Myanmar Muslims in Thuye Thamein village in Bago faced serious attacks by Buddhist extremists

RB News
June 23, 2016

Waw, Bago – Violence erupted in Bago region this afternoon after a quarrel between a Muslim and a Buddhist. A Muslim construction materials shop owner and his neighbour reportedly had an argument on Thursday morning and at 1 am his shop was destroyed by his fellow Buddhist villagers.

A Buddhist mob then destroyed a Mosque and the basic Arabic school (Madarasa) and they also started beating Muslim villagers. The Muslims then ran into the paddy fields to hide. A Muslim told Myanmar Muslim Media that they had to run into hospital but they were not safe there and finally they had to move to the police outpost which is located in the same area as the hospital.

He further stated that the construction materials shop was destroyed and later at 1 pm the Buddhist villagers organized the people to attack the Muslims. At 3 pm they started shouting “kill all Kalar” (derogatory term for Muslims) including the children and started destroying the Mosque.

They inhumanely beat a shop owner, Haji Abdu Rashid, and hacked him with a sword and finally he had to be admitted to the hospital. Later at night he was brought to the police station by the Bago region Chief Minister.

According to Myanmar Muslim Media, there are about 30 Muslim houses in Thuye Thamein village. As they were under serious threat of attack by Buddhist villagers about 80 people are taking refuge at police station and about 40 have not been heard from. The Muslims were unable to break their fast, as this is the Muslim month of Ramadan, where they fast through the day.

The Bago region Chief Minister and some regional ministers visited the area where the incident took place and they promised that they will solve the problem but it is unknown yet how they would provide security to the people in the coming days.

While the terrorizing of local Muslims is taking place, some extremists propagated on social media that this is happening because the Muslims shot monks with slingshots. Some Facebook accounts posted the photos of how the mob is destroying the mosque and Muslims’ properties but they deactivated their accounts a few hours later.

Muslims in Myanmar expected that this years elections would bring something better than the then the previous Thein Sein government, but nothing has changed and they are discriminated against in the same ways as before.