Helicopters Fire on Rohingya Refugees

[Zabaniyah]

Someone should help these poor people. Why is US and Europe quiet on this issue ?

they are busy with their 'humanitarian' mission in Syria

And that...

 

[jbond197]

Someone should help these poor people. Why is US and Europe quiet on this issue ?

I ask you the same question - Why US and Europe? You don't like them to begin with.

Why not call OIC and China?

 

[alaungphaya]

The British encouraged the Rohingya to settle in Myanmar as they did to all their other subjects from British India.

 

[kalu_miah]

- my government are not actively forcing anyone out. So far, the death toll is about the same as the LA riots. Propaganda mouthpieces like that Asad71 will try to claim there is a genocide but there is no evidence of anything like it.

- the world will not say anything about it because we haven't really done anything wrong. Sectarian violence is sectarian violence. What is written in our constitution is what it is. No one is being put on a death march. Infact, the only voice I hear is the UNHCR telling BD to open its borders.

Allow journalists, UN observers or Red-crescent/cross to go in and verify, and then come back and try to push your lies.

Leave UNHCR and Bangladesh out of it, they are not partners in Bamar junta's 6 decade long history of crimes and genocides against all ethnic minorities - Kachin, Karen, Mon, Shan, Rohingya etc.

 

[ahfatzia]

The UN and the Muslim world must step in to force the Myanmar Government to open some kind of refugee camps with Human Right Commission doing the monitoring until things settle down. The atrocities can enlarge and that's no good for everybody especially the Rakhinyas. Where the hell is the UN? Didn't it sent an envoy already?

 

[TopCat]

The British encouraged the Rohingya to settle in Myanmar as they did to all their other subjects from British India.

British had far better thing to do.. Your country should not had annexed Arakan.. Arakan would not had faced the problem it remained as free now.

 

[cloud_9]

Ok, but they are not getting killed. Get the point..

And majority of Burmese-Indians follow Hinduism and Islam.So it's not really a Muslim vs Buddhist thing as portrayed by the posters.

 

[asad71]

Arming the Rohingya may not be a good solution, because there is only 800,000 left and that number may not be enough to support an insurgency. Also Islamic insurgency will raise the specter of "Islamic terror".

I recommend for Bangladesh to find ways to support the other insurgencies in Burma - Kachin, Shan, Mon and Karen. Thailand and USA may already be helping them, but everything has to be covert, with plausible deniability and absolutely no evidence of any connection to Bangladesh. Laos also has border, they might be helpful also, together with Vietnam, although I have no idea how they feel about Bamar's and if they may take the risk of getting involved. USA/West may help as many of these rebel groups are Christians and its a human rights issue.

Both China and India have adopted the vicious imperial Bamar Junta (Bamar's are 20-25 million) who have built up a big army with Chinese and Indian support in the last few decades. Their goal is to wipe out or assimilate all minorities. In case of Rohingya, the Bamar do not want to assimilate but purge all of them, using Buddhist Rakhines, who share their hatred of Rohingya's. Essentially they are our Asian version of Hitler and Nazi, right in our neighborhood. This shows the depravity of China and India, both countries have sold out these minorities who are fighting for their lives, for the sake of economic and strategic self interest. Only USA/West did not give in, because of Suu Kyi's instruction. But Suu Kyi herself is a Bamar and her political power is based on Bamar support, so her main concern is democracy of Bamar's. Bamar's I think more or less agree with Junta policy, because for them its an issue of ensuring Bamar domination. I don't think Suu Kyi matters that much in the big picture. It is the military junta, their Rakhine armed militia and the rebel insurgents that are the key players in this theater. The Junta is using Suu Kyi's "democratic" reputation and goodwill to open up the country for FDI. Note, Hitler was also elected as democratic leader.

In any case, we need better intelligence assets to get more real information from the fiield.

1. Post British there hasn't been a census in Burma. Therefore these figures are motivated estimates. Rohingya elders quoting various NGOs claim there are about 4 mlln Rohingyas dispersed all over in the world. Half of them live in Arakan. The other half are internally displaced withing Burma- mainly in Rangoon, BD, S Arabia, Pakistan and elsewhere.

2. It is an honor among the Arakanese Muslims to become a Mujahid. Given an opportunity most youth like to go into one of the Mujahid camps at zero point BD-Burma border.

3. Rohingyas have been asking that BD authorities return their weapons, which were confiscated by BD security forces having been duped by cunning Burmese diplomats. They do not seek new arms. Anyway it is not arms they seek, but sympathy and support to base their operation in BD border areas.

4. For 70 years the Rohingyas have been shedding blood. They have learnt to accept sacrifices for freedom. These are very pure Muslims totally focused on their responsibilities and obligations as Muslims. It is a matter of time before they throw out the Burmese. They have caught world attention as never before. They have also aroused sympathy among the population of BD and the political parties except pro-Indian / pro-progressive parties(?) who are allergic to any pro-Islamic stance from BD.

 

[TopCat]

1. Post British there hasn't been a census in Burma. Therefore these figures are motivated estimates. Rohingya elders quoting various NGOs claim there are about 4 mlln Rohingyas dispersed all over in the world. Half of them live in Arakan. The other half are internally displaced withing Burma- mainly in Rangoon, BD, S Arabia, Pakistan and elsewhere.

2. It is an honor among the Arakanese Muslims to become a Mujahid. Given an opportunity most youth like to go into one of the Mujahid camps at zero point BD-Burma border.

3. Rohingyas have been asking that BD authorities return their weapons, which were confiscated by BD security forces having been duped by cunning Burmese diplomats. They do not seek new arms. Anyway it is not arms they seek, but sympathy and support to base their operation in BD border areas.

4. For 70 years the Rohingyas have been shedding blood. They have learnt to accept sacrifices for freedom. These are very pure Muslims totally focused on their responsibilities and obligations as Muslims. It is a matter of time before they throw out the Burmese. They have caught world attention as never before. They have also aroused sympathy among the population of BD and the political parties except pro-Indian / pro-progressive parties(?) who are allergic to any pro-Islamic stance from BD.

I would rather arm Rakhaine community with an assurance that they will not attack Bengalis there. Our tactics worked great with ULFA.

 

[fallstuff]

I wonder what the indians said when real Indians were kicked out of Uganda by Idi Amin ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expulsion_of_Indians_from_Uganda

On 4 August 1972, the then President of Uganda, Idi Amin, ordered the expulsion of his country's Indian minority, giving them 90 days to leave Uganda.[1] Amin said that he had had a dream in which God told him to order the expulsion.

The ethnic cleansing of the Indians in Uganda was conducted in a Indophobic climate in which Ugandan government claimed that the Indians were hoarding wealth and goods to the detriment of indigenous Africans and "sabotaging" the Ugandan economy.[2]


Former British colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa have many citizens of South Asian descent. They were brought there by the British Empire from British India to do clerical work in Imperial service, or unskilled/semi-skilled manual labour such as construction or farm work

They can't forget Idi Amin's horrors - Times Of India

 

[alaungphaya]

Allow journalists, UN observers or Red-crescent/cross to go in and verify, and then come back and try to push your lies.

Leave UNHCR and Bangladesh out of it, they are not partners in Bamar junta's 6 decade long history of crimes and genocides against all ethnic minorities - Kachin, Karen, Mon, Shan, Rohingya etc.

The UN and the Muslim world must step in to force the Myanmar Government to open some kind of refugee camps with Human Right Commission doing the monitoring until things settle down. The atrocities can enlarge and that's no good for everybody especially the Rakhinyas. Where the hell is the UN? Didn't it sent an envoy already?

AFAIK, journalists are banned but the UN certainly isn't. Infact, many Burmese were calling on the UN and journalists to go to Arakan as the initial reporting was very biased. I believe banning journalists is just protocal as there is a state of emergency declared. Draconian but nothing sinister. The Red Cross/Red Crescent isn't banned from there either.

The second guy said atrocities. What atrocities? So far there has been a big riot as there is often in that part of the country. About 50 people, on both sides, have died and 30000 people want to go back to Bangladesh. The amount of indignation here makes it sounds like the Burmese are building concentration camps. In reality, this is the last thing they want and international institutions have actually praised the restraint been shown. So far, the army still hasn't been deployed.

Here is a report from 10 days ago by the EU:

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union said on Monday it was satisfied with Myanmar's "measured" handling of the Muslim-Buddhist violence that engulfed one of its biggest towns at the weekend.

As rival mobs of Muslims and Buddhists torched houses in Sittwe, the biggest town in northwestern Myanmar, police fired into the air and Muslims fled to neighbouring Bangladesh.

The fighting was the worst communal violence since a reformist government replaced a junta last year, began to allow political pluralism and vowed to tackle ethnic divisions - moves that helped persuade the United States and European Union to suspend economic sanctions.

Brussels made clear that it did not believe this situation had changed, welcoming the "measured response" of President Thein Sein, who on Sunday warned against "never-ending hatred, desire for revenge and anarchic actions".

"We believe that the security forces are handling this difficult intercommunal violence in an appropriate way," said Maja Kocijanic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. "We welcome the priority which the Myanmar Government is giving to dealing with all ethnic conflicts."



EU states suspended most sanctions after the government released many political prisoners, allowed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her NLD party to contest by-elections, and lifted some repressive measures.

They had previously frozen the assets of nearly a thousand companies and institutions, and banned almost 500 people from entering the bloc.

At least eight people were killed and many wounded, authorities say, after fighting erupted on Friday in the town of Maungdaw, and quickly spread to Sittwe and nearby villages.

Late on Sunday, state-run MRTV announced curfews in three towns, including Thandwe, the gateway to Myanmar's tourist beaches, and Kyaukphyu, where China is building a port complex.

The United Nations said on Monday it had started evacuating staff from the area.

The violence could harm the tourism and foreign investment expected in Myanmar as it emerges from decades of army rule.

INVESTMENT NEED

Western firms are keen to help meet Myanmar's vast need for investment in health, telecommunications, housing, energy and other infrastructure after decades of isolation.

It also has large untapped resources of oil and natural gas and the potential to be a major exporter of rice and wood. Moreover, Myanmar neighbours the world's two biggest emerging markets, China and India.

Buddhists and Muslims have long lived in uneasy proximity in Sittwe, where ethnic Rakhine Buddhists were carrying bamboo stakes, machetes, slingshots and other makeshift weapons at the weekend after Muslims were seen setting houses on fire.

"We have now ordered troops to protect the airport and the Rakhine villages under attack in Sittwe," Zaw Htay, director of the president's office, told Reuters. "Arrangements are under way to impose a curfew in some other towns."



Some victims of the violence were from the stateless Rohingya group of Muslims, who live in abject conditions along Myanmar's border with Bangladesh and are despised by many Rakhine, who belong to the predominantly Buddhist majority.

About 100 Rohingyas tried to flee by boat into Bangladesh but were pushed back on Monday morning, Bangladesh's border guard said.

Five boats carrying about 200 Rohingyas were pushed back out to sea on Sunday, said Anwar Hossain, a major with the guard.

Rohingya activists have long demanded recognition in Myanmar as an indigenous ethnic group with full citizenship by birthright, claiming a centuries-old lineage in Rakhine State, where they number some 800,000.

But the government regards them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denies them citizenship. Bangladesh has refused to grant Rohingyas refugee status since 1992.

The authorities have blamed Rohingya mobs for the violence. But Rohingya activists and residents accuse ethnic Rakhine of terrorising their communities.

The western region has been tense for more than a week after the gang rape and murder of a Buddhist woman, widely blamed on Muslims, and the reprisal killing of 10 Muslims by a Buddhist mob a week ago.

State media said three men had gone on trial on Friday for the rape and murder.

(Reporting by Reuters in Sittwe, Nurul Islam in Bangladesh and Sebastian Moffett in Brussels. Writing by Andrew R.C. Marshall and Sebastian Moffett. Editing by Jason Szep and Robert Birsel)

Reuters

EU welcomes "measured" Myanmar response to rioting- swissinfo

 

[MST]

We've been hosting Rohingyas ever since 1978.

We thought that after Aung Saan Suu Kyi is released, and start the democracy process, the issue will be solved. Even now, we aren't seeing any signs of progress.

Ironically, her father, Gen. Aung San agreed with giving them citizenship in exchange for support. That was before he was assassinated.

And frankly, our patience is running thin over the Burmese.

How can you say that when these refugees are starving/getting killed. You are punishing them for Burmese Govts inaction/faults. Arguments/counter arguments i.e. politics can be done later. Right now you should give shelter to these people.

You yourself said that Myanmar took some of the refugees back. So that can happen again when things get back to normal. Right now there are riots going on in Arakan so persecuted people are running away. That's very natural in any country or region. That doesn't mean you should stop giving them shelter. This situation is not unique to Bangladesh. Most countries face this issue.

 

[kalu_miah]

I would rather arm Rakhaine community with an assurance that they will not attack Bengalis there. Our tactics worked great with ULFA.

Absolutely, if we can turn the Rakhines against Bamar (may be we should call them Bummer from now on, as they really deserve that name), that will be excellent. May be we can use some of our own Rakhines to infiltrate and make this happen.

I am opposed to arming Rohingya. Instead we should ally with and provide moral support for all non-Bamar ethnic groups:

- Kachin
- Karen
- Mon
- Shan
- Rakhine et al

Thailand, USA and rest of ASEAN may also help to provide material support.

As for ULFA, great point. Unfortunately that support vaporized lately.

 

[alaungphaya]

1. Post British there hasn't been a census in Burma. Therefore these figures are motivated estimates. Rohingya elders quoting various NGOs claim there are about 4 mlln Rohingyas dispersed all over in the world. Half of them live in Arakan. The other half are internally displaced withing Burma- mainly in Rangoon, BD, S Arabia, Pakistan and elsewhere.

There was a census in 1983.

2. It is an honor among the Arakanese Muslims to become a Mujahid. Given an opportunity most youth like to go into one of the Mujahid camps at zero point BD-Burma border.

Did everyone read this? Right out of the mouth of this paid commentator.

3. Rohingyas have been asking that BD authorities return their weapons, which were confiscated by BD security forces having been duped by cunning Burmese diplomats. They do not seek new arms. Anyway it is not arms they seek, but sympathy and support to base their operation in BD border areas.

Their operation? What operation would this be? Is it linked to the mujahids above?

4. For 70 years the Rohingyas have been shedding blood. They have learnt to accept sacrifices for freedom. These are very pure Muslims totally focused on their responsibilities and obligations as Muslims. It is a matter of time before they throw out the Burmese. They have caught world attention as never before. They have also aroused sympathy among the population of BD and the political parties except pro-Indian / pro-progressive parties(?) who are allergic to any pro-Islamic stance from BD.

If you are not a paid stooge, you are trying very hard to sound like one. A right wing islamist one at that.

You seem to have a clear political agenda.

 

[ahfatzia]

A total of 62 people have been killed in Myanmar's riot-hit Rakhine state from May 28 to June 21, a local government official told the local press media Thursday.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/NEWS/tabi...Myanmars-riot-hit-Rakhine-state-official.aspx


The number of deaths now is 62 and mostly likely will increase as days go on. If situations get out of hand things can deteriorate very bad.