American Muslims launch Burma Task Force USA Demand an end to ethnic cleansing and for perpetrators to be charged with war crimes

Burma Task Force USA has thanked and congratulated the Turkish Foreign Minister and Turkish Prime Minister’s wife and daughter for travelling to visit the refugee camps of Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar (Burma) and bringing their plight to the world’s attention.

The Task Force also welcomed the announcement that the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will make the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas as the top item on the agenda of the Islamic summit conference.

Making the above statements on August 12, Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, the chairperson of Burma Task Force USA, pointed out that the OIC ambassador to the UN, Ufuk Gokcen had promised our founding member, Seemi Ahmed, in June during a meeting at the Long Island Islamic Centre, to give stopping the ethnic cleansing of Muslims of Burma the top priority.

“We demand that those responsible of mass rapes and mass murder of thousands of Rohingyas be charged with crimes against humanity and genocide by the International Court of Justice. Prominent Muslim American groups and leaders have launched an advocacy campaign by launching Burma Task Force USA to stop the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Myanmar (Burma),” declared Imam Mujahid.

Ever since the news started trickling out of Burma this June concerning the new wave of ethnic cleansing, these Muslim leaders and activists have been horrified. They were disturbed by the fact that the Buddhist monks were behind this new pogrom against the Rohingya Muslims of Burma who are considered to be the most persecuted people in the world. They were greatly disappointed when the leader of the Burmese democratic movement Aung San Suu Kyi failed to condemn the ethnic cleansing and massacres.

The Burma Task Force has a successful model in the Bosnia Task Force, where the American Muslims worked with the interfaith leadership and women’s rights organisations against the genocide of Muslims in Bosnia. Another successful model may be found in the Coalition Against Genocide, where American Muslims of Indian origin worked with other communities to revoke the diplomatic visa of a powerful Indian politician, Narendra Modi, who was behind the pogrom of Muslims in Gujarat, India.

“We will be working with leaders of other faith groups, interfaith groups, women’s rights organisations, and peace movements to put pressure on the US government and the American business community to warn the Burmese government to stop the ethnic cleansing,” said Imam Mujahid.

Already, many regional Muslim umbrella groups have endorsed the Burma Task Force USA. Other national Muslim organisations and regional umbrella groups are expected to follow suit.

By: Admin On 8/30/2012 02:55:00 pm

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Mumbai attacks: No Indian Muslim would even think of doing such acts, says SC

New Delhi : Referring to the "deception" and "falsehood" that the terrorists involved in Mumbai attacks were Indian Muslims from Hyderabad, the Supreme Court Wednesday said that had Kasab not been caught alive, terrorists might have passed as Indians and that would have led to devastating short-term and long-term consequences.

"The deception, the falsehood that the terrorists were Indian Muslims coming from Hyderabad and were connected with some fictitious organisations called Mujaheddin and Hyderabad Deccan, is one of the most ominous and distressing parts of the conspiracy", said the apex court bench of Justice Aftab Alam and Justice C.K. Prasad, which upheld Ajmal Kasab's death sentence.

"If the appellant (Kasab) had not been caught alive and the investigating agencies had not been able to unravel the conspiracy fully and in all its devious ways, the terrorists might have passed as Indian Muslims and that would have led to devastating short-term and equally debilitating long-term consequences."

"It would have caused a cleavage of distrust and suspicion between communities and disturbed the communal peace and harmony of the country. It is not impossible that conflagrations would have erupted in different parts of the country which the governments would have found difficult to contain," said Justice Alam, who authored the judgment.

The court said that in this regard, "the selection of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) as one of the targets for carnage assumes great importance". Trains, the judgment said, leave for many parts of the country from the CST.

Thus, as news of the carnage spread across the country through the media, travelers would start arriving in different parts of the country, some having lost their near and dear ones at the CST, some with a wounded companion and others shell-shocked by the experience of the terrorist attack, the judgment observed.

"Their first-hand, eye-witness accounts of the carnage added to reports in the print media and visuals in the electronic media could be highly inflammable and could easily evoke communal violence that would be difficult to contain," the judgment said.

The court said that the "deception was ominous because it aimed at destabilising Indian society and its governments. But it was equally distressing for being so deeply untruthful."

"Indian Muslims", the judgment said "may have a long list of grievances against the establishment. Some of the grievances may be fanciful, some may be of their own making and some may be substantive".

"Nevertheless, no Indian Muslim would even think of venting his grievance like an animal, killing, maiming and wounding innocent people; his own countrymen."

"This is because he is not only loyal to his faith and community but equally loves his country and fellow countrymen," the judgment underlined.

By: Admin On 8/30/2012 02:53:00 pm

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Iran concerned over conditions of Rohingya Muslims, Salehi tells Myanmar FM

TEHRAN – During a meeting with Myanmar’s Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin in Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi expressed concern about the conditions that the Rohingya Muslims are experiencing in Myanmar, it was reported on Monday.    Salehi said that Iran is ready to send humanitarian aid for the Muslims in Myanmar and will welcome a decision to use Iran’s influence to help defuse tensions in the country.     Myanmar’s foreign minister who has visited Iran to participate in the Non-Aligned Movement meeting briefed Salehi on the incidents that have taken place in his country and said that efforts are underway to restore peace.    He also assured Salehi that Myanmar is committed to respecting people of all religions and does not regard discrimination against Muslims as appropriate.

By: Admin On 8/27/2012 11:55:00 pm

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Hyderabadi Muslims show how to really help Muslims of Assam and Myanmar

Hyderabad: Protesting with violence as it happened in Mumbai last week and Lucknow & Allahabad yesterday is not going to help Muslims of Assam and Myanmar. Hyderabadi Muslims found a better way of helping those in need.

Young Muslim students waited outside mosques, colleges and hotels with seriousness on their faces and a hope of positive response, holding a banner and a donation box appealing for contribution to the relief fund meant for oppressed Muslims of riot hit Assam and Myanmar.

SIO volunteers with banners.

Student Islamic organization of India (Hyderabad division) has started this fund raising program yesterday which has received a good response here. Awareness for the relief work donation program was generated through SMS’s, social networking sites and mosques.

Relief fund banners were erected in different parts of the city, which made an emotional appeal to the Muslim community for financial help for the Muslim victims of the conflict ridden Assam and Myanmar, it reads, “This Eid, let’s not forget our oppressed brothers, lets share our love. Come join hands to help them…. Our help is there hope!!!”

These fund rising activity was divided between different units of SIO Hyderabad, Amberpet unit of SIO have received 40,000 rupees on the first day of its relief fund collection initiative. The enthusiastic response of Muslims towards this relief drive for Assam and Myanmar Muslims could be make out by the collection of the donation counter at Masjid-e-Azizia located in Mehdipatnam locality which reportedly registered donations up to 4 lakh rupees.

Nearly 4 lakh Muslims have been displaced and 80 had been killed in Assam riots, and the situation for Muslims in Burma is more heinous then Assam. SIO relief fund for Assam and Burma Muslims is a part of all India level donation campaign started by Jamat-e-Islami hind to help Muslims of Assam and Myanmar financially.

Counters for the relief fund will be open till Ramzan to collect more contributions even in the form of Zakat and fitra. Any one in Hyderabad interested in contributing to the relief fund may contact, SIO Hyderabad at 9550927413 and 9985581340.

By: Admin On 8/18/2012 04:38:00 pm

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Hackers blasts Myanmar over Muslim deaths

 Hackers broke into the Web site of Myanmar's Information Ministry and posted a threatening message telling the government to "stop the killing of Muslims."

The message, posted in English, was a possible reference ongoing violence between Buddhists and Muslims in the state of Rakhine, also called Arakan state.

The hacker's message said "those Muslims have a message of peace to the world but you are killing them. If you continue with the killing of Muslims, we will target all the worshipers of Buddha everywhere in the world ... and your country will be a hell."

The message included a photograph of charred bodies at an unidentified location, a report by the Myanmar news Web site Mizzima said.

The Myanmar government Web site also was down for several hours after the attack, Mizzima reported.

However, the state-run news Web site New Light of Myanmar didn't mention the alleged attack.

Mizzima's report of the hacking comes as the government and security authorities are struggling with increased tensions in Rakhine.

The violence started early June when 10 Muslims were killed by a mob who pulled them from a bus late one afternoon. By the end of July nearly 80 people had been killed in ethnic clashes.

Rakhine occupies most of Myanmar's west coast on the Bay of Bengal and is mostly Muslim has a relatively large Muslim population. Within Myanmar, Buddhists make up 89 percent of the population while Muslims and Christians make up around 4 percent each, U.N. estimates state.

Many of the Rohingya have connections to neighboring Bangladesh and the violence has created a tide of refugees across the border as well as within Myanmar.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that around 80,000 people have been displaced in and around the Rakhine towns of Sittwe and Maungdaw where much of the violence took place.

"Most of them are living in camps for internally displaced people, with smaller numbers staying with host families in surrounding villages," the statement said.

Last month the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called for a "prompt, independent" investigation into alleged human rights violations in Rakhine.

Tomas Ojea Quintana, the United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights who returned this week from visiting Myanmar, said the Southeast Asian nation, formerly called Burma, needs to tackle these challenges for the success of democratic transition and national reconciliation.

The human rights situation in Rakhine state is serious," Quintana said in a statement at the end of his visit.

He called for an independent investigation into allegations of serious human rights violations, including alleged excessive use of force by security and police personnel.

"It is of fundamental importance to clearly establish what has happened in Rakhine state and to ensure accountability. Reconciliation will not be possible without this and exaggerations and distortions will fill the vacuum to further fuel distrust and tensions between communities," he said.

The state nationality of the Rohingya lies at the root of the tensions. At issue is how many of the Rohingya are legal immigrants, illegal immigrants and Myanmar-born Muslims.

To prevent other ethnic flash points, the Myanmar government must set up a functioning immigration system, Benedict Rogers, Asia Team Leader at the international human rights organization Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said.

The tensions are heightened by claims and counterclaims on all sides where the majority of alleged crimes aren't verifiable, said Rogers, writing on the Web site of the Democratic Voice of Burma, a non-profit Myanmar media organization based in Oslo, Norway.

"There is no doubt that both communities have suffered and perpetrators of violence on both sides must be brought to justice," he said.

"Without an independent, international inquiry and international monitors on the ground, it will be impossible to establish the truth and, as Mr. Quintana has said, hold the perpetrators accountable."

By: Mohammed On 8/13/2012 10:18:00 pm

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Inflammatory SMSs, pictures behind rioting?

MUMBAI: Saturday's violence that rocked south Mumbai and left Mumbai police flummoxed by the size of gathering may have been ignited by mass distribution of inflammatory text messages, video clips and photographs of killings in Myanmar. The violence that killed two persons and left 63 injured, shocked the Mumbai police's special branch, which is termed as the intelligence wing of the city police. 

The police officials first claimed they were unaware of any such video being circulated among the youth and later on Sunday said the cyber crime investigation cell will examine these videos to find out the truth and whether they could be blocked. 

"The video clippings of killings of Muslims in Burma are today available with most of the young boys on their mobile phone. These are so provocative that youth would have definitely come to protest. Had the city police realized it, proper precautions and deployment of the force could have been done," said a senior politician. 

The community leaders have also suggested that the police should start checking cell phones of young men and warn them for keeping such provocative video clippings. The mob that began with targeting the media crew insisted that the national press had completely ignored the Myanmar killing issue. "If a few NRIs are killed in America, the government expresses its concern, why does it keep quiet on the Burma genocide of Muslims?" asked a community leader. In one of the videos, a Burmese man is shown running for his life. The victim in the video is bleeding and dozens of people are beating him with rods while a policeman, carrying a firearm, is a mute spectator. These videos are being circulated through MMS and Bluetooth. 

The call for a protest was given by several NGOs on Saturday at Azad Maidan. While by 2.30pm there was uncontrollable crowd, additional forces were not deployed, said sources. The police estimated a gathering of 10,000-12,000 people. But the protesters gathered near Azad Maidan were more than 50,000. 

This is not the first time that police intelligence system completely collapsed. A few years ago, while Muslims were protesting against a Danish cartoonist for sketching the cartoon of Prophet Mohammed, the police thought an estimated crowed of around 20,000 people. However, the crowd was more than 1.5 lakh people. 

By: Mohammed On 8/13/2012 06:08:00 am

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2 dead, 55 hurt in anti-Assam riot protest in Mumbai

Mumbai, August 11: Two persons were killed and at least 55 injured, including 45 policemen, when a protest here against Assam riots turned violent here today as demonstrators clashed with the police which opened fire to disperse the mob. The protesters torched vehicles of the media and the police and pelted stones. Unconfirmed reports said one of the deceased could have been hit by a bullet fired by the police. Police spokesman Nisar Tamboli said only a postmortem would bring out what exactly caused the deaths. Hundreds of people turned up at Azad Maidan Ground, the popular protest venue, in south Mumbai this afternoon on a call given by a city-based outfit, Raza Academy, to denounce the riots in Assam and also alleged attacks on minority community in Myanmar. Awami Vikas Party (AVP), a political outfit floated by former police officer Shamsher Khan Pathan,also took part in the protest. The protesters suddenly turned unruly and set afirevehicles, damaged buses and indulged in stone-pelting. Police opened fire and resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the mob, said a policeman deployed at the Azad Maidan. At least 55 persons were injured of whom two succumbed in a government hospital at south Mumbai. Two youths, Mohammed Umar (22) and Altaf Shaikh (18), who were injured in the violence and were in critical condition, died while undergoing treatment at St George Hospital," a civic body official told PTI. Among the injured were some mediapersons, including Prashant Sawant of `Sakal Times' and Vivek Bendre of `The Hindu'. All injured were shifted to J J Hospital, St George Hospital, GT Hospital and Bombay Hospital, police said. Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said in a statement that the Crime Branch has been asked to probe "whose hand was behind the violence and how the protest turned so violent". He said altogether 45 police personnel and 10 others have been injured. Police said the situation was brought under control in an hour and normalcy has returned to the area. Chavan said a high alert has been sounded all over the state and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Rapid Action Force (RAF) and State Reserve Police (SRP) personnel have been requisitioned. He said the miscreants began damaging public property soon after the protest rally began at Azad Maidan.

By: Mohammed On 8/12/2012 02:43:00 am

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Posters on Myanmar Killing Innocents

By: Mohammed On 8/07/2012 05:34:00 pm

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Muslim Nations Take On Myanmar Over Rohingyas

By Shibani Mahtani

European Pressphoto Association

Protestors in hold banners and shout slogans during a protest against Myanmar’s treatment of the ethnic minority Rohingyas in Karachi, Pakistan.

Myanmar is no stranger to criticism from Western nations and human rights groups, some of whom still approach the once-reclusive nation with caution despite major economic and social reforms there over the past year. But as the plight of Myanmar’s Rohingya ethnic minority captures global attention, the country is now getting flak from a new quarter – the Muslim world.

Since tensions between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas erupted in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in June, leaving at least 78 dead, governments and rights groups have been critical of Myanmar authorities’ actions, which they say have not afforded enough protections to the minority group. New York-based Human Rights Watch released a 56-page report last week asserting that authorities failed to prevent initial unrest, and that security forces in some cases killed and raped Rohingyas.

Myanmar officials have defended their treatment of the group and say they have helped re-establish order and cooperated with international aid organizations to bring relief to the area. The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement last week that Myanmar “totally rejects the attempts by some quarters to politicize and internationalize this situation as a religious issue,” adding that the incidents of violence in Rakhine State “are neither because of religious oppression nor discrimination.”

Either way, some of the most vocal critics in the past couple of weeks have come from countries that have in the past been more welcoming to Myanmar than the West, including Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Malaysia. Many are concerned that Rohingya Muslims are being discriminated against at least in part because of their religious beliefs – an issue that hits home in their own countries with large Muslim populations.

Speaking to reporters last week, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said that his country would address the matter of violence against the Muslim Rohingyas at a summit meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in mid-August, adding that Indonesia “cannot tolerate” discriminatory treatment against the group, according to the Associated Press. This weekend, Egypt’s foreign ministry condemned the Myanmar government’s treatment of Rohingyas, saying its envoy in the country has seen extensive damage caused by the recent clashes, according to local Egyptian press.

Malaysia’s government, too, has expressed concerned for the way Rohingyas were treated following protests from Muslims in the country, and welcomed investigations that probe the cause of the violence.

Diplomats and human rights organizations have also criticized Bangladesh for their unwillingness to accept more Rohingya refugees to the country, which already houses thousands of Rohingya refugees. Still, Myanmar – a predominantly Buddhist country – has come in for particularly vociferous criticism, including from some more extreme quarters in the Muslim world, including the Taliban, and jailed Islamic cleric Abu Bakir Bashir.

Both Pakistan’s branch of the Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban, and Abu Bakir Bashir have threatened violence against Myanmar. The cleric, in an open letter to President Thein Sein, went as far as suggesting war on Myanmar if violence against the Rohingyas continues, according to an Associated Press report.

All of this opens a new front of pressure on Myanmar to find a resolution to a problem which has burned quietly for decades. Although Western leaders have criticized Myanmar for its handling of the recent Rohingya-related unrest, and the United Nations has called for an urgent inquiry, some analysts believe Western governments are unlikely to press the issue as hard as they might have a few years ago since they’re trying hard to repair relations with Myanmar’s government following years of sanctions. Criticism from once-friendly Muslim nations could help keep the issue alive longer, making it harder for Western governments to let the issue drop.

The Rohingya problem remains one of the most challenging for Myanmar at a time when its government is expanding freedoms for most residents, including releasing political prisoners and easing restraints on the Internet after the country’s military regime stepped down last year. The Rohingya are widely seen in Myanmar as the country’s most unwanted ethnic group, and they are excluded from citizenship laws and restricted in their movements and activities, including marriage and reproduction. Myanmar officials say that many Rohingyas are living illegally in the country, and have appealed to the United Nations to assist with repatriating them or coordinating relief efforts.

Even if pressure does keep coming from the outside world, the problem will likely defy an easy solution.

“The world can lobby for humanitarian assistance for the Rohingya, which will provide short term relief, but it won’t even come close to constructing a solution [for them],” said Greg Constantine, a photographer who has spent seven years documenting the lives of Rohingya refugees.

“It is the bigger questions that need to be addressed for any solution to come,” he added, including fundamental issues related to deciding “who belongs and who doesn’t” in the new Myanmar.

By: Admin On 8/07/2012 02:56:00 pm

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'Three dead' in fresh Myanmar sectarian unrest

A Rohingya Muslim family, who fled Myanmar to Bangladesh to escape religious violence, are pictured in Taknaf

Renewed violence between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya has left three people dead in Myanmar, a government official said on Monday, amid growing international concern about the sectarian unrest.

The fighting in western Rakhine state has killed 80 people from both sides since June, official figures show, although authorities say the situation has been generally calm in recent weeks.

The new casualties, who were not identified, died on Sunday in Kyauktaw about 60 miles north of the state capital Sittwe, said the official, who did not want to be named. Five others were reported wounded.

"The situation is calm and back to normal already," the official told AFP. "We do not know why it started again."

The violence initially broke out in June following the rape and murder of a Rakhine woman and the subsequent lynching of 10 Muslims by a crowd of angry Buddhists.

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.

The authorities failed to protect both sides and then "unleashed a campaign of violence and mass roundups against the Rohingya," the group said in a report released last week.

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 neighboring 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.

Read more: http://india.nydailynews.com/newsarticle/502008d8c3d4ca3416000000/three-dead-in-fresh-myanmar-sectarian-unrest#ixzz22oJplBa7

By: Mohammed On 8/07/2012 04:41:00 am

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Myanmar Amid Olympics 2012 (cartoon)

By: Mohammed On 8/06/2012 05:04:00 am

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Appeal to All Muslims for Burma

By: Admin On 8/04/2012 06:33:00 pm

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Iran offers cash assistance to Rohingya Muslim refugees in Hyderabad, India

The Islamic Republic of Iran Thursday offered cash assistance to a group of Myanmar Muslims refugees in Hyderabad, capital city of Andhra Pradesh, India. Persecuted in their own country, a group of 250 Muslims from Myanmar have reached Hyderabad to take refuge here. The group, fled Myanmar to escape ethnic violence in Rakhine state, have taken refuge at Dargah Ali Shah Qadri in the old city of Hyderabad. Mahmoud Safari, the Consul General of Iran at Hyderabad, today delivered a cheque for the sum of Rupees Sixty Five Thousand to the Confederation of Voluntary Organisations (COVA), which works with UNHRC, that would help the refugees. Safari, addressing the Rohingya Muslim refugees, strongly condemned the persecution of Muslims in Myanmar. Expressing deep regret for the failure of the world to react appropriately to the genocide of Myanmar's Muslims in Rakhine state, Iranian official urged the international community to condemn the genocide in its strongest sense and come forward for the help of the victims. He also urged the government of Myanmar to find a fair and just solution to the current unrest, which includes a permanent solution for the hundreds of thousands of stateless Rohingya that live in makeshift refugee camps. Safari assured all possible assistance to them. Speaking on the occasion, Musfa Fazlulrehman Spokesperson of Myanmar Refugees appreciated Iran’s solidarity with the Rohingya Muslims and thanked for the help extended by the Government of Iran at priority. M Qaderi, Trustee Dargah Ali Shah Qaderi thanked Iranian consulate for extending the assistance. He said Iran is the first country which came forward to help the Myanmar refugees in Hyderabad. 'Iran's spiritual and material support has enlightened a ray of hope among the victims of the ethnic clashes in Myanmar,' he added. Appreciating Government of Iran's timely and valuable help to the Rohingya Muslim refugees, Moizuddin Qadri, caretaker of Dargah also thanked the Government of India for sheltering the victims. Thousands of innocent Rohingya Muslims, including women and children were butchered and millions of displaced in ethnic violence in Rakhine State of Myanmar. The refugees said that Buddhist groups were butchering Muslims for refusing to renounce Islam. According to reports, the UN and the Amnesty International have already voiced concern over reports of killings of Rohingya people by both Buddhists and the security forces. The Confederation of Voluntary Organisations (COVA) works with UNHRC and help the refugees in acquiring the refugee status from the UN body's office in New Delhi. COVA works among refugees to address their legal problems, sensitive police towards the rights of refugees and provide medical assistance.

By: Admin On 8/04/2012 03:43:00 pm

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Buddhist monks against humanitarian aid?

When we last read about Burmese monks in the Western press, it was in the context of mass protests against Burma's brutal military junta and their visit to Aung San Suu Kyi's home in homage of the courageous pro-democracy activist. It is surprising then, shocking even, that Burma's monks have come down on what is so blatantly the wrong side of a humanitarian crisis.

One photograph shows a Burmese monk in saffron robes, looking austere and intelligent in wireframe glasses. On his palm are the words "ROHINGYA NO," written in English. The Rohingya Muslims are an ethnic minority in Burma's western Rakhine state, and are considered by the United Nations to be among the world's most persecuted minorities. Since ethnic violence erupted last month, state-sanctioned and publicly supported oppression has driven thousands of Rohingya across the border into Bangladesh, where they are treated not as refugees but as illegal asylum seekers. Interviews with survivors in unofficial refugee camps describe how the Burmese army has systematically gone through villages, murdering men and raping women. To justify their actions, the Burmese government has attempted to portray the Rohingya as Muslim radicals, despite consistent lack of evidence, but the "anti-Rohingya campaign \[also] wraps itself in calls for ethnic purity, defense of sovereignty, and protection of Buddhism."

By: Admin On 8/03/2012 03:54:00 pm

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Bangladesh bans 3 charity groups from aiding Rohingya refugees

Bangladesh has banned three international charity organizations from providing aid to the Rohingya Muslim refugees who have taken shelter in the South Asian country after fleeing sectarian violence in neighboring Myanmar.

"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 Bazar following directive from the NGO (Non-Governmental Organizations Affairs Bureau,” local administrator Joynul Bari said. 

Bari added that the foreign aid was encouraging “an influx of Rohingya refugees” from Myanmar. 

France’s Doctors Without Borders (MSF), Action Against Hunger (ACF), and Britain’s Muslim Aid UK have been given orders to suspend their services in Bangladesh. 

The charities were providing refugees in Cox’s Bazar with healthcare, emergency food, and drinking water.

Bangladesh has also turned away boats carrying hundreds of Rohingya Muslims. 

The move by Dhaka comes in the wake of a humanitarian crisis and increasing concerns over state-sponsored ethnic cleansing against the minority Muslim group in Myanmar.

Reports say some 650 Rohingyas have been killed in the Rakhine state in the west of the country in recent months. This is while 1,200 others are missing and 80,000 more have been displaced. 

The UN says decades of discrimination have left the Rohingyas stateless, with Myanmar implementing restrictions on their movement and withholding land rights, education, and public services from them. The world body has also described the Muslim community as the Palestine of Asia and one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. 

The Buddhist-majority government of Myanmar refuses to recognize Rohingyas, who, it claims, are not natives, and classifies them as illegal migrants though the Rohingyas are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origin, who migrated to Myanmar as early as the eighth century. 

By: Admin On 8/03/2012 05:49:00 am

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Buddhists in Myanmar Target Religious Minority in Violent Attacks

Posted Wednesday, August 01, 2012 3:14 PM

 

  

For a country steeped in Buddhism, Myanmar is accruing terrible karmic debts.

Alarming news and images of attacks and killings by the Buddhist majority in Rakhine Province against a Muslim minority there have been slowly trickling out onto the Internet and the wider world. Pictures of charred bodies and crying parents have stirred largely unheeded calls for intervention, mostly from Muslim nations.

“The attacks have been primarily one-sided, with Muslims generally and Rohingyas specifically the targets and victims,” Benjamin Zawacki, a Bangkok-based researcher for Amnesty International, told The Associated Press. “Some of this is by the security forces’ own hands, some by Rakhine Buddhists with the security forces turning a blind eye in some cases.”

The government in Myanmar, recently lauded for taking steps toward democratization, declared a state of emergency in June following the outbreak of violence allegedly sparked by the rape and killing of a Buddhist woman by members of the Rohingya minority -- a largely Muslim group on the country’s western border with Bangladesh. The official death toll stands at 78, though activists say it is likely much higher and prompted the UN to call for independent investigation over human rights violations.

The Rohingya, meanwhile, remain caught between a hostile populace and a neighboring Muslim nation in Bangladesh that refuses to open its borders to fleeing refugees.

Such is the irony in a country famous for its Valley of the Temples and its unrivaled devotion to the Buddha. Alas, while Buddhism through a Western lens can appear rosy for its message of compassion, inner peace, and self-cultivation, in Asian societies Buddhism as an institution has much broader political applications.

Five years ago, thousands of monks across Myanmar led in mass demonstrations against the military junta that paralyzed the former capital Yangon and other cities. The catalyst was an economic crisis, coupled with a devastating typhoon that destroyed homes and rice fields. The government’s failure to respond drove the monks to revolt, leading to the arrest and beating of hundreds of clergy. In such an overwhelmingly Buddhist country as Myanmar, the crackdown posed serious risks for the leadership.

For the monks, on the other hand, if fighting on behalf of the people seemed a moral necessity, such “spiritual engagement” apparently does not extend to the country’s Muslims -- estimated at around 800,000. They are a population denied citizenship and, by extension, the beneficence of the Buddha.

In 2001, monks handed out anti-Muslim pamphlets that resulted in the burning of Muslim homes, destruction of 11 mosques and the killing of over 200 Muslims in the Pegu region. Four years earlier, another anti-Muslim riot broke out in Mandalay during the worship of a Buddha statue at the Maha Myatmuni pagoda. In that incident, an estimated 1,500 Buddhist monks led the attack on nearby mosques and Muslim-owned businesses, looting as they went.

As for the current crisis, Human Rights Watch is strongly urging the Burmese government to end arbitrary and incommunicado detention, and “redeploy and hold accountable security forces implicated in serious abuses. Burmese authorities should ensure safe access to the area by the United Nations (UN), independent humanitarian organizations, and the media.”

“The Burmese government needs to put an immediate end to the abusive sweeps by the security forces against Rohingya communities,” noted Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Anyone being held should be promptly charged or released, and their relatives given access.”

So far the killings have garnered little attention in the West, where they have registered little more than a blip in the news cycle. Equally as troubling, however, has been the muted response of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi – an icon of human rights across Southeast Asia. Her recent tepid call for ethnic equality in Myanmar, nearly two months after the violence erupted, was met with uniform criticism around the world.

In the 1960s the renowned Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh coined the term “Engaged Buddhism.” The intent, then as now, was to exhort fellow monks to emerge from their temples and engage with a society then in the grips of war.

The practice continues across much of South and Southeast Asia today. One example is the long drawn out war in Sri Lanka, during which militant monks formed their own political party, held seats in parliament and advocated military solutions to the conflict with the Tamil Tigers.

In Vietnam, the ruling class knows each time a Buddhist monk sets himself ablaze they'd better watch out. That was certainly true in 1963 when a Buddhist monk named Thich Quang Duc immolated himself in downtown Saigon to protest a crackdown on Buddhism. Unrest grew as civilian fear turned into anger, and the Catholic controlled regime of Ngo Dinh Diem fell soon afterward. The current communist regime still keeps a number of leading clergymen under house arrest for fear for a popular revolt.

But if Myanmar’s monks held the moral high ground five years ago when they protested against government oppression, that standing has quickly turned into a deep and dark sinkhole of depravity amid calls for the majority to oppress their neighbors.

“Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech and a life of service and compassion renew humanity,” the historical Buddha, Gautama Siddharta, once said.

One wonders what he would say now, as innocent blood is shed in his name, and the path toward enlightenment that he taught to relieve the suffering of all beings had somehow derailed into a dark road of rebirth in the lowest levels of hell?

By: Admin On 8/02/2012 04:47:00 pm

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