Tag: Burma

Anti-Rohingya Protests Greet Malaysia Rohingya Aid Ship

A Malaysian ship carrying aid for thousands of Rohingya Muslims who have fled a bloody army crackdown arrived in Yangon Thursday, where it was met by nationalist protesters.

Health workers and activists crowded onto the deck of the Nautical Aliya as it docked at Thilawa port near Myanmar’s commercial capital carrying food, medical aid and clothing.

Myanmar’s social welfare minister was among a delegation meeting the ship, which has been at the centre of a rare diplomatic spat with fellow ASEAN member Malaysia.

Outside the docking area, dozens of Buddhist monks and demonstrators waited waving national flags and signs reading: “No Rohingya.”

“We want to let them know that we have no Rohingya here,” a Buddhist monk named Thuseitta, from the Yangon chapter of the Patriotic Myanmar Monks Union, told AFP at the docks.

Myanmar denies citizenship to the million-strong Rohingya, despite many of them living on its soil for generations.

Buddhist nationalist groups are especially strong in their vitriol, rejecting them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

Hundreds of Rohingya are thought to have been killed in a brutal campaign launched by security forces in October, which the United Nations says may amount to ethnic cleansing.

Tens of thousands have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, bringing harrowing tales of murder and rape.

Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya has sparked criticism from Muslim-majority Malaysia, in a rare spat between Southeast Asian neighbours.

Myanmar initially refused to allow the ship into its waters and has barred it from sailing to Rakhine’s state capital Sittwe.

Part of the aid will instead be unloaded in Yangon and transported overland to the north of Rakhine state, site of the military crackdown.

The rest will be taken to Teknaf port in southern Bangladesh, where almost 70,000 Rohingya have fled since October to escape the violence.

The government has also demanded that the aid be distributed to both Rohingya and Buddhist ethnic Rakhines.

The delivery comes days after a blistering report from the UN accused Myanmar’s security forces of carrying out a campaign of rape, torture and mass killings against the Rohingya.

Based on interviews with hundreds of escapees in Bangladesh, investigators said the military’s “calculated policy of terror” very likely amounted to ethnic cleansing.

For months Myanmar has dismissed similar testimony gathered by foreign media and rights groups as “fake news” and curtailed access to the region.

The UN’s top official on preventing genocide, Adama Dieng, said this week that a government commission tasked with investigating allegations of abuse was “not a credible option”.

Critics have rejected the state-appointed body, which is led by retired general and Vice President Myint Swe and includes no Muslims, as toothless and biased.

In a meeting on Wednesday Myint Swe admitted that “among the facts and accusations included in the (UN) report, there may be something special to be investigated,” state media reported.

Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

February 10, 2017
3 Myanmar Police Officers Found Guilty Of Abusing Rohingya Civilians, Sentenced To 2 Months Detention

YANGON — Three police officers have been sentenced to two months detention over a video showing them abusing Rohingya civilians, security sources told AFP on Wednesday (Feb 8), saying those involved had “no intention” to cause harm.

Authorities detained several officers last month for beating Rohingya villagers during operations in the north of Rakhine state, where security forces are hunting militants behind raids on border posts.

Nearly 70,000 Rohingya have fled to camps in southern Bangladesh since the lockdown started four months ago, bringing horrific stories of mass rape, murder, torture and arson.

A UN report released on Friday based on interviews with escapees said hundreds of people have likely been killed in a “calculated policy of terror” that may amount to ethnic cleansing.

Despite the mounting evidence, Myanmar’s government has largely dismissed allegations of widespread abuses against the Muslim minority, who most in the country consider a group of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

The beating video, which appeared online in Dec, was a rare exception where authorities have taken action.

The footage showed police hitting a young boy around the head as he walked to where dozens of villagers were lined up in rows seated on the ground, hands behind their heads.

Several officers in uniform then start attacking one of the sitting men, beating him with a stick and kicking him repeatedly in the face.

Three junior police were handed down two month sentences over the video, police sources told AFP, including the officer who filmed it previously named as Zaw Myo Htike by state media.

However the officers are not serving their time in a civilian prison, but instead in a jail for police.

Three senior police including a major were also demoted and their service terms were reduced for failing to enforce discipline.

“They didn’t have any intention to hurt them,” a senior police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity, referring to the treatment of the Rohingya villagers.

“During the operation, villagers said abusive words to security forces… such action was taken because they failed to follow police procedure.”

A local police officer in Maungdaw also confirmed the officers were sentenced last month, blaming the events on the stress of working in northern Rakhine.

“Police are dealing with many pressures on the ground and we have to risk our lives dealing with terrorists,” he said.

Source: www.todayonline.com

February 9, 2017
Prominent Muslim Lawyer And Legal Adviser To NLD Assassinated At Yangon Airport

A prominent Muslim lawyer and legal adviser to the National League for Democracy was shot and killed at the Yangon airport yesterday afternoon, according to a senior member of the ruling party. Police believe the shooting was a targeted assassination. A taxi driver was also reportedly killed while trying to chase down the gunman.

U Ko Ni was returning from Indonesia where he was part of a delegation attending a senior leadership meeting in Jakarta. He was waiting at the taxi station just in front of the airport terminal at around 4:30pm when he was shot in the head from close range and killed immediately.

“It is a very sorrowful thing for Myanmar, and a very big loss for the country, I have to say,” U Win Htein, a member of the NLD’s central executive committee, told The Myanmar Times yesterday.

According to a police report obtained by The Myanmar Times and signed by Police Officer Myo Naing, the suspected shooter is a 53-year-old man from Mandalay. The suspect has been arrested and is being questioned by police. No motive has been identified for the murder.

The 42-year-old taxi driver, U Nay Win, was shot and critically injured while pursuing the shooter. He later died in the hospital, according to his wife. He is also survived by his three children, including a 45-day old baby.

Source: www.mmtimes.com

January 31, 2017
International Crisis Group: Rohingyas Involved In Attack On Border Guards Headed With People With Links To Pakistan And Saudi Arabia

A group of Rohingya Muslims that attacked Myanmar border guards in October is headed by people with links to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said on Thursday, citing members of the group.

The coordinated attacks on Oct. 9 killed nine policemen and sparked a crackdown by security forces in the Muslim-majority northern sector of Rakhine State in the country’s northwest.

At least 86 people have been killed, according to state media, and the United Nations has estimated 27,000 members of the largely stateless Rohingya minority have fled across the border to Bangladesh.

Predominantly Buddhist Myanmar’s government, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, blamed Rohingyas supported by foreign militants for the Oct. 9 attacks, but has issued scant additional information about the assailants it called “terrorists.”

A group calling itself Harakah al-Yakin claimed responsibility for the attacks in video statements and the Brussels-based ICG said it had interviewed four members of the group in Rakhine State and two outside Myanmar, as well as individuals in contact with members via messaging apps.

The Harakah al-Yakin, or Faith Movement, was formed after communal violence in 2012 in which more than 100 people were killed and about 140,000 displaced in Rakhine State, most of them Rohingya, the group said.

Rohingya who have fought in other conflicts, as well as Pakistanis or Afghans, gave clandestine training to villagers in northern Rakhine over two years ahead of the attacks, it said.

“It included weapons use, guerrilla tactics and, HaY members and trainees report, a particular focus on explosives and IEDs,” the group said, referring to improvised explosive devices.

It identified Harakah al-Yakin’s leader, who has appeared prominently in a series of nine videos posted online, as Ata Ullah, born in Karachi, Pakistan, to a Rohingya migrant father before moving as a child to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

“Though not confirmed, there are indications he went to Pakistan and possibly elsewhere, and that he received practical training in modern guerrilla warfare,” the group said. It noted that Ata Ullah was one of 20 Rohingya from Saudi Arabia leading the group’s operations in Rakhine State.

Separately, a committee of 20 senior Rohingya emigres oversees the group, which has headquarters in Mecca, the ICG said.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a news briefing on Thursday that the United States was aware of the report and reviewing it, but declined to comment further.

Groups like Islamic State and al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent have referred to the plight of the Rohingya in their material, and the battlefield experience of at least some of the Rohingya fighters implied links to international militants, the ICG said.

However, ICG said the group has notably not engaged in attacks on the civilian Buddhist population in Rakhine. Harakah al-Yakin’s statements to date indicate its main goals are to end the persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar and secure the minority’s citizenship status.

“It is possible, however, that its objectives could evolve, given its appeals to religious legitimacy and links to international jihadist groups, so it is essential that government efforts do not focus only or primarily on military approaches, but also address underlying community grievances and suffering,” the ICG said.

Source: www.reuters.com

December 16, 2016
Walid J. Abdullah: Do Not Forget About The Concept Of ‘Justice’ In Islam

Lately, people have been emphasising the importance of the concept of mercy in Islam. Personally, i feel this is a great thing. I do wish at times that some Muslims would follow the example of our Christian brethren in underscoring love and mercy in their faith. Gentleness would undoubtedly be a better ambassador than harshness in most cases.

Yet, one must be cognizant of certain realities. One who constantly talks about love and mercy, but chooses to remain silent when there is a need to speak of justice and condemn oppression, has very little credibility then when he/she champions the former qualities as essential aspects of Islam. It is only natural that people would question what his/her motives are when he reiterates love and mercy, but neglects justice or fairness.

What, or perhaps whose, agenda is one serving when one engages in such cherrypicking?

To paraphrase Professor Tariq Ramadan, when people with religious authority condemn acts of violence by the lay people, but are silent when dictators commit oppression, that is a sure way to drive more young people toward the path of extremism.

It is indeed strange that some people harp on mercy, but ignore justice. Worse still are those who are quick to display harshness when Muslims are aggressors, but somehow suddenly find their merciful side when Muslims are victims, or when powerful people are doing the oppressing.

Source: Walid J. Abdullah

December 15, 2016