KALADAN PRESS NETWORK
Dated.
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
URGED UN SPECIAL ENVOYS TO
TAKE UP THE RECENT
PLIGHT OF BURMESE MUSLIMS
By Bureau Chief
former Malaysian Ambassador Razali
Ismail, the U.N.'s
special envoy to
country’s embattled Muslim
community. The HRW also
urged the Burmese Govt. to allow
Ambassador Razali and
the U.N. Special Rapporteur for
Pinheiro, unrestricted access to
Muslim areas,
including the sites of last year's
violence, so that
they can meet with local Muslim
residents and
community leaders, said Mike Jendrzejczyk,
Director for
Human Rights Watch released a briefing paper last week
that recounted violent attacks
against
Muslims in 2001, based on interviews with Muslims,
religious leaders inside the
country and eyewitnesses.
Mr. Razali is due to make his eight-trip to
next August 2. “The Burmese
government must protect
the rights of Muslims. Instead, it
has imposed
restrictions on Muslim religious
activities and taken
no action to punish those
responsible for destroying
Muslim homes and mosques," he further said.
Human Rights Watch said that various factors sparked
last year's confrontations between
Buddhists and
Muslims, including anger over the destruction of
Buddhist images in
2001. Military authorities confiscated pirated photos
and videos of the Bamiyan statues being blown up by
the Taliban,
fearful they would enflame Buddhist
sentiment. But in some cities
outside
were credible reports of military
intelligence
officers stirring up anti-Muslim
violence.
The worst violence in eastern
and September 2001, when the
country's economic crisis
was particularly severe. In Taungoo, north of
more than a thousand people led by
robed Buddhist
monks attacked Muslim shops, homes
and mosques. There
were beatings and at least nine
deaths, but the ruling
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) reportedly
did little or nothing to intervene
to stop or prevent
the attacks. There were also
outbreaks of violence in
Prome (Pyi),
Pegu town and Hanthada town in early
October, the paper further said.
News of the violence was quickly suppressed, however,
and little detailed information
about what took place
reached the outside world, it said.
Restrictions on
travel by Muslims were far more
rigidly enforced in
2001, and earlier this year the government tightly
restricted the number of Muslims
allowed to travel to
continue to have special
difficulties getting
passports to travel abroad, it
further said.
In
rights abuses have long been
commonplace, including
forced labour, restrictions on
freedom of movement,
and destruction of mosques. The
SPDC continues to deny
full citizenship rights to ethnic
and religious
minority Rohingya villagers,
leaving many of them
stateless and subject to severe
restrictions on their
freedom of movement, right to own
land, and access to
education. But in February
2001, full-scale riots
broke out in Sittwe
(Akyab), the state capital. The
authorities did nothing to stop the
violence
initially, though they ultimately
intervened and
imposed a curfew for more than two
months. Muslims
from nearby areas were forbidden to
travel to Sittwe.
It led to further regulation of movement by Rohingya
and other Muslims within and out of
Arakan, impeding
their access to markets and health
care. As of May
2002, few Muslims were being allowed to travel freely
out of northern Arakan, the paper
reported.
Later in the year, there were credible reports in
Arakan of local mosques being destroyed at the order
of local military commanders. One
former Muslim
teacher quoted government officials
as saying, "In
Lord Buddha, so that is why we were destroying your
mosques here," it further
reported.
Human Rights Watch also urged the Burmese government
to take immediate steps to end the
persecution of
Muslim communities, to prosecute those responsible for
attacks on Muslim civilians and
property, and to
ensure that losses are properly
compensated.
The Editor
Kaladan Press