MUSLIM ROHINGYAS UNDER VIVIOUS ATTACK IN MYANMAR
SITTWE, Myanmar (Reuters) - A human rights group expressed concern for the safety of thousands of Muslims on Saturday after revealing satellite images of a once-thriving coastal community reduced to ashes during a week of violence in western Myanmar.
The images released
by the New York-based Human Rights Watch show "near total destruction"
of a predominantly Rohingya Muslim part of Kyaukpyu, one of several
areas in Rakhine state where battles between Rohingyas and ethnic
Rakhine Buddhists threaten to derail the former Burma's fragile
democratic transition.
More than 811 buildings and houseboats were razed in Kyaukpyu on
October 24, forcing many Rohingya to flee north by sea toward the state
capital Sittwe, said Human Rights Watch.
"Burma's government urgently needs to provide security for the Rohingya in Arakan (Rakhine) State, who are under vicious attack," said Phil Robertson, the group's deputy Asia director.
"Burma's government urgently needs to provide security for the Rohingya in Arakan (Rakhine) State, who are under vicious attack," said Phil Robertson, the group's deputy Asia director.
There were widespread
unconfirmed reports of boatloads of Rohingyas trying to cross the sea
border to neighbouring Bangladesh, which has denied them refugee status
since 1992.
Dozens of boats full of Rohingyas with no food or
water had fled Kyaukpyu, an industrial zone important to China, and
other recent hotspots were seeking access on Friday to overcrowded
refugee camps around the state capital Sittwe, according to four
Rohingya refugee sources.
Source: The Star...More...
BURMA BIZARRE OFFICIAL POLICY
Burma is in keeping with a bizarre official policy which denies Rohingyas official status, the right to move around, even to marry without permission, despite the fact that they have lived in western Burma for more than a thousand years.A memo faxed to journalists by the Burmese consul in Hong Kong last week insisted Rohingyas could not be real Burmese, as they were dark-skinned and "as ugly as ogres".
However, it will only do so if they identify themselves as Bengalis, as it refuses to recognise the Rohingyas as one of its official minorities.
The Burmese foreign minister told his Thai counterpart that his country might be willing to take back Rohingyas. But only if they were categorised as Bengalis who reside in Burma, not Burmese citizens.This week's ASEAN summit would seem to be the ideal opportunity. It is one of the few international venues attended by senior Burmese leaders.
But the other ASEAN states are getting little co-operation from their Burmese colleagues.
In any case, sending them back to a country where they face even worse treatment than the average Burmese citizen does not appear to be a practical solution.Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the only option his country had was to turn them back.
But that just raises the prospect of hundreds more being left to drift and die on the high seas.
Courtesy: BBC NEWS,
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