Zaw Says His Salary Increased After Killing Three Rohingyas

Source RB, 20 Nov

Maungdaw, Arakan – Myanmar Army's Major Tun Hlaing Zaw based in Northern Maungdaw Township in Arakan State, an in-charge of military outpost no. 12 based in Ywat Nyo Taung village and an officer of Battalion 551, said he is enjoying the salary increment after killing three Rohingyas recently.

On November 7, 2014 60 years old Shamshu s/o Sayed Alam was arrested by Major Tun Hlaing Zaw without any reason. He was killed and reportedly another two Rohingyas were killed by Major Tun Hlaing Zaw. Shamshu was reportedly an innocent old man who had been serving as chef for 15 years at the previous Na-Sa-Ka and current Border Guard Police (BGP) outpost based in Ywat Nyo Taung village. 

After killing three Rohingyas, Major Tun Hlaing Zaw is openly threatening the local Rohingyas by saying "If I arrest someone, he can be alive for a week only. Now I'm getting 50,000 Kyat salary increment in my monthly salary. I have a plan to kill hundred more." according local Rohingya residents. 

The alcoholic Major has been roaming surrounding villages with his unruly behaviors. On November 17, 2014 at 5 pm, his six soldiers went to Kyar Gaung Taung village and scrutinized passers-by without any reason. While doing so a 19 year old, Nur Mamed s/o Nurul Islam from Yay Khal Gyaung Kwa Sone village was going back to his home on a motor-bike. The soldiers stopped him and pulled him down and beat inhumanely. They said that going by motor-bike in front of them is disrespecting them. Nur Mamed was severely injured and couldn't go back home driving his motor-bike. He had to go back home with the help of a villager and until now he is under medical treatment. 

The soldiers have been reported to have brought three dogs. The dogs have bitten two goats owned by a Rohingya while the soldiers were going to Yay Khal Gyaung Kwa Soe village. The owner of the goats wasn't informed although the goats had injuries. The soldiers took the goats to the village administrator's house and cooked both goats and "ate like ogres", according to an eyewitness. 

As Major Tun Hlaing Zaw has been committing many crimes against humanity. Every night raiding houses. Most of the men are unable to sleep in their houses. They flee to the jungle at night.

Boatpeople Spotted Between Phuket and Krabi as Riddle of Missing Rohingya Grows

Source Phuketwan, 17 Nov

What appears to be a Rohingya boat off the coast between Krabi and Phuket Photo by supplied By Chutima Sidasathian and Alan Morison PHUKET: A vessel believed to be crammed with up to 100 Rohingya has been sighted off the coast of Krabi, near Phuket in Thailand, as the mystery over the whereabouts of thousands of boatpeople deepens. The rickety boat was sighted off the mainland, heading for Koh Yao Yai, a small island that is home to several five-star resorts, between Krabi and Phuket.  Fishing trawlers and a network of small civilian vessels inform local district chiefs of sightings that are usually relayed to Thailand's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, which oversees safety at sea.  ''We think it was definitely a Rohingya boat,'' an official said. ''But we lost contact with it quickly.'' As many as 12,000 members of the Muslim minority in Burma are reported to have fled to sea to avoid persecution since October 15 but only a few hundred have fetched up along Thailand's Andaman Sea coast, alarming activists who fear something has gone amiss.  ''Where are they?'' Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, which plots migration across the Bay of Bengal, told Reuters on Saturday. ''We have become very concerned.'' Back in 2009, Phuketwan journalists discovered that boatloads of Rohingya were being towed out to sea by the Thai military and left without engines or sails. Hundreds perished at sea before survivors washed ashore in India and Indonesia.  Five years on, there is no suggestion of a similar occurrence. But the families of the thousands who are now missing have no clue as to their fate.  Many could be being kept by traffickers in secret jungle camps in mangrove-covered islands along the shores of the Thai provinces of Phang Nga and Ranong, close to the border with Burma, where more than 500 boatpeople from Burma (Myanmar) and Bangladesh have been apprehended in recent weeks.  Almost all of those men, women and children have been taken into custody by local officials, working with Buddhist, Christian and Muslim volunteers to halt the flow of human trafficking victims through Thailand.  With each newly-discovered batch of boatpeople comes an extended debate about whether the unwanted arrivals are human trafficking victims or merely illegal immigrants.  Police and welfare organisations are reluctant to treat the arrivals as trafficked victims because funds and government accommodation are limited. By categorising the Rohingya as ''Burmese'' under laws that allow Thailand to deal more easily with unwanted arrivals from neighboring Burma, Laos and Cambodia, officials can quickly truck the apprehended groups back to the border where they are often delivered straight into the arms of human traffickers again.  The Rohingya, stateless in Burma, are denied all rights and being driven from Rakhine state by hateful Buddhist neighbors. It's ironic that only as unwanted captives in neighboring Thailand can they achieve their aim of being categorised as Burmese citizens. Along the coast, district authorities and village chiefs have formed networks among fishing boats to alert them to the presence of boatpeople fleeing Burma and Bangladesh.  Officials from the Department of Special Investigations and the Internal Security Operational Command in Bangkok recently visited the Andaman provinces to assess levels of human trafficking.  Of a boatload of 259 men, women and children who were apprehended near the town of Kaper, 80 Bangladeshis have been sent for processing through a court in Ranong while the other 219 are to be deported as ''Burmese Muslims.''  Burma does not accept the Rohingya as citizens so they cannot return. These people are destined for human traffickers. Of 86 people being held in the nearby town of Kuraburi, 12 categorised as ''Burmese Muslims'' are being sent to Immigration in Phang Nga while the others, all Bangladeshis, are to appear in Phang Nga court as illegal immigrants.  As trafficking networks grow along the region's Indian Ocean coastline, growing numbers of men from Bangladesh are also being enticed onto boats in search of better jobs in Malaysia.  Bangladeshi authorities are holding five Thais who have been accused of human trafficking and other arrests have been made in Thailand.  Boatpeople Apprehended in Thailand, Sailing Season 2014-2015 September 23 37 boat people at Takaupa, categorised as illegal immigrants. Sentenced to 20 days in jail, now held by Immigration for deportation October 11 53 boatpeople at Takaupa, categorised as victims of human trafficking, held in shelters at Ranong, Songkhla and Phang Nga October 13 81 boatpeople at Takaupa, categorised as victims of human trafficking, held in shelters at Ranong, Songkhla and Phang Nga October 24 boatpeople at Suksamran, categorised as illegal immigrants, sent to Ranong Immigration October 78 boatpeople at Suksamran, Twelve ''Burmese Muslims'' sent to Ranong Immigration, Bangladeshis passed to court system November 8 299 (overnight suddenly reduced to 259) boatpeople at Kaper. 80 Bangladeshis sent Ranong court, 179 ''Burmese Muslims'' at Ranong Immigration November 11 86 boat people at Kuraburi, 12 ''Burmese Muslims'' to Phang Nga Immigration, Bangladeshis to Phang Nga

Obama Says 'Rohingya,' Displeasing Myanmar Hosts

Source abcnews, 14 Nov

U.S. President Barack Obama, right, stops at the memorial to the Independence Martys, where the first Burmese flag was raised, during his tour of the Secretariat Building with Than Myint-U, left, founder and president of Yangon Heritage Trust, Friday, Nov. 14, 2014 in Yangon, Myanmar. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The Associated Press

Myanmar's minority Rohingya Muslims are among the most persecuted people on earth, and advocates of their cause were hoping President Barack Obama would not only press the issue during his visit this week — they were hoping he would simply say their name.

On Friday, the last day of his trip, he finally did — uttering the word publicly for the first time on his three-day visit at a news conference with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"Discrimination against the Rohingya or any other religious minority does not express the kind of country that Burma over the long term wants to be," Obama said, in response to a reporter's question about the status of reforms in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Myanmar's government views the estimated 1.3 million Rohingya — living in dire, segregated conditions in western Rakhine state — not as citizens, but as illegal migrants from Bangladesh encroaching on scarce land. For that reason, they say the Rohingya ethnicity does not exist.

In a bid to draw attention to the issue, the U.S. advocacy group United to End Genocide launched a social media campaign titled #JustSayTheirName, and thousands of people have signed an online petition and tweeted photos of themselves holding placards with the slogan on social media.

During a private meeting with President Thein Sein on Thursday which focused largely on the Rohingya's plight and a need for constitutional reforms ahead of 2015 elections, Obama used the word "Rohingya" multiple times and did so purposefully, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke only on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to comment by name.

But in his public opening statement, Obama did not specifically mention the Rohingya, referring only to the "terrible violence in Rakhine state."

During his last trip in 2012, Obama employed the word in a speech at the University of Yangon as he pressed Myanmar's leaders to end violence and consider granting them citizenship. Supporters applauded the move. Myanmar's government bristled.

The United Nations describes the Rohingya as one of the world's most persecuted minorities, and human rights groups say they comprise one of the world's largest stateless groups. Over the past two years, their plight has deteriorated markedly, with 140,000 trapped in crowded, unsanitary camps and more than 100,000 more fleeing as refugees in flimsy boats. Hundreds have been killed in mob attacks, and an unknown number have died at sea.

Although many Rohingya arrived in Myanmar generations ago, the government and most residents of Rakhine state insist they are ethnic Bengalis from Bangladesh — which also denies them citizenship. In Myanmar, neither 'Rohingya' nor 'Bengali' are counted as one of the 135 officially recognized ethnic groups.

Since the start of this year, Myanmar's government has stepped up pressure on foreign officials not to use the word "Rohingya."

Police find second group of Rohingya refugees north of Phuket

Source Phuketgazette, 15 Nov

1 / 3 Kuraburi police detained 86 Rohingya refugees believed to have been smuggled to Thailand from Myanmar by a human-trafficking ring. Photo: Kritsada Mueanhawong

2 / 3   All 86 refugees taken into custody on Wednesday were taken to Kuraburi Community Hall for further questioning and health checkups. Photo: Kritsada Mueanhawong

3 / 3 All 86 refugees taken into custody on Wednesday were taken to Kuraburi Community Hall for further questioning and health checkups. Photo: Kritsada Mueanhawong

•     

• PHUKET: A second group of 86 Rohingya refugees believed to have been smuggled to Thailand from Myanmar were taken into to custody by police north of Phuket on Wednesday.
  
  The refugees were detained in a rubber plantation in Kuraburi, Phang Nga province, after police were informed by local residents that a large group of Rohingya were hiding in the plantation.
  
  "We believe this second group of refugees was brought here by human traffickers in a large fishing boat and were ordered to wait in the plantation until a third party took them to Malaysia," said Kuraburi Police Acting Superintendent Winai Kongkaew.
  
  Last Saturday police took into custody 80 Bangladeshi and 219 Rohingya, smuggled into Thailand in a modified trawling vessel.
  
  It is thought this second group of refugees could be from another bogus trawler – one of three that was spotted off the Ranong coast earlier this week flying Thai flags (story here).
  
  After questioning the 86 refugees, police discovered that a Thai human-trafficking gang had been involved in smuggling them into the country.
  
  "From questioning the refugees, it appears that the traffickers ran away after being tipped off that we were coming to arrest them," Lt Col Winai said.
  
  An informed source said on Wednesday that more than 10 big Thai-based agents were involved in smuggling Rohingya from Myanmar to third countries (storyhere).
  
  "We know that in addition to collecting 30,000 baht from each refugee, the human-trafficking gangs also get another 60,000 baht per person from potential employers in the third country," Col Winai explained.
  
  All 86 refugees taken into custody on Wednesday were taken to Kuraburi Community Hall for further questioning and health checkups.
  
  "We will expand our investigations to try and track down and arrest the human trafficking gangs still operating in this area," Lt Col Winai said.

  - See more at: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket-news/Police-find-second-group-Rohingya-refugees-north/39478#ad-image-0

Ban Ki-Moon flip-flops on Rohingya identity

Source DVB, 

A photo posted by government spokesman Zaw Htay (Hmuu Zaw) on 13 November 2014, accompanying an exchange between a Burmese reporter and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at the 25th ASEAN Summit, highlights a conversation between Thein Sein and a Dutch MP in September, in which the president says that "no ethnic nationality in Burma can accept these people being recognised as an ethnic group," urging "not [to] refer to them as the Rohingya." (Photo: Hmuu Zaw Facebook)

• By ALEX BOOKBINDER
•  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon met with a select group of local reporters today at the 25^th ASEAN Summit in Naypyidaw, where he toned down earlier statements supporting the UN's recognition of the term "Rohingya," a move that appears to have been calculated to avoid a backlash from the Burmese government and media.

Addressing the government's "Action Plan" for Arakan State, he said he was confident that the government "can be successful in addressing the complex problems in Rakhine [Arakan] so that all communities can look forward to a safe, dignified and hopeful future," adding that  "The UN stands ready to help in these efforts."

A leaked draft of the controversial Rakhine Action Plan, which was seen by the media at the end of September, contained clauses that, if implemented, could potentially see hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas and other Muslims face indefinite detention and eventual expulsion from Burma if they fail to meet stringent requirements qualifying them for Burmese citizenship.

Related Stories

•  Arakan leader criticises Ban's 'Rohingya' comments
•  Obama touches down in Naypyidaw
•  UN sec-gen urges Rohingya rights

On Wednesday, the Secretary-General unambiguously declared that "the United Nations uses that word [Rohingya] based on the rights of minorities," implicitly criticising government policy forcing them to identify as "Bengalis" if they desire citizenship rights currently denied to them under Burma's 1982 citizenship law.

But in an apparent about-face on Thursday, Ban said that "focusing on the issue of terminology will not solve the problem," claiming that "these problems can only be solved through political solutions and both humanitarian and development assistance to those who are suffering and in need."

His statement on Thursday took ethnic Arakanese grievances into account, observing that "both communities [in Arakan State] have suffered violations of their rights," clarifying that "the UN is concerned about the well being of all peoples."

"It is time to alleviate the fears of the two communities: by that I mean both the Rakhine community and what you call the Rohingyas or Bengalis, and to address their grievances and uphold their human rights," he said. "Failure to do so, as we have seen in other parts of the world, can magnify inter-communal tensions and sow the seeds for future instability."

His earlier show of support for Rohingya rights to self-identification was met by vociferous questioning from Burmese reporters at the conference, who dedicated the majority of a question-and-answer session following his address to the subject.

On Thursday, Presidential spokesman Zaw Htay posted an exchange on his Facebook page between a Burmese reporter and the Secretary-General at the Wednesday conference, in which he was asked for his opinion on a proposal to "DNA test" Rohingyas to determine if the name "Bengali" was "scientific."

Maung Maung Ohn, the Chief Minister of Arakan State, penned Ban a refutation letter on Thursday asserting that "lending the stature of your office to this highly volatile debate…  can have a lasting detrimental impact on our ability to do the work needed on the ground to bring the communities together."

Although Ban's wavering on the question of Rohingya identity sets a questionable precedent for the UN's acceptance of the erosion of basic rights in Burma, the organisation does not accept the Rakhine Action Plan's more worrying components.

"The UN is aware of the draft plan which includes some controversial elements and challenges," Stephane Dujarric, the Secretary-General's spokesman, told DVB. "Concerns have been raised and the UN will continue making efforts to have the authorities ensure that any framework for Rakhine will abide by international norms and standards."

78 Rohingya rounded up in Ranong

Source nationmultimedia, 7 Nov

Rohingya boatpeople in Ranong in 2009 are still being held two years on
Photo by phuketwan.com/file

Police rounded up 78 Rohingya people at a remote seaside spot in Sooksamrarn district Friday morning.

They told police that paid between Bt35,000 to Br45,000 to a boat to take them to the spot waiting for another boat to take to Malaysia where they want to find a job.

They said they travelled about 25 days in the sea and there were about 600 Rohingya people on the boat. Once they arrived Ranong, they scattered to hide on various islands, pending transit to Malaysia.

High-profile BGP official killed a Rohingya old man

Source burmatimes, 7 Nov

Posted on November 8, 2014 by admin

--- 

Burma Times: 08 Nov 2014 By Mir Ahmed A.B Siddiquee.

Burma Times: Maungdaw, western Burma- BGP CAMP NO.12, IN-CHARGE OFFICER KILLED A ROHNGYA OLD MAN WITHOUT ANY REASON

Shamshul Alam, s/o:  Sayed Alam, 65 years, from Ywet Taung (Rogya Daung) was killed by a high-profile official of Border Guard Police of Myanmar who is camp in-charge of camp no,12  without any reason.

Last night the BGP camp in-charge officer entered into a Rohingya house in Rongya Daung village and tried to pull out a young girl. The house holder was crying for help meantime wife of Shamshul Alam came out from their house and stared at the neighbor house to know about the incident but the old man Shamshul Alam was in his bed because he was suffering fever.

As soon as the officer knew about the old lady followed him then he pull out her husband then started beating and took to the camp, only half kilometer far from their house. The officer was drunk and didn't stop beating along the way to the camp. "Non-stop beating ended his breath". Before they (officer and group) reach to the camp, the old man died at the gate.  Sooner after the old man died, the officer called his wife and took signature then ordered to burry as soon as possible. Therefore the dead body has buried at early 07: 00 am( Myanmar standard time).

According to villagers' statement,  the camp in-charge of camp No12, the officer very often used to say, in public meeting as below—

"I was the single one who created the Duchiyartaan conflict last year, it was cleansed. Now I am here to cleanse these villages.  I am here to kill all of you Rohingyas and your bearded priests (Mollas). I don't want to see any Rohingya Molla in any village here. They are the agents of RSO. I will eradicate all Mollahs from my area"