Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing - Updates & Discussions

[wiseone2]

MM still a pony market to sell to. ASEAN a dead horse.

China sells 8 billion and India sells 6 billion to BD. Can it be beaten?

China and India are not cutting relationship with Myanmar over Bangladesh
If you think India is biased try asking China to support UN resolution against Myanmar


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - China, backed by Russia, blocked a short U.N. Security Council statement on Myanmar on Friday, diplomats said, after the 15-member body met to discuss the situation in Rakhine state, where the country's military is conducting a security operation.

The U.N. human rights office last month accused the military of mass killings and rapes of Rohingya Muslims and burning their villages since October in a campaign that "very likely" amounts to crimes against humanity and possibly ethnic cleansing.

U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman briefed the council behind closed doors. Britain requested the meeting.

"We did put forward ... some proposed press elements but there was not consensus in the room," British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, president of the council for March, told reporters after the briefing.

Such statements have to be agreed by consensus. Diplomats said Myanmar neighbor China, backed by Russia, blocked the statement.

The short draft press statement, seen by Reuters, would have "noted with concern renewed fighting in some parts of the country and stressed the importance of humanitarian access to all effected areas."

Some 75,000 people have fled Rakhine state to Bangladesh since Myanmar's military began a security operation last October in response to what it says was an attack by Rohingya insurgents on border posts in which nine police officers were killed.


The European Union called on Thursday for the United Nations to send an international fact-finding mission urgently to Myanmar to investigate allegations of torture, rapes and executions by the military against the Rohingya Muslim.

Following a closed-door council meeting in November and as Western nations became increasingly concerned about how Aung San Suu Kyi's government was dealing with violence in the divided northwest, Suu Kyi told diplomats in the capital, Naypyitaw, that her country was being treated unfairly.

Reporting by Michelle Nichols

You are wrong. Insurgents are pretty much alive. The objective of the insurgent were met.
MM gone back to the pariah state with immense international pressure. They are now under investigation.

investigation from whom ?

China, Russia block U.N. council concern about Myanmar violence
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - China, backed by Russia, blocked a short U.N. Security Council statement on Myanmar on Friday, diplomats said, after the 15-member body met to discuss the situation in Rakhine state, where the country's military is conducting a security operation.

The U.N. human rights office last month accused the military of mass killings and rapes of Rohingya Muslims and burning their villages since October in a campaign that "very likely" amounts to crimes against humanity and possibly ethnic cleansing.

U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman briefed the council behind closed doors. Britain requested the meeting.

"We did put forward ... some proposed press elements but there was not consensus in the room," British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, president of the council for March, told reporters after the briefing.

Such statements have to be agreed by consensus. Diplomats said Myanmar neighbor China, backed by Russia, blocked the statement.

The short draft press statement, seen by Reuters, would have "noted with concern renewed fighting in some parts of the country and stressed the importance of humanitarian access to all effected areas."

Some 75,000 people have fled Rakhine state to Bangladesh since Myanmar's military began a security operation last October in response to what it says was an attack by Rohingya insurgents on border posts in which nine police officers were killed.


The European Union called on Thursday for the United Nations to send an international fact-finding mission urgently to Myanmar to investigate allegations of torture, rapes and executions by the military against the Rohingya Muslim.

Following a closed-door council meeting in November and as Western nations became increasingly concerned about how Aung San Suu Kyi's government was dealing with violence in the divided northwest, Suu Kyi told diplomats in the capital, Naypyitaw, that her country was being treated unfairly.

Reporting by Michelle Nichols

 

[TopCat]

China and India are not cutting relationship with Myanmar over Bangladesh
If you think India is biased try asking China to support UN resolution against Myanmar


UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - China, backed by Russia, blocked a short U.N. Security Council statement on Myanmar on Friday, diplomats said, after the 15-member body met to discuss the situation in Rakhine state, where the country's military is conducting a security operation.

The U.N. human rights office last month accused the military of mass killings and rapes of Rohingya Muslims and burning their villages since October in a campaign that "very likely" amounts to crimes against humanity and possibly ethnic cleansing.

U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman briefed the council behind closed doors. Britain requested the meeting.

"We did put forward ... some proposed press elements but there was not consensus in the room," British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, president of the council for March, told reporters after the briefing.

Such statements have to be agreed by consensus. Diplomats said Myanmar neighbor China, backed by Russia, blocked the statement.

The short draft press statement, seen by Reuters, would have "noted with concern renewed fighting in some parts of the country and stressed the importance of humanitarian access to all effected areas."

Some 75,000 people have fled Rakhine state to Bangladesh since Myanmar's military began a security operation last October in response to what it says was an attack by Rohingya insurgents on border posts in which nine police officers were killed.


The European Union called on Thursday for the United Nations to send an international fact-finding mission urgently to Myanmar to investigate allegations of torture, rapes and executions by the military against the Rohingya Muslim.

Following a closed-door council meeting in November and as Western nations became increasingly concerned about how Aung San Suu Kyi's government was dealing with violence in the divided northwest, Suu Kyi told diplomats in the capital, Naypyitaw, that her country was being treated unfairly.

Reporting by Michelle Nichols



investigation from whom ?

China, Russia block U.N. council concern about Myanmar violence
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - China, backed by Russia, blocked a short U.N. Security Council statement on Myanmar on Friday, diplomats said, after the 15-member body met to discuss the situation in Rakhine state, where the country's military is conducting a security operation.

The U.N. human rights office last month accused the military of mass killings and rapes of Rohingya Muslims and burning their villages since October in a campaign that "very likely" amounts to crimes against humanity and possibly ethnic cleansing.

U.N. political affairs chief Jeffrey Feltman briefed the council behind closed doors. Britain requested the meeting.

"We did put forward ... some proposed press elements but there was not consensus in the room," British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft, president of the council for March, told reporters after the briefing.

Such statements have to be agreed by consensus. Diplomats said Myanmar neighbor China, backed by Russia, blocked the statement.

The short draft press statement, seen by Reuters, would have "noted with concern renewed fighting in some parts of the country and stressed the importance of humanitarian access to all effected areas."

Some 75,000 people have fled Rakhine state to Bangladesh since Myanmar's military began a security operation last October in response to what it says was an attack by Rohingya insurgents on border posts in which nine police officers were killed.


The European Union called on Thursday for the United Nations to send an international fact-finding mission urgently to Myanmar to investigate allegations of torture, rapes and executions by the military against the Rohingya Muslim.

Following a closed-door council meeting in November and as Western nations became increasingly concerned about how Aung San Suu Kyi's government was dealing with violence in the divided northwest, Suu Kyi told diplomats in the capital, Naypyitaw, that her country was being treated unfairly.

Reporting by Michelle Nichols

You have no clue what you talking about.

 

[wiseone2]

You have no clue what you talking about.

Bangladesh is a bigger market. Myanmar is too strategic for India and China.

 

[TopCat]

Bangladesh is a bigger market. Myanmar is too strategic for India and China.

Ok..

 

[Aung Zaya]

MM still a pony market to sell to. ASEAN a dead horse.

China sells 8 billion and India sells 6 billion to BD. Can it be beaten?

dead horse ? lol our PPP is more than ur guys. our export and import from China are $4.5b and $6b respectively so not much different with $8b of BD.

 

[Banglar Bir]

Hundreds died in Rohingya camps on Thai-Malaysia border
SAM Staff, July 22, 2017

Migrants collect rainwater at a temporary refugee camp near Kanyin Chaung jetty, in Myanmar in June 2015. These Rohingya and Bangladeshis were rescued from a boat carrying 734 people off Myanmar’s southern coast. They had been at sea for more than two months – at the end with little food or water. Photo: Reuters
More details have emerged about Thailand’s ugly trade in people now that a marathon trial has ended in Bangkok with 62 people convicted of human trafficking and other serious crimes.

Camps set up by traffickers in the jungle on the Thai-Malaysian border to hold Rohingya and other ‘boat people’ existed for many years prior to government crackdown in mid-2015 that curtailed the brutal trade, a key activist group has said.

Freeland, a Bangkok-based non-government group that fights wildlife trafficking and human slavery, worked with Thai police to identify key figures in the smuggling networks that were rounded up and put on trial.

The group said on Friday it “believes that more than 500 people died in the camps where the people in this particular trafficking chain were held, and that the camps were probably there for at least five years or more.”

It also had “digital forensics experts” able to help police access vital data on mobile phones found on drivers and in cars stopped with smuggled Rohingya on board. Data on the phones indicated “the precise route the drivers had taken on multiple occasions… [and] filled in pieces of the trafficking supply chain, and ultimately uncovered the location of some holding camps.”

The data also allegedly led to bank transfers to a senior military officer convicted of trafficking, Lieutenant General Manas Kongpaen. Manas, who was sentenced to 27 years jail, was involved in the notorious ‘pushbacks’ affair in December 2008 and January 2009, when vessels carrying hundreds of Rohingya were towed back into the Andaman Sea and set adrift.

A transcript of the court verdict says that Manas admitted using funds from the International Organization of Migration (IOM) to help pay for the ‘pushbacks’, which sparked a global furore, as hundreds were believed to have died at sea.

IOM investigating claim its funds were misused

IOM officials were shocked when notified about this on Friday – and scrambled to go through its accounts to determine if money was diverted from projects in southern Thailand.

IOM had a $1 million migrant health project over five years (2005-09) split between Ranong and Samut Sakhon provinces, the spokesman said. The project “provided basic healthcare, psycho-social help and some non-food aid (probably hygiene kits and clothing) to 200 or so Rohingya migrants who were detained in the Ranong Immigration Detention Centre.

‘Everyone knew about it’

“Everyone knew about it. And few people thought it was wrong. We were shown big houses in Ranong and Kuraburi, where locals claimed they were constructed from the proceeds of trafficking.

Initially, he said, people involved felt they were doing it for good reasons, but after a few years “greedy people” appeared to take over the trade and the treatment of Rohingya got much worse.

Freeland, headed by American Steve Galster, said the Rohingya who sought work in Malaysia were put into three classes by the traffickers once they arrived at the camps in southern Thailand.

“Those in good enough physical condition, young, male and strong, were sold to be militants for the opposition party of Malaysia. The older and weaker were sold as labor to either to Malaysian rubber or palm oil farms, or into the fishing industry. A wife and child could accompany them, as long as the buyer was prepared to pay more.

“The third class was the weakest or those with other means to access money. They included the ill, old, women and children. They were kept in the jungle camps and their only options were either for a relative in Thailand to pay a ‘ransom’ for their release or to stay in the camps until they died. Living on one packet of noodles a day and river water most people were in the camp only between 3-6 months.”

The two-year court trial, which ended with 62 people convicted, was very complex, and hampered by many serious challenges, but Freeland was among the groups that lauded the outcome.
http://southasianmonitor.com/2017/07/22/hundreds-died-rohingya-camps-thai-malaysia-border/

 

[Banglar Bir]

EDITORIAL
Persecuted Rohingya Muslims vis-à-vis Suu Kyi, OIC, UN

Helpless victims of frenzied anti-Muslim communal fire, racist pogrom and irrefutable ethnic cleansing, the starving emaciated hapless Rohingya Muslim men, women and children had to run for their life, leaving their hearth and home in Myanmar as wretched victims of violent followers of Gautama Budddha who preached peace, harmony, fraternity, altruism and humanism.

A United Nations special rapporteur has issued a strongly worded statement accusing Myanmar of implementing policies reminiscent of the previous military government, and of presiding over a worsening security and human rights situation.Yanghee Lee, after ending a 12-day visit to Myanmar on July 25, 2017, had a catalogue of concerns, including reports of killings, torture, the use of human shields by security forces, deaths in custody, and an ongoing humanitarian crisis for the Rohingyas and other minorities forced from their homes.

Myanmar army has been accused of carrying out a bloody crackdown in the western state of Rakhine, leading thousands of the long-persecuted Muslim minority to cross the border into Bangladesh this month. The government has attacked media reports of rapes and killings, and lodged a protest over a UN official in Bangladesh who said the state was carrying out “ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya Muslims. More than half of the 101 women interviewed by the UN reported either rape or sexual assault before fleeing Rakhine State — the youngest was 11 years old.Sixty-four percent of those interviewed reporting burning or destruction of property while 37 percent said their own property had been stolen or looted. There were also allegations of torture, including beating and sexual humiliation.[Vide Abuse of Rohingya Muslims in Burma may be ‘crimes against humanity’: Army accused of gang rape, torture and murder”; The Independent.co.uk dated 30 November 2016]

The UN OHCHR said Burma’s treatment of the Rohingya could be tantamount to crimes against humanity, reiterating the findings of a June report, as former UN chief Kofi Annan began a week-long visit that will include a trip to northern Rakhine. “The government has largely failed to act on the recommendations made in a report by the UN Human Rights Office... [that] raised the possibility that the pattern of violations against the Rohingya may amount to crimes against humanity,” the OHCHR said in a statement. Foreign journalists and independent investigators have been banned from accessing the area to investigate the claims.They have made horrifying claims of gang rape, torture and murder at the hands of security forces. Around 30,000 have fled their homes and analysis of satellite images by Human Rights Watch found hundreds of buildings in Rohingya villages have been burned. [Ibid]

In August, Mr Annan headed a special commission to investigate how to mend bitter religious and ethnic divides that split the impoverished state. Mr Annan has expressed “deep concern” over the violence in Rakhine, which has seen thousands of angry Muslims take to the streets across Asia in protest. Rape, torture and child murder have been alleged in new UN report into Rakhine State. Myanmar’s security forces are waging a brutal campaign of murder, rape and torture in Rakhine State, a new UN report released on February 4, 2017 has alleged. Eyewitness statements in the report detail “unprecedented” levels of violence, include burning people alive, raping girls as young as 11 and cutting children’s throats. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement the report indicates “very likely commission of crimes against humanity.” [Ben Westcott, CNN, February 4, 2017 ]

Out of the 220 people interviewed, the report said 65percent had witnessed killings, while just under half had personally had a family member murdered.A woman from Kyet Yoe Pyin village alleged her 5-year-old daughter was killed when she tried to stop attackers from raping her mother.Rohingya Muslims targeted in Myanmar. “She was screaming, one of the men took out a long knife and killed her by slitting her throat,” the report says.A young girl told interviewers soldiers killed her father, then raped her mother before locking her inside the family’s house and burning it down. “All this happened before my eyes,” she said.[Ibid]

More than 168,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar in the last five years as a result of violence and desperation, a new report on forced displacement in South-East Asia by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency estimates. UNHCR’s 2016 Report on Mixed Movements in South-East Asia highlights the complex dynamics behind the whys and hows of the continuing exodus from Rakhine state. Sources range from government to non-governmental organizations, media reports as well as more than 1,000 direct interviews with the Rohingya community in the region. While Rohingya displacement has persisted for decades, it made headlines last October when attacks on border posts in northern Rakhine state triggered a security clearance operation that drove an estimated 43,000 civilians into Bangladesh by year’s end. By February this year, the estimate stood at 74,000.

Many of the new arrivals in Bangladesh’s camps and makeshift sites told UNHCR about the burnings, lootings, shootings, rapes and arrests they escaped back home.“These children, women and men are highly vulnerable. They risk being re-victimized even in exile unless urgent action is taken,” said Shinji Kubo, UNHCR’s Representative in Bangladesh. “Many of them need adequate shelter before the rainy season starts. Without proper support, they also face risks such as child labour, gender-based violence and trafficking.”

Bottom line is, Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi is rather mysteriously reticent about the man-made disaster resulting in wretched stateless existence perpetrated by the Burmese Army. The OIC is not active yet. What next?

http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/Pages/UserHome.aspx?ID=4&date=0#Tid=14462

 

[Banglar Bir]

Chinese troops sent to Myanmar border, says TNLA
SAM Staff, August 2, 2017

Chinese troops are positioning along the China-Myanmar border in preparation of further conflict between the Tatmadaw and rebels, according to an ethic armed group.

Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers have been deployed along the border areas near Mongko, Kyukote (Pang Hseng) and Namhkam townships in Shan State since July 25, said brigadier general Mai Phone Kyaw, spokesman of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).

The TNLA, along with its Northern Alliance partners the Kachin Independent Army (KIA), Kokang’s Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and the Arakan Army (AA), launched an operation on the 105-mile border trade zone in on November 20, 2016.

With fighting ongoing between Tatmadaw troops and the MNDAA and TNLA in northern Shan State, the Chinese may have anticipated another operation by the Northern Alliance and readied their forces in order to avoid an impact on China, said U Maung Maung Soe, an analyst on federal and ethnic affairs.

China had received incorrect intelligence warning of a Northern Alliance attack on border townships, said brigadier general Mai Phone Kyaw, adding that the Chinese government had asked them for confirmation about another possible attack recently.

The brigadier general explained that although there were clashes with the Tatmadaw in areas controlled by the MNDAA and TNLA, the alliance has no plans to conduct another operation similar to that of November 20.

The Irrawaddy could not reach the public affair and psychological warfare director’s office under the defense ministry for government comment on the reports of a coming attack.

Dr. Hla Kyaw Zaw, an expert on Myanmar affairs who is based on the China-Myanmar border, told The Irrawaddy, “The peace process has become broken but it can be fixed again. It will not be straightforward. As now is the rainy season, there won’t be any operations, but we don’t know what will come after the rain is over.”

The KIA, TNLA, MNDAA and AA are also members of the Federal Political Negotiation Consultative Committee (FPNCC), which was formed with seven ethnic armed groups and led by the United Wa State Army (UWSA) to hold peace talks with the government.

http://southasianmonitor.com/2017/08/02/chinese-troops-sent-myanmar-border-says-tnla/

 

[bluesky]

Chinese troops sent to Myanmar border, says TNLA
SAM Staff, August 2, 2017

Chinese troops are positioning along the China-Myanmar border in preparation of further conflict between the Tatmadaw and rebels, according to an ethic armed group.

The Bamans of Myanmar live in the 6th Century world whereby they contempt and bully all other nationalities in their own country who do not happen to wear the tag of Bamans. Myanmar cannot be called a country as its main nationality Banans have continuously failed to upgrade their civility and instead keep on fighting other non-Bamans. Now, they are instigating various groups to fight each other.

 

[Banglar Bir]

OIC for BD-Myanmar interfaith dialogue on Rohingya issue

Special Correspondent

Visiting Secretary General of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Dr Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen on Thursday suggested holding an interfaith dialogue between Bangladesh’s Muslim religious leaders and Myanmar’s Buddhist religious leaders to resolve the Rohingya problem.
“The dialogue will help develop a better understanding among them (leaders) and resolve the Rohingya problem,” Dr Yousef said when he met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office in the morning.
After the meeting, PM’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters.

The OIC Secretary General thanked Bangladesh for very generous intiative by giving shelter to Rohingya refugees
Sheikh Hasina said the problem, in fact, started in 1991 and now there are some four lakh undocumented Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. “We’re pursuing Myanmar to take back their nationals as I can’t throw them out,” she added.

Hasina said her government has already earmarked an island to give temporary shelter to the Rohingya refugees so that they could live in a better condition.
In response, the OIC Secretary General appreciated the move saying, “It’s a brilliant idea.”
The Prime Minister said the border guards of both Bangladesh and Myanmar are also having talks between them and they have developed good relations.
Dr Yousef also strongly denounced the twin menace of terrorism and extremism, and said Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance.
Hasina said her government has adopted a ‘zero-tolerance’ stance to this end and involved cross-section of people to neutralise it.

She mentioned that people from all strata like imams, teachers and guardians are also participating in combating terrorism and militancy, and it has yielded a positive result.
The Prime Minister alleged some political parties have been patronising terrorism in the country saying there is no room for terrorism in Islam.
Noting that communal harmony exits in the country, she said that country’s people are now leaving in peace and harmony.

Echoing the OIC Secretary General, Hasina said, “Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance.”
She said her government’s aim is to establish Bangladesh as a peaceful country to ensure peace and basic needs of all people for which Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had struggled and devoted his entire life.

The OIC Secretary General appreciated Bangladesh’s tremendous socioeconomic development under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s leadership.
“I always say you’re a successful leader and a shining example of Muslim women in the world,” he told Sheikh Hasina.

About Bangladeshi workers, Dr Yousef said they are resilient, hardworking and professional ones.
He noted with happiness that Bangladesh is hosting two important events—OIC Foreign Ministers’ Conference and OIC Tourism Ministers’ Conference—next year.
Dr Yousef said the OIC will be happy to participate in any women development programme in Bangladesh.

The OIC secretary general said his organisation is likely to introduce scholarship programmes for the students of its member states in the fields of science, technology and medicine.
Mentioning the ongoing government stride towards setting up some 100 economic zones across the country, Hasina welcomed investments from OIC members countries in these EZs.
Extending her thanks to the OIC Secretary General for his huge appreciation over the country’s massive socio-economic uplift, Hasina said the aim of her government is to free the country from poverty alongside creating jobs in rural areas.

The Prime Minister congratulated the OIC Secretary General on his election to the new position.
PM’s International Affairs Adviser Dr Gowher Rizvi, PMO Senior Secretary Suraiya Begum, were, among others, present on the occasion.

The OIC secretary general arrived Dhaka on Wednesday night on a four-day official maiden visit to Bangladesh since his assumption of office of the Jeddah-based organisation.
Dr Othaimeen, the former social affairs minister of Saudi Arabia, was elected as the new secretary-general of the OIC on November 17 last year. Founded in 1969, the OIC consists of 57-member states.

http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/Pages/UserHome.aspx?ID=3&date=0#Tid=14501

 

[bluesky]

04 Aug 2017, 19:11:22


'World to be informed about torture stories on Rohingyas'


Photo: UNB
Visiting Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Dr Yousef bin Ahmad Al Othaimeen said the world will be informed about shocking tales of brutalities carried by Myanmar army on Rohingya people.

The OIC Secretary General made the remarks while talking to journalists after visiting the Kutupalong Camp in Ukhia upazila of Cox's Bazar on Friday, reports UNB.

He held a meeting with government and non-government officials at the unregistered camp before entering inside the camp.

The OIC chief had a long conversation with a number of women who were brutally tortured in Myanmar by the Myanmar Army. He also had separate conversations with a group of another 30 males and females in an IOM-run school.

Dr Othaimeen expressed OIC’ sympathy and solidarity with the Rakhine Muslims there.

He said pressure will be put on Myanmar to give the Rakhine Muslims citizenship and returning their assets so that they go back to their own country.

Dr Othaimeen thanked the Bangladesh government and its people for hosting Rohingya people for decades. He also urged the Rohingya people to abide by Bangladeshi laws.

Senior government officials, BGB senior officials and representatives of international bodies were present.

 

[Banglar Bir]

12:00 AM, August 05, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:47 AM, August 05, 2017
Take back Rohingyas
OIC chief calls upon Myanmar, says main responsibility to solve the crisis lies with it

OIC Secretary General Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen visiting Kutupalong area of Ukhia upazila in Cox's Bazar yesterday. During the visit, he talked to Rohingya refugees and listened to stories of their persecution by security forces in Myanmar. Photo: Star

Diplomatic Correspondent

Urging Myanmar to take back Rohingya populations from Bangladesh, visiting OIC Secretary General Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen yesterday said Myanmar should resolve the ongoing humanitarian crisis over the persecuted minorities.

“Main responsibility to resolve this longstanding crisis is Myanmar's,” he said and called for concrete steps in this regard during his visit to Ukhia upazila in Cox's Bazar.

He met refugees at two camps -- one registered and another unregistered -- and talked to those who escaped Rakhine state following grave human rights violations and widespread persecution by Myanmar security forces.

The OIC chief listened to horrific stories of killings, torture, rape, use of human shields by security forces and deaths in custody. He said the world will be informed of these rights violations.

Rohingya refugees have been a big headache for Bangladesh as the country has been hosting 3,00,000 to 5,00,000 of them for over three decades. After the latest crackdown began on October 9, 2016, some 75,000 new members of the Myanmarese Muslims entered Bangladesh.


Expressing OIC's solidarity with the Muslims there, Othaimeen said pressure will be put on Myanmar to give them citizenship and return their assets so that the refugees can go back to their own country.

He held a meeting with local government and non-government officials.

The OIC Secretary General had a long conversation with a number of women who were brutally tortured by the Myanmar troops. He also had separate conversations with a group of another 30 males and females in an IOM-run school.

While talking to journalists, Othaimeen thanked the government and the people of Bangladesh for hosting the refugees for more than three decades and for providing humanitarian assistances to them.

During his conversation with the Myanmarese refugees, he also urged the Rohingya people to abide by Bangladeshi laws.

Senior government officials, senior BGB officials and representatives of international bodies were present there.

Earlier on Thursday, the OIC chief reminded Myanmar that Rohingya people must be granted full citizenship and basic rights.

"Rohingya people are denied their basic rights. They need to be recognised … They must return to their country. They must have their full citizenship," he said.

Othaimeen, who arrived here on Wednesday night on a four-day tour, also called upon Myanmar government to come up with a roadmap on how to go forward to settle the issue peacefully.

This was Othaimeen's first visit to Bangladesh.

He met President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali on Thursday.

On July 24, United Nations Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee, after her visit to Myanmar, accused its government of adopting policies reminiscent of the previous military regime and presiding over a worsening security and human rights situation.

“I continue to receive reports of violations allegedly committed by security forces during operations,” she said.

Besides, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi at a press conference on July 10 after meeting refugees in Cox's Bazar said the Muslim minorities in Rakhine state cannot move freely without authorisation and cannot access basic services like healthcare, education and their livelihoods easily.

“These people deserve a better future than the present conditions of extreme poverty, deprivation and isolation,” the UN high commissioner said and put emphasis on implementation of the citizenship verification process “efficiently and rapidly” which will help unblock all the remaining barriers to the solution.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/take-back-rohingyas-1443805

 

[Banglar Bir]

The Stateless Rohingya ·
The head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has called on the international community to help Myanmar’s #Rohingya Muslims living in Bangladeshi refugee camps.

https://www.facebook.com/

Credit: Press TV

 

[Banglar Bir]

Violence follows confrontation between villagers, police in Rakhine
SAM Staff, August 5, 2017

Hundreds of people from Outt Nan village in Myanmar’s Rakhine State’s Rathedaung Township resisted security forces on Friday when policemen attempted to arrest men suspected of being militants, according to the State Counselor’s Office and locals from the neighboring village of Zay Di Pyin.

According to U Maung Soe Win, an elder within the largely Buddhist Arakanese Zay Di Pyin village, four suspects were apprehended from Outt Nan while two managed to escape after hundreds of villagers surrounded a dozen policemen and fought back against the armed security forces with machetes, slingshots, and darts.

“Villagers witnessed a huge crowd chasing policemen into a large field,” said another Zay Di Pyin resident U Maung Khin Win.

According to U Maung Khin Win, villagers from a third community, Chwat Pyin, reported the discovery of militant training camps in the Mayu mountain range of northern Rakhine State as they searched for a missing local in July. They then informed the border police, who, following an investigation, arrested a man named Anatulah from Ahtet Nan village on July 27 for allegedly attending a training in the camp months earlier, according to the State Counselor’s Office Information Committee.

While detained, Anatulah reportedly revealed the names of other trainees, as well as camp leaders. This information led to a border police raid by Maj Okka Aung and 25 troops in the Muslim village of Outt Nan on Friday morning.

A statement by the State Counselor’s Office said that police initially arrested six suspects but that nearly 300 villagers surrounded the policemen, who then fired 15 warning shots, but the crowd did not disperse. The statement said that the crowd then “attacked” police, leading to the escape of two suspects.

Villagers from Zay Di Pyin said that a local imam was among the escapees, but at the time of reporting, this could not be verified.

The government statement said that the police were followed by Outt Nan villagers until they left the area, and in total, shot around 50 rounds. It did not mention any injuries or casualties. However, both Buddhist and Muslim residents of Zay Di Pyin told The Irrawaddy over the phone on Friday that, from the scene that was witnessed, they believed some Outt Nan residents endured gunshot wounds which may have been fatal. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify these claims with the border police at the time of reporting.

Representatives from Rathedaung police station declined to comment on Friday’s conflict, but authorities have reportedly been deployed to the area surrounding Outt Nan and Zay Di Pyin to search for the suspects.

SOURCE THE IRRAWADDY
http://southasianmonitor.com/2017/08/05/violence-follows-confrontation-villagers-police-rakhine/

 

[Banglar Bir]

Myanmar govt probe finds no campaign of abuse against Rohingya
SAM Staff, August 7, 2017

A government-appointed commission on Sunday cleared Myanmar security forces of systematic rape, murder and arson against Rohingya Muslims, dismissing United Nations’ (UN) allegations of widespread abuses during a recent crackdown.

The commission examined the deadly violence which began in northwestern Rakhine State in October last year after attacks by Rohingya militants on police posts near the Bangladesh border.

The government is refusing to allow a UN fact-finding team to conduct its own probe into whether the security response amounted to “ethnic cleansing” of the stateless Rohingya minority.

Giving their conclusions on Sunday, a state-backed commission said it found no evidence that Myanmar security forces carried out a systematic campaign of rape, murder or arson.

Instead any “excessive actions” were likely committed by low-rank “individual members of the security forces”.

“Some incidents (of abuse) appeared to be fabricated… others had little evidence,” according to a press release by the commission.

It also took aim at a detailed report by the UN’s Human Rights Office released in February this year.

That report said it was “very likely” that crimes against humanity had been committed during the crackdown.

Based on interviews with 204 witnesses who fled to Bangladesh, the UN alleged Myanmar security forces gang-raped Rohingya women, butchered children and tortured men.

But “no such cases were uncovered” by the government commission, which said the UN findings lacked balance and failed to recognise the gravity of the attacks by Rohingya militants.

Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is a Nobel Peace Prize winner, is blocking a visit by a UN team.

She says the government commission is an adequate response to the violence, which left scores dead and displaced tens of thousands of Rohingya to Bangladesh.

The Rohingya are reviled in Myanmar and widely seen as illegal immigrants.

Stateless, poor and subject to tight controls on movement, education and work, roughly 1 million of the Muslim group are hemmed into the impoverished border zone ─ which remains locked down and under curfew.

The commission conceded that foreign media and NGOs should have been granted access to the zone during the conflict to dispel “misconceptions”.

It also called for rights training for low-level security officers, urged local officials to tackle corruption and called for swift and fair trials of suspected militants.

Rakhine State remains violent and on edge.

The government says foreign-backed Rohingya militants are still active in the conflict area, accusing them of killing perceived state collaborators and running “terror” training camps.

Last week seven Buddhists were found dead in the conflict area.

Rohingya villages also continue to be raided.

On Friday, up to 50 “warning shots” were fired at a Rohingya village during a raid.

Unverifiable images on social media showed several people wounded by bullets allegedly fired in the episode.
http://southasianmonitor.com/2017/08/07/myanmar-govt-probe-finds-no-campaign-abuse-rohingya/