From MIZZIMA News Group (r)

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Rohingya Muslim Refugees in Bangladesh? Still unsolved problem

>From Our Reporter

DHAKA, September 28: About two and half lakhs Rohingya Muslim refugees
from Burma left the country for the Bangladesh border after 1990,
complaining religious persecution of the military regime in Burma. Most
of these refugees were repatriated to Burma in 1992-1997. However,
repatriation process was halted due to various problems. And about
twenty thousand refugees are left in two camps in Cox?s Bazar of
Bangladesh, out of which Burmese government agreed to receive eight
thousand in Arakan State of Burma.

In 1998, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the
two governments of Burma and Bangladesh agreed to repatriate fifty
refugees every week to Burma.

After the visit of Burmese foreign minister U Win Aung in July this year

to Bangladesh, the repatriation process was resumed on every Wednesdays.

However, due to the problems arising out of disagreement between those
refugees who want to go back and those who don?t, only five to thirty
refugees per week were repatriated. Sometimes, no refugee was
repatriated. Only 204 refugees were repatriated to Burma till today
after his visit. The Commissioner for Repatriation of Rohingya refugees,

yesterday expressed his disappointment over the delay of the
repatriation.

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Christian Chins in India demanded the release of two pastors

>From Our Reporter
MIZZIMA News Group

New Delhi, September 28: More than a hundred Christian Chins staged a
silent protest in India on September 28 over the arrest of two senior
pastors in Chin State of Burma by the military regime there. The
protestors carrying placards and banners held the protest rally at Janta

Manta in New Delhi.

The two pastors, namely, Rev. Biak Kam from the Thantlang Baptist Church

and Rev. M. Thawng Kam who is General Secretary of the Thantlang
Association of Baptist Churches, were arrested at the night of September

7 by the local army administration. They were arrested for allegedly
arranging to organize a meeting inside a church without permission from
the authorities.

According to the statement issued by the protestors, the meeting was
called by the two pastors to discuss on how to negotiate with the
military authorities in charge of the area for the release of some
village headmen who were arrested in June this year by the military
authorities. These village headmen were arrested for allegedly
sympathetic to the Chin National Front (CNF), an armed group fighting
against the Burmese government.

The protestors accused the Burmese government of systematically
implementing religious persecution measures against the Christian Chins
in Burma. According to them, some of these measures include preventing
evangelists from delivering sermons unless these are translated into
Burmese and submit to the local authorities and intentionally forcing
the Christians to carry arms and ammunitions for the government forces
even on Sundays.

The protestors demanded the Burmese government to release the two
pastors immediately, to respect the religious freedom in Chin State and
other religious minority areas and to withdraw the security forces from
the Chin State.