Mrittika Kamal "We (indigenous peoples) can only live in Bangladesh if we convert to Islam and become Bengalis through marriage,” says Subroto Chakma (pseudonym), a victim of the Langadu arson attack in Rangamati, standing in front of the ruins of his village. Shoikot Chakma (pseudonym), another victim, questions how it is possible to return to their day-to-day lives when the people responsible for such devastation have received no punishment for their crime: “How can you co-exist with them after this? You can feel everyone watching you when you go to the marketplace. There is this constant tension. You feel out of place in your birthplace, in your homeland where your forefathers have lived for generations.” 400 families lost their homes in three villages—Tintilla, Baittapara and Manikjorchhora—after local Bengali political settlers burnt down at least 224 houses and shops following the death of a Bengali man, Nayan. It is unfortunate that the Chakma communit...

This photo taken on March 10, 2017 shows the remains of a burnt car left on a street in Lauk kai, along the China-Myanmar border in the northern Shan State of Myanmar. Photo: AFP From the Rohingya crisis through Pakistan's terrorism quagmire to India's Hindu-Muslim conflicts, Asia was caught up in a number of ethnic issues in the past year. These issues, intertwined with Muslim extremism and Islamophobic sentiments, have become more complicated, posing the toughest challenge to Asia in the new year. With the defeat of Islamic State in the Middle East, it's highly likely that extremists will flow back to the countries of their origins. If these terrorists collude with local ethnic armed groups in Asia, a string of terrorism strongholds may take shape in the region, putting the security of regional countries under long-term threat. Worse still, the bombardment of media reports about Islamic-related terrorism attacks has given rise to Islamophobic ...

By Global Times On Monday, 1 January 2018 Chinese police said a brutal video showing a man gunning down a caged bear was shot in Myanmar although the killer was Chinese, after the video went viral and triggered online outrage. Starting Wednesday, the video circulated on Chinese social media in which a man opens fire at the head of a caged black bear.  Scenes of suspected bear parts and men butchering the dead animal were shown in the video. Chinese comments like "Way to go," "Hurry up" could be heard. Forest police in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, told The Beijing News that the video was shot in neighboring Myanmar and that the killer in the video was a Chinese national from Shandong Province. The bear had injured two villagers in Myanmar's Wa State where he runs a hotel, said Zhang Lin, who killed the bear. The bear was caught by Myanmar soldiers and was supposed to be killed, he said. He told The...

By  AFP On Thursday, 14 December 2017 Dublin councillors on Wednesday voted to revoke an award given to Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi to protest her handling of violence against  Rohingya Muslims in her country, Irish media reported. The vast majority of councillors backed the move to revoke the Freedom of the City of Dublin award, with 59 votes in favour, two against and one abstention, broadcaster RTE said. The decision comes after more than 620,000 of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority fled across the border to Bangladesh, escaping a crackdown by the army which the refugees have said involved murder, rape and arson. Suu Kyi has faced international criticism for her apparent failure to defend the Rohingya minority; a dramatic fall from grace for the Nobel Peace laureate who spent years under house arrest in Myanmar. "The daily oppression of the Rohingya people cannot be allowed to continue and if the revoking of this honour contributes to the pressure on the Bu...

Tarek Mahmud The 27-year-old had visited Bangladesh in September New York blast suspect Akayed Ullah had visited a Rohingya camp in Cox’s Bazar during his last visit to Bangladesh this year. The 27-year-old had visited Bangladesh in September and had gone to the Kutupalang Rohingya Camp with aid in October before leaving the country on the 22nd of the same month. However, the exact date of the visit could not be ascertained yet. In a conversation with the Dhaka Tribune’s correspondent, Mahfuja Akhter talked about her son-in-law Akayed’s last visit to Bangladesh and his behaviour. “He stayed in Cox’s Bazar for a day and distributed first aid medicines among the displaced Rohingyas in Kutupalong,” she said while talking to Dhaka Tribune at her Hazaribagh residence on Wednesday. “Akayed did not even stay in a hotel during his short visit there in order to save money to purchase more medicines for the helpless people,” she added. Mahfuja said: “Akayed got into a Cox’s Bazar...

Reuters Couples raise their hands during a mass wedding ceremony for people from lower income groups, at Istora Senayan stadium in Jakarta, July 19, 2011. / Reuters JAKARTA — Indonesia’s constitutional court on Thursday narrowly rejected a controversial petition to bar all consensual sex outside of marriage in the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country. Five of nine judges voted for the case to be thrown out, in a victory for rights activists who had feared the petition brought by a conservative group would spur moral policing and further discrimination, particularly targeting the gay community in Indonesia. Chief justice Arief Hidayat said existing laws on adultery did not conflict with the constitution and that it was not the authority of the constitutional court to create a new policy. “The plaintiff should submit their petition to lawmakers, and there it should be an important input in the ongoing revision of the national criminal code,” Hidayat said. “Based...

Reuters A view of the Mayner Ghona refugee camp near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Dec. 13, 2017. / Reuters GENEVA — Life has stopped in its tracks in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State where an estimated 180,000 Rohingya remain, fearful after violence drove 650,000 to flee to Bangladesh, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Wednesday. Dominik Stillhart, ICRC director of operations, speaking after a three-day mission to the remote area, said continuing tensions in the Muslim and dominant Buddhist communities were preventing Muslim traders from reopening shops and markets. The ICRC is one of the only aid agencies to operate in northern Rakhine after Myanmar’s military waged a campaign the United Nations has called “ethnic cleansing” in response to Aug. 25 attacks by Rohingya militants on security posts. “The situation in the northern Rakhine has definitely stabilized, there are very sporadic incidents, but tensions are huge between the communities,” Stillhar...

VLADIVOSTOK, December 7  A Pacific Fleet squadron has arrived in Myanmar on an unofficial visit on Thursday, Pacific Fleet spokesman Nikolay Voskresensky said. "A Pacific Fleet squadron consisting of the Admiral Panteleev large anti-submarine ship and the Boris Butoma large sea tanker has arrived in the city of Yangon (Myanmar). After anchoring, the Russian seamen were officially met at the port of Thilawa," Voskresensky reported. READ ALSO Russian Pacific Fleet ships end two-day visit to Indonesia He noted that the Myanmar Navy command officials already visited the Russian warship, and the Russian seamen met with the chief of the Irrawaddy Naval Region Command and the head of the Naval Dockyard Headquarters. During the visit, which will last until December 10, the Russian warships will be open to locals, and seamen from the Pacific Fleet and the Myanmar Navy will take part in joint sports competitions. The Russian seamen will also tour the ...

By   Subhaschandra M On  Monday, 11 December 2017 Necessary security measures has been taken up at all the border areas of the Indian state of Manipur (including the Manipur sector of the Indo-Myanmar International border) to check entry of illegal migrants and thwart unlawful activities in the wake of Rohingya crisis in Myanmar’s Rakhine state and the National Register of Citizens process in Assam, according to Manipur Chief Minister Nongthombam Biren Singh. Assam is the biggest Indian state in its North Eastern region which shares a more than 1,600 km long border with Myanmar. Chief Minister N Biren who replaced the longest Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh of Manipur since March this year, was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a monthly meeting of leaders in Imphal from the hill areas this tiny border state on December 10. It is believed that the step has been taken following a joint meeting of Chief Ministers of some Indian states with the Union Home Mi...

The visiting Russian destroyer, Admiral Panteleyev, the flagship of the Russian Pacific Ocean Fleet, proved a hit with many Yangon residents on December 9. The large anti-submarine ship arrived in Myanmar on December 7 for a three-day goodwill visit, according to the Russian embassy in Myanmar. “I had been invited to study the warship once but I didn’t take that opportunity. Now I come here to study it,” said Chan Myae Aung from Hlaing Township. “I want to have an experience which I haven’t had before. The weapons are needed for the security of the country. Russia is one of the allies of Myanmar. And I am also interested in navy vessels and weapons,” he said. Officers and naval personnel also visited the destroyer, while the ship’s personnel gave tours from 10am to 3pm. Kyaw Zin Latt said, “It is a new experience for me and it is not easy for us to study warships,” said Kyaw Zin Latt, who learned about the navy visit on the Internet. “It will be a sign of friendship and sh...

Rohingya refugee crisis: It’s not Muslims versus Buddhists , says writer Bertil LintnerThe journalist, who spent decades reporting on the excesses of the military junta in Myanmar, explains what the refugee crisis means for India and the region. by  Arunabh Saikia Published Dec 08, 2017 · 10:26 pm Bertil Lintner | Bertil Lintner, former Myanmar correspondent of the now-defunct newsmagazine Far Eastern Review, first visited the country at the age of 24 in 1977. He spent most of the next three decades reporting on the excesses of military rule, which stretched from 1962 to 2010. Linter’s work got him banned by the Myanmar military in 1985. Defying the ban, he sneaked into the country from the Naga hills in Indian territory along with his wife, Hseng Noung, an ethnic Shan from Myanmar, who had just given birth to their daughter. They spent the next 18 months travelling in the Shan and Kachin states of the country to finally reach China, braving not only inho...

By AFP GENEVA — China said on December 6 that a United Nations resolution expressing grave concern over widespread abuses committed against Myanmar's Rohingya community "cannot help to ease the tensions and solve the problem". The comment came a day after China voted against a resolution at the UN Human Rights Council that said abuses against the Rohingya indicated "the very likely commission of crimes against humanity". "It will probably complicate the issue and have some negative influence on implementing the repatriation agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Mr Geng Shuang said during a regular press briefing in Beijing, referring to a bilateral deal signed in November for the return of the Rohingya to begin within two months. "This is not in the interest of Bangladesh, Myanmar or the international community,” Geng said. China was one of only three countries that opposed the resolution, which ...

By HTET NAING ZAW 8 December 2017 NAYPYITAW — The Myanmar government is taking steps to repatriate more than 400 Hindus who fled to Bangladesh since August 25 after insurgent attacks on border police prompted counter-insurgency military operations in northern Rakhine State. Union minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Dr. Win Myat Aye on Thursday revealed the plan to reporters in administrative capital Naypyitaw at the meeting of the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine State (UEHRD). The Myanmar government has sent application forms for Hindu people to fill out in order to come back to Myanmar. “We’ll send more application forms depending on the number of houses available in the area,” said Dr. Win Myat Aye, as many houses were burned down or damaged in the conflict. On Nov. 22, the Myanmar and Bangladeshi governments signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the repatriation of refugees. The two countries a...

By STEPHANIE NEBEHAY | REUTERS GENEVA — Myanmar's security forces may be guilty of genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority and more of them are fleeing despite a deal between Myanmar and Bangladesh to send them home, the top U.N. human rights official said on Tuesday. The United Nations defines genocide as acts meant to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group in whole or in part. Such a designation is rare under international law, but has been used in contexts including Bosnia, Sudan and an Islamic State campaign against the Yazidi communities in Iraq and Syria. Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, was addressing a special session of the Human Rights Council which later adopted a resolution condemning "the very likely commission of crimes against humanity" by security forces and others against Rohingya. Myanmar's ambassador U Htin Lynn said his government "disassociated" itself from the text and de...

By REUTERS 6 December 2017 GENEVA — Myanmar’s security forces may be guilty of genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority and more of them are fleeing despite a deal between Myanmar and Bangladesh to send them home, the top UN human rights official said on Tuesday. The United Nations defines genocide as acts meant to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group in whole or in part. Such a designation is rare under international law, but has been used in contexts including Bosnia, Sudan and an Islamic State campaign against the Yazidi communities in Iraq and Syria. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, was addressing a special session of the Human Rights Council which later adopted a resolution condemning “the very likely commission of crimes against humanity” by security forces and others against Rohingya. Myanmar’s ambassador Htin Lynn said his government “disassociated” itself from the text and denounced what he called “politicization a...