A Report released today by the New York-based Human Rights
Watch, a non-governmental organization in the United States, has unearthed
fresh evidence that implicates Myanmar officials, community leaders and
Buddhist Monks in the subjection of Myanmar’s minority Muslim group to ethnic
cleansing and crimes against humanity.
According to the report entitled ‘All You Can Do is Pray’,
interviews with more than 100 people on both sides and visits to all major refugee
camps were carried out and the results indicate that the Burmese government
engaged in a systematic campaign of violence and ethnic cleansing against the
Rohingya (ethnic cleansing is a policy by one ethnic or religious group to
remove another similar group from specific areas through violent and terrifying
means).
It said that during the attacks by Buddhists, a soldier
allegedly told a Rohingya man who pleaded for protection, ‘the only thing you
can do is pray to save your lives’.
The report also uncovered evidence of mass-grave sites in
Rakhine, accusing the security forces of trying to bury evidence of the crimes committed.
It points out that over 125,000 ethnic Rohingya have been forcibly displayed
since the waves of violence began in May last year, with satellite images
showing thousands of destroyed land structures owned by mostly the Muslim
Rohingya.
In an email, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch for
Asia, Phil Robertson, had the following to say: “What this report reveals is
that in October, just weeks before President Obama’s visit to Burma, the
Burmese authorities were engaged in ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity
in Arakan state. This should make it abundantly clear that the U.S. cannot just
reply on fine words from Burma’s leaders but they need to insist on clear
actions to hold accountable those involved with these crimes.”
The worst attack occurred on October 23, when about 70 Rohingya
(including 28 children) were brutally maimed in Mrauk-U township, according to
witnesses.
So far, the Myanmar government has turned a blind eye to the
violence, assisted some of the attacks on the Rohingya, and even denied
citizenship to those living in Rakhine state while claiming they are ‘illegal
immigrants’ from Bangladesh, according to the report.
In response to the email of Human Rights Watch, the Myanmar
government claimed that ‘the security forces and police handled conflicts
between the two communities in accordance with the existing laws, rules and
regulations, taking care of providing security in order to restore law and
order and tranquility’.
Allegations of the use of excessive force by its police to
handle the conflict in June ‘were unfounded’ and untrue information’, adding that
authorities faced ’unfounded bias’ from both media within and outside the
country.
While hostilities between Muslims and Buddhists have been
closely monitored and reduced by the military rule over the last 5 decades, the
coming of civilian rule which incites freedom of expression has given Buddhists
the green light to express their rage against the Muslims openly.
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