By Dr Azeem Ibrahim

Huffington Post

October 12, 2016

I have written numerous newspaper pieces on the fate of the Rohingya in recent years, and even published a book on this, “the most oppressed people in the world”, this summer. Yet for all they have endured for the last decades, and especially in the last few years, the scariest part of their lives is not that as many as half of them have been displaced from Myanmar, the country of their birth, and many of the rest are now in internally displaced people’s camps inside the country, in appalling conditions. The scariest part, rather, is what might happen next. 

With these people so widely reviled by the Buddhist nationalists in their home state of Rakhine/Arakan and throughout the Union of Myanmar, and with them currently being in such precarious conditions, they are teetering on the edge of outright genocide. They have been ever since the outbursts of communal violence in 2012 and 2013 which have caused to largest amount of damage to their communities and triggered the regional South East Asian Migration Crisis last year. And ever since, we have been dreading what might happen if some random event triggers a new wave of violence from their Rakhine neighbours, or indeed, from the police and security agencies of the state. 

Such a trigger may have just been pulled. Nine police officers were killed and several others injured in attacks on border guard posts near the border with Bangladesh on Sunday, 9 October. And the Rohingya were collectively declared guilty of the attacks, despite there being no evidence that the attackers were, in fact Rohingya. Nevermind which individuals, Rohingya or otherwise, might have been the actual perpetrators. The collective punishment heaped on the Rohingya by state institutions such as the police and army was swift. Twenty-four innocent Rohingya were killed just on Monday, and the numbers seem to be escalating as we speak.

What is worse, though these extra-judicial killings have been carried out by local state agencies, the federal forces of the government of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi are not intervening to stop them and re-establish the rule of law. And if the Rohingya finally give up hope that anyone else might stand up to defend them, they may well end up taking their defence in their own hands. At which point, this can only escalate into an orgy of violence at least as bad as 2012, and perhaps even the outbreak of all-out inter-communal fighting. Not that the Rohingya have the resources to fight such a fight - they will be slaughtered en masse.

Ever since Aung San Suu Kyi came to power late last year, there has been at least some hope that the country can start making some progress on the situation of the Rohingya. Indeed, her government has been successfully pressured by the international community to establish a Commission for this purpose headed by former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. Just in the last couple of months I have written with cautious optimism that things finally looked like they might be moving in the right direction. But now the situation has changed completely - we now look to back on the precipice, and the trigger may have just been pulled. 

There is no time to lose! We cannot afford to dither. Our leaders must force the federal government of Myanmar to intervene and re-establish order now! Before we have another Rwanda on our hands. And we must make direct contact with our elected representatives to make them aware of the situation and urge them to action. Aung San Suu Kyi must be stirred into action, and if she is not willing, or able, to intervene swiftly, then it is time to deploy UN peacekeepers with or without her consent. If we do not, this will not be just on her. This will be on us too!

Dr Azeem Ibrahim is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Policy and author of “The Rohingyas: Inside Myanmar’s Hidden Genocide“ (Hurst Publishers & Oxford University Press).

Myanmar: Protect Civilians in Rakhine State, Investigate Fatal Shootings

Extrajudicial Killings and Abuses Undercut Security in Rakhine State

(YANGON, October 12, 2016)—The government of Myanmar should protect civilians and respect human rights in responding to recent deadly attacks against police by unknown assailants near the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, Fortify Rights said today. According to eyewitnesses, Myanmar Army soldiers allegedly killed several unarmed ethnic-Rohingya men on October 10, a day after deadly attacks on three police stations in Rakhine State’s Maungdaw Township.

Fears of a military offensive and potential indiscriminate killings and other abuses, particularly targeting the Rohingya Muslim population, are mounting in Rakhine State.

“The army has a responsibility to protect civilians regardless of religion or ethnicity,” said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer at Fortify Rights. “The authorities can diffuse this situation by upholding law and order while also protecting the rights of Rohingya.”

According to Myanmar authorities, a group of Rohingya men attacked three police posts on October 9, killing nine policemen and wounding five before fleeing with police weapons and ammunition.

Fortify Rights obtained two amateur videos—one minute and 21 seconds in length and another lasting two minutes and 51 seconds—showing a group of men armed with military-grade assault rifles and handguns, speaking the Rohingya language and calling for volunteers to engage in armed conflict in Rakhine State. “The fighting can start now, today,” a Rohingya speaker, flanked by young armed men, says into the camera in one of the films. “The Myanmar Army tried to search for us by helicopter yesterday. They searched for us by helicopters in every part of Rakhine. We do not care about helicopters.”

The reference to helicopters suggests the film was created on or around October 9, when, according to state media, the Myanmar Army used helicopters to move troops into the area where the attacks on the police occurred. On the same day, the authorities also banned gatherings of five or more people and imposed a curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. in Maungdaw Township.

Fortify Rights has received reports of possible extrajudicial killings of Rohingya men in Maungdaw Township by Myanmar Army soldiers following the attacks on the police and called on the government, state security forces, and all parties in Rakhine State to respect human rights and uphold the responsibility to protect civilians.

According to information received by Fortify Rights, scores of Myanmar Army soldiers arrived in Myothugyi village, Maungdaw Township at approximately 6:30 a.m. on October 10.

“Ishmael M.,” 23, told Fortify Rights that he witnessed a Myanmar Army soldier fatally shoot an unarmed local Rohingya man named Nagu, believed to be around 50 years old, in Myothugyi village at approximately 8 a.m. on October 10. Ishmael looked on from a nearby home as four Myanmar Army soldiers apprehended Nagu, who was reportedly unarmed.

“I was watching from the window,” Ishmael told Fortify Rights. “The military man was talking on the phone. After that, he shot him. I saw them shoot him in the bottom of the face and head.”

Following the fatal shooting, Myanmar Army soldiers left the body behind.

Fortify Rights received photographs and a short video of the victim’s body, showing what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the head, matching descriptions received from two eyewitnesses. At time of writing, the victim’s body has not been buried and is located in a local home.

Ishmael also told Fortify Rights that another man, Noor Allam—believed to be approximately 55 years old—was also fatally shot at approximately 10 a.m., nearby Ishmael’s location. “We could hear some noises, bullets, and when the army left, we saw the body, and I helped bring the body inside the home,” Ishmael told Fortify Rights. “There was blood on his chest. I took a photo of the body myself.”

Ishmael said he carried the body of Noor Allam to a nearby home.

Fortify Rights received information of at least three killings of Rohingya men in Myothugyi village on October 10—the third was a 25-year-old Rohingya man named Noor Bashar.

“They took three men...and killed them,” another Rohingya man in Myothugyi said. “They did not arrest the people, they just killed them.”

The New York Times and Reuters reported allegations of seven deaths in Myothugyi village on October 10. Both outlets reported witnesses alleging that army soldiers shot at Rohingya as they ran away. The New York Times quoted a local journalist traveling with security forces in Myothugyi at the time, who claimed, “Three suspects were killed as they ran away when the security forces entered the village.” On Facebook, the journalist who spoke to the New York Times later denied the quote, saying he was “in trouble” as a result of the article and now alleges that the victims attacked the soldiers “and soldiers shot them back.”

The Government of Myanmar should conduct a thorough, independent investigation into the killings of police officers on October 9 and into the fatal shootings of Rohingya on October 10, Fortify Rights said.

The use of lethal force by state security forces against a civilian is only lawful when necessary to prevent loss of life and serious injury and when proportionate to the threat at hand. The U.N. Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials stipulates that the “intentional lethal use of firearms may only be made when strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.” The U.N. Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials requires officials to “use force only when strictly necessary and to the extent required for the performance of their duty.”

In situations of armed conflict, Article 42 of the Third Geneva Convention stipulates that the use of force “against those who are escaping or attempting to escape, shall constitute an extreme measure, which shall always be preceded by warnings appropriate to the circumstances.”

In all situations, under international humanitarian and human rights law, the authorities have a responsibility to protect civilians.

There are more than one million Rohingya in northern Rakhine State, nearly all of whom are denied citizenship and are stateless. For decades, the Government of Myanmar has strictly restricted Rohingya freedom of movement, preventing movement between villages, village tracts, and beyond.

In June, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights reported to the Human Rights Council that there was a “pattern of gross human rights violations” against Rohingya in Rakhine State that “would suggest a widespread or systematic attack against the Rohingya, in turn suggesting the possible commission of crimes against humanity.”

In February 2014, Fortify Rights published a 79-page report, Policies of Persecution, documenting widespread and systematic human rights violations against Rohingya in northern Rakhine State, including the rights to nondiscrimination, freedom of movement, marriage, family, health, and privacy. In October 2015, the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School found “strong evidence” to establish the elements of the crime of genocide against Rohingya in Rakhine State.

“The people of Rakhine State deserve protection and justice,” said Matthew Smith. “The army should work with local communities to instill calm.”

For more information, please contact:

Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Fortify Rights, +66 (0) 85.0280044, matthew.smith@fortifyrights.org; Twitter: @matthewfsmith, @fortifyrights

Amy Smith, Executive Director, Fortify Rights, +66 (0) 87.795.5454, amy.smith@fortifyrights.org; Twitter: @AmyAlexSmith, @fortifyrights

RB News 

October 11, 2016 

Sittwe, Arakan – Five Rohingyas who were taking care of their farms in the late evening were tortured by Myanmar military, according to local reports. 

On Monday, October 10th, 2016 at 9:45pm five Rohingyas from Say Tha Ma Gyi village who were staying in tents were taking care of their farms. The military saw them while patrolling near the farms. The men were said to have been called over by military men and they were inhumanely beaten without any reason. The military asked them to come to Pan Lin Pyin military outpost on next day, which is today at the time of this writing. 

The five military officers who reportedly beat the innocents were said to be from Battalion 263 led by Lt. Col. Hlaing Min Htet. 

The name of victims are: 

(1) Dowllah (18-year-old) son of Abukar Siddik 

(2) Hamind (35-year-old) son of Basamiah 

(3) Hanfuru (25-year-old) son of Nur Ahmed 

(4) Salim (25-year-old) son of Mamad Huson 

(5) Habiullah (45-year-old) son of Abulusson

Photos of the victims:

Members of Myanmar's Muslim minority carry rations of meat across a muddy canal during a religious sacrifice of animals in observance of Eid al-Adha, on September 13, 2016 ©Romeo Gacad (AFP)

By AFP

October 10, 2016

Three Muslim men went on trial in Myanmar Monday for illegally importing over 90 cows, in a case Islamic leaders say targets their religion.

The cows, which have spent the last month under police protection, were intended to be ritually slaughtered for the Islamic festival of Eid al-Adha last month. The festival has become a flashpoint for Myanmar's Buddhist nationalists.

Hardline monks, including firebrand Wirathu from the Ma Ba Tha movement, have railed against the practice and pressured local authorities to ban it.

Police took posession of 92 cattle last month when a local monk, Pa Mouk Kha, complained they had been brought into the country illegally.

They have been keeping the animals in a football ground north of Yangon for just under a month at a cost of some $300 a day -- spending more than $8,000 so far. Two cows have since died.

The monks have drawn derision from social media users, who have called the case a waste of public resources in a country where one in four lives below the poverty line.

On Monday, the three defendants appeared before the court, charged with illegal trading for allegedly importing the cows without the proper paperwork.

One of them, Myo Myint, in his 60s, has heart disease and had to be supported by police as he approached the courtroom.

His son, Ye Zarni Tun We, said he was "sure" the animals were bought in Myanmar, adding: "We have documents for purchasing the cows."

The men were remanded in custody until their next hearing, while police are still looking for more than 30 other people linked to the case. The cows will soon be auctioned off.

Kyaw Nyein, leader of local Muslim group Ulama Islam, said the case amounted to religious persecution.

"They did not act illegally," he told AFP. "I am not sure whether they technically broke the rules or not, but I think this case is concerned with religious affairs."

Islamophobic sentiment has grown in Myanmar, especially since deadly communal violence erupted between Buddhists and stateless Rohingya Muslims in western Rakhine state in 2012.

Tensions flared on Sunday when nine police officers were killed in a series of attacks on three border posts, which local officials said were carried out by Rohingya.

Burmese Muslims also complain of being treated as second-class citizens in their own country, told they are foreigners and legally restricted from marrying Buddhist women.

While Ma Ba Tha has lost prominence since Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically elected party took power in March, it remains a powerful political force among Myanmar's devout Buddhists.

Myanmar's Muslims complain of being treated as second-class citizens in their own country ©Romeo Gacad (AFP)

Rohingya men walk along the fence separating Myanmar and Bangladesh in Maungdaw town in northern Rakhine State November 11, 2014. REUTERS/Minzayar

By Reuters

October 10, 2016

Myanmar has stepped up security in a Muslim-majority region near its border with Bangladesh, officials said on Monday, as authorities hunt for attackers who killed at least nine police officers.

Officials believe that members of the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority launched three separate attacks in the early hours of Sunday, in which dozens of weapons and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition were seized from border police. 

Nine policemen were killed, one was missing and five were wounded. Eight attackers were killed and two captured, police said.

The Rohingya, who are mostly stateless and are subject to severe restrictions on their movements, make up the majority of the population in the northern part of Rakhine State.

Authorities in the township of Maungdaw on Sunday announced the extension of an existing order banning gatherings of five or more people and imposing a 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.

State media said the military - known as the Tatmadaw - had moved troops into the area by helicopter. Photographs on social media showed trucks full of infantry purportedly being deployed in the area.

No detailed information has been released about the operation in the area near a border guard office at Kyiganbyin village, where as many as 90 assailants seized weapons and fled into the hills.

"The Tatmadaw, the police force and the Ministry of Border Affairs are working together to ensure security and restore law and order,” said Min Aung, a minister in the Rakhine State government, who declined to disclose the size of the force sent to the area.

Human rights advocates raised concerns that civilians may be caught up in the sweep. Unverified reports posted online by advocates for the Rohingya suggested that a violent crackdown may be underway.

Ye Htut, administrator for Maungdaw, said he was not aware of the situation around Kyiganbyin village, which is under the control of security forces. 

Muslim residents of Maungdaw town closed their shops amid the heightened security presence, he said.

“All of the security forces are deployed in Maungdaw, so we are not worried about security. Everything is fine,” Ye Htut said.

BANGLADESH DEPLOYS BORDER GUARDS

Matthew Smith, founder of campaign group Fortify Rights, said restrictions on the Muslim population already in place made northern Rakhine State "a police state, an apartheid state".

"Human rights violations in the context of counterinsurgency in northern Rakhine State are not new," Smith said. 

"The authorities routinely accuse average Rohingya of involvement with armed extremists."

Authorities routinely dismiss accusations of rights abuses.

Sunday was the bloodiest day in the state since 2012, when more than 100 people were killed in clashes between Rohingya and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists. Some 125,000 people, the majority Rohingya, remain displaced.

Myanmar's state counselor and foreign minister Aung San Suu Kyi - who in August appointed former U.N. chief Kofi Annan to head an advisory commission into the situation in Rakhine State - discussed the attacks with security officials in an emergency meeting on Sunday, said foreign ministry official Kyaw Tin.

"The state counselor instructed us to handle this issue cautiously in accordance with the law," Kyaw Tin told reporters.

Officials in Bangladesh said Myanmar had closed the border after the attacks.

Bangladesh deployed additional border guards, said Mohammad Tanvir Alam Khan, a Border Guard Bangladesh commander.

Myanmar police chief Zaw Win has said his force was investigating possible links between the attackers and rebel groups.

Zaw Win also mentioned big drugs busts by police in the area - some 6 million methamphetamine pills were seized in September - as a possible trigger for the attacks.

(Reporting by Aung Hla Tun, Wa Lone and Simon Lewis in Yangon, and by Mohammad Nurul Islam in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh; Editing by Robert Birsel)

RB News

Date: 10th October 2016

By AFP

October 9, 2016

At least two policemen were killed in coordinated attacks by an unknown group on posts along Myanmar's border with Bangladesh early Sunday morning, an official and police said.

The assaults hit three border posts around 1:30 am (1800 GMT Saturday) near Maungdaw in Rakhine, an impoverished state on Myanmar's western flank simmering with sectarian tensions between Buddhists and Muslims.

"According to initial information, two police officers were killed, two others were injured and six police are missing," Tin Maung Swe, a senior official within Rakhine's state government told AFP.

A police official in the capital Naypyidaw confirmed three places were attacked but declined to give further details.

A second police source also confirmed the attacks, adding as many as eight policemen might have been killed, as well as some of the attackers.

A number of weapons were also seized by the assailants from the border posts, that officer added.

Rakhine has been effectively split on religious grounds since bouts of communal violence tore through the state in 2012, killing scores and forcing tens of thousands to flee.

The Muslim Rohingya are largely confined to camps and slapped with restrictions that rights groups have likened to apartheid.

Several complex ethnic conflicts are rumbling across Myanmar's borderlands, hampering efforts to build the country's economy after the end of junta rule.

But compared to the country's civil war-ravaged eastern and northern border states, Rakhine does not boast a significant rebel military presence.

In the last few years the Arakan Army, a small Buddhist militia which wants an independent homeland in the state, have fought sporadic battles with the military.

Despite their plight the Rohingya do not have a known militant faction fighting for them.

However many fear their continued plight could drive them to adopt more violent solutions.

In May armed attackers stormed a security post at a camp for Rohingya refugees in southern Bangladesh just across the border from Maungdaw.

In that attack a Bangladeshi camp commander was shot dead and the assailants made off with weapons.

Police at the time said the Rohingya themselves could be suspects.

In recent years Bangladeshi police have also alleged that Rohingya refugees are involved in criminal activities including human trafficking.

Any uptick in violence in Rakhine will be a major concern for the new civilian-led government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

She has asked former UN chief Kofi Annan to head a commission tasked with trying to heal sectarian divisions in the state.

The move was largely welcomed by Rohingya community leaders but drew ire from Buddhist nationalists.

Anti-Muslim sentiment still runs high in the impoverished region, fanned by hardline Buddhist nationalists who revile the Rohingya and are viscerally opposed to any move to grant them citizenship.

They insist the roughly one-million strong group are intruders from neighbouring Bangladesh, even though many can trace their ancestry in Myanmar back generations.

RB News 

October 8, 2016

Rohingya Human Rights Activists had a meeting and presentation at the Japanese Parliament Building with Parliamentarians and Foreign Ministry Officials on October 6th, 2016 from 2pm to 4pm.

In the meeting the opening speech was given by Japanese Upper House member and Social Democratic Party leader, Mrs. Mizuho Fukushima.

Deputy Directors Kensuke Nagase, Yoko Takushima and Tomohiro Kanata from the Southeast Asia Division and Ms. Suzuki and Ms. Yamamoto from the Human Rights Department of Foreign Ministry joined the meeting. 

Prof. Dr. Muranuchi Michimi from the Law Department of Gakushuin University had visited Myanmar to see the Rohingya situation in Arakan met Rohingya leaders in Yangon and proceeded his visit to Sittwe where he met Rohingya Veteran Lawyer U Kyaw Hla Aung and others at the IDP camps and Aung Mingalar. He took videos of his visit to Sittwe which he showed at his presentation and presented an 8 page report in the Japanese language detailing Rohingyas suffering in Sittwe under the Nobel Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD government. 

U Shwe Ba (a.k.a) Mr. Hisao Tanabe, Burma expert and a former Journalist at NHK, added his view on the Rohingya situation and requested to the Japanese government to do more in support of Rohingya people who are vulnerable in Myanmar and Rohingya refugees in other Southeast Asian countries. 

Zaw Min Htut and Rohingya colleagues who organized the presentation also discussed the Rohingya situation in Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Kyauktaw, Minbya and other places. The amendment or repealing 1982 citizenship law is the most important and urgent for the government and the NVC (National Verification Card) is rejected by Rohingyas as it is unfair and illegal to issue NVC to Rohingyas. The Kofi Annan Commission issue was seriously discussed by both sides and the Rohingya activists urged the Japanese government that the Annan Commission must not be a window-dressing and time buying effort for NLD government. In the meantime, Japanese government should help the Rohingya in Arakan with the humanitarian assistance such as food and medication.

The Q & A session followed and the closing speech was given by Mrs. Fukushima where she strongly asked the Prime Minister Abe and Foreign Minister Kishida to raise the Rohingya issue with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi directly in her upcoming visit to Japan which will be in the very near future. It may be in November.

Finally the Rohingya activists presented an appeal letter and other relevant information to the Foreign Ministry Officials.

By AFP

October 8, 2016

Yangon - A member of Myanmar's ruling pro-democracy party has pressed charges against two villagers for insulting the government's new leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a police officer said Friday.

Suu Kyi steered her National League for Democracy (NLD) into power earlier this year after championing a decades-long struggle against military rule.

Her administration has vowed to expand freedoms in the fledgling democracy but limits on expression remain -- as does a culture of charging critics with defamation.

The latest case saw two men charged for allegedly going on an obscenity-laced rant against the Nobel Laureate after a heavy evening drinking session in a village not far from the capital Naypyidaw.

Local police chief Zaw Khin Aung said the two men used "insulting words" against 71-year-old Suu Kyi.

"An NLD member sent a complaint letter to the police and sued two people for abusing the state counsellor," he told AFP.

"We know these two people but we have not arrested them yet," he added.

According to local news site the Democratic Voice of Burma, the two men called Suu Kyi a "hag" who deserved to be murdered.

Suu Kyi is adored by many in Myanmar and her party trounced historic polls in November, the first free election in decades.

Despite soaring hopes her administration would nurture a new era of free expression, several people have been prosecuted for defamation since her party took over in late March.

A man was jailed for nine months in September for calling Myanmar's president, Suu Kyi's long time friend and ally, "crazy" in a Facebook post. That case was also brought by a local NLD member.

In July a local official in central Magway region was charged with defamation for referring to Suu Kyi with a slur on Facebook.

By David Brunnstrom

Reuters

October 8, 2016

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama formally announced the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Myanmar on Friday by terminating an emergency order that deemed the policies of the former military government a threat to U.S. national security.

"I have determined that the situation that gave rise to the national emergency ... has been significantly altered by Burma's (Myanmar's) substantial advances to promote democracy, including historic elections in November 2015," Obama said in a letter to the U.S. House and Senate speakers.

A U.S. Treasury statement said that as a result of the termination of the emergency order the economic and financial sanctions administered by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control were no longer in effect.

The move followed a meeting between Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Obama in Washington last month, when she called for the lifting of economic sanctions against her country, and he said he was willing to do this.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a sweeping victory in the November elections.

Obama's letter pointed to the formation of a democratically elected, civilian-led government as a result of the election, the release of many political prisoners and improved human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression and freedom of association and peaceful assembly.

"While Burma faces significant challenges, including the consolidation of its democracy, the United States can, and intends to, use other means to support the government and people of Burma in their efforts to address these challenges," Obama's letter said.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and democracy icon, helped persuade the West to impose sanctions on Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, during her years as a jailed opposition leader. She is now trying to strike a balance between showing her people the economic rewardsof a democratic transition while keeping pressure on the country's generals for further reforms. 

Some members of the U.S. Congress have expressed concerns about the extent and durability of change in Myanmar and introduced legislation seeking to give lawmakers some influence on the process of easing sanctions.

Rights groups condemned last month's announcement, saying it forfeited leverage on Myanmar's military.

Officials of the U.S. administration have said the removal of sanctions would not apply to military-to-military assistance, given the extent of the military's involvement in politics and rights abuses.

Suu Kyi herself has been criticized for doing too little to address the plight of Myanmar's stateless Rohingya Muslim minority.

The State Department said last month that several restrictions would remain in place, including barring visas for military leaders.

By Rahman Jahangir

Financial Express Bangladesh

October 7, 2016

Acting at the right time is good diplomacy. It is time for Bangladesh, a stakeholder in the Rohingya refugee issue, to invite former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to visit the two refugee camps in Cox's Bazar and talk to the inmates. The refugees will thus get a chance to relate to him the harrowing tales of brutalities they had endured in their homeland Myanmar. Bangladesh can also have its views known to him as Aung San Suu Kyi, now holding the reins of power in Myanmar, appointed him to head a commission assigned to devise ways and means to finding a permanent settlement of the issue. He can also have a fruitful interaction with the officials of the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) which takes care of the refugees in Bangladesh.

It is indeed encouraging to note that Kofi Annan has pledged to stay impartial. "To build the future, the two major communities have to move beyond decades of mistrust and find ways to embrace shared values of justice, fairness and equity," Annan said as he arrived in Sittwe, capital of Rakhine. "Ultimately, the people of Rakhine state must chart their own way forward. We are here to help. We are here to provide ideas and advice."

Kofi Annan's appointment is significant. As a human rights campaigner in Myanmar quite rightly said, "It is not a PR stunt taken by Aung San Suu Kyi; there are pros and cons considering the high-profile personality of Kofi Annan". It is a significant step within the military and in one sense it is very significant because it represents or indicates that the Rohingya crisis is no longer internal, it has an international aspect, he pointed out.

Happily, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, burdened with influx of Rohingya refugees, took the opportunity to meet Myanmar State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi in New York on the sidelines of the 71st United Nations General Assembly in the UN Headquarters. During the meeting, the two leaders discussed outstanding issues between the two neighbouring countries and agreed to resolve all bilateral issues through dialogues. During the meeting, Sheikh Hasina welcomed the Kofi Annan Commission on issues of Rohingya. Aware of different ethnic groups fighting the government troops in Myanmar, Sheikh Hasina indirectly ruled out any shelter of any Myanmar insurgent in Bangladesh. She said she holds 'zero tolerance' stance on terrorism and said Bangladesh's soil will never be allowed for carrying out terrorist activities against any country. Incidentally, several leaders of Myanmar's insurgent groups were reportedly arrested and handed over to the Myanmar authorities in the meantime.

In fact, what is purely a vexed internal issue of Myanmar-the nationality status of Rohingya of Arakan state-has now become a headache for Bangladesh. More so that Myanmar is just a stone's throw from Bangladesh across a tiny river Naaf and mountains. As a result, thousands of Rohingyas, on being persecuted in their homeland Myanmar, naturally found the neighbouring country as the place for their safe refuge. Bangladesh too, taking distressed humanity into consideration, did not adopt draconian policy to push them back to their country as they will further be brutalised and tortured to death by different ethnic groups. While Bangladesh still provides food and shelter to Rohingyas in two make-shift camps, it has failed to stop influx of hundreds of thousands others. 

It is now amply evident that the plight of Rohingya refugees in Myanmar has drawn global attention and sympathy. That is why President Barrack Obama, during his trip to the military junta-led country, mounted pressure on Myanmar to recognise Rohingya as its citizens and end all forms of brutalities on them. Even Ban Ki-moon, the sitting UN chief, called on Myanmar to grant citizenship to the the group and respect their right to self-identity as Rohingya. The Kofi Annan-led commission is now investigating the communal conflict pitting the ethnic Rakhine Buddhists against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority although local Buddhists gave him a hostile welcome in Rakhine. Hundreds arrived at Sittwe airport to protest against his visit. Many booed and shouted 'No to Kofi-led commission' as his convoy left the state capital airport. Others held signs reading 'No to foreigners-biased intervention in our Rakhine State's affairs'. A top official in Suu Kyi's party was reported by media as saying that "Mr Annan is influential in international politics, and we need his support to steer a real peace in this country. We need his advice, whether he's a foreigner or not," he added.

That Bangladesh has always welcomed the fleeing Muslim refugees from neighbouring Myanmar has been acclaimed internationally. Media reports have documented harrowing tales of sufferings of the members of the community in Arakan, which forced them to flee and seek refuge in Bangladesh. The news media was replete with narratives of the desperate people who were lucky enough to set foot in this country. 

More than 100 people have been killed - the majority Muslims - while tens of thousands of the stateless Rohingyas have spent the past four years trapped in camps with limited access to healthcare and other basic services. The accompanying photographs of families in boats, pleading for compassion and empathy, only confirmed genuineness of their claims that their life was at stake in the Arakan state. The gravity of the situation was only confirmed by the fact that international agencies working in that region had to pull out its personnel for safety reason.

By Wa Lone and Simon Lewis 

Reuters

October 6, 2016

YANGON -- Campaigners are calling for Myanmar to review the convictions of 20 Muslims jailed on terrorism charges after the Southeast Asian country repealed an authoritarian law under which they were convicted.

President Htin Kyaw had signed off on a bill abolishing the notorious Emergency Provisions Act of 1950, which was frequently used by previous military governments to quash dissent, his office said in a statement on Tuesday.

But the repeal is not retroactive, and the convictions of 20 Myanmar Muslims serving lengthy prison terms under the law were not being reviewed, ruling party and government spokesmen have told Reuters, despite activists' concerns about the judicial process.

"It is incumbent upon the government to review cases that involve defendants who possibly were wrongly convicted under this law," said Matthew Smith, founder of campaign group Fortify Rights.

"To not do so raises some serious questions about the government's commitment to ensuring the prisons are free from political prisoners."

Aung San Suu Kyi, the democracy hero and Nobel laureate who assumed power in April after winning elections last year, has been criticized for not speaking up for Myanmar's Muslim minority.

Communal violence in the western Rakhine State displaced about 125,000, most from the Rohingya Muslim group. Riots have broken out elsewhere in the Buddhist-majority country, while anti-Muslim hate speech has proliferated online.

Lawyers and family members told Reuters the 20, most hailing from central Myanmar, were traveling to a wedding in the eastern Shan State in August 2014 when they were detained by military intelligence officials, accused of plotting terrorist atrocities and charged under the 1950 law.

In January 2015, 19 men and women were sentenced to 14 years in prison each and a boy, who was 15 when he was arrested, got seven years, said lawyer Khin Moe Moe. 

"Usually we're not able to defend people in cases involving Military Security Affairs. They have a policy to never lose," she said, referring to the military intelligence agency.

Several appeals had been rejected, Khin Moe Moe said.

“The president agreed this law led to mistreatment of the people, and many still suffer in prisons throughout the country, so they should have an amnesty," she said. 

'YEARS WASTED'

One of the 20, Bo Bo Aung, had hoped for release when the new government took power, but that hope had faded, his wife, Khin Moe Aye, told Reuters.

“It's two years wasted in prison," she said. "My family and others are suffering because these people were jailed without justice by the previous government."

Lieutenant Colonel Myat Min Soe, a military intelligence official involved in the investigation, said that while no weapons had been discovered, the suspects had all confessed under interrogation to contacting unidentified militants.

"They tried to link with a terrorist organization from a foreign country. They planned to attack busy markets and crowded areas," he said.

According to Fortify Rights, which has reviewed more than 300 pages of court documents, a name card for a rebel army commander and an audio file of a speech with alleged Islamist militant content, retrieved from a computer, were the only evidence presented to court.

“It’s as if the court was fulfilling a mission to prosecute Muslims regardless of the evidence against them and regardless of rule of law," Smith said.

A spokesman for Suu Kyi's ruling party, Win Htein, and Zaw Htay, spokesman for the president's office, both said the case was an issue for the judiciary.

"If they don't agree they can appeal the decision to the next higher level of the courts,” Zaw Htay said.