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			<title>Police arrest two in new anti-Muslim unrest in Myanmar</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/544391/police-arrest-two-in-new-anti-muslim-unrest-in-myanmar</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/544391/police-arrest-two-in-new-anti-muslim-unrest-in-myanmar#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 04 May 13 08:58:01 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Muslim shops and houses were destroyed in three places in the area.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Two Buddhists have been arrested after Muslim shops were destroyed in northern Kachin State, police said Saturday, in a new outbreak of religious violence.

Myanmar is in the grip of acute religious tension after a deadly wave of unrest in March that saw monks and Buddhist mobs attack Muslim areas in violence that has edged towards the country's main city Yangon.

But it is the first time similar violence has been reported in the majority- Christian Kachin State, which is also home to a patchwork of ethnic and religious groups who have found work in the jade and timber industries.

"We arrested two people at the scene... and are still interrogating them. We will charge them if there is enough evidence," a police official in Kachin State told AFP, speaking anonymously, following Thursday night's violence.

Bordering China the remote resource-rich region is currently locked in a bitter conflict between ethnic Kachin rebels and Myanmar's army.

"About 30 people arrived in the evening and threw with stones at our shops and houses," according to Moe Moe Lwin, 46, a Muslim woman from a village in Kachin's Hpakant township.

"We couldn't do anything except watch while they destroyed our shop... we will leave for a while. We have no idea how we should move forward," she said, adding she believed outsiders were responsible for the attack.

A Buddhist villager nearby confirmed Muslim shops and houses were destroyed in three places in the area.

"We do not want to see this sort of violence. We denounce their act," Tin Soe from a village near Hpakant township told AFP.

A renewed bout of anti-Muslim unrest in Oakkan, around 100 kilometres north of Yangon, on Tuesday left one dead and saw mosques and homes destroyed, raising alarm across the country.

Attacks against Muslims – who make up an estimated four per cent of Myanmar's population – have exposed deep fractures in the formerly junta-run country and cast a shadow over reforms under a quasi-civilian regime that took power two years ago.

At least 43 people were killed and thousands left homeless in March's flare-up which was apparently triggered by a quarrel between a Muslim gold shop owner and Buddhist customers in the central town of Meiktila.

Some monks were involved in those clashes, while others are behind a nationalistic campaign calling for a boycott of Muslim-owned shops.

Speaking after a visit this week to Meiktila, US Ambassador Derek Mitchell urged Myanmar's authorities to do their utmost to prevent further violence and hold the perpetrators of the "terrible destruction" accountable.

"The recent anti-Muslim violence... has raised questions among many about whether this country's historic spirit of tolerance and compassion will prevail in this new era," he said in a statement on Saturday.

Buddhist-Muslim clashes in the western state of Rakhine last year that left around 200 people dead, mostly minority Muslim Rohingya.]]>
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			<title>One dead after fresh Myanmar anti-Muslim riots: police</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/542993/one-dead-after-fresh-myanmar-anti-muslim-riots-police</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/542993/one-dead-after-fresh-myanmar-anti-muslim-riots-police#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 01 May 13 10:16:43 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Riots broke out in Oakkan after a woman accidentally bumped into a young monk.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Religious violence that saw mobs attack mosques and torch homes left at least one dead in central Myanmar, authorities said Wednesday, as anti-Muslim unrest crept closer to the commercial hub Yangon.

Riots broke out Tuesday in the small town of Oakkan, around 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Yangon, after a woman accidentally bumped into a young monk, authorities said, amid acute Buddhist-Muslim tensions after a series of attacks in March.

"A man died in hospital of his injuries this morning," a local police official told AFP, adding that nine others were injured.

Authorities have arrested 18 people after a series of arson attacks on Tuesday evening, president's spokesman Ye Htut said in a Facebook update, adding some 77 homes had been set alight in four villages in a region north of Yangon that saw a wave of conflict two months ago.

Terrified villagers of both faiths said police were not there to protect them when a crowd attacked a local mosque on Tuesday evening in Mie Laung Sakhan village.

"About 200 to 300 people arrived in our village on motorcycles and destroyed the mosque. All the villagers ran away. We were scared and didn't resist. They destroyed until they were satisfied," Soe Myint, 48, a Muslim, told AFP.

The village mosque was seriously damaged and around 10 homes burned, according to an AFP journalist at the scene. No security presence was visible until late morning, when about 30 police arrived.

"We heard rumours that the mob will come and attack again this afternoon. Even we were threatened to be killed. We are also scared. We need security urgently," Than Soe, a Buddhist, told AFP.

A heavy security presence was visible on Wednesday morning in Oakkan, where some 30 shops in the market had been destroyed and a mosque damaged.

Religious unrest has exposed deep fractures in formerly junta-run Myanmar and cast a shadow over reforms under a quasi-civilian regime that took power two years ago.

At least 43 people were killed and thousands left homeless in March in fighting apparently triggered by a quarrel between a Muslim gold shop owner and Buddhist customers in the central town of Meiktila.

Some monks were involved in those clashes, which spread to the region north of Yangon. Others are behind a nationalistic campaign calling for a boycott of Muslim-owned shops.

Muslim residents in Mie Laung Sakhan were urged to hide as the mob descended on their village.

Win Hlaing said local Buddhists had tried to help their Muslim neighbours.

"We have been living together for a long time and have had no problems at all," the 60-year-old told AFP. "Muslims are humans. Buddhists are humans. We all are humans. I do not want this sort of thing to happen."

Last year around 200 people were killed in clashes in Rakhine state between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya -- a minority treated with hostility by many Burmese, who see them as illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.

Rights groups have accused authorities of standing by during previous attacks on Muslims or actively participating in some cases.

Human Rights Watch last week accused authorities of being involved in "ethnic cleansing" in Rakhine.

The government rejects allegations it is complicit in the violence.

An official report into the Rakhine unrest this week suggested doubling the security presence in the state, and recommended keeping the communities apart as a temporary measure to prevent further violence.]]>
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			<title>Myanmar authorities accused of aiding killings of Muslims</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/538925/myanmar-authorities-accused-of-aiding-killings-of-muslims</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/538925/myanmar-authorities-accused-of-aiding-killings-of-muslims#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 22 Apr 13 14:40:29 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Human Rights Watch accuses authorities of ethnic cleansing, calls for international investigation.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Human Rights Watch on Monday accused authorities in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State of crimes against humanity in the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims last year, charges the government dismissed as one-sided and "unacceptable".

Security forces were complicit in disarming Rohingya Muslims of makeshift weapons and standing by, or even joining in, as Rakhine Buddhist mobs killed men, women and children in June and October 2012, New York-based HRW said.

The human rights abuses took place in Myanmar despite widespread political, social and economic reforms by a quasi-civilian government that took power in March 2011 and convinced the West to suspend most sanctions to allow aid and investment into one of Asia's poorest countries.

"While the state security forces in some instances intervened to prevent violence and protect fleeing Muslims, more frequently they stood aside during attacks or directly supported the assailants, committing killings and other abuses," the report said of the unrest, in which at least 110 people died.

The failure to investigate properly or punish state officials had emboldened those behind campaigns against Muslims elsewhere, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at HRW, referring to violence in central Myanmar that killed more than 43 people in March and displaced at least 12,000.

"People are allowed to incite and instigate in a coordinated campaign – this is the lesson taken in by others," Robertson told Reuters. "What happened in Arakan (Rakhine) has helped spark radical anti-Muslim activity."

Ye Htut, a presidential spokesman and Myanmar's deputy Minister of Information, dismissed the report for only taking news from "one side" in a statement on his Facebook page.

"Its words are unacceptable. The government of Myanmar is not going to give any special consideration to a one-sided report," he wrote, adding that the government would only pay heed to its own investigative commission set up after the initial violence in June.

Losing leverage

A decision expected on Monday by the European Union to lift all but its arms embargoes would only weaken the hand of Western powers seeking to clean up Myanmar's poor human rights record, Robertson said.

"They're going to be hostage to what the military and government does," he said. "They're not going to have the kind of leverage and capacity to push back on the government if it becomes more oppressive."

The report into the Rakhine state violence, which called for international pressure on the government, said authorities had blocked aid from going into the squalid camps occupied by stateless Rohingya and Kaman Muslims, exposing them to malnourishment and diseases such as cholera or typhoid.

Robertson described the segregation of Muslims as "ghettoisation" that left them vulnerable to abuse.

More than 120,000 people fled arson and machete attacks in Rakhine state and thousands have embarked on perilous journeys on rickety wooden boats to other countries, where they are prey to human trafficking gangs.

An estimated 800,000 stateless Rohingyas live in Myanmar, where the authorities restrict their movements and access to employment and consider them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The HRW report said more than 70 Rohingyas were killed in Mrauk-U Township's Yan Thei village in October, among them 28 children and infants who were hacked to death.]]>
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			<title>Soldiers patrol riot-hit Myanmar town</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/525237/soldiers-patrol-riot-hit-myanmar-town</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/525237/soldiers-patrol-riot-hit-myanmar-town#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 23 Mar 13 08:59:53 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Around 50 military trucks were deployed in Meiktila, where homes and mosques have been torched by mobs.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Troops patrolled the streets of a central Myanmar town Saturday after Buddhist-Muslim unrest tore through the area leaving at least 20 dead and spurring the government to declare emergency rule.

Around 50 military trucks were deployed in Meiktila, where homes and mosques have been torched by mobs armed with knives and sticks in three days of communal rioting.

"We do not know what we will do in the future. Most of us want to go back home if there is peace under the military," said one displaced man at the town's sports ground, which has become a makeshift refuge for hundreds of local Muslims.

"There was no proper control in recent days. We welcome the soldiers coming into the town, they can give us security."

The clashes are the latest sign of worsening tensions between Muslims and Buddhists, presenting a serious challenge for the quasi-civilian regime as it looks to reform the country after decades of iron-fisted military rule.

Violence in Meiktila, 130 kilometres north of the capital Naypyidaw, began on Wednesday after an apparent argument in a gold shop spiralled into pitched battles.

Mosques have been reduced to ashes, while gangs of young men, including monks, have roamed the streets.

It is the worst communal violence since a wave of clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in the western state of Rakhine last year that left at least 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced.

The state of emergency order, signed by President Thein Sein, is designed to enable the army to help restore order and is a significant move in a country trying to emerge from the legacy of junta rule, which ended two years ago.

Meiktila remained tense Saturday, although no new clashes were reported.

"We do not have an exact death toll yet as we are still trying to collect the figures," a senior government official in Meiktila town told AFP, adding that troops had brought relative calm to the area and a clean-up operation was under way.

Although the chaotic nature of the situation made precise casualty numbers difficult to obtain, local police said Friday that at least 20 people have died, while state media on Saturday put the official death toll at 11 with 39 injured.

A report in the English language New Light of Myanmar said more than 150 homes and 13 religious buildings were damaged in the unrest.

The United Nations, US, Britain and rights groups have called for calm and dialogue between communities amid fears that the violence could spread.

Journalists in the town have seen the charred remains of bodies on the roadside, while one group of reporters was threatened at knife-point by a group of men and monks who forced them to hand over their camera memory sticks.

Kyaw Kyaw, a 27-year-old Muslim religious leader who has lived in the town since his childhood, said he was not sure what was behind the sudden explosion of violence.

"We could not take anything when we left our homes. We had to run for our lives... We have been living with Buddhists for many years. I am very upset about what has happened," he said on Friday.

Myanmar's Muslims – largely of Indian, Chinese and Bangladeshi descent – account for an estimated four per cent of the population of roughly 60 million, although the country has not conducted a census in three decades.

Religious violence has occasionally broken out in the past in some areas across the country, with Rakhine state a flashpoint for the tensions.

Since violence broke out there last year, thousands of Muslim Rohingya – including a growing number of women and children – have fled the conflict in rickety boats, many heading for Malaysia.]]>
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			<title>Myanmar forces accused of attacks on Muslims</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/467591/myanmar-forces-accused-of-attacks-on-muslims</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/467591/myanmar-forces-accused-of-attacks-on-muslims#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 18 Nov 12 09:33:13 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Local forces killed ethnic minority Kaman Muslims while government troops 'stood by and watched', says HRW.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Myanmar local security forces killed Muslim villagers and assaulted people trying to flee a fresh outbreak of sectarian violence in western Rakhine state last month, a rights watchdog said Sunday.

Local forces killed ethnic minority Kaman Muslims in the town of Kyauk Pyu while government troops "stood by and watched", according to New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Soldiers from the local border guard force meanwhile "severely beat" dozens of displaced Rohingya Muslims arriving by boat near the Rakhine state capital Sittwe from violence-hit local villages, it said.

Elsewhere, however, security forces provided protection to displaced Rohingya and Kaman Muslims by firing shots in the air to fend off Buddhist mobs and by providing water and food, according to HRW.

Two major outbreaks of violence between Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine since June have left 180 people dead and more than 110,000 displaced. Most of the displaced were Rohingya, a minority group that has faced decades of discrimination.

HRW released new satellite imagery which it said showed extensive destruction of homes and other property in three mainly Rohingya areas.

It reported accounts of "gruesome casualties" on both sides of the Buddhist-Muslim clashes, including beheadings and killings of women and children.

"The satellite images and eyewitness accounts reveal that local mobs, at times with official support, sought to finish the job of removing Rohingya from these areas," said Brad Adams, the watchdog's Asia director.

He urged US President Barack Obama to press Myanmar's reformist leader Thein Sein on the issue when he makes a historic visit to Yangon on Monday following sweeping political changes in the former pariah state.

"The absence of accountability for this horrific violence gives a green light to extremists to continue their attacks and abuses," Adams said.

After the initial eruption of violence in June, HRW accused security forces of opening fire on Rohingya, committing rape and standing by as rival mobs attacked each other.

Myanmar's 800,000 Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh by the government and many Burmese. They have long been considered by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities on the planet.]]>
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			<title>‘Disturbing’ violence in Myanmar: ASEAN chief</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/467569/%e2%80%98disturbing%e2%80%99-violence-in-myanmar-asean-chief</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/467569/%e2%80%98disturbing%e2%80%99-violence-in-myanmar-asean-chief#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 18 Nov 12 06:30:58 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[I would call it disturbing trend of ethnic violence could become destabilising to region, says ASEAN chief.]]>
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				<![CDATA[ASEAN chief Surin Pitsuwan said on Sunday that Rohingya Muslims in western Myanmar were the victims of “disturbing” ethnic violence, but stopped short of calling the bloodshed genocide.

A wave of violence in western Rakhine state between Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims has left at least 180 dead and displaced more than 110,000 people since June, overshadowing political reform efforts in the country.

“I would call it a disturbing trend of ethnic violence that could become destabilising to the region,” Surin told AFP in Phnom Penh on the sidelines of a gathering of leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes Myanmar.

“I have already given out a warning that it could be radicalised. That would not be good to anybody in the region.”

But Surin did not endorse a statement from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which on Saturday said the Rohingya were victims of “genocide”.

The world’s top Islamic body also urged US President Barack Obama, who is set to pay a historic visit to Yangon on Monday, to press the Myanmar government to protect the minority group.

“I think the statement by the OIC reflects the frustration... of 57 countries,” Surin said when asked whether he would call the violence “genocide”. “This is a very very, frustrating, worrisome situation.”

Myanmar’s 800,000 stateless Rohingya are seen by the government and many in the country as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. They are described by the UN as among the world’s most persecuted minorities.

Surin called on ASEAN to provide humanitarian assistance to “relieve” the suffering of the victims, many of whom have been made homeless by the recent clashes and are languishing in overcrowded, squalid camps.

Asked whether ASEAN wanted Myanmar to grant citizenship to the ethnic minority, Surin indicated it was not for the bloc to interfere with a fellow member state’s handling of the issue.

“I understand the sensitivity, I understand the complexity of the issue,” he said, adding that “the people of Myanmar as a whole will have to warm up to the idea”.

“Reconciliation means reconciliation with all groups and it’s difficult to imagine how you can resettle 800,000 people in a third country,” he said.

“So it has to be resolved through their own national processes, through their own laws... (it) will have to be done by the Myanmese government.”

The recent violence will likely be discussed among ASEAN leaders when they meet in Cambodia on Sunday, he added.]]>
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			<title>Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine state face ‘genocide’: OIC</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/467201/muslims-in-myanmar%e2%80%99s-rakhine-state-face-%e2%80%98genocide%e2%80%99-oic</link>
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			<pubDate>Sat, 17 Nov 12 10:53:47 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[We expect from US to convey a strong message to the government of Burma so they protect that minority: OIC.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The world's top Islamic body called Saturday for the international community to protect Muslims in Myanmar's unrest-hit Rakhine state from "genocide" as US President Barack Obama readied for a landmark trip to the country.

"We expect from the United states to convey a strong message to the government of Burma so they protect that minority, what is going on there is a genocide," said Djibouti Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, who is the acting chairman of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

"We are telling things how they are, we believe that the United States and other ... countries ... should act quickly to save that minority which is submitted to an oppressive policy and a genocide," he said.]]>
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			<title>Hatred locks Myanmar Rohingya in legal limbo: Experts</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/462610/hatred-locks-myanmar-rohingya-in-legal-limbo-experts</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/462610/hatred-locks-myanmar-rohingya-in-legal-limbo-experts#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 08 Nov 12 06:56:33 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Local authorities told AFP they have begun a process of verifying the nationality of all the state’s Muslims.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Rohingya Muslims’ statelessness is at the heart of bloody unrest that has torn through western Myanmar, but experts say the regime is unlikely to risk public ire by lifting them from citizenship limbo.

Rakhine state remains explosively tense after being convulsed by two major outbreaks of fighting involving Buddhist and Muslim communities since June that have left 180 dead and more than 110,000, mainly Rohingya, crammed into makeshift camps.

Local authorities told AFP on Wednesday they have begun a process of verifying the nationality of all the state’s Muslims, amid widespread calls for those deemed “illegal” to be sent to a third country.

The precise goal of the survey was unclear.

With some 800,000 stateless Rohingya in Rakhine, the reformist government is under pressure to give them a legal status as it comes under international scrutiny with warnings that the conflict threatens its democratic transition.

“We would like the problems, the unresolved problems of the status of the Rohingya people, to be addressed by the leaders in Burma across politics,” said Britain’s Foreign Minister William Hague on Monday, using Myanmar’s former name.

The Rohingya, considered by the United Nations to be one of the most persecuted minorities on the planet, are seen by the government and many Burmese as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

Observers said the extreme level of hostility against the Rohingya in mainstream public opinion is likely to further inhibit any government efforts at widespread naturalisation, particularly as the country prepares for 2015 elections.

“The government could face a popular backlash if they unilaterally granted citizenship to the Rohingya,” said Myanmar expert Nicholas Farelly at Australian National University.

“It would be a tragedy if the Rohingya issue was inflamed by the need for politicians to shore up support before 2015.

“Time and patience may salve these wounds,” said Farelly, adding that “an audacious and inclusive effort could work, but given the risks, I find it hard to believe the current government could tilt that way.”

The opposition, led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, has also disappointed international supporters by failing to speak up on behalf of the Rohingya, with many suggesting suspected concerns over the polls.

Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has simply repeated calls for an end to the violence, in defiance of criticism from human rights groups.

The Rohingya were deprived of nationality by the junta, which held Myanmar in an iron grip for half a century until March 2011 and the new regime refuses even to accept there is a group called “Rohingya”, habitually referring to them as the “so-called Rohingya”.

Other terms are laced with xenophobia, with widespread public references to the group as “Bengalis” or even the pejorative term for foreigner, “kalar”.

A 1982 law enshrines the citizenship of Myanmar’s officially-recognised ethnic groups.

But the Rohingya were excluded, despite their claims to have met the criteria of having ancestors in the country before 1823, the date of the first Anglo-Burmese war and a benchmark before a colonial relationship that saw a flood of new arrivals into the country from south Asia.

“We have no plan to accept as an ethnic group those who are stateless, or any new tribes who are not officially recognised, like the Rohingya,” Myanmar president’s office director Zaw Htay told AFP.

Rohingya were recognised under that name during the country’s brief period of democratic rule after colonialism, from 1948 to 1962, according to Maung Zarni, visiting fellow at the London School of Economics.

Denying their status “is nothing less than an attempted ethnocide, that is, the attempt to kill a group’s cultural identity,” he told AFP.

Without recognition as an ethnic minority, Rohingya could apply to become “naturalised citizens” -- a status that carries fewer rights than full citizenship -- if they can prove their ancestors were in the country before independence in 1948.

But Zarni said Myanmar would “deny a large percentage of them citizenship status”, because “they have been deprived of documentations for decades” so few would be able to provide supporting paperwork.

As a compromise, the government could opt to issue the Rohingya with white identity cards, said Zaw Htay. But the cards are temporary documents, allowing them to stay in Myanmar but not conferring citizenship rights.

The strength of feeling surrounding the Rohingya has already derailed efforts to update the citizenship law.

A proposal from a member of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) for parliament to consider reworking the legislation was immediately rejected despite not being motivated by a concern for the stateless group.

“It is not the time to do it yet,” said another USDP MP, Mann Kan Nyunt, after the decision, adding that any attempt to redraft “sensitive” parts of the law could cause “doubt and misunderstanding”.]]>
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			<title>Doctors Without Borders 'prevented' from reaching unrest-hit Myanmar areas</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/461089/msf-prevented-from-reaching-unrest-hit-myanmar-areas</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/461089/msf-prevented-from-reaching-unrest-hit-myanmar-areas#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 05 Nov 12 14:03:29 +0500</pubDate>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[More than 100,000 people have been displaced and dozens killed since June in two major eruptions of violence.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Doctors Without Borders said Monday its teams had been threatened and stopped from reaching areas in Myanmar hit by communal bloodshed, leaving tens of thousands without essential health care.

More than 100,000 people have been displaced and dozens killed since June in Rakhine state in two major eruptions of violence between Rakhine Buddhists and Muslims, mainly from the Rohingya minority.

Whole neighbourhoods have been torched since the second round of unrest began last month, prompting another exodus and leaving already overcrowded camps struggling to cope with a growing humanitarian crisis.

France's Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, MSF) said its teams face "ongoing antagonism generated by deep ethnic divisions", which had stopped them from treating both those newly displaced and patients of its longer-term projects in the region.

"That we are prevented from acting and threatened for wanting to deliver medical aid to those in need is shocking and leaves tens of thousands without the medical care they urgently need," said operations manager Joe Belliveau in a statement.

Some ethnic Rakhine leaders have campaigned against international aid agencies in recent months, claiming they favour the Rohingya. Aid groups deny the accusations.

"The animosity is rooted in a small minority of the population but a very vocal one. They must accept that a very basic medical act is not somehow supporting the other side," Belliveau told AFP, adding the agency does not "play favourites".

He said threats in letters, pamphlets and on the social networking site Facebook used "highly vitriolic" language which caused staff to fear for their safety.

"We are only out there to provide people with health care who need it the most... it is outrageous that this should be cut off. Anybody who needs health care should be getting health care," he said.

Some of those who fled their homes were "very exposed" and Belliveau said MSF workers had found people with a variety of injuries, including those who had been burnt, stabbed or wounded by arrows or bullets.

MSF said it had worked with the government and other aid agencies to assess the medical needs of the thousands of newly displaced people near the Rakhine state capital Sittwe and surrounding areas.

It said some food, water and emergency health care had been provided, but warned that "having lost their homes and resources, many people are extremely vulnerable and their health status could deteriorate quickly".

MSF, which has worked in Rakhine state since 1994, also provided long-term medical treatment - including for maternal health, malaria, malnutrition, TB and HIV.

But it said tens of thousands of people had gone without such medical care for months following the unrest.

Myanmar's 800,000 Rohingya, described by the UN as among the world's most persecuted minorities, are seen by the government and many in the country as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

They make up the vast majority of those displaced in the fighting.

The United Nations in a report Friday urged that "adequate safety" be provided for humanitarian workers in the state, adding some staff continued to face threats.]]>
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			<title>Myanmar must protect Muslims and halt discrimination: UN</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/459013/myanmar-must-protect-muslims-and-halt-discrimination-un</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/459013/myanmar-must-protect-muslims-and-halt-discrimination-un#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 31 Oct 12 18:30:11 +0500</pubDate>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[UN says Myanmar must address human rights challenges for a successful process of democratic transition.]]>
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				<![CDATA[UN human rights investigators called on Myanmar on Wednesday to halt deadly sectarian violence and warned it not to use the conflict as a pretext to remove Rohingya minority Muslims.

Some 89 people have been killed in clashes between Buddhist Rakhines and Muslim Rohingyas in western Myanmar in the past 10 days, according to the latest official toll.

"This situation must not become an opportunity to permanently remove an unwelcome community," said a joint statement issued by Tomas Ojea Quintana, UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, and independent experts on minority issues and the internally displaced.

They voiced their "deep concern about the assertion of the government and others that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants and stateless persons".

"If the country is to be successful in the process of democratic transition, it must be bold in addressing the human rights challenges that exist," Ojea Quintana said.

"In the case of Rakhine State, this involves addressing the long-standing endemic discrimination against the Rohingya community that exists within sections of local and national government as well as society at large."

The Rohingyas say their homes were burned down by Rakhines armed with slingshots, wooden staves, knives and gasoline.

The United Nations says more than 97 per cent of the 28,108 people who have fled the violence are Muslims, mostly stateless Rohingya. Many now live in camps, joining 75,000 mostly Rohingya displaced in June after a previous explosion of sectarian violence killed at least 80 people.

Fearful Buddhists and Muslims are arming themselves with homemade weapons, testing the reformist government's resolve to prevent a new wave of violence.

Rita Izsak, UN independent expert on minority issues, said the Rohingya constituted a minority which must be protected according to international minority rights standards.

"The government must take steps to review relevant laws and procedures to provide equal access by the Rohingya community to citizenship and promote dialogue and reconciliation between communities," she said.

The UN refugee agency has called on authorities to restore law and order so as to prevent further bloodshed and displacement. An estimated 6,000 people are stranded on boats or on islets along Myanmar's western coast, it said on Tuesday.

"We are appealing to neighboring countries, Bangladesh being very much one of them, to keep borders open. It is clearly important that people do have access to safe haven," UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told a news briefing on Tuesday.]]>
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			<title>Bangladesh turns away Rohingyas fleeing Myanmar unrest</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/458639/bangladesh-turns-away-rohingyas-fleeing-myanmar-unrest</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/458639/bangladesh-turns-away-rohingyas-fleeing-myanmar-unrest#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 30 Oct 12 18:28:48 +0500</pubDate>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=458639</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[More than 160 Muslims mostly women and children have been turned away by Bangladesh border guards.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Bangladesh border guards have "pushed back" more than 160 Rohingya Muslims in recent days who were fleeing communal clashes in neighbouring Myanmar, a senior commander said on Tuesday.

At least 89 people have been killed and tens of thousands have fled their homes in a new wave of communal unrest sweeping Myanmar's western Rakhine state, where violence between Muslim Rohingya and Buddhists in June left dozens killed.

Border Guard Bangladesh commander Mohammad Khalequzzaman told AFP that refugees tried to cross the land border and enter Ukhia county, which borders Rakhine.

He said border guards have so far "pushed back more than 160 Rohingya, who crossed into Bangladesh through land borders since October 21", when the latest wave of violence between Buddhists and Muslims erupted in Rakhine.

The refugees included 27 Rohingya who attempted to enter Ukhia on Tuesday, before being turned away by Bangladesh border guards, he added.

Khalequzzaman said the refugees arrived "in groups of six to 10 people in three phases. Nearly half of them were women and children."

"We have pushed them back this afternoon after giving them food. None of them were reported injured or sick," he said.

After earlier sectarian clashes in Rakhine in June, Bangladesh river patrol teams turned back at least 16 boats carrying Rohingya, most of them women and children.

That move drew criticism from the United Nations (UN) and rights groups, but Bangladesh said it would not accept any new refugees as it was already burdened with an estimated 300,000 Rohingya living in its southeast.

Myanmar's 800,000 stateless Rohingya are viewed by the UN as among the most persecuted minorities on the planet.

Seen by the Myanmar government and many Burmese as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, they face tight restrictions on their movements and limited access to employment, education and public services.

The United Nations estimates that more than 28,000 people -- mostly Muslims -- have been displaced since October 21, in addition to about 75,000 people already crammed into squalid camps following the June unrest.]]>
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			<title>New boat people exodus looms from restive Myanmar</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/458222/new-boat-people-exodus-looms-from-restive-myanmar</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/458222/new-boat-people-exodus-looms-from-restive-myanmar#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 30 Oct 12 07:17:05 +0500</pubDate>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Hundreds of thousands have left aboard rickety boats in past decades, and there are signs of another exodus looming.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Left widowed and homeless in a country where she is unwanted, Rahima longs only to flee strife-torn Myanmar on a perilous journey made by thousands of other Muslim Rohingya before her.

Hundreds of thousands of the stateless people - considered by the UN to be one of the most persecuted minorities on the planet - have left aboard rickety boats in past decades, and there are signs of another exodus looming.

"We are like dead people. I want to go to another country. I cannot keep suffering like this," said Rahima, 55, whose husband and 25-year-old son were killed in Buddhist-Muslim clashes in western Rakhine state in June.

"I don't have enough food. How long can I keep living here?" she told AFP in a recent interview, since which a fresh wave of violence has left dozens more dead and displaced about 30,000 people.

In the past Bangladesh was the destination of choice, but the neighbouring country has now closed its doors, turning away boatloads of Rohingya who attempted to flee the violence in June. Many have since hung their hopes on Muslim-majority Malaysia.

But for now, Rahima's home is one of the mud-strewn camps where tens of thousands of Rohingya have sought shelter since the conflict exploded in the flashpoint western region of the country formerly known as Burma.

They live in woeful conditions on the outskirts of the state capital Sittwe, crammed into tents, bamboo huts or simply living under tarpaulin sheets.

"There is hardship in the camps, and not enough food," said Mohammed Ismail, 32, his eyes welling up with tears. "After the rainy season, we want to leave."

He is not alone: with many others in the camps voicing a similar desire to flee, the United Nations and rights groups are bracing for a huge spike in "boat people" fleeing the country in the coming months.

"We are likely to see a dramatic increase in the number of Rohingya taking to the sea this year," said Matthew Smith, a researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch.

"It's an incredibly risky endeavour for Rohingya refugees to take. It indicates the level of desperation that this population has experienced both in Burma and Bangladesh," he said.

Despite their decades-long presence, Myanmar views the roughly 800,000 Rohingya who are confined to Rakhine state as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, and denies them citizenship.

Decades of travel restrictions, forced labour, land grabs and limited access to health and education services have already led many Rohingya to seek out a new life overseas.

Two massive waves of refugees, of approximately 250,000 people each, flooded across the border into Bangladesh in 1978 and 1991-92, but large scale repatriations ensued.

Now home to an estimated 300,000 Rohingya, Bangladesh refuses to accept more.

In desperation, the minority group has increasingly set its sights on getting to Malaysia, where there are now more than 20,000 officially registered Rohingya.

Between late 2011 and May this year, an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 Rohingya left Rakhine or Bangladesh by boat for Malaysia via Thailand, according to Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan Project, a Rohingya advocacy group.

It is a journey fraught with risk: in the past human rights activists have accused the Thai navy of pushing desperate Rohingya asylum-seekers back out to sea and casting them adrift.

Even so, boat departures by the Rohingya are at their highest level since the organisation began tracking the journeys five years ago, Lewa said.

This season the migrations, which can cost up to $2,000 per person, have started even before the end of the rainy season with "several hundred" Rohingya arriving in Malaysia since the June unrest, Lewa said.

One of them is Nur Islam, 23, who left Sittwe a few weeks ago.

"I was on the boat for 15 days without any food," he recalled. "I thought I might die there."

Five of his fellow passengers did not survive the journey and their bodies were thrown overboard, he told AFP in Kuala Lumpur.

But for the young Muslim, staying in the country where he grew up was not an option.

"Because of the danger I just left," he said. "I will never go back. There is nothing there. Everything has been burned down."

The arrivals may not be welcomed with open arms by Muslim countries, despite the vocal concerns about their plight raised by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the top Muslim world body.

"I don't expect Malaysia or OIC countries to welcome the Rohingya," said Sarnata Reynolds from Refugees International.

"They may be kind in their response to the first few thousand, but the government and the residents will likely quickly grow weary and fearful of a mass exodus."

Yet for many Rohingya, the chance of a new life overseas is worth the risk.

"There is nothing to do here, so it's natural to try to find something better," said Kyaw Hla Aung, a Rohingya community leader in Sittwe. He hopes more of his people will be able to set off as soon as the weather permits.

But for the retired lawyer himself, who says he spent 14 years in jail for defending farmers' rights, the thought of leaving is too heart-wrenching.

"How can we abandon all the mosques downtown, how can we abandon our land?" he asked.]]>
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			<title>Death toll from Myanmar unrest reaches 88: Official</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/457746/death-toll-from-myanmar-unrest-reaches-88-official</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/457746/death-toll-from-myanmar-unrest-reaches-88-official#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Oct 12 07:46:02 +0500</pubDate>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=457746</guid>
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				<![CDATA[More than 26,000 others forced to flee wave of rioting and arson.]]>
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				<![CDATA[At least 88 people have been killed in sectarian bloodshed in Myanmar this month, the authorities said Monday, with more than 26,000 others forced to flee a wave of rioting and arson.

Hundreds more homes were burned down over the weekend as security forces struggled to quell clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in the western state of Rakhine that have seen whole neighbourhoods razed.

Four more deaths were reported, although they were believed to be from earlier clashes.

"Altogether 49 men and 39 women have been killed," a government official told AFP, bringing the total death toll since June to about 180. Rights groups fear the actual number killed could be much higher.

"About 300 houses were burnt down in Pauktaw town on Sunday but there were no casualties in that incident," said the official, who did not want to be named.

Decades-old animosity between Buddhists and minority Rohingya Muslims exploded in June after the apparent rape and murder of an ethnic Rakhine woman sparked a series of vicious revenge attacks.

Myanmar's 800,000 stateless Rohingya are viewed by the United Nations as among the most persecuted minorities on the planet.

Seen by the Myanmar government and many Burmese as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, they face tight restrictions on their movements and limited access to employment, education and public services.

New York-based Human Rights Watch on Saturday released satellite images showing what it described as "extensive destruction" in a mainly Rohingya Muslim area of Kyaukpyu - the site of a major pipeline taking gas to China.

Virtually all structures appear to have been wiped from the landscape.

Other Muslims in Rakhine have also been swept up in the latest violence, including the Kaman, one of Myanmar's officially recognised ethnic groups.

The United Nations estimates that 26,500 people - mostly Muslims -have been displaced since October 21, in addition to about 75,000 people already crammed into squalid camps following the June unrest.

The new fighting has caused an influx of boats carrying thousands of people to the Rakhine state capital Sittwe.

"It's not good for security in the city as thousands of people are flooding in," said another official on condition of anonymity.

"We don't want to see any clashes here, so the new displaced should be sent somewhere else," he added. "The central government and local government will arrange for that."

The unrest has prompted a growing international outcry, with the United Nations warning it could jeopardise the country's widely praised reforms.]]>
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			<title>Myanmar's fleeing Rohingyas recount ordeals</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/457731/myanmars-fleeing-rohingyas-recount-ordeals</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/457731/myanmars-fleeing-rohingyas-recount-ordeals#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 28 Oct 12 17:25:33 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=457731</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Violence survivors continue to trickle into packed refugee camps in Sittwe, western Myanmar as UN raises alarm.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Muslim survivors of six days of sectarian violence in western Myanmar spoke on Sunday of fleeing bullets and burning homes to escape on fishing boats after an attack by once-peaceable Rakhine neighbors.

The United Nations said 22,587 people had now been displaced after unrest between Muslim Rohingyas and Buddhist Rakhines claimed at least 67 lives in Rakhine State and tested the reformist mettle of the quasi-civilian government that replaced Myanmar's oppressive ruling junta last year.

"We were told to stay in our homes but then they were set on fire," said Ashra Banu, 33, a mother of four who fled the coastal town of Kyaukpyu after its Muslim quarter was razed on October 24.

"When we ran out people were being shot at by Rakhines and police," she said. "We couldn't put out the fires. We just tried to run."

New York-based Human Rights Watch earlier released before-and-after satellite images showing the near total devastation of the Kyaukpyu's Muslim quarter.

Located about 120 km (75 miles) south of the Rakhine State capital Sittwe, Kyaukpyu is crucial to China's most strategic investment in Myanmar: twin pipelines that will carry oil and natural gas from the Bay of Bengal to China's energy-hungry western provinces.

No new clashes were reported on Sunday, but a Reuters journalist at Te Chaung camp near Sittwe witnessed a constant trickle of new arrivals, mainly from Kyaukpyu, where more than 811 buildings and houseboats were destroyed according to Human Rights Watch's analysis of satellite imagery.

The government estimates at least 3,000 homes have been destroyed across in Rakhine State since October 21. Rights groups say the number of people killed is likely far higher than the official death toll.

"The Rakhines came to attack us with knives. They set fire to our homes, even though we have nothing there for them. I left in only the clothes I am wearing," wept a 63-year-old woman who said her name was Zomillah, as she sat on a crowded space in Te Chaung camp. "I can't go back."

Abdul Awal, 30, said police stood by as Rakhines burned their homes. "The Rakhines beat us, and the police shot at us. We ran to the sea and they followed us, beating us and shooting at us," he said. "I have to start a new life now."

A Buddhist Rakhine in Kyaukpyu tells a different story. Contacted by telephone by Reuters, he said Rakhines and Muslims had fought each other with knives, swords, sticks and slingshots. Overwhelmed, the Muslims then "set fire to their own houses as a last resort and ran away," he said. The resident estimates 80 to 100 Muslim boats left Kyaukpyu that day.

"Many people killed"

Barefoot Muslim men and women alighted from engine-less fishing boats and climbed the muddy embankment to Te Chaung camp carrying children and what meager possessions they had salvaged from the inferno.

"I saw many people killed," said Noru Hussein, 54, another ex-resident of Kyaukpyu. "We didn't fight back. How could we? We live in a place surrounded by Rakhine villages. We just fled to the beach and escaped by boat."

Te Chaung camp was created after a previous explosion of sectarian violence in June killed more than 80 people and displaced at least 75,000 in the same region. Already squalid and overcrowded, the camp was ill-equipped to cope with more inhabitants.

Forty-seven boats carrying 1,945 Rohingya men, women and children have landed at villages near Sittwe in the past few days, said a local official, who requested anonymity.

Myanmar's Buddhist-majority government regards the estimated 800,000 Rohingyas in the country as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denies them citizenship. Bangladesh has refused to grant Rohingyas refugee status since 1992. The United Nations calls them "virtually friendless".

People at Te Chaung said many more boats full of Rohingya had left Kyaukpyu but had yet to reach land.

The camp lies on a remote coast at the end of a pot-holed road from Sittwe. Its tents and two-story huts are linked by muddy lanes and guarded by about a dozen unarmed officials.

The only obvious aid consists of sacks of rice from the World Food Program. The empty sacks double as sleeping mats. Many people bed down beneath trees.

Reuters saw no medical workers. Some of the camp's inhabitants suffer from malaria. The children are naked and often malnourished.

Mohammed Jikeh, 34, a former fishseller, has lived here since the June violence, which he said claimed the lives of 11 relatives.

"We have no hope," he said. "We want this violence to stop. We want to live in peace. But like this none of us can survive."

The United Nations said the violence hit eight townships or districts, destroying 4,600 homes, and the number of people displaced could rise.

"I am gravely concerned by the fear and mistrust that I saw in the eyes of the displaced people," Ashok Nigam, the UN resident and humanitarian coordinator said in a statement on his return from a tour of Rakhine State's trouble spots.

"The violence, fear and mistrust is contrary to the democratic transition and economic and social development that Myanmar is committed to," he said in a statement.]]>
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			<title>UN says 22,000 displaced by Myanmar communal unrest</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/457661/un-says-22000-displaced-by-myanmar-communal-unrest</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/457661/un-says-22000-displaced-by-myanmar-communal-unrest#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 28 Oct 12 06:28:08 +0500</pubDate>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[The latest fighting has killed more than 80 people, bringing the total toll since June to above 170.]]>
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				<![CDATA[More than 22,000 people from mainly Muslim communities have been displaced in western Myanmar, the UN said Sunday, after a fresh wave of violence and arson that has left dozens dead.

Whole neighbourhoods were razed in unrest in Rakhine state this week, which has cast a shadow over the country's reforms and put further strain on relief efforts in the region, where some 75,000 people are already crammed into overcrowded camps following clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in June.

The United Nations chief in Yangon, Ashok Nigam, said government estimates provided early Sunday were that 22,587 people had been displaced and 4,665 houses set ablaze in the latest bloodshed.

"We have to say that this is a current estimate and we suspect there may be additional numbers," he told AFP, adding that 21,700 of those made homeless were Muslims.

"These are people whose houses have been burnt, they are still in the same locality," he told AFP, indicating that thousands more who had surged towards the state capital Sittwe may not be included in that estimate.

The latest fighting has killed more than 80 people, according to a government official, bringing the total toll since June to above 170.

In Minbya, one of around eight townships affected by the fighting, a senior police official told AFP that more than 4,000 people, mainly Muslims, had been made homeless after hundreds of properties in six villages were torched.

"Some victims are staying at their relatives' houses, some are in temporary relief camps, they are staying near those burnt areas," he said, adding that a heightened security presence had prevented further clashes.

"They are staying between Muslims and Rakhine people," he said.

Nigam, who has just returned from a visit to the region, said the UN was concerned both about the potential of a further spread of violence and that it would be "more challenging" to reach the displaced in some of the remote affected areas.

He said the UN had already started mobilising to take food and shelter to displaced communities, "but we will quickly need more resources".

Boatloads of people have arrived in Sittwe seeking shelter in camps on the outskirts of the city that are already packed with Muslim minority Rohingya following June's unrest.

Rakhine government spokesman Hla Thein on Saturday said around 6,000 people had arrived in Sittwe, posing a challenge to overstretched local authorities who were looking to relocate them to another area.

Festering animosity between Buddhists and Muslims have continued to simmer in Rakhine since the outbreak of violence in June.

Myanmar's 800,000 Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh by the government and many Burmese -- who call them "Bengalis" -- and face discrimination that activists say has led to a deepening alienation from Buddhists.

Human Rights Watch on Saturday released satellite images showing "extensive destruction of homes and other property in a predominantly Rohingya Muslim area" of Kyaukpyu -- where a major pipeline to transport Myanmar gas to China begins.

The images show a stark contrast between the coastal area as seen in March this year, packed with hundreds of dwellings and fringed with boats, and in the aftermath of the latest violence, where virtually all structures appear to have been wiped from the landscape.

The stateless Rohingya, speaking a Bengali dialect similar to one in neighbouring Bangladesh, have long been considered by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities on the planet.

Bangladesh on Thursday mobilised extra patrols along its river border with Myanmar amid reports of dozens of boats carrying Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing the clashes.]]>
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			<title>Over 100 dead as communal violence rocks Myanmar</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/457164/at-least-56-dead-as-communal-violence-hits-myanmar</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/457164/at-least-56-dead-as-communal-violence-hits-myanmar#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 26 Oct 12 06:12:19 +0500</pubDate>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=457164</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[People have fled their homes in droves following the latest clashes in Rakhine state.]]>
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				<![CDATA[At least 112 people have been killed and thousands of homes torched in Buddhist-Muslim violence in western Myanmar, casting a shadow over the reformist government's attempts to remake the country's international image.

People have fled their homes in droves following the latest clashes in Rakhine state, which was rocked by communal violence in June that split communities and left tens of thousands of mainly Muslim Rohingya living in camps.

"Up until this morning, 51 men and 61 women have died," a spokesman for Rakhine state Win Myaing said, doubling an earlier toll.

The dead were from both sides, he added, while scores more were wounded as violence engulfed four townships.

More than 200 people have now been killed in the state since June, according to the authorities, who have imposed emergency rule in the face of continued explosive tension in the region.

The United Nations responded to the bloodshed Friday with a stark warning that Myanmar's reforms are under threat from the continued unrest between ethnic Rakhine and the Rohingya.

"The vigilante attacks, targeted threats and extremist rhetoric must be stopped," a spokesman for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement released in Yangon.

"If this is not done... the reform and opening up process being currently pursued by the government is likely to be jeopardised."

President Thein Sein has been widely-praised for overseeing sweeping reforms in the former junta-ruled nation, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the election of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament.

But the Rakhine violence poses a stern challenge to the reform process.

State media on Friday took the rare step of acknowledging the damage the resurgent violence is causing to the nation's image at a pivotal moment in its transition from authoritarian rule.

The violence comes as the "international community is watching", a statement signed by the president's office said in government mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar.

Myanmar's 800,000 Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh by the government and many Burmese -- who call them "Bengalis".

The latest violence, which prompted Myanmar's main Islamic organisations to cancel celebrations for the four-day Eidul Azha holiday that began on Friday, is seen as serious challenge to the government.

Washington joined the United Nations to swiftly condemn the violence, with US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland urging both sides "to exercise restraint and immediately halt all attacks".

Security has been stepped up in affected areas, including around the state's main tourist attraction of Mrauk U and Kyaukpyu, where a major pipeline to transport Myanmar gas to China begins.

Tun Tun, an ethnic Rakhine resident in Mrauk U contacted by AFP from Yangon said the situation in his township had calmed on Friday.

"The situation is calm now. We heard that more security forces were sent from Sittwe (the state capital) to Mrauk U," he said, adding some shops have been closed since violence flared.

AFP journalists visiting Rakhine just before the renewed unrest saw thousands of Muslim Rohingya trapped behind barbed wire and armed guards in a ghetto in the centre of the capital.

Tens of thousands more are housed in camps beyond the city limits as segregation between the two communities becomes more pronounced.

There have been a number of anti-Muslim protests by Buddhists recently.

The stateless Rohingya, speaking a Bengali dialect similar to one in neighbouring Bangladesh, have long been considered by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities on the planet.

Bangladesh on Thursday mobilised extra patrols along its river border with Myanmar amid reports of dozens of boats carrying Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing the clashes.

Dhaka drew criticism from the UN after it turned back boatloads of Rohingya, mainly women and children, after the June violence. But the nation said it would not accept any new refugees because it was already dealing with an estimated 300,000 Rohingya.

The UN's refugee arm has said it fears large numbers of Rohingya will attempt the perilous sea journey south over the coming weeks to escape violence in Rakhine and the sprawling refugee camps in Bangladesh.]]>
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			<title>Muslims flee Myanmar unrest as death toll rises</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/456754/muslims-flee-myanmar-unrest-as-death-toll-rises</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/456754/muslims-flee-myanmar-unrest-as-death-toll-rises#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 25 Oct 12 07:38:30 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[afp]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=456754</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Rights groups fear that the real death toll may be much higher than the official toll.]]>
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				<![CDATA[A new wave of sectarian violence in western Myanmar has left five people dead and dozens injured in recent days, triggering another exodus of Muslims to emergency camps, officials said Thursday.

Hundreds of homes have been burned in the fresh outburst of unrest in Rakhine state, where Buddhist-Muslim clashes have killed at least 95 people since June and displaced tens of thousands, according to the authorities.

"At least five people have been killed and about 80 people injured in four days since October 21 in four townships," said Rakhine state spokesman Myo Thant.

Houses were also torched in another town on Thursday morning, he told AFP by telephone from the Rakhine state capital Sittwe.

"Soldiers are now helping to provide security," he added.

Tensions remain at boiling point across Rakhine state with a curfew in force in many areas, while tens of thousands of Muslim Rohingya languish in basic camps.

Hundreds more Rohingya have arrived in the state capital Sittwe by boat this week to seek shelter in the camps.

The UN refugee agency estimated that more than 1,000 displaced people had reached Sittwe in recent days.

"Many more are supposed to be on their way," said spokeswoman Vivian Tan in Bangkok. "These people are all coming to the IDP (internally displaced person) camps close to Sittwe, which are already overcrowded."

About 75,000 people are estimated to be uprooted in Rakhine state, mostly Rohingya.

There have been a series of protests by Buddhists in Myanmar against the stateless Muslim group, long considered by the United Nations to be one of the most persecuted minorities on the planet.

Myanmar's 800,000 Rohingya are viewed as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh by the Myanmar government and many Burmese - who call them "Bengalis".

But Bangladesh has turned away Rohingya fleeing the violence.

The bloodshed has cast a shadow over widely praised reforms by President Thein Sein, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the election of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament.

Rights groups fear that the real death toll may be much higher than the official toll.]]>
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			<title>Muslims trapped in ghetto of fear in Myanmar city</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/453758/muslims-trapped-in-ghetto-of-fear-in-myanmar-city</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/453758/muslims-trapped-in-ghetto-of-fear-in-myanmar-city#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 19 Oct 12 07:24:46 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[afp]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=453758</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Hundreds of families from the Rohingya Muslim minority group say they are living in fear for their lives.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Barbed wire and armed troops guard the Muslim quarter of a violence-wracked city in western Myanmar, a virtual prison for the families that have inhabited its narrow streets for generations.

The security forces outside the ghetto in the Rakhine state capital Sittwe are not there to stop its residents leaving - although few dare to anyway - but to protect them from Buddhist mobs after an outburst of sectarian hatred.

In the nearby city centre, life has regained some semblance of normality since the authorities imposed a state of emergency in June in response to Buddhist-Muslim clashes that left dozens dead and tens of thousands homeless.

But inside the tense enclave of Aung Mingalar, hundreds of families from the Rohingya Muslim minority group say they are living in fear for their lives.

"Rakhines will attack us today," one man told AFP at Friday prayers last week.

The same evening groups of Rakhine Buddhists - who have also accused the Rohingya of attacks on their communities - gathered outside the barriers, prompting troops to fire warning shots and sparking panic inside.

On three separate days earlier in the week, hundreds of ethnic Rakhines - sometimes led by Buddhist monks - had marched near the perimeter demanding the "relocation" of Aung Mingalar.

Their shouts were clearly audible by people within the ghetto, who could only imagine what was happening outside.

"In my opinion, living in the Sahara desert in Africa would be better than living in this situation," said 28-year-old Mohamed Said, tears welling in his eyes.

"We cannot suffer anymore. We have lost everything but our lives. We are human beings as well," he said.

Between 3,000 and 8,000 people are thought to live in an area of roughly 0.5 square kilometres, where no traffic circulates and almost all shops have been shuttered.

Supplies of food - mainly rice - are provided by the authorities and some benevolent Buddhist locals, forced to deliver aid discreetly for fear of fanning local resentments. But there is not enough to eat.

Some Rohingya have dared to breach the barriers - which vary from bamboo and barbed wire to simple security cordons - hiding their faces under hoods to prevent people identifying them.

But most people have not ventured outside in four months.

"This bamboo fence is like a psychological barrier, symbolising the fear that separates the two worlds," said Chris Lewa, head of the Arakan Project, which campaigns for Rohingya rights.

Calls are growing for the Muslim quarter to be moved.

"If the Aung Mingalar quarter stays in the city centre, the problem will get worse," said Nya Na, a leader of a monk association.

"I don't want the two communities to fight. It is risky for them to stay."

The stateless Rohingya have long been considered by the United Nations to be one of the most persecuted minorities on the planet.

Viewed as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh by the Myanmar government and many Burmese - who call them "Bengalis" - they face tight restrictions on their movements and limited access to employment, education and public services.

More than 50,000 Muslims and up to 10,000 Buddhists are thought to be displaced across Rakhine state, where people from both communities were forced to flee as mobs torched whole villages.

Segregation, already imposed on many of the 800,000 Rohingya living in western Myanmar, has become widespread since the unrest, with many fearing the divide will become irreversible.

Muslims have been left particularly deprived, with thousands living in squalid camps on the edge of Sittwe, separated from the Buddhist population and with scant provisions.

Muslim men and women whose beards and headscarves were common sights just six months ago have largely disappeared from sight in the city centre.

The segregation recalls South African apartheid in the 1980s, "but worse" because the Rohingya are unable to leave their camps, Lewa said.

"Freedom of movement was always an issue for the Rohingya, but it is an extreme restriction now," said Sarnata Reynolds, of aid group Refugees International.

"Unofficially there seems to be widespread agreement that the camps will likely be there for three years or more, and that it might be the beginning of a permanent segregation."

The UN, which has been active in the region for decades, is more hopeful.

"We are informed by the government that it is for the purposes of bringing the unrest under control, that this is a temporary separation, not a segregation," said UN country chief Ashok Nigam.

But even if the camps are closed and the barbed wired surrounding Aung Mingalar taken down, the fear is that the distrust will endure between communities that once lived side-by-side as neighbours.

"As long as Bengali people are here, there is fear, disharmony and anger. I wish they would stay away from here," said 60-year-old Buddhist San Win Phu, sheltering at a local monastery.]]>
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			<title>OIC stopped from opening office in Myanmar after protets</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/451858/oic-stopped-from-opening-office-in-myanmar-after-protets</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/451858/oic-stopped-from-opening-office-in-myanmar-after-protets#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 15 Oct 12 15:55:43 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[afp]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=451858</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Myanmar apparently changed their decision to allow the OIC in after hundreds of Buddhist monks protested.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Myanmar's president blocked the world Islamic body from opening an office in the country, an official said Monday, bowing to rallies against its efforts to help Rohingya Muslims in unrest-hit Rakhine state.

"The president will not allow an OIC office because it is not in accordance with the people's desires," said an official from Myanmar leader Thein Sein's office, after thousands of monks held the latest protests against the Organisation of the Islamic Conference in two major cities on Monday.

The official, who asked not to be named, declined to comment on an agreement signed with the OIC, the top world Muslim body, which confirmed to AFP last week that it had obtained the green light to open an office in the country.

Around 3,000 maroon-robed clerics, some shouting and holding banners reading "No OIC", marched through the country's commercial hub Yangon, according to an AFP photographer.

Thousands more protested in the second-largest city Mandalay, with another demonstration in the town of Pakokku in Magway region in central Myanmar, according to organisers.

"We cannot accept any OIC office here," Oattamathara, a monk leading the Mandalay protest, told AFP. "Not a temporary office and not a permanent office."

Sectarian tensions are running high following Buddhist-Rohingya clashes in June in western Rakhine which left dozens of people dead and forced tens of thousands to seek refuge in temporary shelters.

Monks were at the vanguard of a 2007 pro-democracy uprising that was brutally crushed by the former junta. They have been involved in a series of protests against the OIC and Myanmar's 800,000 stateless Rohingya, who are described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

Members of the 57-member OIC toured Rakhine last month after accusations from rights groups that security forces opened fire on Rohingya during the sectarian unrest, prompting concern across the Islamic world.

Myanmar's Rohingya, who speak a dialect similar to one in neighbouring Bangladesh, are seen by the government and many Burmese as illegal immigrants.

Tensions in Rakhine have spread to neighbouring Bangladesh, where police said recently they had arrested nearly 300 people in connection with a wave of violence targeting Buddhist homes and temples.

The OIC head office did not react officially to Monday's decision.

At the time of its visit in September, the delegation signed "a memorandum of co-operation, envisaging the opening of an office for humanitarian work in the Burmese capital and a coordination office" in Rakhine State, an IOC source told AFP.

The document was signed by the border affairs minister, said the source]]>
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			<title>Myanmar Christians forced to convert to Buddhism: Rights group</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/431776/myanmar-christians-forced-to-convert-to-buddhism-rights-group</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/431776/myanmar-christians-forced-to-convert-to-buddhism-rights-group#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 05 Sep 12 11:32:52 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[afp]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=431776</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Christian students from Myanmar's Chin ethnic minority have been forced to convert to Buddhism.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Christian students from Myanmar's Chin ethnic minority have been forced to convert to Buddhism, shave their heads and wear monastic robes, a rights group said Wednesday.

The Chin, a mainly Christian group in the poor and remote west of the predominantly Buddhist country, face harassment for the link between their faith and British colonial rule, according to the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO).

"President Thein Sein's government claims that religious freedom is protected by law but in reality Buddhism is treated as the de facto state religion", said Salai Ling, Program Director of the CHRO.

Rachel Fleming, another member of the group, said Christianity does not fit with the national view that "to be Burmese, you should be Buddhist".

Chin students are also frequently targeted for enrollment in schools run by Myanmar's military which convert them to Buddhism, she said, adding that Christian students are beaten for failing to recite Buddhist scriptures.

Poverty among the Chin, whose main source of income is farming, leaves the group vulnerable to recruitment to these schools as the military offers free food, education and government jobs once they graduate.

Chin state, which borders India, is home to around 500,000 people. Tens of thousands have fled to neighbouring India to escape army abuses under the former junta, according to rights groups.

In its annual report this year Amnesty International said Chin Christians still face persecution, citing the case of a preacher barred from speaking at a church and ordered to leave the area.

Myanmar is home to a patchwork of ethnic groups and civil war has gripped parts of the country since its independence in 1948.

But Myanmar's reformist government has agreed ceasefires with several ethnic rebel groups as part of reforms since coming to power last year.]]>
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			<title>Myanmar jails three UN workers over communal unrest</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/426863/myanmar-jails-three-un-workers-over-communal-unrest</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/426863/myanmar-jails-three-un-workers-over-communal-unrest#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 27 Aug 12 12:41:34 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[afp]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=426863</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Two UN Refugee Agency workers sentenced to 2 and 3 years on charges including arson, inciting violence.]]>
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				<![CDATA[A court in Myanmar has sentenced three local United Nations staff to prison for participating in recent sectarian unrest, a government official said on Monday.

Two UN Refugee Agency workers were sentenced to six years and three years each Friday by a court in western Rakhine state on charges including arson and inciting violence, while a World Food Programme employee received a two-year term.

"They could be released under a presidential pardon," the official said, adding that one is Buddhist and two are Muslim.

Five other UN workers detained over their alleged roles in the violence were freed in mid-August without charge, following an appeal from the United Nations for their release.

Fighting between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine state has left almost 90 people from both sides dead since June, according to an official estimate, although rights groups fear the real toll is much higher.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused Myanmar forces of opening fire on Rohingya Muslims during the violence, prompting concern across the Islamic world over the treatment of the stateless group.

Speaking a dialect similar to one in neighbouring Bangladesh, the Rohingya are seen by the Myanmar government and many Burmese as illegal immigrants.]]>
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			<title>Burma violence: Myanmar president says monks, politicians kindling hate</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/425674/burma-violence-myanmar-president-says-monks-politicians-kindling-hate</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/425674/burma-violence-myanmar-president-says-monks-politicians-kindling-hate#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 24 Aug 12 10:51:26 +0500</pubDate>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=425674</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[President Thein Sein says ethnic Rakhine could not accept Muslim Rohingya as fellow citizens.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Buddhist monks, politicians and other ethnic Rakhine figures are kindling hatred towards Muslim Rohingya in an area plagued by sectarian violence, Myanmar's president has warned in a report seen by AFP Friday.

In an unvarnished assessment of the role of Buddhists in unrest in Rakhine state, which has left scores dead on both sides and displaced tens of thousands of people, President Thein Sein also said ethnic Rakhine could not accept the Rohingya as fellow citizens.

Decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya stateless and Myanmar's government considers their 800,000-strong population as foreigners, while many citizens see them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and view them with hostility.

"Political parties, some monks and some individuals are increasing the ethnic hatred. They even approach and lobby both the domestic and overseas Rakhine community," Thein Sein said in a report sent to Myanmar's union parliament – which combines the upper and lower houses – on August 17.

"Rakhine people are continuously thinking to terrorise the Bengali Muslims living across the country," he said, using a term frequently used in Myanmar for Rohingya.

Thein Sein also said ethnic Rakhine could not envisage sharing their land with people they consider foreigners, echoing comments he made in July calling for camps or deportation of Rohingya.

"They cannot consider a situation in which the Bengali Muslims can be citizens," the president said.

A leading Rakhine political party rejected the findings, saying it had already lodged "an objection" over the report to parliament.

"We don't agree with their review... such a review should not be released in this current time..., it can worsen the clashes," said Aye Maung, chairman of Rakhine Nationalities Development Party.

Myanmar's authorities have faced heavy criticism from rights groups after clashes between Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine, which according to government figures left 87 people dead.

In response the government on August 18 announced a new 27-member investigating commission, including religious leaders, artists and former dissidents, to probe the causes of the violence and suggest ways forward.

The president's review also found that the economy of Rakhine state had been decimated by the unrest, while both communities are suffering "mental trauma" after the clashes, which saw neighbours turn on each other and thousands of homes torched.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused Myanmar forces of opening fire on Rohingya during the June outbreak of unrest, as well as committing rape and standing by as rival mobs attacked each other.]]>
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			<title>Saudi Arabia gives $50 mn aid to Myanmar Muslims</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/421139/saudi-arabia-gives-50-mln-aid-to-myanmar-muslims</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/421139/saudi-arabia-gives-50-mln-aid-to-myanmar-muslims#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 12 Aug 12 13:15:26 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=421139</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Rohingyas had suffered mass arrests, killings and rapes at the hands of the Myanmar security forces: HRW]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has ordered $50 million in aid be sent to the Rohingya community in Myanmar which a human rights group said has been targeted by the authorities since sectarian riots in June.

A report on the Saudi state news agency said the Muslim community had been "exposed to many violations of human rights including ethnic cleansing, murder, rape and forced displacement".

"King Abdullah has ordered that assistance of the amount of $50 million be provided to the Rohingya Muslim citizens in Myanmar," said the report which was carried by Saudi media on Sunday. It did not say who was to blame for the abuses.

However, Human Rights Watch said on August 1 that the Rohingyas had suffered mass arrests, killings and rapes at the hands of the Myanmar security forces. The minority had borne the brunt of a crackdown after days of arson and machete attacks in June by both Buddhists and Rohingyas in Rakhine state, the monitoring group said.

Myanmar, where at least 800,000 Rohingyas are not recognised as one of the country's many ethnic and religious groups, has said it exercised "maximum restraint" in quelling the riots.

Saudi Arabia sees itself as a guardian of global Muslim interests thanks to being the birthplace of Islam and home to some of the religion's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina. However, Riyadh also regularly draws criticism from campaigners for its lack of democracy.

Last week the Saudi cabinet condemned the violence against Muslims in northwest Myanmar and at a meeting on July 31, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the kingdom's second city of Jeddah urged members to send Rohingya Muslims aid.

The OIC is holding a summit in Mecca on Tuesday.]]>
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			<title>Myanmar gives green light for aid to Rohingya: OIC</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/420795/myanmar-gives-green-light-for-aid-to-rohingya-oic</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/420795/myanmar-gives-green-light-for-aid-to-rohingya-oic#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 11 Aug 12 15:49:16 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=420795</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[OIC delegation assures Myanmar that Islamic humanitarian organisations were willing to provide aid to all residents.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Saturday announced it has received a green light from Myanmar to assist Muslim Rohingya displaced by sectarian violence.

It said Myanmar gave its agreement to the OIC following talks in Rangoon on Friday between a delegation from the pan-Islamic body and President Thein Sein on the "deplorable humanitarian situation in Rakhine state."

The delegation assured Thein Sein that Islamic humanitarian organisations were willing to provide aid to all residents of the strife-torn state.

Violence between Buddhists and Rohingya has left scores dead, with official figures showing that 80 people died from both sides in initial fighting in June.

The entire state has been under emergency rule since early June with a heavy army and police presence.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused Myanmar forces of opening fire on Rohingya, as well as committing rape and standing by as rival mobs attacked each other.

Decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya stateless, and they are viewed by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

The bloodshed has cast a shadow over widely praised reforms by the president, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the election of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament.

Myanmar's government has rejected accusations of abuse by security forces in Rakhine, after the United Nations raised fears of a crackdown on Muslims.

In a rare conciliatory move over the issue, Thein Sein welcomed the OIC delegation's visit.

"The president said he hoped the OIC secretary could witness the reality (in Rakhine)," state mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar reported Friday, adding tens of thousands of displaced people from both sides were being given food and shelter.

OIC head Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu had proposed sending a mission to probe "massacres... oppression and ethnic cleansing" of Rohingya in Rakhine.]]>
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			<title>Myanmar invites OIC probe of sectarian unrest</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/420229/myanmar-invites-oic-probe-of-sectarian-unrest</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/420229/myanmar-invites-oic-probe-of-sectarian-unrest#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 10 Aug 12 10:22:54 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=420229</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Myanmar president urges probe into violence between Buddhist Rakhine and Rohingya Muslims.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Myanmar has invited an influential Islamic body to visit a state rocked by sectarian violence, official media said Friday, in an effort to diffuse mounting outcry over the treatment of the Muslim Rohingya.

In a rare conciliatory move over the issue, President Thein Sein said he welcomed a visit by the Saudi-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the world’s largest Muslim grouping, which has urged a probe into violence between Buddhist Rakhine and Rohingya that left scores dead.

“The president said he hoped the OIC secretary could witness the reality (in Rakhine),” state mouthpiece the New Light of Myanmar said, adding tens of thousands of displaced people from both sides are being given food and shelter.

Thein Sein's comments came as the visiting foreign minister of Muslim-majority Turkey offered aid to the strife-stricken Rakhine state.

He also urged “the Turkish minister to explain the realities in Myanmar” to the OIC, the report added.

OIC head Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu on Sunday proposed sending a mission to probe “massacres... oppression and ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya in Rakhine, adding weight to calls by Egypt and Saudi Arabia for an investigation into the unrest.

The initial outbreak of fighting in western Rakhine state killed some 80 people from both sides in June, official figures show.

Renewed violence between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya left several people dead in Myanmar on Sunday, underscoring tensions in the area.

Human rights groups have alleged the number of dead could be much higher, but Friday's report said “only 77 persons” from both sides died.

The bloodshed has cast a shadow over widely praised reforms by President Thein Sein, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the election of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament.

Myanmar's government has rejected accusations of abuse by security forces in Rakhine, after the United Nations raised fears of a crackdown on Muslims.

The entire state has been under emergency rule since early June with a heavy army and police presence.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused Myanmar forces of opening fire on Rohingya, as well as committing rape and standing by as rival mobs attacked each other.

Decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya stateless, and they are viewed by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

Speaking a Bengali dialect similar to one in neighbouring Bangladesh, the Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants by the Myanmar government and many Burmese, and many have attempted to flee overseas in rickety boats.]]>
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			<title>Students of Aisha Bawany take to the streets to raise awareness about Myanmar</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/419393/students-of-aisha-bawany-take-to-the-streets-to-raise-awareness-about-myanmar</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/419393/students-of-aisha-bawany-take-to-the-streets-to-raise-awareness-about-myanmar#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 08 Aug 12 19:33:44 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sindh]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=419393</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Teachers chaperoning students made sure the activity did not disrupt traffic.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[It is rare when a well recognised school supports a cause on an official basis to inspire international forums. Yet, students and teachers at the Aisha Bawany Academy came out in large numbers on Wednesday to protest against what they termed ‘insensitivity of the international community on the genocide of Muslims in Myanmar’.

The move appeared bold, especially as the government and human rights organisations are silent about the persecution of Rohingya Muslims. “But the school’s managing trustee, Ismail Bawany, consented to this protest when teachers and children of the school approached him,” said the academy’s spokesperson, Imdad Hussain Shah. At noon, nearly 500 students, in their school uniforms, left the school building located at Sharae Faisal to gather on the sidewalk. These students, from grade four till grade eight, were holding placards and posters, some with very gory visuals while the rest carried statements urging to stop the massacre.

Near to a 100 teachers chaperoned the students to make sure they made sure that the activity did not result in disturbing the flow of traffic on one of the city’s busiest roads. This seemed necessary as the young lot appeared enthusiastic about the task. Most children, however, appeared amused with their involvement in the activity yet there were those too who thought of it as a serious cause.

Ahmed Hasan, who teaches O’ Level students at the academy, tried to explain the students’ passion, saying that the children know what was happening around the world as media was creating awareness in them. He added that the teachers also supported the students for this cause.

Shah told The Express Tribune that all major international organisations and powers intervened in cases like East Taimoor but they were silent about this Muslim genocide where even women and children were not spared. “We demand the government and human rights organisations to immediately raise this issue at an international level,” said Shah.

“The Burmese are Muslims and so are we. This makes them our brothers and we should protest if somebody does wrong to Muslims anywhere in the world,” said 12-year-old Sibtain Haider, while holding a poster which stated: OIC says ‘Oh I See’ but does nothing.

Another student, 14-year-old Syed Anas, was displaying a placard ‘Don’t expect justice from so-called champions of peace’ and accused the United Nations and America for being two faced in matters where Muslims anywhere in the world were oppressed. His argument was also conceded by the academy’s spokesperson.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 9th, 2012.

&nbsp;]]>
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			<title>Rohingya Muslims: Zardari writes letter to Myanmar president</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/418708/rohingya-muslims-zardari-writes-letter-to-myanmar-president</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/418708/rohingya-muslims-zardari-writes-letter-to-myanmar-president#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 07 Aug 12 11:51:26 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=418708</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[President says Pakistani government, people were saddened to learn about the losses of Muslims.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday expressed deep concern over the loss of life and property of Rohingya Muslims during the ethnic clashes in the State of Rakhine, Myanmar.    

In a letter addressed to the President of Myanmar, Zardari called for hastening the process of rehabilitation of Rohingya Muslims so that they can return to their homes and lead a safe and secure life.

The president added that the government and the people of Pakistan were saddened to learn about the losses of the Muslims and were deeply concerned about their plight.

Underlining the importance of peaceful coexistence of various communities for the strengthening of democracy in Myanmar, Zardari said that the communal harmony was imperative to reap the fruits of democracy.

He said that only peaceful coexistence of various communities would ensure that the democratic transition was not reversed.]]>
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			<title>Rohingya Muslims: OIC calls for fact-finding mission to Myanmar</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/418148/rohingya-muslims-oic-calls-for-fact-finding-mission-to-myanmar</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/418148/rohingya-muslims-oic-calls-for-fact-finding-mission-to-myanmar#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 06 Aug 12 03:40:17 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=418148</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The organisation wants to stop ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[The head of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday proposed sending an OIC mission to probe the “massacres” of Rohingya Muslims in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, a statement said on Sunday.

The OIC will try to persuade the government in Yangon to accept an OIC fact-finding mission, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told an executive committee meeting of the world’s largest Muslim grouping which is based in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

He expressed disappointment over the failure of the international community to take action to stop the massacres, violations, oppression and ethnic cleansing perpetrated by the government of Myanmar against the Rohingya Muslims, the statement said.

“The OIC has directed its offices at the United Nations in New York to urge the Council to look into the suffering of the Rohingya minority,” he said.

Violence which erupted in June in Rakhine state between Buddhists and Rohingya left about 80 people dead from both sides, official figures showed.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said that figure appeared “grossly underestimated,” however, and accused security forces of opening fire on Muslims and committing rape.

Hundreds of Rohingya men and boys have been rounded up and remain incommunicado in the western region of the country formerly known as Burma, it said in a report.

Members of both the Muslim and Buddhist communities committed horrific acts of violence with reports of beheadings, stabbings, shootings and widespread arson in Rakhine, also known as Arakan state, the report added.

Myanmar’s government considers the estimated 800,000 Rohingya in the country to be foreigners, while many citizens see them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and view them with hostility.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Putting out the Arakan fires</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/417897/putting-out-the-arakan-fires</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/417897/putting-out-the-arakan-fires#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 05 Aug 12 19:38:14 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[tanvir.ahmad.khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=417897</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Best way for Pakistan is to give substance to an OIC initiative on the issue and not play up the religious card.]]>
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				<![CDATA[In my years in Bangladesh, the great narrative that needed to be understood was that of the country’s independence. What I learnt is seared into my memory. Also indelibly burnt into it are images of the ghetto in which the hapless Urdu-speaking people termed ‘Biharis’ lived and, even worse, of Rohingya refugees from Arakan (Rakhine). A fresh wave of violence that erupted in Arakan in May and June this year has revived fears that this minority living in Myanmar (Burma) is in perpetual peril.

Burma shared a common border with Pakistan from 1947 to 1970 and maintained friendly bilateral relations. Pakistan is mindful of this past. Its Foreign Office is well aware that the best way to help Arakan’s Muslims in their current distress is through quiet diplomacy undertaken in consultation with Arab and Muslim states.

Unfortunately, in the vexed political climate of Pakistan, a bizarre public argument has sprung up. Pakistan can help save Rohingyas only within the four walls of humanitarian law and contemporary concern for human rights and not by articulating the issue in religious terms. Nevertheless, the tragedy is becoming yet another pretext for rekindling a useless, irrelevant and largely unnecessary internal debate between secularists and Islamists, between liberals and conservatives. As a human rights issue, the Rohingya question transcends the parochial passions of some Pakistani groups fighting phantom battles for and against religion. The reductio ad absurdum of this debate was reached when the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, its hands dripping with the blood of innocent Muslims, threatened reprisals if Pakistan were to maintain diplomatic relations with Myanmar (Burma).

Amongst poorly considered observations from the ‘liberals’, the following stood out: Pakistan has forfeited the right to speak about the terror in Arakan because of its own endemic violence and discriminatory practices against minorities; Rohingya were separatists; and thousands of Rohingya children had studied in madrasas in Pakistan. The insinuation about students egregiously ignored the fact that access to education was all but denied to the stateless non-citizens of Burma, and that Rohingyas desperately seized opportunities to make their new generation literate.

Arakan’s history has often been determined by its geography. It’s beautiful coast behind which lay fertile lands has attracted immigrants from the 8th century sea-faring Arab traders to people from the Chittagong Hill tracts in the 19th and 20th centuries. Mountains rising to more than 3,000 meters kept this region of great antiquity somewhat separate from the rest of Burma. Rulers of Bengal —independent or agents of Delhi Durbars — looked at Arakan as a virtual extension of Bengal’s s coastline. Burma was a part of the British Indian Empire till 1937 and then a separate colony. During this period, the British encouraged free movement across the international border established by the annexation of Arakan by a Burmese dynasty in 1784.

Insurgencies have raged in Myanmar ever since 1949 partly because the Burmese state rejected a federal system and partly because of external interference. The longest was by Karen tribes of lower Burma that constitute 7 per cent of Burmese population. The Rohingayas are alienated but they have hardly ever had the numbers or the organisation to stage a rebellion.

It is a perilous time for them. Burma is stepping out of its self-imposed isolation after decades and is ready to participate in global economics. Hillary Clinton’s three-day visit to Naypyitaw, the remote new capital of this resource-rich country and Rangoon, beginning November 30, 2011, showed that the US would not jeopardise this opening by raising human rights issues; the last of Western sanctions have been eased. There is hope that Aung San Suu Kyi, free only since November 14, 2010, would initiate democratisation of the country. She has so far not spoken about the human rights situation in Arakan; what we hear mostly is a story of collusion between Buddhist monks and the army to impose a ‘final solution’ on Arakan under the present martial law.

The best way for Pakistan is to try to give substance to a nascent OIC initiative on the issue. Playing up the religious card would be counter-productive. The short-term objectives should be restoration of law and order and acceptance by Burma of assistance for rehabilitation. A possible medium-term effort could aim at persuading the Burmese government to provide Rohingayas — a mere 800, 000 in a total population of approximately 55 million — with cards of interim special citizenship that entitle them to basic rights enshrined in international law. It should be backed by mutually profitable schemes for such investment in Arakan as are acceptable to Burma. The OIC can encourage Arab-Muslim entrepreneurs — many of whom are philanthropists — to make this investment in agriculture and agro-based industries. This would reduce economic tensions that aggravate the situation.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Bangladesh bans foreign charities helping Rohingya</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/416444/bangladesh-bans-foreign-charities-helping-rohingya</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/416444/bangladesh-bans-foreign-charities-helping-rohingya#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 02 Aug 12 11:16:57 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=416444</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[France's Doctors without Borders, Action Against Hunger and Britain's Muslim Aid UK told to suspend services.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Bangladesh has ordered three international charities to stop providing aid to Rohingya refugees who cross the border to flee persecution and violence in Myanmar, an official said Thursday.

France's Doctors without Borders (MSF) and Action Against Hunger (ACF) as well as Britain's Muslim Aid UK have been told to suspend their services in the Cox's Bazaar district bordering Myanmar, local administrator Joynul Bari said.

"The charities have been providing aid to tens of thousands of undocumented Rohingya refugees illegally. We asked them to stop all their projects in Cox's Bazaar following directive from the NGO Affairs Bureau," he told AFP.

Bari said the charities "were encouraging an influx of Rohingya refugees" from across the border in Myanmar's Rakhine state in the wake of recent sectarian violence that left at least 80 people killed.

The charities have provided healthcare, training, emergency food and drinking water to the refugees living in Cox's Bazaar since the early 1990s.

MSF runs a clinic near one of the Rohingya camp which provides services to 100,000 people.

Speaking a Bengali dialect similar to one in southeast Bangladesh, the Rohingyas are Muslims seen as illegal immigrants by the Buddhist-majority Myanmar government and many Burmese.

They are viewed by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

Obaidur Rahman, country head of Muslim Aid UK in Bangladesh, confirmed to AFP that his group had stopped its Rohingya project following the order.

The government says some 300,000 Rohingya Muslims are living in the country, the vast majority in Cox's Bazaar, after fleeing persecution in Myanmar. About 30,000 are registered refugees who live in two camps run by the United Nations.

In recent weeks, Bangladesh has turned away boats carrying hundreds of Rohingya fleeing the violence in Myanmar despite pressure from the United States and rights groups to grant them refuge.

Myanmar security forces opened fire on Rohingya Muslims, committed rape and stood by as rival mobs attacked each other during the recent wave of sectarian violence, New York-based Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

The authorities failed to protect both Muslims and Buddhists and then "unleashed a campaign of violence and mass roundups against the Rohingya", the group said in a report.]]>
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			<title>JI to observe solidarity day with Myanmar Muslims on August 3</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/415929/ji-to-observe-solidarity-day-with-myanmar-muslims-on-august-3</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/415929/ji-to-observe-solidarity-day-with-myanmar-muslims-on-august-3#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 01 Aug 12 13:08:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=415929</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[JI chief calls on OIC and world community to adopt measures to stop massacre of Muslims.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) will observe a solidarity day with the Muslims of Myanmar on August 3 against “the atrocities being perpetrated on them by the armed forces and the Buddhist hooligans”, announced party chief Syed Munawar Hassan on Wednesday.

The party chief called on the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the world community to adopt immediate measures to stop the massacre of the Myanmar Muslims. He also urged the government to requisition a special UN General Assembly meeting on the issue and demand an end to the killing of the Burmese Muslims.

Hassan, in a statement issued by the party, said that the UN and other “champions of world peace” had gone blind to the genocide of the Burmese Muslims and the repeated incidents of them being burnt alive. He said that about four million Muslims were facing the worst type of persecution and terrorism, and they were ready to migrate to save their lives but were being taken in custody and forced to apostate.

He expressed the view that if immediate attention was not given to the matter, it would end up in a major human tragedy.

He said that the atrocities being perpetrated on the Burmese Muslim were unparalleled, but “unfortunately, the world media, the UNO and Human Rights bodies were completely silent”. The Muslim rulers were also criminally silent, he said.

Hassan further urged the people to join the JI rallies on Friday in large numbers to arouse the world conscience on the issue and also awaken the Muslim rulers.]]>
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			<title>Myanmar troops 'opened fire on Rohingya Muslims'</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/415888/rohingya-muslims-%e2%80%98persecuted%e2%80%99-after-myanmar-crackdown-report</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/415888/rohingya-muslims-%e2%80%98persecuted%e2%80%99-after-myanmar-crackdown-report#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 01 Aug 12 06:29:24 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=415888</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Burmese security forces failed to protect Arakan and Rohingya, unleashed campaign of violence against Rohingya.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Myanmar security forces opened fire on Rohingya Muslims, committed rape and stood by as rival mobs attacked each other during a recent wave of sectarian violence, a rights watchdog said Wednesday.

The authorities failed to protect both Muslims and Buddhists and then "unleashed a campaign of violence and mass roundups against the Rohingya", New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report.

The violence which erupted in June in Rakhine state between Buddhists and Rohingya has left about 80 people dead from both sides, based on official figures - an estimate that HRW said appeared "grossly underestimated".

Hundreds of Rohingya men and boys have been rounded up and remain incommunicado in the western region of the country formerly known as Burma, it said.

Members of both Muslim and Buddhist communities committed horrific acts of violence with reports of beheadings, stabbings, shootings and widespread arson in Rakhine, also known as Arakan state, the report added.

"What is remarkable is that if the atrocities that we saw in Arakan had happened before the government reform process had started, the international reaction would have been swift and strong," said HRW Asia deputy director Phil Robertson.

"But the international community appears to be blinded by a romantic narrative of sweeping change in Burma, signing new trade deals and lifting sanctions even while the abuses continue," he told a news conference.

The report, based on dozens of witness interviews, said that the events in Rakhine "demonstrate that state-sponsored persecution and discrimination persist" despite the government's pledge to end ethnic unrest.

Police and paramilitary forces "opened fire on Rohingya with live ammunition", it added.

It quoted one Rohingya man in the Rakhine state capital Sittwe as saying that security forces watched as a Buddhist mob started torching houses.

"When the people tried to put out the fires, the paramilitary shot at us. And the group beat people with big sticks."

Another Rohingya man said: "I was just a few feet away. I was on the road. I saw them shoot at least six people -- one woman, two children, and three men. The police took their bodies away."

Decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya stateless, and they are viewed by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.

Myanmar's government considers the estimated 800,000 Rohingya in the country to be foreigners while many citizens see them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and view them with hostility.

President Thein Sein in July told the United Nations that refugee camps or deportation was the "solution" for the Rohingya.

HRW also criticised Bangladesh for turning away "hundreds and perhaps thousands of asylum seekers" fleeing the recent deadly unrest in Myanmar.

The clashes erupted following the rape and murder of a Rakhine woman and the subsequent lynching of 10 Muslims by a crowd of angry Buddhists.

The violence, along with fighting in northern Kachin state, has cast a shadow over widely praised reforms by Thein Sein over the past year, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the election of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to parliament.

Myanmar's government this week rejected accusations of abuse by security forces in Rakhine, after the United Nations raised fears of a crackdown on Muslims.

Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin told reporters on Monday that the government had exercised "maximum restraint" in bringing an end to the violence.

Fears about the situation have spread across the Islamic world, with threats of violent reprisals against Myanmar from extremists from Pakistan to Indonesia.]]>
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			<title>Who are the Rohingya?</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/415447/who-are-the-rohingya</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/415447/who-are-the-rohingya#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 31 Jul 12 17:50:03 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[khaled.ahmed]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=415447</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[We don’t know exactly where the origin of the Burmese Muslims can be located.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Burma — or Myanmar — is killing its Muslims, with the state and the Buddhist majority involved together in this brutal pastime. The Muslim minority is not accepted as Burmese citizens. They are a people without a state unless the world persuades the Burmese government to stop the genocide.

The Muslims of Burma call themselves the Rohingya. They are 800,000 strong. Burma has a population of 48 million. Because Muslims were not accepted, they kept migrating with not much success. There are 300,000 of them in Bangladesh and 24,000 in Malaysia. The world is resisting Burma’s request to take charge of them. Their origins are uncertain mainly because of the varying versions of their genesis.

History speaks of them as living in the Arakan region of Burma, today called Rakhine. After a recent massacre, when a television channel interviewed the victims, they spoke in Urdu. But their speech is actually supposed to be another Indo-European language linguistically related to the Chittagongian language spoken in the southernmost part of Bangladesh bordering Burma.

Next door, Bangladesh has always been reluctant to absorb the Rohingyas. The British Raj exported a lot of Muslims to Burma and even exiled the last Mughal king there. The capital of Rangoon figured in the Urdu songs produced by the Mumbai film industry. Lahore’s industry of Urdu literary journals also flourished on the basis of the Muslim reading public in Burma.

One etymological version is that the word Rohingya is the Arabic word ‘rahm’ meaning ‘mercy’, which is clearly far-fetched as an attempt to dub the Burmese Muslims as Arabs settled in Burma since the 8th century CE. The tale goes like this: an Arab ship was wrecked off the Burmese coast and the surviving Arabs asked for the ‘rahm’ (mercy) of the local king.

There is another story tracing the etymology to Pakistan or Afghanistan. The ‘roh’ in Rohingya means ‘mountain’ in Sanskrit and the region of mountains in northwest India was known as Roh. The Rohila Pathans of Rohelkhand in India also trace their origin to this region. But the word ‘rohingya’ appeared only recently, in the 1950s. So, we don’t know exactly where the origin of the Burmese Muslims can be located.

The word ‘rohdas’ in Sanskrit means mountain. Is the name of a Pakistani place called Rohtas related, perhaps?

The sense of mountain or hill is derived from the sense of mounting, rising and growing. Indian music has a word for the rising note: ‘arohi’. The literal meaning of ‘aroha’ is ‘to mount’. Hindi also adds the word for horse (‘asva’) to mean ‘rider’. Thus, ‘arohi’ becomes ‘asvaroha’, meaning someone mounted on a horse. In Persian, we have the word ‘savar’ for ‘horse-rider’, also written ‘asvar’ to point to ‘asva’ the horse in it. Music notes ascend (arohi) and descend (avarohi).

I can’t resist commenting on Rohi, the desert that inspires our greatest Seraiki poet Khwaja Ghulam Farid. My dictionary says that here ‘roh’ means ‘seed’ because it helps in making anything grow (ascend). My hunch is that Rohi was seen by its people as the origin of life. I could be wrong.

If the Rohingya are mountain or hill-dwelling people, it is more likely that they moved from the hills of Chittagong in Bangladesh to Burma because they spoke a language that did not fit into the language-based nationalism of that state.

It is possible that the military junta changed the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar to remove any association with India. Burma sounded too much like a Hindi word. It was, in fact, derived from the name of the majority Bamar ethnic group. Myanmar is considered to be the literary form of their name.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 1st, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Myanmar killings: Senate lodges protest, vows to move resolution</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/415462/myanmar-killings-senate-lodges-protest-vows-to-move-resolution</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/415462/myanmar-killings-senate-lodges-protest-vows-to-move-resolution#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 31 Jul 12 14:06:48 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=415462</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Senator Zahid Khan says killings in K-P, Karachi should also not be ignored.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Senators from the treasury and opposition benches on Tuesday strongly condemned the ongoing massacre of Muslims in Myanmar and vowed to move a resolution after taking the Foreign Office on-board.     

Leader of the Opposition in Senate Ishaq Dar, speaking on a point of order, strongly condemned the killings of Muslims in Myanmar, and added that the Foreign Office should be consulted before finalising the condemnation resolution.

Senator Abdul Ghafoor Haidery, Shahi Syed, Rubina Khalid also condemned the killings.

On the other hand, Senator Zahid Khan said that the killings in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Karachi should also be kept in mind while condemning the massacre in Myanmar.]]>
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			<title>NewsOne website hacked for media’s ‘inadequate coverage of Burma killings’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/415403/newsone-website-hacked-for-media%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%98inadequate-coverage-of-burma-killings%e2%80%99</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/415403/newsone-website-hacked-for-media%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%98inadequate-coverage-of-burma-killings%e2%80%99#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 31 Jul 12 09:49:47 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[web.desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=415403</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Hacker requests media to give more coverage to killings so that the UN can take action.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The website of private TV channel NewsOne was hacked in an attempt “to open the eyes of Pakistanis as well as the media personnel” towards the killings of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, reported ProPakistani on Tuesday. However, the site has been recovered now.

A screenshot of the website provided by ProPakistani said, “When an actor in India dies every channel including yours covers it till he is buried and even after that. But thousands of Muslims are being killed in (Burma) and our Muslim sisters are being raped and dying with hunger and no one gives a damn.”

The hacker requested that the media give more coverage to the Burma killings, so that the United Nations (UN) takes action against it.

The hacker ended his message with advice to the administrators saying that the website is insecure and should be made secure to protect it from Indian hackers who may try to hack it on August 14. He also informed them that no harm was done to the website.]]>
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			<title>Talking Burma</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/414968/talking-burma</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/414968/talking-burma#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jul 12 18:34:58 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[ayesha.siddiqa]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=414968</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The issue right now is what option will Rangoon consider in engaging with the Rohingya population.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The problem of the Burmese Muslim that people in Pakistan seem to have woken up to is a historic issue, pertaining mainly to the Rohingya Muslims from the Arakan state in Myanmar, an area that borders the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. This is one of the four Muslim groups in the country. The other three — two groups of Burmese Muslims and Chinese Panthay — are better integrated with the Buddhist majority. The Rohingyas, which are the largest and the most persecuted of the approximately two million Muslims (five to six per cent of total population), are also the most troubled. Some of the Rohingyas claim their ancestry to the Arab merchants that came and stayed on during the 8th and 9th centuries AD. But the majority of the people were actually migrants from East Bengal after the British colonial takeover in 1886 that continued until 1948, when Burma became independent. There are three dimensions of the current ethnic problem in Myanmar: its historic nature, internal politics, and the peculiar internationalisation of the issue.

Although the Burmese state recognised Islam and Christianity as two religious cultures existing in the country, the nature of the state and society began to change due to communist influence and militarisation of the state after 1958. This is also the time when in 1961, Buddhism was declared the state religion, followed in 1962 by the establishment of the socialist party as the single party in the country. Clearly, the military-controlled state wanted greater unification, an idea that was constantly challenged by the presence of minority groups and assertiveness of the Rohingyas, who wanted to create a separate state with Muslim Rohingyas from what is now Bangladesh. Consequently, Rohingyas were persecuted by the military. In January 1950, about 30,000 refugees fled from Burma to the then East Pakistan. Rangoon has mostly viewed these people as outsiders. The 1953 population census report declared 45 per cent of the Rohingya population Pakistani in origin. Their links with the Bangladeshi Muslims allows them greater flexibility of moving between the two territories, but which also means greater suspicion by the state. In 1978, an agreement was signed between Dhaka and Rangoon, according to which, any Rohingya who could produce any documentary evidence of being Burmese could return. However, this did not solve the problem or stop the state-sponsored massacre in 1991.

The problem is not likely to be resolved due to the political influence of the Buddhist Monks. Even Aung San Suu Kyi is not likely to flag the minority issue due to her concern for losing support of the Monks, who were the largest force to stand up against the military. The Rohingya separatist tendencies make the Monks insecure about sovereignty of the Buddhist state. Things did not become easy when in 1978, the Palestinian militant leader Abdullah Azzam, who later became a member of al Qaeda, declared Burma one of the countries to be liberated from foreign rule.

However, it is also a fact that Muslim militant groups have not really had a huge influence on the Rohingya Muslims in Burma, which is primarily due to the fact that no other Muslim country, including next-door Bangladesh would intervene, and also because the majority belong to the Sufi school of thought. There is no real evidence that the majority of the Rohingyas are inclined towards external forces or violence despite pouring in of Saudi money and intellectual investment by groups such as the Harkatul Ansar, the Harkatul Mujahideen and the Harkatul Jihadul Islami, who have developed links with minor militant groups in Burma and are even trying to link up Burmese groups with others in Assam. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons that the Jamatud Dawa in Pakistan has started highlighting conditions of Muslims in both Myanmar and Assam on social media. The South Asian militant cadres also find Myanmar exciting because of the investments made in developing human resources. Reportedly, 350,000 Rohingyas were trained in the past couple of decades in madrassas in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The issue right now is what option will Rangoon consider in engaging with this population. Treating it through the lens of international terrorism is a dangerous possibility. The Burmese authorities seem to be tempted by this option considering the fact that they are trying to adopt the US as a new patron and the war against terror could attract resources. Although Myanmar has been a target of terrorism, it has mainly been carried out by Buddhist groups rather than by Muslims. This issue is like many other problems in the larger South Asian region where states have gone astray with a singular national vision in a multi-polar environment.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31st, 2012.]]>
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			<title>UN envoy in Myanmar amid Muslim crackdown concern</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/414998/un-envoy-in-myanmar-amid-muslim-crackdown-concern</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/414998/un-envoy-in-myanmar-amid-muslim-crackdown-concern#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jul 12 16:03:49 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=414998</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[UN Special Rapporteur Quintana is to meet President Thein Sein in the Naypyidaw on Friday.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The United Nations expert on human rights in Myanmar arrived in the country late Sunday, days after the UN voiced fears that efforts to end unrest in Rakhine state had turned into a crackdown on Muslims.          

UN Special Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana flew into the main city of Yangon for a visit set to include a trip to the restive western state as well as meetings with Myanmar's president and civil society.

It comes after a warning by UN human rights chief Navi Pillay that Muslim communities in Rakhine, particularly the Rohingya minority, were being targeted by security forces.

"We have been receiving a stream of reports from independent sources alleging discriminatory and arbitrary responses by security forces, and even their instigation of and involvement in clashes," she said in a statement Friday.

Quintana says that Myanmar has made "significant" progress on reforms under President Thein Sein, who came to power last year, but said the country faced "ongoing human rights challenges".

Violence between Buddhist ethnic Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities erupted in early June and have left at least 78 people dead and 70,000 homeless, according to official figures.

Unofficial estimates of the death toll were higher, the UN said.

Myanmar's government considers the estimated 800,000 Rohingya in the country to be foreigners while many citizens see them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and view them with hostility.

Earlier this month, Thein Sein told the UN that refugee camps or deportation was the "solution" for the Rohingya, according to his official website.

Quintana is set to meet the Myanmar leader in the capital Naypyidaw on Friday following a trip to Rakhine state.]]>
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			<title>Myanmar denies allegations of crackdown on Muslims</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/414979/myanmar-denies-allegations-of-crackdown-on-muslims</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/414979/myanmar-denies-allegations-of-crackdown-on-muslims#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 30 Jul 12 14:31:47 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=414979</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Islamabad Bar Association march on Myanmar embassy to register protest over violence against Rohingya Muslims.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Myanmar on Monday told a UN rights envoy it had rejected accusations of abuse by security forces in the wake of communal unrest, after the United Nations raised fears of a crackdown on Muslims.

In a press conference attended by UN Special Rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana, Myanmar's foreign minister said the government had exercised "maximum restraint" in bringing an end to the violence in western Rakhine State.

"As such, Myanmar strongly rejects the accusations made by some quarters that abuses and excessive use of force were made by the authorities in dealing with the situation," Wunna Maung Lwin told reporters.

He said the country "totally rejects the attempts by some quarters to politicise and internationalise this situation as a religious issue".

Quintana told reporters that on Tuesday he planned to visit Rakhine, where tens of thousands remain displaced by fighting that erupted between Buddhist and Muslim communities in early June.

His trip comes just days after the United Nations warned that Muslim communities in Rakhine, particularly the Rohingya people, were being targeted by security forces.

Earlier this month Amnesty International warned of "credible reports" of abuses -- including rape and unlawful killings -- by both Rakhine Buddhists and the security forces.

According to official figures, at least 77 people were killed in the unrest, including eight killed by security forces.

Of the more than 60,000 displaced, Myanmar officials said the vast majority -- around 53,000 -- were Muslims.

Ten aid organisation staff -- six from the UN and four employees of Doctors Without Borders (MSF) -- are among more than 800 people being held in relation to the unrest.

Both sides have accused each other over the attacks, which flared up following the rape and murder of a local Buddhist woman and subsequent revenge killing of 10 Muslims on June 3 by a mob of ethnic Rakhines.

Fears about the situation have spread across the Islamic world, with threats of violent reprisals against Myanmar from extremists from Pakistan to Indonesia.

Myanmar's government considers the estimated 800,000 Rohingya in the country to be foreigners while many citizens see them as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and view them with hostility.

Earlier this month, President Thein Sein told the United Nations that refugee camps or deportation was the "solution" for the Rohingya, according to his official website. Quintana is set to meet the Myanmar leader in the capital Naypyidaw on Friday.

March on Myanmar embassy

Meanwhile, Islamabad Bar Association (IBA) marched towards the Myanmar embassy to register their protest on the violence against Rohingya Muslims.

The procession was led by President Islamabad District Court Bar Association (IDCBA) Syed Javed Akbar Shah Mashhadi accompanied with approximately 100 lawyers.

The President said that it was a peaceful march towards Myanmar embassy and it was just to hand over the copy of resolution that IBA passed unanimously on Saturday, July 28 regarding the brutalities of Myanmar against the Muslim community.

Speaking on the occasion, he stated that it was need of the hour to raise voice against the inhuman act of a section of the Myanmar public and to immediately stop its atrocities on the Muslim population.

He also appealed to the United Nations, International Bar Association and International Civil Society to protect Myanmar Muslims fundamental human rights on priority. Moreover, he urged stern action against the murderers of innocent Muslims in Myanmar.

He reiterated that the Muslims of the world to unite on one platform and build up diplomatic pressure on Myanmar to stop this heinous crime.

In the end, the demonstrators disbursed and backed to Islamabad District Court (IDC) peacefully.]]>
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			<title>Defending religious rights: Protests breakout over killing of Muslims in Myanmar</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413941/defending-religious-rights-protests-breakout-over-killing-of-muslims-in-myanmar</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413941/defending-religious-rights-protests-breakout-over-killing-of-muslims-in-myanmar#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 28 Jul 12 02:04:00 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[K-P]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=413941</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[IJT and TNFJ activists ask for a UNCHR inquiry to be carried out.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Activists from the Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) and Tehreek Nifaz-e-Fiqa Jafria (TNFJ) staged protests on Friday condemning violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority of Myanmar.


The IJT activists were led by Peshawar Nazim Abidullah Shaheen, while TNFJ activists were led by their provincial president Sardar Ali Qazalbash.  Demonstrators gathered outside Peshawar Press Club holding placards and banners with slogans against the Myanmar government’s policies.

They claimed thousands of Muslims were being slaughtered by Myanmar’s military leaders. They lamented the silence of Muslim and Arab leaders over the issue as well.

The IJT provincial Nazim suggested that an impartial inquiry be carried out under the United Nation Human Rights Commission (UNHCR).

Jamaat-e-Islami protests

Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) activists also took to the streets after Friday prayers, protesting against excessive power outages in addition to the violence against Muslims in Myanmar. At the occasion, JI PK-III candidate Khalid Gul Mohmand criticised the ANP government for failing to curb power outages.  Towards the end, it was discussed that another rally opposing muslim massacres in Myanmar will be held.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28th, 2012. ]]>
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			<title>The plight of Rohingya Muslims</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413849/the-plight-of-rohingya-muslims</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413849/the-plight-of-rohingya-muslims#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jul 12 17:20:32 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=413849</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Our concern for Burmese Muslims is ironic, they are ethnic Bengalis whom we discriminated against in the past.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The recent upsurge in violence being perpetrated against Rohingya Muslims in Burma has highlighted the Burmese regime’s complete disregard for basic human rights. The Burmese security forces are guilty of killings, rapes and mass arrests. The 800,000-strong Rohingya community has never been accepted as part of Burma and has always been discriminated against, with the violence against them seemingly intensifying in recent weeks. One catalyst was a statement by Burmese President Thein Sein that all Rohingyas should either be deported or placed in refugee camps. Since many Rohingyas trace their roots to Burma, going back many decades, such a move would essentially leave them stateless. Bangladesh has always been reluctant to accept Rohingyas, while Burma sees them as illegal immigrants. The Rohingyas seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

These recent happenings have highlighted Pakistan’s tendency to call for appropriate action to be taken in various cases of violence against Muslims across the world, instead of focusing on those violent acts being perpetrated on its own soil. The persecution of Rohingya Muslims has caught our eyes, to the extent that even the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which has killed as many Muslims as any other entity, is calling on the Burmese government to stop the killings and for the Pakistani government to cut off all ties until this is done. Lawyers groups and political parties have also carried out protests. What makes our concern for Burmese Muslims ironic is that many of them are ethnic Bengalis, a group which we discriminated against with impunity in the past.

Despite their dire situation, there is little Pakistan can do. We have too many problems of our own to make this a priority. At most, we can raise the issue at international forums. It is hoped that the world does not ignore the plight of Rohingya Muslims and ensures that their rights are protected and that the Burmese regime stops its violent acts against this community.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>PTI condemns reported atrocities against Muslims in Burma</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413611/pti-condemns-reported-atrocities-against-muslims-in-burma</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413611/pti-condemns-reported-atrocities-against-muslims-in-burma#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jul 12 19:52:39 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[ppi]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=413611</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Imran Khan warns continued prosecution could increase communal hatred locally, internationally.]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Imran Khan has strongly condemned reported atrocities committed against the Rohingya Muslim community in Myanmar. 

In a statement issued in response to local and international media reports suggesting widespread killings of Muslims, he said that persecution of a particular community in such manner is blatant violation of fundamental humanitarian principles. Burmese government's silence on mass killings of Rohingya Muslims is disturbing.

Imran Khan urged the Pakistani government to mobilise diplomatic efforts on an urgent basis to stop the potential genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

He also urged local and international human rights organisations to fight against the potential genocide of the community.

Khan warned that continued persecution of the community in Myanmar will fuel communal hatred both locally and internationally.

He urged the international community to pressurise the Burmese government to take urgent measures for ending the massacre of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.]]>
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			<title>Burma talk</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413416/burma-talk</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413416/burma-talk#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jul 12 18:20:58 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[ayesha.siddiqa]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=413416</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[In social media language, the Rohingya massacre issue is a battle between liberal-fascists and the fundos.]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[These days, the social media is abuzz with discussion on Myanmar. Interestingly, it is not even a constructive discussion but one which is meant for point scoring. The nature of the discourse has complicated the issue even more and thus calls for at least a couple of articles: one on the issue and another one meant to be an analysis of the situation of Burmese Muslims. It is important at this stage to disentangle the two dimensions to make sense of what is actually happening.

Scanning through some of the material on the issue in social media, it doesn’t take long to realise that the entire debate is not really about Burma but about the social divide in Pakistan. There seems to be a contest between those trying to frame this as a clash of civilisations problem versus others, who believe the emphasis is on an Islamists conspiracy. In social media language, this is a battle between liberal-fascists and the fundos.

Starting with the latter, the argument is: why the emphasis on the Burmese question when Pakistan has its own minority rights problems to deal with. The neo-nationalist-Islamists in the country are less eager to denounce the killings of Ahmadis, Shiites, Christians and Hindus. Such a proposition is unjustified since there is no bar on the number of injustices that an individual or a country can decry. The persecution of the Burmese Muslims is as serious an offence as any other. Hence, the argument made by both sides is lame — violence in Burma cannot be protested until internal issues are sorted out or that domestic acts of injustice cannot be protested until people have the moral authority of having protested the Burmese issue first. However, flagging an issue and protesting injustice must not be based on an obvious manipulation of facts as it raises pertinent questions about the actual intent. Indubitably, the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar are in trouble but this does not justify a campaign in Pakistan based on doctored photographs. Some of the photos showing Buddhist monks overseeing hundreds of dead bodies are actually fake. This does not reduce the intensity of the problem or negate the fact that the mixture of religion with state politics anywhere in the world makes a lethal potion used by the powerful to manipulate and persecute.

However, it is not certain if those flagging the issue are really seriously concerned about the atrocities against the Rohingya Muslims, which represent one of the four groups of Muslims in Myanmar and have been in trouble since the 1940s. The real problem between this religious-ethnic group and the military-political leadership in Myanmar is not based on religion but national contestation as the Rohingyas have never really accepted being part of Myanmar and vice versa. In fact, in 1947, Mohammad Ali Jinnah had discouraged them from harbouring any secessionist ideas and instead advised them to sort out matters with their state.

Although successive governments in Pakistan claim to have stuck with Jinnah’s advice, Burma accused Islamabad of fuelling insurgency during the 1950s. Despite trying to improve relations by signing of a friendship treaty in 1952, which probably led to the arrest in 1954 by Pakistan of the head of the Mujahid Movement of Burma, relations didn’t improve substantially.

The neo-Islamists today like to imagine that Islamabad must threaten Rangoon with direct intervention in support of the Rohingyas like Field Marshal Ayub Khan did during the 1960s. However, Ayub’s stance had nothing to do with religion but about Burmese refugees crossing into East Pakistan. After 1971, Islamabad lost most of its interest in the fate of Burmese Muslims and Burma. Nor did the civil society ever protest the fate of these people. The neo-Islamists, whom I would define as people with a desire to use religion for geopolitical ambitions, have tried to use the religious identity brush for gaining legitimacy in Pakistan and Burma rather than seriously addressing the problems of Rohingya persecution. In Pakistan, it gets them applause without people realising that stopping persecution was never the intent because if that was the case, then the neo-Islamists would have also condemned the alleged victimisation of the Rohingya refugees by Bangladesh in 2010. In Burma, such a campaign helps build inroads for groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba that have reportedly developed limited links with some religious militants.

However, it is important to maintain that the Rohingya issue is essentially a non-religious crisis of serious magnitude. Sacrificing these people further at the altar of a clash of civilisations will certainly be criminal.

(To be continued)

Published in The Express Tribune, July 27th, 2012.]]>
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			<title>Pakistan expresses concern over Myanmar violence</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413266/pakistan-expresses-concern-over-myanmar-violence</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413266/pakistan-expresses-concern-over-myanmar-violence#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jul 12 12:20:05 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[our.correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=413266</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Foreign Ministry spokesperson hopes authorities in Myanmar will take necessary steps to control the situation.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan expressed concern on Thursday over the recent ethnic violence in Myanmar, where dozens of people - mostly Muslims – have died.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Moazzam Ali Khan, during the weekly news briefing, said that “we are concerned about the situation but there are reports that things have improved there.”

The spokesman hoped that the authorities in Myanmar would take necessary steps to control the situation.

Recent clashes in western Myanmar between Buddhist ethnic Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya have left dozens dead and tens of thousands homeless.

Last week, Amnesty International said hundreds of people, mostly men and boys, have been detained in sweeps of areas heavily populated by the Rohingya.

‘Terrorist sanctuaries’

Khan also told reporters that Pakistan has urged Afghanistan and the US-led international forces to take decisive action against ‘terrorist sanctuaries’ that are being used by militants to launch repeated cross border attacks on Pakistan.

“Islamabad had taken up the issue of cross border incursions with the Afghan government as well as Isaf and the Nato commander,” he said.

“We hope that some concrete steps will be taken by the Afghan government as well as the Isaf,” Khan added, referring to more than a dozen deadly cross-border assaults that killed over 100 people including civilians and soldiers in recent months.

Pakistan had earlier alleged that Mullah Fazlullah and other militants, who fled the army’s counter terrorism operations in Swat and Bajaur, have found refuge across the border in Afghanistan.

MoU on NATO supply 

Commenting on the Nato supply deal, the spokesperson said that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to regulate Nato supply to Afghanistan will be signed soon.

However, he did not provide further details saying that the new deal would be in line with the recommendations approved by the parliament in April this year.]]>
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			<title>Myanmar monks call for shunning Muslim Rohingya community: Report</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413242/myanmar-monks-call-for-shunning-muslim-rohingya-community-report</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413242/myanmar-monks-call-for-shunning-muslim-rohingya-community-report#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jul 12 07:26:18 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[web.desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=413242</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The monks have reportedly urged people through pamphlets to block humanitarian aid to the community.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Monks in Myanmar are reportedly trying to fuel ethnic tensions by telling people to shun and block humanitarian aid to the Rohingya community, a Muslim community that has suffered decades of abuse, reports independent.co.uk.

Certain monk organisations have been reportedly issuing pamphlets describing the Rohingya as “cruel by nature” and claiming that the community had plans to exterminate other ethnic groups.

"In recent days, monks have emerged in a leading role to enforce denial of humanitarian assistance to Muslims, in support of policy statements by politicians," said Chris Lewa, director of the Arakan project, a regional NGO.

"A member of a humanitarian agency in Sittwe told me that some monks were posted near Muslim displacement camps, checking on and turning away people they suspected would visit for assistance."

The Young Monks' Association of Sittwe and Mrauk Oo Monks' Association have both released statements urging locals not to associate with the group, reports the independent.co.uk.

The Rohingya have been displaced and are currently living in camps as political leaders are working on expelling them from the country.

Earlier this month, Burma's president Thein Sein attempted to hand over the group to the UN refugee agency.

Bangladesh, already home to a Rohingya refugee population estimated at 300,000, had earlier turned away more migrants and has sealed its 200-kilometre border with Myanmar.

The Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for centuries, but were stripped of citizenship in 1982 by military ruler Ne Win.

The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have also threatened to attack Myanmar to avenge crimes against the Muslim Rohingya, unless Pakistan halts all relations with the government and shuts its embassy in Islamabad.]]>
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			<title>Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan threaten Myanmar over Rohingya</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413231/taliban-threaten-myanmar-over-rohingya</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/413231/taliban-threaten-myanmar-over-rohingya#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Thu, 26 Jul 12 05:44:44 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[afp]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=413231</guid>
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				<![CDATA[Seek to present self as defenders of Muslim men and women in Myanmar, say 'will take revenge of your blood'.]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Thursday threatened to attack Myanmar to avenge crimes against the Muslim Rohingya, unless Pakistan halts all relations with the government and shuts its embassy in Islamabad.

In a rare statement focused on the plight of Muslims abroad, the umbrella TTP group sought to present itself as a defender of Muslim men and women in Myanmar, saying "we will take revenge of your blood".

Spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan demanded that the Pakistani government halt all relations with Myanmar and close down its embassy in Islamabad.

"Otherwise we will not only attack Burmese interests anywhere but will also attack the Pakistani fellows of Burma one by one," he said in a statement.

The Myanmar embassy in Islamabad was not immediately reachable for comment.

The TTP frequently claims attacks on security forces in Pakistan but its ability to wage violence in countries further afield has been questioned.

But US officials say there is evidence the group was behind a failed 2010 attempt to bomb Times Square in New York, for which Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad was jailed for life.

TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud has also been charged in the United States over the killings of seven CIA agents who died when a Jordanian al Qaeda double agent blew himself up at a US base in Afghanistan in December 2009.

Recent clashes in western Myanmar between Buddhist ethnic Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya have left dozens dead and tens of thousands homeless.

Last week, Amnesty International said hundreds of people, mostly men and boys, have been detained in sweeps of areas heavily populated by the Rohingya, with almost all held incommunicado and some ill-treated.

Most arrests appear to have been "arbitrary and discriminatory" and Amnesty said there were "credible reports" of abuses - including rape, destruction of property and unlawful killings - by both Rakhine Buddhists and the security forces.

Decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya stateless, and they are viewed by the United Nations as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.]]>
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			<title>Renouncing genocide: APML condemns Burma violence</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/411842/renouncing-genocide-apml-condemns-burma-violence</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/411842/renouncing-genocide-apml-condemns-burma-violence#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 23 Jul 12 06:00:35 +0500</pubDate>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=411842</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Urges Muslim countries across the world to come forward to rescue Muslims from the cruelties.]]>
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				<![CDATA[All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) Secretary General Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, condemning the killing of Muslims in Burma (Myanmar), urged Muslim countries across the world to come forward to rescue Muslims from the cruelties of the Burmes armed forces.

The APML secretary general, in a statement on Sunday, said that over 500 Muslim villages have been incinerated over the last two months while thousands have been exterminated.

He added that human rights organisations have maintained ‘a criminal silence’ up till now and the Muslim world has become callous if it remains undeterred by such genocide.

Saif urged the government to raise their voice in favour of Burmese Muslims at international forums. He said that the Muslim world should unite and work to prevent this kind of deliberate targeted violence.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23rd, 2012.]]>
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			<title>‘Burma Muslim massacre’: JI calls on government to lodge protest</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/411421/%e2%80%98burma-muslim-massacre%e2%80%99-ji-calls-on-government-to-lodge-protest</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/411421/%e2%80%98burma-muslim-massacre%e2%80%99-ji-calls-on-government-to-lodge-protest#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sat, 21 Jul 12 16:45:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[ppi]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=411421</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Munawar Hassan urges government to submit requisition to UN to ponder over the situation.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Expressing deep regret over the “massacre and inhumane treatment” being accorded to the Burmese Muslim community in Myanmar, Jamaat-e-Islami  (JI) chief Syed Munawar Hasan demanded the Pakistani government to call the Myanmar ambassador and lodge a severe protest against it.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the party chief demanded that Pakistan should also submit a requisition to summon a General Assembly session in the United Nations to ponder over the situation in Myanmar.

He deplored that more than 4 million Muslims were facing terrorism and fanaticism in its extreme form but the international community had turned a blind eye to the issue. “Hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Myanmar are being forced to turn away from Islam and migrate to other countries,” he added.

He appealed to the international community to play its due role to safeguard the fundamental human rights in Myanmar as such incidents were a slap on the so-called civilised world society.

He also called on the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to take immediate measures to stop the massacre in Myanmar.

He further said that the UN should give up its double standard against the Muslim community and take notice of the violation of basic human rights in Myanmar.]]>
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			<title>Stop Myanmar violence before jihadis step in</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/411009/stop-myanmar-violence-before-jihadis-step-in</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/411009/stop-myanmar-violence-before-jihadis-step-in#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 20 Jul 12 18:15:22 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Naveed Hussain]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=411009</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Inaction would only help radicals and jihadists, who might use the ‘Muslim genocide’ in Myanmar as a rallying...]]>
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				<![CDATA[Gut-wrenching tales and grisly images are trickling out of Myanmar over a month after sectarian violence flared in its western Rakhine state. Hundreds of Rohingyas — a destitute, marginalised Muslim community disowned by the state — have been killed and maimed and tens of thousands made to flee their homes following organised attacks on villages by local Arakanese Buddhists. It started off when an Arakanese woman was raped and killed by Rohingya Muslims in late May. In a bloody reprisal, an Arakanese mob plucked 10 Rohingyas from a passenger bus and lynched them. The violence escalated to other villages and towns as mobs killed the Rohingyas wantonly and burnt down their properties.

Media reports suggest that the violence has not subsided despite a slew of ‘cosmetic measures’ by the quasi-democratic government of President Thein Sein. Alarmingly, state agencies — the border security force in particular — are colluding with marauding Arakanese mobs in what is now being dubbed as ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the Rohingyas.

Local media blames the Rohingyas for setting off the latest upsurge in violence. Given the pathetic conditions of the Rohingyas, who live in squalid towns as ‘lesser’ citizens of the Buddhist-majority land, and given a history of state discrimination against them, the Rohingyas are unlikely to have invited the wrath of their ‘superior’ fellow countrymen.

Independent observers suspect a bigger conspiracy at play.  They believe that Myanmar’s powerful military has unscrupulously planned the violence to cash in on popular anti-Rohingya sentiment in an effort to reassert its importance and discredit the iconic pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. A statement in favour of the Rohingyas would definitely damage Suu Kyi’s popularity among the majority Arakanese community. Perhaps, Suu Kyi knows this and this is why she did not respond to calls, including one from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, to use her clout to get the violence stopped.

Rakhine is facing a media blackout: foreign journalists are denied access to the strife-torn region, while local media persons are barred from reporting on the violence. President Sein has spurned calls from Amnesty International and the top US envoy for his country to hold an independent inquiry into the deadly rioting. Instead, he has set up an official inquiry commission. How can one expect an ‘impartial inquiry’ from President Sein, who believes that the expulsion of all 800,000 Rohingyas from Rakhine is the only solution to the communal discord in his country?

Aside from subdued condemnations from some Muslim states, no serious effort has been made to get the bloodletting stopped. Regrettably, Pakistan has not offered even the ceremonial lip-service. This pogrom against the Rohingyas also does not figure on the priority lists of our ratings-hungry media, squabbling politicians and spotlight-savvy rights crusaders.

The international community should pressure the Myanmar leaders to get the senseless violence stopped. Inaction would only help radicals and jihadists, who might use the ‘Muslim genocide’ in Myanmar as a rallying call. They are already flooding the social networking websites Facebook and Twitter with disturbing images and hearsay accounts of the violence to build their case.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21st, 2012. ]]>
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			<title>Abuses against Muslims in Myanmar erode human rights progress: Amnesty</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/410926/abuses-against-muslims-in-myanmar-erode-human-rights-progress-amnesty</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/410926/abuses-against-muslims-in-myanmar-erode-human-rights-progress-amnesty#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 20 Jul 12 08:11:21 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[web.desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=410926</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Amnesty International says attacks against Muslims including minority group Rohingiyas increased after emergency.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Followed by six weeks of violence against Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, Amnesty International said on Thursday that “declaring a state of emergency is not a license to commit human rights violations.”

Amnesty International said that targeted attacks against Muslims including a minority group Rohingiyas have increased after an emergency was declared on June 10, in the Rakhine State.

The organisation further said that communal violence has also continued.

A state of emergency was declared following an outbreak of communal violence among the Buddhist Rakhine, Muslim Rakhine, and Muslim Rohingya communities.

As a result of the communal violence, Myanmar’s border security force (nasaka), the army and the police rounded up hundreds of men who were kept in isolation and some were mistreated.

Amnesty International further said that the arrests that were made violated rights to liberty and freedom as they were discriminatory – mostly based on religious grounds. The organisation also voiced its concern that the arrests made must meet “international standards of fairness and must not include the imposition of death penalty.”

Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher Benjamin Zawacki said, “In six weeks, Myanmar has not only added to a long litany of human rights violations against the Rohingya, but has also done an about-turn on the situation of political imprisonment.”

“After more than a year of prisoner amnesties and releases, the overall number of political prisoners in Myanmar is again on the rise.”

The organisation also received reports of incidents of human rights abuse, including physical abuse, rape, destruction of property, and unlawful killings – carried out by both Rakhine Buddhists and security forces. “The authorities should stop these acts and prevent others from occurring,” said Amnesty.

According to Myanmar’s National Human Rights Commission, at least 78 people were killed on July 11, but the unofficial estimates surpass 100. While the number of people displaced stand between 50,000 and 90,000.

“The human rights and humanitarian needs of those affected by the violence depend on the presence of monitors and aid workers,” said Zawacki. “The Myanmar authorities are compounding the error by exacerbating the suffering of those displaced by the violence and violations.”

Amnesty International has called on Myanmar’s parliament to amend or repeal the 1982 Citizenship Law to ensure that Rohingyas are no longer stateless. “Under international human rights law and standards, no one may be left or rendered stateless. For too long Myanmar’s human rights record has been marred by the continued denial of citizenship for Rohingyas and a host of discriminatory practices against them,” said Zawacki.]]>
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			<title>Statement: JI condemns Myanmar massacre</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/401281/statement-ji-condemns-myanmar-massacre</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/401281/statement-ji-condemns-myanmar-massacre#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 29 Jun 12 23:02:43 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[ppi]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[More than 80 people have died in clashes between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya this month.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Jamat-i-Islami tool out rallies on Friday to condemn the massacre of Muslims in Myanmar, said a press release issued by the party.


Syed Munawar Hasan, addressing the Friday congregation at Mansoora mosque, said that the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and Muslim rulers across the world should stop the bloodshed of the Arakan Muslims.

Had such brutality been perpetrated against any other community, he said, the world media and the UN would have cried themselves hoarse “But no one is taking notice of the bloodshed of Muslims,” he said.

More than 80 people have died in clashes between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya this month.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30th, 2012.]]>
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