Violations, transgression against Muslims in Myanmar

November 15, 2012

The international media continue to broadcast the news of the killing and violence activities against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, which reap the lives of innocent people whose only guilt is their affiliation with the righteous religion of Islam.
What calls for much pain and grief is the fact that there are children and women among the victims, not to mention setting fire to houses and forcing hundreds of citizens to flee their homes.
There is no doubt that such atrocious acts, genocide, and displacement represent crimes, which are totally rejected by the human conscience and deplored by each and every human being, regardless of his/her religion, beliefs and race.
Such acts are totally condemned and are considered horrible violations of human rights, which calls the international community, including its governmental and non-governmental institutions and organizations, to assume its responsibilities to put an end to this human catastrophe, take urgent and tangible procedures to stop the aggressive acts against the innocent individuals, ensure the safety of the individuals and their properties within the Muslim community in Myanmar, secure a safe return for the displaced people to their homes and compensate them as required by the principles of justice, and refer the criminals to justice.
Afterwards, the international community is required to adopt a policy of reconciliation and integration among the Muslim and Buddhist communities.
We, at the Arab Thought Forum, call for a true solution of the present situation and a study of the roots of the problem and the reasons behind discrimination against the Rohingya Muslim community, who are entitled to their vested rights of citizenship.
We also call upon human rights organizations, other competent organizations in the UN, as well as the regional organizations and the civil society to contribute to solving this issue as per their jurisdiction.
As we call the international community to assume its responsibilities in protecting the Muslims of Myanmar and putting an end to the violations against them in this time of hardship, we pay attribute to the stand of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Al Azhar in this regard, and we call upon all the other related organizations to follow their example and cooperate with them.
We, at the Arab Thought Forum, express our vigorous willingness to cooperate with everyone to get this objective achieved; and we are well-prepared to do everything within our capabilities to protect the humane and ethical principles that all human beings are committed to safeguarding everywhere.
The writer is chairman of the Arab Thought Forum.

A group photo of BZU Multan's Students with Rana Mashhud d,speaker Punjab assembly in lap top giving ceremony

Aung San Suu Kyi calls on Burma to send more troops to end violence

08 Nov 2012

Aung San Suu Kyi has called on Burmese government to send more troops to end the sectarian violence in the west of the country

Four months after tensions between the Muslim Rohingya minority and Buddhists in western Burma's Rakhine State erupted in clashes which have left over 100 people dead and more than 100,000 displaced, Ms Suu Kyi has bowed to the pressure on her to speak out on the violence.

In a joint statement issued with lawmakers from Burma's various ethnic groups, Ms Suu Kyi called on the government to send more troops to the region to ensure peace and stability. The statement also calls for the government to explain its policies towards the Rohingya, as well as for a review of Burma's restrictive citizenship laws, which render the vast majority of the estimated 800,000 Rohingya stateless.The Nobel Peace Prize winner and leader of Burma's opposition has been the subject of rare criticism from human rights groups for her failure to take a stand on the sectarian violence which in the last month alone has left an estimated 30,000 Rohingya homeless. Last weekend, Mrs Suu Kyi again appeared to duck the issue when she said she would not use "moral leadership" to speak out on the plight of the Rohingya.

The reluctance of both Ms Suu Kyi and Burma's President Thein Sein to back the Rohingya has been ascribed to their fear of alienating voters ahead of the 2015 elections. Many Burmese regard the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, despite evidence suggesting they have been a presence in Rakhine State since the early Nineteenth Century.The statement, while not mentioning Bangladesh by name, appears to apportion some of the blame for the situation on Dhaka. "Both governments that share common boundaries should respect and take common responsibility for border security and immigration matters," it said. "It is imperative that both countries systematically prevent border crossings."

Dr,Raza Muhyoudin (M.S civil hospital Multan) visiting on the mother&child's week in Multan

Bal Thackeray off life support system, security beefed up in Mumbai

Nov 15, 2012

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, whose condition turned critical last night, is showing signs of improvement and has been taken off the life support system, party spokesman Sanjay Raut said on Thursday.

"Yesterday definitely there was some problem. Balasaheb is stable and responding to treatment and off life support system. Yesterday there was the need for him to be on life support system but today it is not," Raut, a Rajya Sabha MP, said.

No medical bulletin on the ailing 86-year-old leader's condition has been issued as yet, but one of the doctors attending on him said Thackeray was still being administered oxygen.

"He is being given oxygen and his condition is still not good," the doctor, who did not want to be identified, told .

Meanwhile, security outside Thackeray's 'Matoshree' bungalow in suburban Bandra has been stepped up following yesterday's incidents in which Shiv Sainiks had damaged some media vehicles and equipment.

Large contingents of Mumbai police and Rapid Action Force have been stationed and the area has been heavily barricaded.

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has been continuously monitoring law and order situation in the state in view of Thackeray's condition.

"Last night, Chavan held a high-level meeting with the chief secretary and top police officers. Since this morning, he is in constant touch with family members of the Sena chief," official sources said.

Large number of shops and business establishments in Sena strongholds like Dadar and Parel were closed as anxious party workers converged at 'Matoshree' to inquire about their leader's health.

Politicians, film personalities and captains of industry made a beeline for 'Matoshree' as a mark of solidarity with the Thackeray family.

Union minister Sharad Pawar, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari, party's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh, actors Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt, filmmakers Madhur Bhandarkar and Ashok Pandit and industrialists Rahul Bajaj and Venugopal Dhoot visited 'Matoshree' to inquire about Thackeray's condition.

At least100 Rohingya Muslims killed in Myanmar

At least 100 Rohingya Muslims have been killed in a recent wave of sectarian violence in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine, a Muslim party leader says.

 

Hla Thein, the vice chairman of the National Democratic Party for Development (NDPD), said on Friday that over 100 Muslims have lost their lives over the past week in clashes between extremist Buddhists and Rohingyas. 

 

The deadly violence peaked on Tuesday night, but people have been killed every day this week, said the leader of the Muslim political party that won four seats in Myanmar’s 2010 election.

 

Meanwhile, Rakhine state spokesman Win Myaing said 112 people had been killed in six townships in clashes that began Sunday between members of the Buddhist Rakhine and the Muslim Rohingya communities. He said 72 people were reported injured, including 10 children.

 

The government announced earlier that almost 2,000 homes had been burned down in the conflict.

 

In June, ethnic violence in the state left at least 90 people dead and destroyed more than 3,000 homes. About 75,000 have been living in refugee camps ever since.

 

A resident of another township, Ramree, said there also was violence there Friday morning.

 

“There were some clashes between the two sides in Ramree this morning,” Kyaw Win, 30, said by phone.

 

“Residents are very fearful of imminent attacks by the Muslim community because security presence is very little. We don't feel safe. We want the Bengalis to be moved away from the Rakhine community,” Kyaw Win said. Rakhine prefer to use the term Bengali for Rohingya, whom they contend are not a distinct ethnic group.

 

Kyaw Win said that a few houses had been burned down but that no casualties were reported.

 

The mob violence has seen entire villages torched and has drawn calls worldwide for government intervention.

 

“As the international community is closely watching Myanmar's democratic transition, such unrest could tarnish the image of the country,” said a statement from the office of President Thein Sein published Friday in the state-run Myanma Ahlin newspaper.

 

Thein Sein took office as an elected president last year, and has instituted economic and political liberalization after almost half a century of repressive military rule.

 

“The army, police and authorities in cooperation with local people will try to restore peace and stability and will take legal action against any individual or organization that is trying to instigate the unrest,” the statement warned.

 

The long-brewing conflict is rooted in a dispute over the Muslim residents' origin. Although many Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for generations, they are widely denigrated as intruders who came from neighboring Bangladesh to steal scarce land.

 

The U.N. estimates their population in Myanmar at 800,000. But the government does not count them as one of the country's 135 ethnic groups, and so — like neighboring Bangladesh — denies them citizenship. Human rights groups say racism also plays a role: Many Rohingya, who speak a Bengali dialect and resemble Muslim Bangladeshis, have darker skin and are heavily discriminated against.

 

A statement issued late Thursday by the office of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described the latest violence as “deeply troubling.” Ban called on Myanmar authorities “to take urgent and effective action to bring under control all cases of lawlessness.”

 

“The vigilante attacks, targeted threats and extremist rhetoric must be stopped,” Ban said. “If this is not done, the fabric of social order could be irreparably damaged and the reform and opening up process being currently pursued by the government is likely to be jeopardized.”

 

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. was deeply concerned about the reports and urged restraint.

 

In a hospital in Sittwe, the state capital not yet hit by the latest round of violence, an Associated Press photographer talked to four wounded people brought in from the affected areas. Aung Moe Khaing, 25, was wounded in an arm and a leg, saying he was shot Tuesday when soldiers dispersed the crowd.

 

Phyu Thein Maung, 39, from Yathetaung township, said he was shot in the buttocks.

 

“Muslims provoked us from inside their village and challenged us from their community, guarded by soldiers,” he said. “People were very angry as they shot iron spikes at us with catapults and made abusive gestures. I was hit by a gunshot when soldiers dispersed the crowd.”

 

26 October 2012

There have been concerns in the past that soldiers were failing to protect the Rohingya community, but accounts this time from Rakhine villagers suggest that Myanmar's military may have been defending the Rohingya.

 

The crisis has proven a major challenge to Thein Sein's government and to opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been criticized by some outsiders as failing to speak out strongly against what they see as repression of the Rohingya.

 

The U.N. warned Thursday that the crisis had sent a new wave of refugees to seek shelter in camps already overcrowded with 75,000 people from the June violence.

 

Bangladesh has put its border guards on alert, fearing a new influx of Rohingya refugees.

 

On Thursday, Bangladesh border guards turned away 45 Rohingya trying to enter into Bangladesh by boats, said Lt. Col. Khalequzzaman, a border commander. Local police chief Selim Mohammad Jahangir said Friday that at least another 3,000 Rohingya Muslims had been spotted on about 40 boats on the Naaf River off Bangladesh's Tekhnaf coast.

 

He said the boats may try to enter Bangladesh, but “we have instructions not to let them come here.”

 

Bangladesh says it's too poor to accept more refugees and feed them. Bangladesh is hosting about 30,000 Rohingya who fled Myanmar to escape government atrocities in 1991.

US to help Lebanon bomb investigation

22/10/2012

The US says it will help with the investigation into a bomb that killed the head of Lebanon's internal intelligence, a US spokeswoman says.

She said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had agreed with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati that her country would provide assistance.

Mrs Clinton spoke to Mr Mikati by phone after the funeral of Wissam al-Hassan, the security official killed on Friday.

Clashes erupted after the funeral, as protesters called on Mr Mikati to quit.

Police fired warning shots and tear gas as some demonstrators tried to storm the government offices in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

There were reports of further violence in southern and western Beirut overnight.

Opposition figures have blamed neighbouring Syria for the attack, protesting against Syria and its Lebanese allies amid fears the Syrian conflict could spill over.

A majority within Lebanon's government support the Syrian regime.

Mr Hassan, 47, was close to the 14 March opposition and the Hariri family, part of the anti-Syrian opposition.

The Syrian government condemned the attack, which also killed one of Mr Hassan's bodyguards and a woman nearby.

Lebanon's religious communities are divided between those who support the Syrian government - including many Shias - and those mostly from the Sunni community who back the rebels.

'Sensitive time'

Continue reading the main story

Wissam al-Hassan

• Head of the intelligence branch of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces
• Sunni Muslim born in the northern city of Tripoli in 1965
• Responsible for the security of former PM Rafik Hariri
• Viewed as being close to the Hariris and the opposition 14 March coalition
• Responsible for the August arrest of pro-Syrian politician and ex-information minister Michel Samaha

• In pictures: Funeral and protests
• Profile: Wissam al-Hassan

On Sunday, Mrs Clinton stressed "the United States' firm commitment to Lebanon's stability, independence, sovereignty and security," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said in a statement.

"She noted the importance of political leaders working together at this sensitive time to ensure that calm prevails and that those responsible for the attack are brought to justice," the statement added.
Mr Hassan led an investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which implicated Damascus.
He also recently organised the arrest of a former minister accused of planning a Syrian-sponsored bombing campaign in Lebanon.
Syrian troops withdrew from Lebanon in 2005 after a 29-year-long presence, in the wake of Mr Hariri's killing.
But the BBC's Wyre Davies reports that there are concerns in Beirut that Damascus is able to reach into Lebanese society both directly and through its allies.
Mr Hassan was buried next to Mr Hariri on Sunday.
Many mourners waved the light blue flag of the Sunni-based opposition Future Party, while others carried Lebanon's national flag.
Mr Mikati says he offered to resign after the attack, but accepted a request from President Michel Suleiman to stay on in order to avoid a power vacuum.