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ছোটখাট তাৎক্ষনিক কড়চা : নোবেলে সংসদে আটকে গেলেন সু কি?

মাসুদ করিম

৩ জুন ২০১২তে বাস থামিয়ে যে দশ জন মুসলিমকে ছুরির আঘাতে হত্যা করা হয়েছিল তার মধ্যে আট জনই ছিলেন রেঙ্গুনের মুসলমান যারা রাখাইন প্রদেশে তবলিগি চিল্লা শেষে নিজেদের বাড়িতে ফিরছিলেন। [...]

আগামী ১৬ জুন নোবেল ফাউন্ডেশন এক বিলম্বিত অনুষ্ঠানের মাধ্যমে ১৯৯১ সালের নোবেল শান্তি পুরস্কার তুলে দেবেন সু কি’র হাতে। সেই অনুষ্ঠানে যোগ দিতে ও তার পূর্বাপর ইউরোপ সফরের উদ্দেশ্যে আজ রেঙ্গুন ছাড়বেন সু কি। বর্তমানে বার্মার রাখাইন প্রদেশে রোহিঙ্গা মুসলিম-রাখাইন বৌদ্ধ যেদাঙ্গা হচ্ছে তা পেছনে ফেলে ইউরোপ সফর এবং সফর শেষে দেশে ফিরে আসাই এখন তার মূল লক্ষ্য, তাই দায়সারা মন্তব্যের চেয়ে বেশি কিছু বলছেন না তিনি। অথচ ৩ জুন ২০১২তে বাস থামিয়ে যে দশ জন মুসলিমকে ছুরির আঘাতে হত্যা করা হয়েছিল তাদের মধ্যে আট জনই ছিলেন রেঙ্গুনের মুসলমান যারা রাখাইন প্রদেশে তবলিগি চিল্লা শেষে নিজেদের বাড়িতে ফিরছিলেন। রাখাইন বৌদ্ধরা এই হত্যাকাণ্ড ঘটিয়েছে ২৮ মে ২০১২তে রাখাইন এক মেয়েকে কয়েকজন রোহিঙ্গা মুসলিমের ধর্ষণ ও পরবর্তীতে খুনের রেশ ধরে।

বার্মার রাখাইন প্রদেশের রোহিঙ্গা মুসলমানেরা ২০১০ সালে ভোটার লিস্টে অন্তর্ভুক্ত হয়েছিলেন এবং কথা ছিল সেনাবাহিনী সমর্থিত দলের প্রার্থীকে ভোট দিলে তাদেরকে বার্মার জাতীয়তাও দেয়া হবে। কিন্তু আজ পর্যন্ত এবিষয়ে কোনো তৎপরতা থাইন সাইন সরকারের মধ্যে দেখা যায়নি। রোহিঙ্গা মুসলমানদের মধ্যে সন্ত্রাসবাদী আছে এটা ঠিক, কিন্তু সাধারণ রোহিঙ্গা মুসলমানরা তো সন্ত্রাসবাদী নয়। সন্ত্রাসবাদীদের চিহ্নিত করে সাধারণ রোহিঙ্গা মুসলমানদের জাতীয়তা দেয়ার প্রশ্নে সু কি’র কোনো স্পষ্ট অবস্থান এখনো আমাদের চোখে পড়েনি।

জাতিসংঘ ও হিউম্যান রাইট ওয়াচ বাংলাদেশকে বলছে বাংলাদেশের সীমান্ত রোহিঙ্গা সাধারণ শরণার্থী মুসলমানদের জন্য শিথিল করে দিতে। কিন্তু জাতিসংঘ ও হিউম্যান রাইট ওয়াচ নোবেল শান্তি পুরস্কার প্রাপ্ত সু কি’কে কেন বলছে না, রাখাইন প্রদেশেই এই শরণার্থীদের জন্য জাতিসংঘ ক্যাম্প সৃষ্টিতে সহায়তা করতে? জাতিসংঘ ও অন্যান্য আন্তর্জাতিক সাহায্য সংস্থা যদি এরকম ক্যাম্প সৃষ্টি করতে পারে তাহলে সেই ক্যাম্পে যাবতীয় সাহায্য সহযোগিতা দেয়ার জন্য বাংলাদেশ প্রস্তুত থাকবে। এবং বাংলাদেশে শরণার্থী ক্যাম্পে অবস্থানরত রোহিঙ্গা শরণার্থীদেরও পর্যায়ক্রমে সেই ক্যাম্পে স্থানান্তরিত করতে নীতিগত সহায়তা চাইবে। আর যদি এর জন্য জাতিসংঘের শান্তি মিশন প্রয়োজন হয় সেক্ষেত্রেও বাংলাদেশ সাড়া দেবে।

আর এই সবকিছু সম্ভব সু কি যদি এবিষয়ে নিজেকে জড়াতে চান। কিন্তু সু কি’র যা অবস্থা তাতে তো শুধু এটাই মনে হচ্ছে তিনি নোবেলে ও সংসদে আটকা পড়ে গেছেন।

মাসুদ করিম

লেখক। যদিও তার মৃত্যু হয়েছে। পাঠক। যেহেতু সে পুনর্জন্ম ঘটাতে পারে। সমালোচক। কারণ জীবন ধারন তাই করে তোলে আমাদের। আমার টুইট অনুসরণ করুন, আমার টুইট আমাকে বুঝতে অবদান রাখে। নিচের আইকনগুলো দিতে পারে আমার সাথে যোগাযোগের, আমাকে পাঠের ও আমাকে অনুসরণের একগুচ্ছ মাধ্যম।

৫৯ comments

  1. হিমু - ১৪ জুন ২০১২ (৫:৫৯ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    সু চিকে সামাজিক ব্যবসায় দেখতে চাই।

    • মাসুদ করিম - ১৪ জুন ২০১২ (১২:২৩ অপরাহ্ণ)

      তিনি হয়ত সামাজিক রাজনীতিতে আগ্রহ দেখাবেন। অথবা, শুনেছি তার লেখার হাত খুব ভাল, তিনি সামাজিক ফিকশনেও আগ্রহী হতে পারেন।

  2. নীড় সন্ধানী - ১৪ জুন ২০১২ (১২:৫৪ অপরাহ্ণ)

    সুকি বন্দীদশা থেকে মুক্তি পেয়ে নিন্ম পরিষদের কিছু আসনে বিজয়ী হলেও, সেটা মিয়ানমারের ক্ষমতার অংশীদারিত্বের কোন গননার মধ্যেই পড়ে না। তাই বর্তমান এই সংকট বিষয়ে সুকির কাছ থেকে উল্লেখযোগ্য কিছু আশা করা অনুচিত। জাতিসংঘ বাংলাদেশকে অনুরোধ না করে মিয়ানমারের ক্ষমতাসীন সরকারকে কিছু বলছে না কেন সেটাই বিস্ময়কর।

    • মাসুদ করিম - ১৪ জুন ২০১২ (১:১২ অপরাহ্ণ)

      হ্যাঁ, সেবিস্ময়েরই কোনো কূলকিনারা এখনো পাওয়া যাচ্ছে না।

  3. রায়হান রশিদ - ১৫ জুন ২০১২ (৬:০৮ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    শান্তিতে নোবেল পাওয়ার পূর্ব শর্ত হল নিজ দেশের জনগণের সাধারণ অশান্তি-দুশ্চিন্তার ইস্যুগুলোতে না জড়ানো। জড়িয়েছেন তো মরেছেন, নোবেল আর আপনার এই জিন্দেগীতেও পাওয়া হবে না। আমাদের বুঝতে হবে – যাদের কপালে বিশ্ব শান্তির তিলক, যারা পৃথিবীর, যারা শোনাবেন কালের যাত্রার ধ্বনি, তাদের এই সব সাধারণ বিষয়ে জড়িত হওয়া একেবারেই মানায় না।

    • মাসুদ করিম - ১৫ জুন ২০১২ (১১:৫৪ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

      পুরস্কার একটা স্বীকৃতি, কিন্ত এই বিশেষ পুরস্কারকে দেবতায়ন করা হল কেন? এটাই আমার কাছে সবচেয়ে বড় প্রশ্ন।

  4. মাসুদ করিম - ১৫ জুন ২০১২ (১১:৫০ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    রোহিঙ্গারা ফিরিঙ্গিদের মতো, আরবি সওদাগররা আরাকানে ব্যবসা করত – তাদের ও স্থানীয় আরাকানিদের সম্পর্কের ফলে রোহিঙ্গাদের উদ্ভব। ফিরিঙ্গিদের জাতীয়তা দিতে তো উপমহাদেশের কোথাও সমস্যা হয় না, রোহিঙ্গাদের জাতীয়তা দিতে বার্মার সমস্যা হচ্ছে কেন? সৌদি আরবে গিয়ে দেখেছি রোহিঙ্গাদের খুব কদর, ব্রিটেনে কি ফিরিঙ্গিদের খুব কদর হয়?

  5. মাসুদ করিম - ১৫ জুন ২০১২ (৭:৪৯ অপরাহ্ণ)

    আইএলও-তে আজকের সংবাদ সম্মেলনটি চূড়ান্ত পরিশ্রান্তির কারণে বমির প্রবণতা নিয়ে নির্ধারিত সময়ের আগেই শেষ করতে হল সু কি’কে। সেখানে রোহিঙ্গা-রাখাইন দাঙ্গা ও বার্মা রাষ্ট্রের ভূমিকা নিয়ে তার বলা কথাগুলো ঠিক বোঝা গেল না।

    When asked whether she accepts Rohingyas as Burmese citizens, Aung San Suu Kyi repeated the need for rule of law in the country as well as clear citizenship regulations and efficient border enforcement policies.

    “We need very clear and precise laws with regard to citizenship to begin with. But I would like to mention here a very practical problem that we have to resolve in the Rakhine state. I think one of the greatest problems comes from the fear on both sides of the border—that is to say [between] Bangladesh and Burma—that there will be illegal immigrants crossing all the time and this is due to the porous border.

    “I think we need more responsible, incorrupt border vigilance.”

    বিস্তারিত পড়ুন : Rakhine Conflict Highlights Law Concerns।

  6. মাসুদ করিম - ১৬ জুন ২০১২ (১:৫৯ অপরাহ্ণ)

    বার্মার কাচিন প্রদেশের সীমান্ত আছে চীন ও ভারতের সাথে। সেখানেও জাতিগত দাঙ্গার ইতিহাস অনেক দিনের, সেখানে কিন্তু দাঙ্গায় আক্রান্তরা দেশের ভেতরের ক্যাম্পেই অবস্থান করছে। যে ক্যাম্পগুলোকে বলা হয় Internally Displaced People (IDP) ক্যাম্প। কোন আন্তর্জাতিক সংস্থা চীন বা ভারতকে বলেনি দাঙ্গায় আক্রান্তদের শরণার্থী হিসাবে জায়গা করে দিতে। তাহলে রোহিঙ্গা প্রশ্নে বাংলাদেশের প্রতি এই আব্দার কেন? আরাকান প্রদেশের দাঙ্গায় আক্রান্ত রোহিঙ্গাদের Internally Displaced People (IDP) ক্যাম্পে রাখতে অসুবিধা কোথায়?

  7. ফেরদৌস আহমেদ - ১৯ জুন ২০১২ (২:০৪ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    রোহিঙ্গারা যে আরব বণিকদের বংশোদ্ভুত এটার আদৌ কোন সত্যতা আছে কি? ভাষাতাত্ত্বিক দিক থেকে দেখলে তারা তো চট্টগ্রামবাসীদেরই সবচেয়ে কাছের বলে মনে হয়। চট্টগ্রাম অঞ্চলটা দীর্ঘদিন পর্যন্ত আরাকান রাজ্যের অংশ ছিল, যতদূর জানি শায়েস্তা খানের সময়ে সতের শতকে মুঘলরা আরাকানিদের হঠিয়ে চট্টগ্রাম নিজেদের দখলে নেয়। তার পূর্ব থেকেই আরাকান অঞ্চলে কৃষিকাজ,ব্যবসাসহ নানারকম কাজে চট্টগ্রামের লোক আরাকানে গিয়ে বসত করেছে, একইওভাবে আরাকানিরাও কক্সবাজার, পটুয়াখালিতে স্থায়ী বসতি গড়েছিল। রোহিঙ্গাদের আরব বংশোদ্ভুত বলাটা ঐতিহাসিক এবং বৈজ্ঞানিকভাবে কতটুকু সঠিক? তবে এই প্রশ্নটা করার মানে এই না যে আমি রোহিঙ্গাদের উপর দীর্ঘকাল ধরে চলে আসা বৈষম্য এবং নিপীড়ণকে সমর্থণ করছি। রোহিঙ্গারা তো আরাকানকে অখণ্ড পাকিস্তানের অংশ করার জন্য জিন্নাহর কাছে প্রস্তাবও করেছিল বলে জানি, যদিও কায়েদে আজম ওদের ব্যাপারে উৎসাহী ছিলনা।

    • মাসুদ করিম - ১৯ জুন ২০১২ (১০:১৫ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

      রোহিঙ্গারা আরব সওদাগরদের আরাকানে বসবাসরত স্থানীয়দের সাথে সংসার করার ফলে উদ্ভূত জনগোষ্ঠি : এটা রোহিঙ্গাদেরই দাবি। কিন্তু বার্মার অন্যান্য অঞ্চল বিশেষত রেঙ্গুনবাসীরা এটা সমর্থন করে না। তাদের মতে আবার আরব সওদাগরেররা রেঙ্গুনে ব্যবসা করতে এসেছিল, আরাকানে না। এবিষয়ে ভাল বই খুঁজে পাওয়া একেবারে অসম্ভব, গত বছরের শুরু থেকে আজ পর্যন্ত আমি কোনো ভাল বই খুঁজে পাইনি।

      আর ক্রসদের ক্ষেত্রে স্থানীয় ভাষা পরিবর্তন হয় না। ফিরিঙ্গিরা বাংলা ও ইংরেজি দুভাষাতেই কথা বলে। আর মগরা, যাদের মধ্যে পর্তুগিজদের ক্রস আছে বলা হয় তারাও যারা এখনো বাংলাদেশে আছে তারা বাংলাতেই কথা বলে এবং আরাকানি মগরা আরকানিতেই কথা বলে।

      চট্টগ্রাম বাংলার স্বাধীন সুলতানদেরই ছিল। চট্টগ্রামের রাজা ছিলেন জালাল উদ্দিন মোহাম্মদ শাহ। আরাকানের রাজাই বার্মা রাজার আক্রমণে রাজ্য থেকে নির্বাসিত হয়েছিলেন। সেই নির্বাসিত আরাকানি রাজা মিন সোয়া মুন (Min Sowa Mun) জালাল উদ্দিন মোহাম্মদ শাহের সহযোগিতায় ১৪৩০ সালে তার রাজ্য ফিরে পেয়েছিলেন বলেই আরাকান রাজসভায় চট্টগ্রামের বিরাট প্রভাব ছিল। পরবর্তীতে পর্তুগিজ জলদস্যু ও আরাকানিজ মগদের দৌরাত্মে চট্টগ্রামে আরাকানি দখলদারিত্ব চলতে থাকে। চট্টগ্রাম থেকে আরকানি মগদের বিতাড়ন করে চট্টগ্রামকে মোগল শাসনে নিয়ে আসেন শায়েস্তা খান ১৬৬৬ সালে।

  8. মাসুদ করিম - ২১ জুন ২০১২ (১২:১৪ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    মুহম্মদ নুরুল হুদার এলেখাটি থেকে রোহিঙ্গা বিষয়ে অনেক কিছু জানা গেল।

    আমার দাদী বলতেন রোয়াইঙ্গা। চট্টগ্রামের তাবৎ আদি বাসিন্দাদের কাছে এই উচ্চারণটিই সর্বাধিক পরিচিত। কারণ তারা যে দেশে থাকে বা যে দেশ থেকে আসে তার নাম রোয়াং। দক্ষিণ চট্টগ্রাম তথা কক্সবাজার অঞ্চলের একটি অতি পরিচিত শিশুভোলানো লোকছড়া : ‘বোয়াং বোয়াং বোয়াং / তর বাপ গেইয়ে রোয়াং / রোয়াঙর টিঁয়া বরুনা পাআন / তর মা’রে কইছ ন কাঁদে পাআন’। বোয়াং হচ্ছে বর্ষায় ব্যাঙের ডাক, যা শুনলে ছোট্ট শিশু গুটিসুটি মেরে মায়ের কোলে ঘুমিয়ে পড়ে। আর পুরো ছড়াটির অর্থ হচ্ছে, বোয়াং বোয়াং শব্দে বড় বড় ব্যাঙ ডাকছে, তোর বাপও রোয়াং গেছে, রোয়াঙের টাকা বরুনার (ভাতের পাতিলের বড় মাটির ঢাকনাকে বরুণা বলা হয়) মতো বড়, তোর মাকেও বলিস সে যেন (স্বামীর বিরহে) না কাঁদে।’

    সেকালে রোয়াং একটি বর্ধিষ্ণু জনপদ ছিল, আয়রোজগারও বেশি ছিল। তাই সেখানে যারা কাজ করতে যেত তারা কামাই শেষে আবার যথাসময়ে ঘরে ফিরতো। এই নিয়ে ঘরের কারো কোনো দুশ্চিন্তা ছিল না। চাটগা্ইঁয়ারা কাজের জন্য রোয়াং গেলেও সাধারণত সেখানে স্থায়ী বসবাস গড়তো না। ছোট্ট এই ছড়াটির অর্থ আর পটভূমি ব্যাখ্যা করলেই রোহিঙ্গাদের আসল পরিচয় ও তাদের ঘিরে দীর্ঘদিনের অমীমাংসিত সঙ্কটের অন্তর্নিহিত কারণটা আঁচ করা যাবে।

    যে অজ্ঞাত লোককবি এই ছড়াটি লিখেছেন তিনি কোন রাজনৈতিক প্রভাবের বশবর্র্তী হয়ে এটি লেখেননি, বরং এর মাধ্যমে তৎকালীন সমাজের বিরাজমান আর্থ-সামাজিক অবস্থার হুবহু চিত্র তুলে ধরেছেন। এই ছড়ায় বর্ণিত ‘রোয়াং’ হচ্ছে বর্তমান মায়ামনমারের আকিয়াব তথা আরাকান রাজ্যের রোসাঙ্গ এলাকা, যার কথা আলাওলের পদ্মাবতীসহ আরাকান রাজের পৃষ্ঠপোষকতাপ্রাপ্ত মধ্যযুগের অনেক কবির পুথিপত্রে উল্লেখিত আছে। আর এই রোসাঙ্গ রাজ্যই হচ্ছে বর্তমান মায়ানমারের রাখাইন প্রদেশ।

    …

    ১৯৭৮ থেকে শুরু করে ১৯৯১-১৯৯২ পর্যন্ত যে পাঁচ লক্ষাধিক রোহিঙ্গা শরণার্র্থী বাংলাদেশে প্রবেশ করেছিলো, তারা। তাদের সকলকেই বাংলাদেশ সরকার আশ্রয় দিয়েছিলো। স্থানীয় জনগণ, জাতিসঙ্ঘ ও আন্তর্জাতিক সম্প্রদায় তাদের পাশে ছিলো। তা সত্বেও তাদের প্রত্যেককে পুনরায় মায়ানমারে স্বগৃহে ফেরত পাঠানো সম্ভব হয়নি। বরং প্রায় চার লক্ষাধিক শরণার্র্থী কক্সবাজার, চট্টগ্রামসহ দেশের বিভিন্ন অঞ্চলের জনগোষ্ঠির সঙ্গে মিশে এদেশেই থেকে গেছে। এদের একটি অংশ গোপনে বাংলদেশী পাসপোর্ট সংগ্রহ করে সৌদী আরব ও মধ্যপ্রাচ্যে অবৈধভাবে প্রবেশ করে বাংলাদেশের ভাবমূর্তি নষ্ট করেছে। তাই বংশপরাম্পরায় তাদের বাসভূমি যে মায়ানমার, সেই দেশের নাগরিকত্ব প্রদানই তাদের সমস্যার মূল সমাধান বলে বিবেচিত হওয়া অত্যাবশ্যক।

    …

    মায়ানমারে মুসলিম জনগোষ্ঠির প্রবেশ অন্তত ৮ম শতকে, যখন রামরী দ্বীপের (বর্তমান সেন্ট মার্টিন বলে অনুমিত) পাশে আরব বণিকদের জাহাজডুবির পর রক্ষাপ্রাপ্ত নাবিকেরা তৎকালীন আরাকানের উপকূলবর্র্তী এলাকায় প্রবেশ করে বসতি স্থাপন করেছিলো। কথিত আছে, ডুবন্ত নাবিকেরা ‘রহম’ শব্দটি উচ্চারণ করে স্রষ্টার করুণা প্রার্থনা করেছিলো, যার সঙ্গে ‘রোহাং’ শব্দটি নিকটসম্পর্কযুক্ত। তারও বহু পরে আফগানিস্তানের ‘রোহা’ সম্প্রদায়ের কিছু লোক এখানে বসতি স্থাপন করে। মোগল আমলে শাহ সুজা ও তার আত্মীয়স্বজনের আগমণ তো একটি ঐতিহাসিক সত্য। কাজেই প্রাথমিক বিচারে স্থায়ী বাসের ক্ষেত্রে এই অঞ্চলের মুসলিম জনগোষ্ঠির অবস্থিতি একহাজার দুইশ বছরেরও অধিক। বার্মিজ ও মুসলিম ঐতিহাসিকদের মতে প্রাচীন আরকান রাজ্যের রাজধানীর নাম ছিল ‘ম্রোহং’ (অর্থ প্রাচীন শহর), যেখান থেকে তার অধিবাসীরা, – বৌদ্ধ-মুসলমান নির্বিশেষে, – যুগে যুগে রোহিঙ্গা নামে অভিহিত হয়েছে। পঞ্চদশ শতকের গোড়ার দিকের কথা। রাজা নরমিখলা কৌশলগত কারণে সেলিম শাহ নাম গ্রহণ করেন এবং গৌড়রাজের কাছ থেকে প্রথম দফায় ২০,০০০ ও পরবর্র্তীকালে ৩০,০০০ মুসলিম সৈন্য সাহায্য গ্রহণ করেন। তারপর আরাকান রাজ্য পুনরুদ্ধার করে নতুন পর্যায়ে রাজত্ব করতে থাকতেন। তখন খেকে এই মুসলমান সৈন্যদের অধিকাংশই এখানে স্থায়ীভাবে ঘরসংসার শুরু করে। এই সময় থেকে এই রাজ্যে মুসলমান-বৌদ্ধ-রাখাইন নির্বিশেষে সবাই পরম শান্তিতে বসবাস করতে থাকে। পঞ্চদশ শতক থেকে বর্তমান কালের (২০১২) ব্যবধান ৫০০ বছরেরও বেশি। অর্থাৎ যে কোনো হিসাবেই মুসলিম রোহিঙ্গা জনগোষ্ঠি এই অঞ্চলে পাঁচ শতাধিক বছর ধরে বাস করছে। অতএব আন্তর্জাতিক নিয়ম অনুযায়ীও তারা আদিবাসী হিসেবে বিবেচ্য।

    আরো স্মরণ করা যেতে পারে যে, বাংলাদেশ ও বার্মাসহ উপমহাদেশের বিভিন্ন অঞ্চলে নাবিক ও বণিক মুসলমানদের প্রবেশ প্রায় সমসাময়িক কালে, অর্থাৎ ৮ম শতকের কিঞ্চিৎ আগে পরে। তাহলে ভারতবর্ষের অন্যান্য রাষ্ট্রে যদি মুসলমানরা (সংখ্যাগুরু বা সংখ্যালঘু যা-ই হোক) নাগরিক হতে পারে, বর্তমান মায়ানমারে কেন পারবে না? আসলে আদিবাস বা স্থায়ীবাসের বিচারেও রোহিঙ্গা মুসলমান মায়ানমারের স্থায়ী নাগরিক হওয়া যোগ্য। আমরা আশা করবো, সামরিক জান্তার কালোশাসন পেরিয়ে এই দেশটিতে যখন গণতন্ত্রের সুবাতাস বইতে শুরু করেছে, তখন বোহিঙ্গারাও সুবিচার পাবে।

    বিস্তারিত পড়ুন : রোহিঙ্গার ঘর: কম জরুরী নয় নাগরিকতা।

  9. মাসুদ করিম - ১৪ জুলাই ২০১২ (২:৪৪ অপরাহ্ণ)

    বার্মার প্রেসিডেন্ট সংস্কারবাদী হতে পারেন কিন্তু তিনি ‘রোহিঙ্গা’ বিষয়ে কুসংস্কারাচ্ছন্ন।

    “We will take responsibility of our ethnic nationals but it is impossible to accept those Rohingyas who are not our ethnic nationals who had entered the country illegally. The only solution is to hand those illegal Rohingyas to the UNHCR or to send them to any third country that would accept them,” Thein Sein told Guterres, according to his website.

    Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/refugee+chief+rejects+Myanmar+presidents+call+world+body+take+care/6923177/story.html#ixzz20aEJzvKF

    বার্মার প্রেসিডেন্টের সাইটের সূত্রের এই খবর সেখানে আছে বার্মিজ ভাষায়, কাজেই পুরো বিবৃতিটা পড়া গেল না, যতটুকু ইংরেজি অনুবাদে উপরের খবরে পড়েছি তাতে বোঝা যাচ্ছে ‘অবৈধ’ রোহিঙ্গাদের রাষ্ট্রপতিপ্রবর গ্রহণ করবেন না এবং ‘অবৈধ’ রোহিঙ্গাদের UNHCRকেই তৃতীয় কোনো আগ্রহশীল দেশে পুনর্বাসনের দায়িত্ব নিতে হবে UNHCRকে। কেন? — কারণ বার্মার রাজনৈতিক সংস্কারের জন্য ও অর্থনৈতিক উন্নতির জন্য রাষ্ট্রপতিপ্রবরের এটা প্রয়োজন। এখন ‘অবৈধ’ বলতে গেলে তো ‘রাষ্ট্রহীন’ ৮,০৮,০৭৫ জন রোহিঙ্গার সবাই ‘অবৈধ’। রাষ্ট্রপতিপ্রবরের এত সখ কেন হল কে জানে? আর তারকাখ্যাতিসম্পন্ন সু কি’র ‘শান্তি’, সেটাও বা কেমন কে জানে? সংস্কার + শান্তি আমরা আমাদের দেশেই ২০০৭-২০০৮এ দেখেছি। তার ফলাফলও আমরা দেখেছি। কাজেই রাষ্ট্রপতিপ্রবর থাইন সাইন ও শান্তিবর্মন সু কি, রোহিঙ্গা ও অন্যান্য জাতিগত সমস্যা সমাধান করতে না পারলে ‘বার্মা’য় আসলেই সারা পৃথিবীর বিনিয়োগ দিয়েও কোনো কিছুই হবে না।

  10. মাসুদ করিম - ২৫ জুলাই ২০১২ (৪:৩১ অপরাহ্ণ)

    বার্মার পার্লামেন্টে সু কি’র প্রথম বক্তৃতা। ক্ষুদ্র নৃতাত্ত্বিক গোষ্ঠীর অধিকার সংরক্ষণের আহবান।

    Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called for laws protecting the rights of ethnic minorities during her first parliamentary debate in Burma’s Lower House on Wednesday.

    The National League for Democracy (NLD) chairman supported a proposal of Ti Khun Myat, the MP representing Shan State’s Kut Khai Constituency for the ruling military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), to enact laws to protect minority groups.

    Protecting the rights of ethnic minorities is a complex issue and more than simply preserving their culture and language, said the Nobel Laureate.

    “It also cannot be detached from the Panglong spirit which is based on equality and mutual respect,” said Suu Kyi. “Keeping this in mind, we, all of us parliamentarians, must work together to amend the laws as necessary to be able to protect ethnic rights as well as to develop a truly democratic nation.”

    The proposal to protect the rights of minorities applied mainly to ethnic languages, literature and culture, and some MPs criticized the current wording for lacking provisions for equality, autonomy and human rights.

    Ba Shein, a Lower House MP for the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, said he supports the proposal but it also needs to include guarantees of ethnic equality.

    “There needs to be many amendments to make in order to have equality for the ethnics as well as to build the federal union which the ethnics consistently want to establish,” he said.

    Nine MPs including Suu Kyi discussed the proposed legislation during Wednesday’s session of the People’s Parliament after it was first introduced as a topic on Tuesday.

    Two other NLD members—Min Thu from Naypyidaw’s Ottarathiri Constituency and Ohn Kyaing from Mandalay’s Maha-Aung-Myay Constituency—joined Suu Kyi in the debate.

    The democracy icon also raised the issue of the term “ethnics” as the controversial 2008 Constitution does not contain a specific definition. According to the 1982 citizenship law, an ethnic group must have been living permanently on Burmese soil since before 1823 to be eligible for citizenship.

    Suu Kyi also highlighted poverty in ethnic states as well as their underdeveloped condition due to a continuous cycle of civil wars. Burma’s highest poverty rate is in Chin State at 73.3 percent with 43.5 percent in Arakan State and 37.1 percent in Shan State, she said, noting that the national average was 25.6 percent.

    Her speech was broadcasted live on Burma’s SkyNet channel which offers live coverage of parliamentary debates.

    লিন্ক এখানে ও ছবি এখানে।

  11. রেজাউল করিম সুমন - ২৬ জুলাই ২০১২ (১:৩৩ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    openDemocracy-তে ইসহাক মিয়া সোহেলের লেখা : ‘The plight of Rohingyas in Myanmar, the international community and Aung Sung Suu Ky’

    The latest spate of ethnic violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority perpetrated by Buddhist majority in the Rakhine state of Myanmar has largely been ignored by international media and therefore, very few people around the world are aware of it.

    Many of us, living in neighbouring countries to Myanmar, don’t even have a clear idea of what exactly happened to the Rohingya people after ethnic violence broke out in Rakhine state on June 8. The scanty media coverage has mainly shed light on Rohingyas fleeing in large numbers by rickety boat, and pleading for entry into Bangladesh. Due to the heavy blockade by the Bangladesh authorities, these boatloads of haggard Rohingyas failed to land ashore in Bangladesh and were forced to turn their boats back to Myanmar with hunger, thirst and possible death ahead of them.

    One heart-breaking picture shared hundreds of times on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media shows a Rohingya man pleading with officers of the Bangladesh Border Guards with folded hands and a weeping face for shelter in Bangladesh. It clearly invokes the suffering of those targeted in the recent week of sectarian violence in Myanmar. However, this is not the first time that Rohingya people have fled across the border to neighbouring Bangladesh to escape the violence in Rakhine state.

    In 1978, over two million Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh when the Myanmar government launched an operation under the code name of ‘Naga Min’ (Dragon King) to expel illegal immigrants from its territory. The operation particularly targeted the Rohingya Muslims through killing, widespread rape, looting, forced labour, arbitrary arrest, burning homes and religious sites. Again in 1991-1992, nearly a quarter of a million Rohingyas took shelter in Bangladesh, following a dramatic increase of forced labour, torture, rape and summary executions committed by both Myanmar military and local Rakhine Buddhists. The ultimate purpose of these heinous crimes against Rohingyas was to make them invisible in their motherland.

    Although the Rohingya Muslim people have been living in Myanmar since the 8th century, they are seen as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh by the Myanmar government and have been denied citizenship for decades. It is an unfortunate fact that the local Rakhine Buddhist population is heavily mis-led by their military government into considering the Rohingyas as aliens and treating them with hostility. There is, in fact, well-documented evidence that Rohingyas were once legitimate citizens of the Union of Burma under Article 3 of the Aung San-Attle Treaty (1947) and the First Schedule to the Burma Independence Act, 1947. They even had their own political parties and representation in the parliament, cabinet and peoples’ councils of different levels during the democratic period from 1948 to 1962. But in 1982, twenty years after the coup d’état, General Ne Win’s military regime redefined the citizenship law which has made the Rohingyas effectively stateless.

    Apart from being stateless, they are subject to ongoing restrictions on their fundamental rights. The United Nations has described the Rohingyas as the most oppressed ethnic minority group in the world. The question is, what role does the international community play in stopping the systematic repression of the Rohingya population? The simple answer is none! In the past, the US, the European Union (EU) and others have kept their mouths shut, letting the military regime do what they want. Now, they close their eyes to the plight of Rohingyas with the excuse that any intervention may thwart the process of democratization.

    As the current president Thein Sein is pro-reformist, now is surely the right time to apply international pressure to his regime to ensure recognition of the rights of the Rohingya people. Analysts say the international community will not intervene now because they are afraid of losing their possible investment in Myanmar’s oil and gas sectors. Thre is only one recourse: to raise global awareness of the citizenship rights and other basic human rights of the Rohingyas.

    This may in some way influence the international community to do something about the Rohingya issue. The Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi can play a very effective role in this regard by speaking up for the rights of Rohingyas in different international forums. However, it is disappointing that Suu Kyi has not expressed a very clear position on the stateless Rohingyas. She didn’t even address the issue in her recent 40-minute Nobel oration at Oslo.

    The Rohingyas, along with many others, hoped that the democracy icon would raise the issue of their plight during her two-week tour of Europe. But Suu Kyi’s Oslo press conference on June 18, 2012 offered a balancing act on the Rohingya issue. She herself is not sure about the nationality status of Rohingya Muslims. She said: ‎”Bangladesh says that they are not ours and Burma says that they are not ours and these poor people get shuffled around. So we have to have rule of law, we have to know what the law is and we have to make sure that it is properly implemented.”

    This is, of course, a statement by Suu Kyi trying not to offend the military government and also the majority Buddhist community. She is in fact fully aware that the current law does not recognize the Rohingyas as citizens of Myanmar. Nicholas Farrelly, a research fellow at Australian National University, says that if she fails to tackle the subject she will risk disappointing those who “crave her leadership”. Yet support for the Rohingya, “risks alienating some Burmese Buddhists”. But as a veteran human rights defender, can she remain silent on the sufferings of her own people? She must act now to curb the long-running sectarian violence against Rohingyas and also to find a rational solution to the complex citizenship issue, by involving the local Rakhine Buddhists, different ethnic groups, the military government as well as the international community in seeking a solution.

  12. মাসুদ করিম - ১৬ আগস্ট ২০১২ (৩:০০ অপরাহ্ণ)

    রোহিঙ্গা বিষয়ে সু কি’র নীরবতা নিয়ে আন্তর্জাতিক অঙ্গনে এখন কিছু কিছু কথা হচ্ছে।

    She is known as the voice of Myanmar’s downtrodden but there is one oppressed group that Aung San Suu Kyi does not want to discuss.

    For weeks, Suu Kyi has dodged questions on the plight of a Muslim minority known as the Rohingya, prompting rare criticism of the woman whose struggle for democracy and human rights in Myanmar have earned her a Nobel Peace Prize, and adoration worldwide.

    Human rights groups have expressed disappointment, noting that the United Nations has referred to the Rohingya—widely reviled by the Buddhist majority in Myanmar—as among the most persecuted people on Earth. They say Suu Kyi could play a crucial role in easing the hatred in Myanmar and in making the world pay more attention to the Rohingya.

    Analysts and activists say that Suu Kyi’s stance marks a new phase in her career: The former political prisoner is now a more calculating politician who is choosing her causes carefully.

    “Politically, Aung San Suu Kyi has absolutely nothing to gain from opening her mouth on this,” said Maung Zarni, a Myanmar expert and visiting fellow at the London School of Economics. “She is no longer a political dissident trying to stick to her principles. She’s a politician and her eyes are fixed on the prize, which is the 2015 majority Buddhist vote.”

    The Rohingya have been denied citizenship even though many of their families have lived in Myanmar for generations. The U.N. estimates that 800,000 Rohingya live in Myanmar where they face heavy-handed restrictions: They need permission to marry, have more than two children and travel outside of their villages.

    বিস্তারিত পড়ুন : Suu Kyi’s silence on Rohingya draws rare criticism।

  13. মাসুদ করিম - ১৬ আগস্ট ২০১২ (৩:১৭ অপরাহ্ণ)

    ব্রিটিশ চ্যানেল ফোর বার্মার রাখাইন প্রদেশে রাখাইন-রোহিঙ্গা জাতিগত দাঙ্গার পরে বিরাজিত আতঙ্কজনক অবস্থা নানা বাধাবিপত্তি পেরিয়ে ক্যামেরায় ধরতে সমর্থ হয়েছে।

    Despite official obstacles barring most observers and aid workers from western Myanmar, two months after dozens were killed in sectarian clashes and tens of thousands of Muslims were forced from their homes into “resettlement camps,” a television crew from Britain’s Channel 4 News managed to report from the region on Tuesday.

    ভিডিও দেখুন এখানে।

  14. মাসুদ করিম - ১৬ আগস্ট ২০১২ (৪:০২ অপরাহ্ণ)

    সিরিয়ার সদস্যপদ বাতিলের জন্য ওআইসির জরুরি সভার সমাপনী বিবৃতিতে বার্মার রোহিঙ্গা নিগ্রহের ঘটনাকে মানবতার বিরুদ্ধে অপরাধ হিসাবে ঘোষণা করেছে এবং বিষয়টি জাতিসংঘের আগামী অধিবেশনে উত্থাপন করার সর্বসম্মত সিদ্ধান্ত গ্রহণ করেছে।

    In a closing statement, the OIC also decided to take to the United Nations the issue of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingyas, displaced by deadly sectarian violence. It described as a “crime against humanity” the Myanmar government’s handling of minority Muslims and reiterated support for the Palestinians.

    …

    Myanmar Rohingyas
    Another key decision taken up by the OIC was to condemn “the continued recourse to violence by the Myanmar authorities against the members of this minority and their refusal to recognize their right to citizenship.”
    “The summit has decided to bring this matter before the General Assembly of the United Nations,” it said in a final statement.
    The OIC announced on Saturday before the summit that it had received a green light from Myanmar to assist displaced Rohingya.
    It said Myanmar gave its agreement following talks in the capital Yangon*** on Friday between a delegation from the pan-Islamic body and President Thein Sein on the “deplorable humanitarian situation in Rakhine state.”
    The delegation assured Thein Sein that Islamic humanitarian organizations were willing to provide aid to all residents of the strife-torn state.
    King Abdullah decided last Saturday to grant $50 million to the Rohingya, describing them as victims of “several rights violations, including ethnic cleansing, murder, rape and forced displacement.”
    Violence between Buddhists and Rohingya has left scores dead, with official figures indicating that 80 people from both sides died in initial fighting in June.
    The entire state has been under emergency rule since early June with a heavy army and police presence.

    *** অনেকেরই দেখি এখনো বার্মা রাজধানী রেঙ্গুন বলার অভ্যাস রয়ে গেছে। বার্মার রাজধানী আর রেঙ্গুন নেই।

    বিস্তারিত পড়ুন : OIC will take Rohingya case to UN।

  15. মাসুদ করিম - ১৭ সেপ্টেম্বর ২০১২ (৭:২৬ অপরাহ্ণ)

    সু কি এখন আমেরিকায়। ১৯ সেপ্টেম্বর ২০১২তে আমেরিকার হাউজ অফ রিপ্রেজেন্টেটিভের স্পিকারের কাছে থেকে গ্রহণ করবেন আমেরিকার কংগ্রেসের সর্বোচ্চ নাগরিক সম্মান কংগ্রেসনাল স্বর্ণপদক ( Congressional Gold Medal)[This is the highest civilian honor bestowed by the U.S. Congress, and it will be presented to Suu Kyi for her leadership and steadfast commitment to human rights and for promoting freedom, peace and democracy in her home country of Burma :US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner]। এরপর সু কি’কে দেয়া ওবামার এক সুবিশাল পার্টিতে আমেরিকান শীর্ষ ব্যবসায়ী হলিউডের সেলিব্রেটিদের সাথে সময় কাটাবেন বার্মার গণতন্ত্রের নেত্রী। কিন্তু কী উত্তর দিবেন তিনি রোহিঙ্গাদের রাষ্ট্রবিহীন অবস্থান নিয়ে? মৌনতা? নাকি বার্মার বর্তমান প্রেসিডেন্টের মতো বলবেন, বাংলাদেশে যেহেতু জোর করে রোহিঙ্গাদের পাঠিয়ে দেয়া যাচ্ছে না তৃতীয় কোনো দেশ রোহিঙ্গাদের নিয়ে গেলেই এই সমস্যার যথার্থ সমাধান হবে? ২০১৫-এর বার্মার সাধারণ নির্বাচন পর্যন্ত চুপ করে কাটিয়ে দিতে পারবেন বার্মার গণতন্ত্রের নেত্রী ও বর্তমানে ‘বাস্তবরাজনীতি’র বৌদ্ধভোটচাতক বিরোধীদলীয় পার্লামেন্টারিয়ান?

    image
    আমেরিকার উদ্দেশ্যে যাত্রার আগে রেঙ্গুনের আন্তর্জাতিক বিমানবন্দরে সমর্থক পরিবেষ্টিত সু কি

    Can Suu Kyi Stay Silent? | COLIN HINSHELWOOD / THE IRRAWADDY

    Aung San Suu Kyi arrived on Sunday for a tour of the US where she will address Burmese communities in various cities, and is scheduled to collect at least one award for her non-violent struggle during 15 years of house arrest and for her role as a resilient champion of democratic values and human rights.

    “Aung San Suu Kyi will be honored for her leadership and steadfast commitment to human rights and for promoting freedom, peace and democracy in her home country of Burma,” said the US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner.

    But between receiving Congressional awards on Capitol Hill and dining with the Obamas at the White House, not to mention whatever Hollywood celebrities, former presidents and razzmatazz are rolled out on the red carpet, The Lady will be hard pressed to avoid addressing the burning question—what to do with the Rohingyas?

    Until now, Suu Kyi has been largely silent on the issue—she even answered “I don’t know” when asked by a reporter whether the Muslim Rohingya community should be allowed Burmese citizenship. Other statements have been purposefully vague. During her European tour, she responded to reporters’ questions about the Arakan crisis by referring to the matter as a “rule of law” issue—hardly a heartfelt sentiment by a woman renowned across the world as a defender of the oppressed, a voice for the needy.

    During this trip, Suu Kyi’s American hosts will want to try to protect her from over-zealous journalists; they don’t want the feel-good factor of this victory lap to be soured with the acrid taste of Burmese nationalism and racism. It’s most likely that her press conferences will be well choreographed, her speeches uplifting and triumphant.

    In fact, it would be seen back home in Rangoon as a grave political faux pas for the opposition leader to get bogged down in a debate regarding the reviled Bengali immigrants—as a number of Burmans and Arakanese view the group. No doubt she would receive standing ovations across the US and the West by standing up for the hapless Rohingyas; but in Burma, not so. Her party loyalists assume she is in the process of abandoning her role as a peace-loving activist and assuming the realpolitik mantle of an opposition MP in a slippery Parliament.

    “Politically, Aung San Suu Kyi has absolutely nothing to gain from opening her mouth on this,” said Maung Zarni, a Burma expert and visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, speaking in August. “She is no longer a political dissident trying to stick to her principles. She’s a politician and her eyes are fixed on the prize, which is the 2015 majority Buddhist vote.”

    It won’t help Suu Kyi that her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has failed to declare an official stance on the Rohingya crisis; otherwise Suu Kyi could simply toe the party line and decline to elaborate. But the NLD has side-stepped the issue, allowing its leaders to vent their own opinions. Party heads Win Tin, Tin Oo and Nyan Win have each joined the masses in banging the nationalist drum which basically opines that the Rohingyas are not Burmese citizens unless they can jump through myriad hoops to qualify for citizenship; and that the majority should therefore be repatriated to Bangladesh or find resettlement in a third country.

    But to hear Suu Kyi uttering such cold phrases would undoubtedly destroy her international reputation. Even her silence is being greeted by disappointment. One Scottish academic, Azeem Ibrahim, questioned whether her Nobel Prize should be rescinded, while the regional director of Human Rights Watch, Phil Robertson, has referred to Suu Kyi’s refusal to be drawn into comment as “unfortunate,” and urged her to take a leadership role in resolving the crisis.

    It will not have gone unnoticed that Buddhism’s most prolific advocate of non-violent resistance, the Dalai Lama, has raised his concerns about the violence being perpetuated against Muslims in Arakan State in a letter to fellow Noble Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi. To date, as far as we know, The Lady has not allowed herself to be drawn into a debate on the subject.

    If truth be told, Suu Kyi is damned if she does and damned if she doesn’t. She cannot placate the international community which has fawned over her for so long and at the same time appeal to the general Burmese public.

    What is more important to her now must surely be her role as a politician, and she will, I’m sure, go with her head instead of her heart. For if she went with her heart, she must surely know that the moral position is to condemn the violence and call for the respect of the Rohingyas’ human rights.

    • মাসুদ করিম - ২৫ সেপ্টেম্বর ২০১২ (১:০৪ অপরাহ্ণ)


      aung san suu kyi on amanpour[cnn] by masudkarim

      সিএনএন-এর ক্রিস্টিয়ান আমানপুরের সাথে সু কি’র সাক্ষাৎকারে এই ভিডিওটিতে রোহিঙ্গা প্রসঙ্গে কোনো প্রশ্ন নেই, জানি না মূল টিভি সাক্ষাৎকারে ছিল কিনা। এই সাক্ষাৎকারে আমানপুর ‘স্টানড’ হয়েছেন এই জেনে যে সু কি’র জেনারেলদের প্রতি দুর্বলতা আছে, আমরা ঠিকই বুঝেছি এবং সু কি’ও আমানপুরকে বুঝিয়ে বলেছেন, তার বাবা জেনারেল ছিলেন কাজেই স্বাভাবিকভাবেই তার এই দুর্বলতা আছে।

      Aung San Suu Kyi has “soft spot” for the military generals
      …
      Suu Kyi is now working with President Thein Sein – one of the ruling generals who kept her under house arrest.

      “I’ve never thought that what they did to me was personal. It is politics. And if you decide to go into politics, you have to be prepared to put up with these kinds of problems. I like a lot of the generals. I’m rather inclined to liking people,” she said. That includes, surprisingly, the very people who prevented her from seeing your husband and her children.

      “I think it’s perfectly natural for me to feel this way,” she says. “I’ve always got on with people in the army; you mustn’t forget that my father was the Founder of the Burmese army. This is why I have a soft spot for them even though I don’t like what they do – that’s different from not liking them.”

      She says she’s encouraged by her work in the legislature.

      “We have a speaker who is very fair-minded and who treats us like a proper opposition, in spite of our very, very small numbers.”
      …

      এই সাক্ষাৎকারে সু কি বলেছেন, বাণিজ্য নিষেধাজ্ঞা বার্মার অর্থনীতির কোনো ক্ষতি করেনি, ঠিক সিদ্ধান্ত ছিল কিন্ত এখন নিষেধাজ্ঞা সম্পূর্ণ তুলে নেয়া প্রয়োজন। আরো বলেছেন, তিনি সামনের দিনগুলোকে যে বার্মার ‘গোল্ড রাশ’ বলা হচ্ছে তিনি এর সাথে একমত নন, তিনি অনেক বেশি বিনিয়োগকে জনগণ ও পরিবেশবান্ধব দেখতে চান। দেখা যাক শেষ পর্যন্ত।

      • মাসুদ করিম - ১৩ নভেম্বর ২০১২ (৯:৪১ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

        গতমাসের শেষ দিন ভারতের ইংরেজি দৈনিক ‘দি হিন্দু’র নিরুপমা সুব্রামানিয়ান বার্মার রাজধানীতে সু কি’র একটি সাক্ষাৎকার নেন। এই সাক্ষাৎকারের উদ্দেশ্য ছিল এসপ্তাহে সু কি’র ভারত সফরের আগে এই সফরকে তিনি কিভাবে দেখছেন এবং বার্মার বর্তমান সামগ্রিক পরিস্থিতি সম্বন্ধে আলোচনা করা। নিরুপমা সুব্রামানিয়ান সু কি’কে রোহিঙ্গা প্রসঙ্গে প্রশ্ন করেছেন, এবং সু কি সবসময়ে এপ্রসঙ্গে যা বলেন তাই বলেছেন ‘আইনের শাসন জারি’ করতে হবে, এবার শুধু বার্মার বর্তমান শাসকরা যেভাবে বলেন রোহিঙ্গারা বাংলাদেশ থেকে অনুপ্রবেশ করেছে তাকেই তিনি একটু অন্যভাবে বললেন — এটা বার্মা-বাংলাদেশের অনেক দিনের সীমান্ত সমস্যার ফল। রোহিঙ্গাদের নাগরিকত্ব নিয়ে তিনি একটা কথাও বলেননি এবং নিরুপমা সুব্রামানিয়ানও তাকে এপ্রসঙ্গে টেনে আনার চেষ্টা করেননি।

        In the last few days, there’s been concern internationally and in Myanmar that the incidents in the Rakhine region between the Buddhists and the Rohingyas may cause a setback to the process of reforms, and also there’s the other fear that it could snowball into a security threat for the entire region if it leads to the radicalisation of the people there. Do you share these worries? Are you concerned? You haven’t said much about it…

        Of course we are concerned. I think in many ways the situation has been mishandled. For years I have been insisting, and the National League for Democracy also, that we have to do something about the porous border with Bangladesh because it is going to lead some day or the other to grave problems. But nobody, of course, paid attention because the problems were not there yet. Also we have emphasised the need for law and order, the rule of law. And again, the perception was these were communal problems.

        I emphasise rule of law, one has to emphasise rule of law because communal differences are not settled overnight. In fact, they often take years to sort out. In the meantime, if they had concentrated on rule of law, they could have prevented violence and human rights violations breaking out, and that would at least have kept tensions under control. And until tensions are under control, how can we try to bring about communal harmony? You can’t. When people are committing arson, rape and murder, you can hardly ask them to sit together and talk, sort out their differences. It’s not practical. So we have to make sure these kind of troubles should not erupt in the first place, which is why I emphasise the rule of law.

        There were those who were not pleased, because they wanted me to condemn one community or the other. Both communities have suffered human rights violations, and have also violated human rights. And human rights have been grossly mishandled in the Rakhine by the government for many decades.

        লিন্ক : ‘Let’s not be over-optimistic about Burma’।

        • মাসুদ করিম - ২০ নভেম্বর ২০১২ (২:৫৩ অপরাহ্ণ)

          if they had concentrated on rule of law, they could have prevented violence and human rights violations breaking out, and that would at least have kept tensions under control. And until tensions are under control, how can we try to bring about communal harmony? You can’t. When people are committing arson, rape and murder, you can hardly ask them to sit together and talk, sort out their differences.

          ভারত সফরের আগে দেয়া এই সাক্ষাৎকারের কথাগুলোই বাংলাদেশ সীমান্তবর্তী রাখাইন প্রদেশের দাঙ্গা নিয়ে সু কি’র শেষ কথা। দুই সম্প্রদায়েরই দোষ আছে বলছেন দুই সম্প্রদায়েরই ন্যায্য অভিযোগ আছে বলছেন, কিন্তু সরাসরি একবারও বলছেন না শতবছর ধরে বসবাস করেও এক সম্প্রদায়ের নাগরিকত্বই নেই। এনডিটিভি’র সাক্ষাৎকারে নতুন কিছু আর বলেননি, শুধু কথায় কথা বাড়ে এই সূত্রে ‘তারা-আমরা’, ‘দুই দেশ’, ‘দুই সম্প্রদায়’, ‘বিশাল আন্তর্জাতিক ট্র্যাজেডি’ এই মেরুকরণ নিয়ে ব্যস্ত থেকেছেন এবং বোঝাতে চেয়েছেন তিনি কোনো পক্ষ নিতে পারেন না, আইনের শাসন প্রতিষ্ঠা করতে পারলেই সমস্যা সমাধানের পথে অগ্রসর হওয়া যাবে। তার মানে তিনি একথাগুলোই আগামীতে অনবরত বলবেন নিত্যনতুন মেরুকরণও বের করবেন কিন্তু ‘নিরপেক্ষ’ থাকবেন। এটাই অসাধারণ, ভাল কথা বলতে জানলে অনায়াসে আসলে এটাই করা যায় — মেরুকরণের পর মেরুকরণ করব, কিন্তু আমি নিরপেক্ষ!

          NDTV: You have become, as you know, even though you have never sought it, a kind of poster girl for the human rights activism everywhere in the world, for ‘freedom from fear’ as I said. Some of your fans and admirers have been disappointed by what they claim is an ambivalence on the issue of violence against the Rohingyas in your country. You have said I know, already in other interviews, that the situation has been mishandled, but you do not like to talk about specific communities because you think that’s not the problem?

          Aung San Suu Kyi: No, not really that. I am not ambivalent about my views on violence. Violence is something I am appalled by completely and condemn completely, but don’t forget that violence has been committed by both sides. This is why I prefer not to take sides and also I want to work to reconciliation between these two communities. I am not going to be able to do that if I am going to take sides.

          NDTV: But a community that no country wants, I mean these are people where Bangladesh says that they don’t belong to us, and your country says that they don’t belong to us. This is very; this is a huge international tragedy.

          Aung San Suu Kyi: This is a huge international tragedy and this is why I keep saying that the government must have a policy about the citizenship laws. We do have a citizenship law and all those who are entitled to citizenship under the law must be given citizenship. We have said this very clearly. Now there are quarrels about whether people are true citizens under the law or they will come over as migrants later from Bangladesh. One of the very interesting and rather disturbing facets of this whole problem is that most people seem to think, and still there was one country involved in this world issue, there are two countries on the one side and there is Burma on the other and the security of the border surely is the responsibility of both countries. And at the moment is just seem that everybody thinks that the border is totally the responsibility of Burma.

          NDTV: What would be the best solution, what would be the way out of this impasse?

          Aung San Suu Kyi: First of all they’ve got to do something about law and order. We’ve got to stop violence from breaking out again, which means adequate security measures and then I think the citizenship law really must be looked in to. And those who are entitled to citizenship, must be not only given the citizenship but given the full rights of citizens. And then I think they have also to look to the immigration issue. There’s a lot of illegal crossing of the border still going on that they have got to put a stop to, otherwise there will not be an end to the problem, because Bangladesh will say all these people have come over from Burma and the Burmese say all these people have come over from Bangladesh. And where is the proof either way?

          এনডিটিভির সাথে সাক্ষাৎকারের সম্পূর্ণ ট্রান্সক্রিপ্ট পড়ুন এখানে।

  16. মাসুদ করিম - ৮ নভেম্বর ২০১২ (৭:৫৬ অপরাহ্ণ)

    একুশতম আসিয়ান শীর্ষ সম্মেলন হবে ১৮, ১৯ নভেম্বর কম্বোডিয়ায় — সেউপলক্ষে ওবামার কম্বোডিয়া সফরের সময়ই প্রথমবারের মতো বার্মা সফর করবেন ওবামা এমনই আশায় দেশটি নাকি ওবামাকে স্বাগত জানাতে সব প্রস্তুতি সম্পন্ন করেছে। কোনো আনুষ্ঠানিক ঘোষণা এখনো শোনা যায়নি যদিও কিন্তু এই খবর নিয়ে উদগ্রীব বার্মার প্রশাসন। যদিও মানবাধিকার কর্মীরা বলছেন, এসময় ওবামার বার্মা সফর হবে ‘অকালপক্ক’ — কারণ এধরনের সফর সম্ভব করার জন্য বর্তমান প্রেসিডেন্ট থাইন সাইনের এখনো অনেক সংস্কার প্রতিশ্রুতির বাস্তবায়ন বাকি এবং সেসাথে বার্মার সরকারের সেদেশের নানা জাতিগত সহিংসতা প্রতিরোধেও কোনো গুরুত্বপূর্ণ প্রচেষ্টা লক্ষ্য করা যাচ্ছে না।

    President Barack Obama will make a groundbreaking visit later this month to Myanmar, an official said Thursday, following through with his policy of rapprochement to encourage democracy in the Southeast Asian nation.

    The Myanmar official speaking from the capital, Naypyitaw, said Thursday that security for a visit on Nov. 18 or 19 had been prepared, but that the schedule was not final. He asked not to be named because he was not authorized to give information to the media.

    The official said Obama would meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as well as government officials including reformist President Thein Sein.

    It would be the first-ever visit to Myanmar by an American president. U.S. officials have not yet announced any plans for a visit, which would come less than two weeks after Obama’s election to a second term.

    Obama’s administration has sought to encourage the recent democratic progress under Thein Sein by easing sanctions applied against Myanmar’s previous military regime.

    Officials in nearby Thailand and Cambodia have already informally announced plans for visits by Obama that same week. Cambodia is hosting a summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and Thailand is a longtime close U.S. ally.

    The visit to Myanmar, also known as Burma, would be the culmination of a dramatic turnaround in relations with Washington as the country has shifted from five decades of ruinous military rule and shaken off the pariah status it had earned through its bloody suppression of democracy.

    Obama’s ending of the long-standing U.S. isolation of Myanmar’s generals has played a part in coaxing them into political reforms that have unfolded with surprising speed in the past year. The U.S. has appointed a full ambassador and suspended sanctions to reward Myanmar for political prisoner releases and the election of Nobel laureate Suu Kyi to parliament.

    From Myanmar’s point of view, the lifting of sanctions is essential for boosting a lagging economy that was hurt not only by sanctions that curbed exports and foreign investment, but also by what had been a protectionist, centralized approach. Thein Sein’s government has initiated major economic reforms in addition to political ones.

    বিস্তারিত পড়ুন : Myanmar says Obama to visit later this month।

    • মাসুদ করিম - ৯ নভেম্বর ২০১২ (১:১৭ অপরাহ্ণ)

      ওয়াশিংটন ওবামার বার্মা সফরের আনুষ্ঠানিক ঘোষণা দিয়েছে।

      Obama’s Burma Visit Confirmed by White House

      Fresh from his historic re-election on Tuesday, Barack Obama will make history again later this month by becoming the first US president to visit Burma.

      Although rumors of the 51-year-old’s visit have been circulating for days, the White House has finally confirmed that he will touch down in the former pariah state on Nov. 19.

      “In Burma, the president will meet with President Thein Sein and Aung San Suu Kyi and speak to civil society to encourage Burma’s ongoing democratic transition,” an official statement revealed on Thursday, a day after Obama returned from Chicago following his victory in Tuesday’s presidential elections.

      However, the White House did not release details of whether the 44th US president would be travelling to just Rangoon, Naypyidaw, both or elsewhere in the country.

      Obama’s trip is part of a three-nation tour to the region from Nov. 17 to 20 that will also take him to Thailand and Cambodia. In Thailand, he will meet Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to mark 180 years of diplomatic relations and reaffirm bilateral ties.

      “In Cambodia, the president will attend the East Asia Summit and meet with the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations [Asean],” the White House said, adding that he will discuss a broad range of issues including economic prosperity and job creation through increased trade and partnerships, energy and security cooperation, human rights, shared values and other issues of regional and global concern.

      Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected to meet his Burmese counterpart during an Asean defense minister meeting in Cambodia next week. The United States, however, has so far ruled out any resumption of a military relationship with Burma given concerns regarding human rights and child soldiers.

      Obama’s Burma visit has been welcomed by a top American lawmaker. “President Obama’s visit to Burma has the opportunity to be the most significant step in the effort to support human rights and democracy in Burma,” said Congressman Joe Crowley.

      However, while praising the substantial progress made in recent months, the 50-year-old said that there remains much more to be done. “Too many political prisoners remain locked up, ethnic violence must be stopped and not all necessary political reforms have been put in place,” he said. “This is an opportunity for the Burmese government to address these important outstanding issues.”

      In January, Crowley, a seven-term representative from the Seventh Congressional District of New York, became the first member of the US House of Representatives to officially travel to Burma for over 12 years.

      During this trip he met with Suu Kyi, families of political prisoners and several members of the government. In 2008, Crowley spearheaded efforts to award Suu Kyi with the Congressional Gold Medal—the highest civilian honor bestowed by the US Congress—that she belated received in September.

      Obama’s trip to Burma is the culmination of a series of high profile visits between the two countries. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Burma last December, and then Thein Sein and Suu Kyi came to the United States this past September.

      “The United States is committed to standing with the government and the people of Burma to support this progress that has begun but is still a work in progress,” Clinton had told a Washington audience in mid-September when she welcomed Suu Kyi at the US Institute of Peace.

      The official announcement of Obama’s trip comes one day after a prominent Washington-based Burmese activist issued a letter urging the president not to travel to Burma. In the event that he did, Aung Din, from the US Campaign for Burma, urged Obama to travel to violence-hit areas of the country, meet minority leaders and the head of the Burmese military.

      “He should make his visit beneficial for the people of Burma by meeting with his real counterpart, Commander-in-Chief Gen Min Aung Hlaing, and educate him to put the military under civilian control and serve the people of Burma,” Aung Din told The Irrawaddy.

      “[Obama should] address the Union Parliament and encourage members of the Parliament to be courageous to amend the 2008 Constitution to be democratic and equal among all ethnic nationalities,”

      “The president during his trip should also meet with all political parties, civil society organizations and former political prisoners and support their continued struggle for democracy, human rights and national reconciliation [and] visit refugees in Kachin and Rakhine [Arakan] states.”

      No US president has ever visited Cambodia or Burma, yet Thailand is one of America’s oldest regional allies and has been a stop for White House incumbents since the mid-1960s. George W. Bush visited Thailand twice in 2003 and 2008, Bill Clinton visited in 1996, Richard Nixon traveled there in 1969 and Lyndon Johnson in 1966 and 1967, according to official records.

  17. মাসুদ করিম - ১৮ নভেম্বর ২০১২ (১০:৪৬ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    স্যাটেলাইট ইমেজ বলছে গত অক্টোবরের শেষদিকে ব্যাপক ধ্বংসযজ্ঞ চলেছে বার্মার আরাকান প্রদেশের রোহিঙ্গাদের উপর।

    Yan Thei Village, Mrauk-U Township: Pre-attack View of Village
    YanThei_11Feb2012
    Yan Thei Village, Mrauk-U Township, on 11 February 2012. Pre-attack view of village in satellite image.
    Damage Analysis: Human Rights Watch; Image © DigitalGlobe 2012; Source: EUSI

    Yan Thei Village, Mrauk-U Township: Post-attack View of Village
    YanThei_NaturalColorDamagePts_3Nov2012
    Yan Thei Village, Mrauk-U Township, on 3 November 2012: Post-attack view of village in satellite image with annotated building damages.
    Damage Analysis: Human Rights Watch; Image ©: DigitalGlobe 2012; Source: EUSI

    In satellite images of four townships in Arakan State that experienced violence in late October and in the state capital, Sittwe, which experienced violence in June, Human Rights Watch identified a total of 4,855 destroyed structures. These images show zones of documented destruction covering 348 acres of largely residential areas predominantly home to Rohingya Muslims who have since fled and to Kaman Muslims in Kyauk Pyu.

    The images, which were captured on November 3 and 8, are not exhaustive and reflect damages in only five of the thirteen townships that have experienced violence in Arakan State since June.Rohingya from Pauktaw now at camps near Sittwe told Human Rights Watch that for weeks they faced hostile Arakanese mobs, sometimes led by Buddhist monks, who threatened violence against them and anyone else found selling or providing the Rohingya with food or other assistance. They said they repeatedly notified local authorities of these threats, but insufficient action was taken. In late October, just prior to the violence, Rohingya were called to a series of community meetings held by local Arakanese members of a nationalist political party and local government officials apparently aimed at convincing the local Muslim population to abandon their homes.

    On October 23, when boats filled with several hundred armed Arakanese descended on the riverside Rohingya villages in Pauktaw, the Rohingya fled, fearing for their lives, and their villages were razed.

    Displaced Rohingya and Kaman Muslims told Human Rights Watch that some members of the state security forces provided them temporary protection at various points in late October – for example by firing shots in the air to fend off hostile Arakanese mobs, or by providing water and food to their boatloads afloat offshore who were being denied permission to come ashore in Sittwe. But these instances of protection were offset by violence committed against the Rohingya and Kaman by other groups of security forces. For example, on October 26, soldiers from Nasaka, a government border guard force under the command of the army, severely beat dozens of displaced Rohingya who had clambered off boats on to the shores near Sittwe.

    The new satellite imagery shows near 100 percent destruction of Yan Thei village in Mrauk-U Township. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that Arakanese mobs armed with swords, spears, homemade guns, bows and arrows, and other weapons descended on the village on October 23, and fighting ensued. The Rohingya were ultimately surrounded and overwhelmed, and survivors fled by land to an area outside the village. Gruesome casualties were sustained on both sides, including beheadings and killings of women and children.

    After October’s violence, there are now more than 110,000 internally displaced persons in Arakan State, nearly all Rohingya Muslims. “People are still coming every day,” a displaced Rohingya near Baw Du Ba displaced person camp told Human Rights Watch.

    The displaced Rohingya populations from the sites of destruction depicted in the new satellite images are in dire need of shelter, food, water, sanitation, and medical care, Human Rights Watch said.The displaced from Pauktaw have been forced to seek refuge in beachside coastal areas outside Sittwe, in treeless, makeshift camps under the hot daytime sun without adequate food, potable water, and other necessities. One makeshift camp with an estimated 1,200 displaced persons lacks latrines and the group is subsisting primarily on donations from nearby Rohingya villages, which themselves struggle to survive. Some of the displaced had tarps for shelter bearing the logo of a United Nations agency that they said they purchased from local merchants.

    Burmese security forces have restricted the access of international humanitarian agencies to the area and to even more remote coastal areas where others from Pauktaw are seeking refuge. Since their arrival some displaced persons reported they have been beaten by local security forces.

    বিস্তারিত পড়ুন : Burma: Satellite Images Show Widespread Attacks on Rohingya।

    আর ভারত সফরে সু কি কলের মতো বলে যাচ্ছেন ‘রোহিঙ্গা’ ইস্যু ‘huge international tragedy’ কেন ‘বিশাল আন্তর্জাতিক ট্র্যাজেডি’ তার ব্যাখ্যা অবশ্য তিনি আজো বলছেন না।

  18. মাসুদ করিম - ২৪ ডিসেম্বর ২০১২ (১২:৩৯ অপরাহ্ণ)

    জান্তার সঙ্গে রফায় এসেছেন সু চি

    ‘গণতান্ত্রিক রূপান্তরের ছদ্মবেশে সেনাশাসন চালিয়ে যাওয়ার ষড়যন্ত্রের’ অভিযোগ তুলে মিয়ানমারের গণতন্ত্রপন্থী নেত্রী অং সান সু চি ও তার দল ন্যাশনাল লীগ ফর ডেমোক্রেসির (এনএলডি) কড়া সমালোচনা করেছে সেদেশের আরেকটি দল।

    সাবেক প্রধানমন্ত্রী উ নুর দল পার্লামেন্টারি ডেমোক্রেসি পার্টির (পিডিপি) জ্যেষ্ঠ নেতা বো অং ডিন বলেছেন, “আমার দেশে এখন আমরা সেনাবাহিনী এবং অং সান সু চির মধ্যে অতি সূক্ষ্ম কিন্তু কার্যকর সহযোগিতামূলক সম্পর্ক দেখতে পাচ্ছি।”

    ১৯৬২ সালে সেনা অভুত্থানে ক্ষমতা হারানোর সাত বছর পর ১৯৬৯ সালে পিডিপি গঠন করেন মিয়ানমারের প্রথম প্রধানমন্ত্রী উ নু। জেনারেল নি উইনের নেতৃত্বে সেনাবাহিনী তার সরকারকে উৎখাত করে। এরপর সেনাশাসনের বিরুদ্ধে সশস্ত্র সংগ্রামের চেষ্টা চালিয়ে ব্যর্থ হয় পিডিপি।

    ভারত সফররত বো অং ডিন বিডিনিউজ টোয়েন্টিফোর ডটকমকে দেয়া এক সাক্ষাৎকারে বলেন, “সেনাবাহিনী মিয়ানমারকে দক্ষিণপূর্ব এশিয়ার সবচেয়ে সমৃদ্ধশালী অর্থনীতির দেশ থেকে বিশ্বের সবচেয়ে দরিদ্র দেশগুলোর একটিতে পরিণত হয়েছে।”

    মিয়ানমারে গণতান্ত্রিক রূপান্তরের যে প্রক্রিয়া চলছে তাতে সহযোগিতা দেয়ায় জাতিসংঘ ও পশ্চিমা দেশগুলোরও সমালোচনা করেন তিনি।

    “এই দ্বৈততা চলতে পারে না। সর্বত্র সেনাবাহিনীর নিয়ন্ত্রণ থাকা অবস্থায় একই সময়ে কীভাবে গণতন্ত্র চলতে পারে? জনগণের ওপর যে নৃশংসতা চলছে, বিশেষ করে সংখ্যালঘুদের ওপর বার্মার সেনাবাহিনী যে নিষ্ঠুরতা চালিয়েছে তা না দেখে থাকে কীভাবে বিশ্ব?”

    বিভিন্ন পর্যায়ে সেনাবাহিনীর কর্তৃত্ব রেখেই ক্ষমতায় আসার জন্য অং সান সু চি সামরিক জান্তার সঙ্গে সমঝোতা করেছেন বলেও অভিযোগ করেন বো অং ডিন।

    ২০১৫ সালে মিয়ানমারে পরবর্তী পার্লামেন্ট নির্বাচন হওয়ার কথা রয়েছে এবং দেশে বর্তমান পরিস্থিতি চলতে থাকলে অং সান সু চির দল এনএলডি ওই নির্বাচনে জয়ী হবে বলেই ধারণা করছেন বিশ্লেষকরা ।

    সর্বশেষ উপ-নির্বাচনে এনএলডি ৪৫টি আসনে জয় পায়।

    বো অং ডিন বলেন, “গণতন্ত্রের জন্য লড়াই চালিয়ে যাচ্ছেন-এ ভাবমূর্তি নিয়ে ছদ্মবেশে সেনাবাহিনীকে নিষ্ঠুরতা চালিয়ে যাওয়ার সুযোগ দিয়েছেন অং সান সু চি। তার অবস্থান এখন রাজনৈতিক ছলনা হয়ে দাঁড়িয়েছে।”

    গণতন্ত্রের জন্য মিয়ানমারের জনগণের আকাঙক্ষা বুঝতে ব্যর্থতা এবং অং সান সু চিকে দেশের একমাত্র নেতা হিসেবে বিবেচনা করায় জাতিসংঘের সমালোচনা করেন এই পিডিপি নেতা।

    “জাতিসংঘের নেতারা আমাদের দেশে সফরে এসে অং সান সু চিকে স্থায়ী রাজনৈতিক নেতা এবং এনএলডিকে একমাত্র রাজনৈতিক দল হিসেবে তুলে ধরেন। এটা অন্যায়।”

    যুক্তরাষ্ট্র ও যুক্তরাজ্যের অর্থে সু চির দল পরিচালিত হয় বলেও মন্তব্য করেন বো অং ডিন। তার দাবি, মিয়ানমারে পশ্চিমা এই দুটি দেশের অনেক চর রয়েছে।

    “অং সান সু চির পুরো রাজনৈতিক কর্মকাণ্ড, মিয়ানমার ও বহির্বিশ্বে তার প্রতি এনজিও সমর্থন এবং দেশি-বিদেশি সংবাদ মাধ্যমে নিরবচ্ছিন্নভাবে তার ও তার এজেন্ডাকে ফলাও করে প্রচার করা-এর সব কিছুই যুক্তরাষ্ট্র ও যুক্তরাজ্যের অর্থায়নে হয়।”

    ‘বার্মা ক্যাম্পেইন ইউকে’র ৩৬ পৃষ্ঠার একটি প্রতিবেদনে এ বিষয়ে বিস্তারিত উঠে এসেছে বলে জানান তিনি।

  19. মাসুদ করিম - ২৫ ডিসেম্বর ২০১২ (১:২০ অপরাহ্ণ)

    রোহিঙ্গাদের নাগরিক অধিকার দিন: জাতিসংঘ

    মিয়ানমারের রাখাইন রাজ্যের মুসলমানদের উপর সহিংসতার ঘটনায় উদ্বেগ প্রকাশ করে দেশটির মুসলমান বাসিন্দাদের নাগরিকত্বের অধিকার নিশ্চিত করার আহ্বান জানিয়েছে জাতিসংঘ।

    এছাড়া ওই রাজ্যে মানবাধিকার লঙ্ঘনের অভিযোগের ব্যাপারে দেশটির সরকারকে প্রতিবেদন দাখিলের জন্যও আহ্বান জানানো হয়েছে।

    সোমবার জাতিসংঘের ১৯৩ সদস্য বিশিষ্ট সাধারণ সভায় এ আহ্বান জানানো হয়।

    গত মাসে মানবাধিকার লঙ্ঘণের অভিযোগগুলোকে ‘অভিযোগের পুরনো গান’ বলে অভিহিত করে মিয়ানমার। এসব অভিযোগ খতিয়ে দেখা প্রয়োজন বলেও মন্তব্য করে দেশটির সরকার।

    জাতিসংঘের সিদ্ধান্তে বলা হয়, ‘মিয়ানমারের রাখাইন রাজ্যের সংখ্যালঘু রোহিঙ্গাদের পরিস্থিতি নিয়ে বিশেষ উদ্বেগ জানাচ্ছে জাতিসংঘ। তাদের পরিস্থিতির উন্নতি এবং নাগরিকত্বের অধিকারসহ মানবাধিকার রক্ষার জন্য সরকারকে পদক্ষেপ নিতে আহ্বান জানানো হচ্ছে।’

    চলতি বছরের মে মাসে এক বৌদ্ধ নারীকে ধর্ষণ ও খুনের ঘটনার পর জুন মাসে রাখাইনে রোহিঙ্গা মুসলিম ও বৌদ্ধ ধর্মাবলম্বীদের মধ্যে সহিংসতায় অন্তত ৮০ জনের মৃত্যু হয়। হাজার হাজার মানুষ ঘরবাড়ি ছেড়ে পালাতে বাধ্য হয়।

    অক্টোবরের শেষ দিকে দ্বিতীয় দফায় সহিংসতার ঘটনা ঘটে।

    দাঙ্গার পরে মিয়ানমারের প্রতিরক্ষা বাহিনী রোহিঙ্গাদের নির্বিচারে হত্যা, ধর্ষণ ও গ্রেপ্তার করে বলে অভিযোগ করে কিছু মানবাধিকার সংস্থা। এসব অভিযোগ অস্বীকার করে সহিংসতা প্রশমনে ‘সর্বোচ্চ নিয়ন্ত্রণ’র চেষ্টা করা হয়েছে বলে জানায় মিয়ানমার সরকার।

    মিয়ানমারের পশ্চিম উপকূলীয় এলাকার রাখাইন রাজ্যে অন্তত ৮০ হাজার রোহিঙ্গা মুসলমান বাস করে। মিয়ানমারের বৌদ্ধ নাগরিকদের একটি বড় অংশ মুসলিম রৌহিঙ্গাদের অবৈধ অভিবাসী বলে মনে করে। এমন কি গণতন্ত্রের জন্য লড়াই করে শান্তিতে নোবেলজয়ী অং সান সু চিও এ সমস্যা নিয়ে কখনোই কোনো স্পষ্ট অবস্থান নেননি।

    গত মাসে জাতিসংঘের সাধারণ সভার মানবাধিকার বিষয়ক কমিটিও মিয়ানমারের জাতিগত সহিংসতার বিষয়ে উদ্বেগ প্রকাশ করে একটি প্রস্তাব গ্রহণ করে। এটি গ্রহণের পরে জাতিসংঘে মিয়ানমারের প্রতিনিধি প্রস্তাবটি গ্রহণ করলেও রোহিঙ্গাদের ‘সংখ্যালঘু জাতিগোষ্ঠী’ হিসেবে অস্বীকার করেন তিনি।

  20. মাসুদ করিম - ২৬ ডিসেম্বর ২০১২ (১২:৩১ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Suu Kyi offers help on Rohingya issue

    Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung Sang Suu Kyi has told a British minister that she is willing to facilitate the process of reconciliation between Buddhist Rakhines and Muslim Rohingyas in the troubled Rakhine state (former Arakans), the ‘Guardian’ reports.

    The Guardian quotes Hugo Swire, a minister of state in the British Foreign office as saying that Suu Kyi, if invited by the Myanmar government, is willing to help.This after Swire met Suu Kyi briefly during his recent visit to Myanmar.

    “Suu Kyi has been very clear about this-she is extremely busy. She can’t do everything in this country,” Swire told the ‘Guardian’. “If she is formally invited to get involved, she has indicated to me that she would be very willing to do that.”

    Swire, who traveled to Myanmar leading a trade delegation, also visited several displaced persons camps in the Rakhine state, accompanied by the British ambassador Andrew Heyn. The ‘Guardian’ journalist Kate Hodal also joined them.

    The ‘Guardian’ quotes Swire as saying that the ‘conditions in the Rakhine state remains extremely worrying’ and that unless urgent action is taken, ‘the tragedy will continue to deepen for all concerned’.

    The ‘Guardian’ says that until now, ‘Aung Sang Suu Kyi’ who is considered internationally as Burma’s most unifying politicial figure and who has previously stressed the significance of ethnic rights – has been largely absent from debates on this issue (Rohingyas) and it is unclear why she has not played a greater role.

  21. মাসুদ করিম - ৬ মার্চ ২০১৩ (২:২৯ অপরাহ্ণ)

    রোহিঙ্গাদের বার্মার নাগরিকত্ব প্রদানের বিষয়ে সু কি’র সাম্প্রতিক অবস্থান এখনো স্পষ্ট নয়, তিনি বলেছেন, এটা বার্মা সরকারের আভ্যন্তরীন ব্যাপার এবং বার্মা সরকারের উচিত আন্তর্জাতিক বিশেষজ্ঞদের কথা শোনা এবং নাগরিকত্বের আন্তর্জাতিক মানদণ্ড অনুসরণ করা। তার উল্লেখিত আন্তর্জাতিক বিশেষজ্ঞরা হলেন তারই মতো নোবেল শান্তি পুরস্কারে ভূষিত মুহম্মদ ইউনূস, ডেসমন্ড টুটু ও হোসে রামোস হোর্তা। এর মধ্যে সবচেয়ে গুরুত্বপূর্ণ কথাটি বলেছেন ডেসমন্ড টুটু, তিনি বলেছেন, বার্মার অবশ্যই ‘নতুন বর্ণবাদ’ থেকে দূরে থাকা উচিত — ‘স্বাধীনতা নির্যাতনের চেয়ে সাশ্রয়ী’ এই আইডিয়া নিয়ে পথ চলা উচিত। অবশ্য টুটু এটাও বলেছেন, গ্লোবাল আইকন ও রাজনৈতিক ব্যক্তিত্ব এই দুইয়ের টানাপোড়েনেই হয়তো সু কি রোহিঙ্গাদের নিয়ে স্পষ্ট অবস্থানে যেতে পারছেন না।

    তবে এখানে সু কি’র অবস্থান এখনো স্পষ্ট না হলেও এটা স্পষ্ট বোঝা গেল উনি শুধুমাত্র নোবেল শান্তি পুরষ্কার পেয়েছেন এমন লোকেরা কথা বললেই তাকে কিছুটা তোয়াক্কা করেন। একথা মাথায় রেখেই হয়তো বার্মার বর্তমান প্রেসিডেন্ট থাইন সাইনকেও এবার নোবেল শান্তি পুরস্কারে ভূষিত করার চেষ্টা চলছে।

    Rohingya Citizenship a Burmese Decision: Suu Kyi to Foreign Critics

    Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said that Burma “must decide for itself” whether or not to grant citizenship to the Muslim minority Rohingya, but she added that the government “should listen” to foreign experts and uphold international standards in its citizenship laws.

    Suu Kyi was responding to criticism by Jose Ramos-Horta, the former president of Timor Leste, and Muhammad Yunus, founder of microfinance institution Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, who wrote in The Huffington Post on Feb. 20 that Burma should amend its laws and grant the Rohingya “full citizenship.”

    The two Nobel Peace Prize laureates said Burma was failing to address the ongoing “ethnic cleansing” of the group in Arakan State, western Burma. Other international rights workers have previously also called on Burma to accept Rohingya citizenship.

    A 1982 Citizenship Law, introduced by Burma’s military regime, excluded the Rohingya from the recognized 135 minorities in the country, rendering them effectively stateless.

    When asked about the criticism in Naypyidaw on Friday, Suu Kyi said, “A country must decide its citizenship for itself, but in doing so it should meet international standards.”

    “We should listen to and learn from what foreign scholars say,” she said of her fellow Nobel laureates. “And, finally, we have to make a decision by ourselves if what they say is appropriate in our country’s situation,” Suu Kyi told The Irrawaddy.

    The government of President Thein Sein has given conflicting signals on how it seeks to resolve the issue of Rohingya citizenship. Most recently, on Feb. 20, Deputy Minister of Immigration and Population Kyaw Kyaw Win told Parliament that Burma knows “no Rohingya” ethnic group.

    Since mid-2012 ethnic violence has plagued Arakan State. Scores of people, including women and children, have been killed and about 110,000 people, mostly Rohingyas, were displaced after inter-communal violence broke out between Arakanese Buddhist and Muslim Rohingya communities, according to UN estimates.

    Local Arakanese authorities have been accused of being complicit in the violence against the Rohingya, who are referred to locally as “Bengali’s” from neighboring Bangladesh. Thousands of Rohingya have fled Arakan State in small boats since violence flared.

    The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Antonio Guterres has repeatedly expressed deep concern over the plight of those who flee on boats into the Bay of Bengal. The UN said about 13,000 Rohingya fled western Burma and Bangladesh in 2012, and an estimated 500 refugees died at sea.

    In recent weeks there have been almost daily reports of Rohingya’s being picked up on boats in the open ocean.

    On Tuesday, Guterres again called for governments in the Asia Pacific region to work together to end the humanitarian tragedy taking place in the Bay of Bengal.

    “This is an alarmingly high number of lives lost, and begs a far more concerted effort by countries of the region both with regard to addressing the causes and to preventing lives being lost,” he said.

    “Push-backs, denial of disembarkation, and boats adrift for weeks will not solve a regional problem that clearly needs better, more joined-up, and more compassionate approaches by everyone,” Guterres said

    The commissioner referred to some of the approaches taken by regional governments such as Thailand, which, on occasion, has pushed back boats of Rohingya into the open ocean.

    The UNHCR said it plans to facilitate a regional government meeting in mid-March in Indonesia on irregular movements by sea in the Asia-Pacific, in order to address the Rohingya refugee crisis.

  22. মাসুদ করিম - ২৪ মার্চ ২০১৩ (১২:১৮ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Riots kill 32, displace thousands in Myanmar town

    The death toll from religious violence in central Myanmar rose to 32 Saturday as rescuers found bodies in the ashes of homes torched during an eruption of communal unrest, officials said.

    Almost 9,000 people have been displaced by Buddhist-Muslim unrest that tore through the town of Meiktila, according to the information ministry.

    It said security forces on Saturday found a further 21 bodies in the wrecked of buildings torched in arson attacks during the clashes, which began on Wednesday. An official toll earlier put the number of dead at 11.

    “The death toll so far is 32 because security forces found 21 more dead bodies,” a government official told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that the number of victims could rise still further.

    A state of emergency has seen troops deployed in an effort to bring calm to the streets o the central Myanmar town, some 130 kilometres (80 miles) north of the capital Naypyidaw.

  23. মাসুদ করিম - ২০ মে ২০১৩ (৭:১৪ অপরাহ্ণ)

  24. মাসুদ করিম - ২১ মে ২০১৩ (২:৫৩ অপরাহ্ণ)

  25. মাসুদ করিম - ২৬ মে ২০১৩ (১১:২২ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    রোহিঙ্গাদের নাগরিকত্ব না দিয়ে প্রতি রোহিঙ্গা দম্পতিসহ বার্মিজ সব মুসলিম দম্পতির সন্তান নেয়ার সীমা দুই-এ বেঁধে দেয়াতে উত্তেজনা কমবে আশা করছে বার্মা প্রশাসন, এবিষয়ে এখনো সু কি’র কোনো প্রতিক্রিয়া পাওয়া যায়নি এবং পাওয়া যাবেও না সম্ভবত। কিন্তু ঠিক তো হত, রোহিঙ্গাদের নাগরিকত্ব দিয়ে বার্মার সব নাগরিকের সন্তান নেয়ার সীমা দুই-এ বেঁধে দেয়া এবং প্রয়োজনে বার্মার সব নাগরিকেরই বহুবিবাহ বন্ধ করে দেয়া। কিন্তু একটি রাষ্ট্রের একটি নির্দিষ্ট জনজাতি ও একটি নির্দিষ্ট ধর্মালম্বীদের সন্তান নেয়ার সীমা এভাবে বেঁধে দেয়া কি ওই জনজাতি ও ধর্মালম্বীদের আরো বিপন্ন করে তোলে না?

    Burmese Muslims given two-child limit

    Muslims in a province of Burma have been ordered not to have more than two children in an attempt by the government to stop Buddhist attacks on Muslims.

    State officials said the two-child limit in the state of Rakhine would ease tensions between Buddhists and their Muslim Rohingya neighbours.

    Local officials said the new measure was part of a policy that will also ban polygamyin two Rakhine townships that border Bangladesh and have the highest Muslim populations. The townships, Buthidaung and Maundaw, are about 95% Muslim.

    The measure was enacted a week ago after a government-appointed commission investigating the violence issued proposals to ease tensions, which included family planning programs to stem population growth among minority Muslims, said Rakhine state spokesman Win Myaing. The commission also recommended doubling the number of security forces in the volatile region.

    “The population growth of Rohingya Muslims is 10 times higher than that of the Rakhine (Buddhists),” Win Myaing said. “Overpopulation is one of the causes of tension.”

    Sectarian violence in Burma first flared nearly a year ago in Rakhine state between the region’s Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya. Mobs of Buddhists armed with machetes razed thousands of Muslim homes, leaving hundreds of people dead and forcing 125,000 to flee, mostly Muslims.

    Since the violence, religious unrest has developed into a campaign against the country’s Muslim communities in other regions.

    Containing the strife has posed a serious challenge to President Thein Sein’s reformist government as it attempts to institute political and economic liberalisation after nearly half a century of harsh military rule. It has also tarnished the image of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been criticised for failing to speak out strongly in defence of the country’s embattled Muslim community.

    Win Myaing said authorities had not yet determined how the measures will be enforced, but the two-child policy will be mandatory in Buthidaung and Maundaw. The policy will not apply yet to other parts of Rakhine state, which have smaller Muslim populations.

    “One factor that has fuelled tensions between the Rakhine public and [Rohingya] populations relates to the sense of insecurity among many Rakhines stemming from the rapid population growth of the [Rohingya], which they view as a serious threat,” the government-appointed commission said in a report issued last month.

    Predominantly Buddhist Burma does not include the Rohingya as one of its 135 recognised ethnicities. It considers them to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denies them citizenship. Bangladesh says the Rohingya have been living in Myanmar for centuries and should be recognised as citizens. Muslims account for about 4% of Myanmar’s roughly 60 million people.

    • মাসুদ করিম - ২৭ মে ২০১৩ (৫:৫৩ অপরাহ্ণ)

      না, সু কি এবার রোহিঙ্গা জনজাতি বা বার্মিজ মুসলমানদের সন্তান নেয়ার সীমা দুইয়ে বেঁধে দেয়ার সরকারি সিদ্ধান্তের বিরুদ্ধে দাঁড়িয়েছেন।

      Myanmar’s Suu Kyi Slams 2-Child Limit for Muslims

      Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, rights groups and Islamic leaders have expressed dismay over plans by authorities in western Myanmar to revive a two-child limit on Muslim Rohingya families.

      The policy applies to Rohingya in two townships of Rakhine state but not to majority Buddhists in the area and comes amid accusations of ethnic cleansing.

      Suu Kyi called the measure discriminatory, illegal and a violation of human rights.

      Phil Robertson of New York-based Human Rights Watch called it outrageous and chilling.

      Details of how the policy will be enforced and whether it differs from a similar measure imposed during past military rule have not been released, sparking calls for clarity and concerns of more discrimination against a group the U.N. calls one of the world’s most persecuted people.

  26. মাসুদ করিম - ২৭ মে ২০১৩ (২:৪০ অপরাহ্ণ)

    শিশু-কিশোরদের রঙপেন্সিলের ড্রয়িং-এ প্রকাশিত বার্মায় জাতিগত ও ধর্মীয় সন্ত্রাসের তাড়া-করে-ফেরা ভয়ের ছবি।

    Child’s view of Burma’s horror: The crayon drawings that reveal the trauma of children forced to flee ethnic violence in Myanmar

    One drawing shows houses on fire, the sky black with smoke. Another portrays gunmen firing their weapons.

    All contain images of people fleeing, frantically clambering into boats and leaving their homes.

    They are drawn in crayon by children.

    The drawings shared with The Independent reveals the trauma of Burma’s Rohingya Muslims. In particular, it reveals the pain of the tens of thousands of children forced to flee ethnic violence and take refuge in hastily constructed camps. Many were killed or otherwise died along the way.

    “Our house was set on fire with a petrol. The paramilitary police shot at people escaping,” 15-year-old Shwe Tun Naing, from Narzi village, told an aid-worker. “A Buddhist monk cut the arm off a Muslim who was escaping. Police fired guns, cut with swords, kicked, used catapults and bows and arrows to kill. It was very hot.”

    There are anywhere up to 140,000 Rohingya Muslims scattered in camps in Burma’s Rakhine state near the city of Sittwe. They fled there last year after sectarian clashes with the Buddhist majority; clashes that were encouraged by local nationalist politicians and members of the Buddhist clergy.

    At its most simple, the violence that swept through this western part of Burma stems from a belief among the Buddhists that the Rohingya are not Burmese and should “go back” to Bangladesh. The Rohingya say they have lived there for centuries.

    Both President Thein Sein, who was this week in Washington receiving plaudits for the steps he has taken to move Burma closer to democracy, and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, have been criticised for failing to try to end the violence. The position of Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy is that the Rohingya are “Bengalis”.

    “President Sein has made genuine efforts to resolve longstanding ethnic conflicts within the country, and has recognised the need to establish laws that respect the rights of the people of Myanmar,” claimed US President Barack Obama when he met the Burmese leader. But he added: “We also shared with President Sein our deep concern about communal violence that has been directed at Muslim communities inside Myanmar.”

    This weekend, the Rakhine state authorities revealed plans to introduce a two-child limit for Muslims. The rule will not apply to Buddhists.

    The refugees’ drawings tell their own stories. They were created by the children of the camps during a visit by Nora Rowley, a human rights activist and former nurse who has worked with people from conflict zones who have suffered torture or trauma. She gave the children crayons but was careful not to dictate what they should draw. Around 75 youngsters aged nine and older took part.

    “I asked the kids to tell the world what is going on here and why they had to leave your homes,” said Ms Rowley, speaking from Bangkok. “I did not mention violence. I did not prompt them to say anything.”

    In sessions in late February and early March, the children’s experiences poured out in the most startling, graphic fashion. Some found the experience itself traumatic; one little boy covered his paper with his hand so that others could not see.

    “Sometimes the children blame themselves for what has happened,” said Ms Rowley. “They are kids. They have not adjusted their stories … What I found was that most of them had not told their stories to anyone.”

    One boy, 13-year-old Noor Alam, came from the coastal town of Kyuak Phuyu, which was attacked last October. Over the course of two days, Buddhists set fire to the Muslim quarter of town. Satellite imagery examined by Human Rights Watch suggested that at least 811 houses were destroyed. The Muslims took to their fishing boats to save their lives.

    Noor drew a picture which showed how his house had been set on fire and that when his family had run outside they discovered men in green military uniforms. The Rohingya tried to fight back and defend their mosque and a number were killed.

    After making their way to their boats, the vessels were intercepted by the navy and were not allowed ashore for three days, he said. There was no fresh water. The teenager said he saw several people die in the boats.

    Another nine-year-old, Zaw Zaw Naing, who lived in a neighbourhood in the north of Sittwe, told Ms Rowley that the paramilitary police, or Hlun Htin, had set fire to their house.

    “Rakhine [Buddhists] chased and killed people with swords as the people escaped to boats,” the boy said. “People swam to boats. There were many dead bodies in the water.”

    Experts and Burmese watchers say the conditions in the Rohingya camps remain wretched and that the government appears to have little plan.

    Rushanara Ali, the UK’s shadow minister for international development, recently visited the camps and last week gave evidence on her findings at the House of Commons. Among the places she visited was a camp accessible only by a two-hour boat journey and established on a stretch of beach, littered with human faeces.

    She said there was barely any sanitation, little shade and nothing for people to do. She met with groups of women, clearly traumatised by their ordeal. Many of them told her they felt they “might as well be dead”.

    “The children are children,” she said. “They are trying to get on with their lives, but it is very difficult.”

    One of the problems is that Mr Sein’s government has made it difficult for aid groups to operate, so that most of those that do work there prefer to keep a low profile. Some basic facilities for children have been established by one international charity that requested that its name was not used. But even these facilities are limited.

    Campaigners say it is essential the West uses its leverage with Mr Sein to push him to do more. “Thein Sein’s strong focus on improving international relations demonstrates that he is sensitive to international opinion,” said Mark Farmaner of the Burma Campaign UK.

    “If he did face stronger pressure over restrictions on aid to the Rohingya and the need to give them citizenship, he would need to respond.”

  27. মাসুদ করিম - ২৯ মে ২০১৩ (১:০১ অপরাহ্ণ)

    বার্মায় বৌদ্ধ মুসলমান সংঘাত এবার শুরু হয়েছে মাদকসাম্রাজ্য ‘শান’ প্রদেশে। এপ্রদেশটির দীর্ঘ সীমান্ত আছে চীনের সাথে এবং বার্মার সবচেয়ে শক্তিশালী বিদ্রোহী বিচ্ছিন্নতাবাদী সংগঠন ‘ইউনাইটেড ওয়া স্টেট আর্মি’র এপ্রদেশে রয়েছে দৃঢ় অবস্থান। এখানে বৌদ্ধ মুসলমান সংঘাতের খবরটি খুবই উদ্বেগজনক এজন্য যে, এপ্রদেশে বর্তমান গণতন্ত্রের পথে সংস্কারবাদী সামরিক রাজনৈতিক সরকারের প্রভাব খুবই কম। বলতে গেলে, এই সংঘাতের শুরু এমন একটা সময়ে যখন কিনা আবার বিদ্রোহী ‘ইউনাইটেড ওয়া স্টেট আর্মি’ শান প্রদেশে নিজেরদের স্বাধীন ভূখণ্ডের জন্য পূর্ণ্যোদ্যমে অস্ত্রে শান দিতে শুরু করেছে।

    Violence breaks out in Lashio after woman ‘set ablaze’

    Houses and mosques were set ablaze by mobs in a town in eastern Myanmar after a Buddhist woman was allegedly “torched” by a Muslim man, authorities said Tuesday, in a fresh bout of religious violence.

    An ethnic Shan-Muslim man was arrested after he “torched” a woman selling petrol, a police officer in the Shan State capital of Lashio told AFP under the condition of anonymity.

    A town official confirmed the arrest of the Muslim man who he said had “torched a woman with petrol”.

    A curfew was imposed late Tuesday to disperse angry mobs of local people — including Buddhist monks — who had “destroyed some houses and mosques”, the official added, also declining to be named.

    “Fires have been put out at some places in the town… the situation is under control now,” the official said, adding soldiers have been deployed to enforce the curfew.

    The woman, an ethnic Shan-Buddhist, was taken to hospital, but neither official could give details of her condition.

    Residents in Lashio, around 200 kilometres (120 miles) northeast of Mandalay, said Muslim shops and even a school had been set alight as furious mobs demanded the police hand the suspect over to them.

    “I can still see smoke and flames coming out from a Muslim school… it appears the school has been burnt down,” one resident told AFP by telephone, confirming the curfew.

    “We do not know exactly what is going on.”

    The mainly Buddhist Shan are the country’s second-biggest ethnic group, accounting for about nine percent of the population.

    Attacks against Muslims — who officially make up an estimated four percent of Myanmar’s Buddhist-majority population — have exposed deep rifts in the formerly junta-run country and cast a shadow over widely-praised political reforms.

    The government says at least 44 people were killed and thousands left homeless after a flare-up of religious violence in March, which was apparently triggered by a quarrel in a gold shop.

    Tensions have simmered since, with hardline Buddhists — including monks — urging a boycott of Muslim shops and deploying fierce anti-Muslim rhetoric.

    Three Muslims, including the gold shop owner, were jailed for 14 years in April for assaulting a Buddhist customer, while this month seven more received sentences of up to 28 years in connection with the violence.

    So far no Buddhists have been convicted over the unrest which began in the central town of Meiktila, but officials have insisted both sides are being treated equally.

    Last year up to 140,000 people — mainly Rohingya Muslims — were displaced in two waves of sectarian unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in western Rakhine.

    Human Rights Watch has accused Myanmar’s authorities of being a party to ethnic cleansing over the violence, which killed some 200 people and saw mobs set fire to whole villages.

    Myanmar’s reformist President Thein Sein this month vowed to uphold Rohingya rights, while opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday made a rare intervention in the incendiary issue to condemn a ban on Rohingya having more than two children in strife-torn Rakhine.

    UWSA flexes muscles in bid for legitimacy

    Myanmar’s most heavily-armed and powerful rebel group has said it is looking to carve out a legitimate state, as experts say it is flexing its muscles amid tense relations with the government.

    The United Wa State Army, which commands an estimated 30,000 troops, holds sway over a remote mountainous area on the northeast border with China that is believed to be awash with drugs and has long been aloof from central Myanmar control.

    Shielded from the reach of the previous junta by its close links to Beijing and formidable military might, observers say the group is using political openings under a new government to push for greater official acknowledgement.

    The Wa self-administered region consists of six townships in the rugged borderlands of Shan state, but UWSA spokesman Tone Sann told AFP that the current arrangement was “not enough”.

    “We want them to be acknowledged as a state,” he said on the sidelines of a religious ceremony in northern Shan that marked a rare public appearance for officials from the rebel group.

    The UWSA has upheld a ceasefire agreement with the government since 1989, one of the longest such deals in a country that has been riven by pockets of ethnic rebellion since independence in 1948.

    A raft of tentative new ceasefires have been inked by the new quasi-civilian government that replaced military rule two years ago as part of reforms that have raised hopes of greater federalism in a nation long gripped by junta insistence on unity and conformism.

    “The Wa have proven adept, in the past, at garnering the concessions they need,” Nicholas Farrelly of the Australian National University told AFP, adding that the group’s military, economic and political resources makes them a “force to reckon with”.

    “Moreover, given they run what often feels like an independent borderland fief, it is logical that the Wa leadership would be the first to test a new style of decentralisation.”

    Ethnic Wa make up about one percent of the Myanmar population, with about 800,000 people of various ethnic groups in the self-administered region, according to Tone Sann.

    He said the UWSA made an official request for their region to be upgraded to “Wa State” in talks with a government peace team this month, adding they received assurances it would be considered in the country’s parliament.

    Myanmar has seven ethnic minority states and seven regions, mainly of the majority Burman ethnicity.

    Tone Sann said the Wa want their region to be recognised as a state to take advantage of regional development, as resource-rich and strategically located Myanmar looks to reap the rewards of ending decades of isolation.

    Sai Pao Nap, an upper house MP from the Wa Democratic Party said the group is also keen to deal directly with the central government, rather than the current arrangement of communicating through authorities in Shan state.

    “I do not think their demand to be a state can cause any complication,” said the politician, who is also a chairman of the parliament’s National Races Affairs Committee.

    But he added that there have been heightened tensions between the UWSA and the military for two years, when the group was asked to join a so-called border guard force under the command of the Myanmar army.

    The Wa claim comes as the country’s military is locked in a deadly conflict with rebels in neighbouring Kachin, where a 17-year ceasefire collapsed soon after the new government came to power in 2011.

    Peace talks with the Kachin, which were set to continue on Tuesday, have stumbled at several hurdles and the unrest has continued amid suspicions that the army is determined to bring all the insurgents to heel once and for all.

    A recent report by analysts IHS Jane’s said the UWSA ceasefire was “fragile” and suggested the group had purchased armed helicopters from China as part “a programme of rapid rearmament” — a claim denied by both Beijing and the Wa.

    Tone Sann said some aircraft had been bought as “samples” to put on display to the public. “These are not real ones and cannot be used. We just wanted to attract more people to visit our museum,” he said.

    “It is not true that we bought helicopters from China,” he added, also rejecting persistent claims of widespread opium and methamphetamine production in Wa territory as “just accusations”.

    Farrelly said China was the “sponsor and facilitator of Wa success”, a situation that the Myanmar government may “resent” but would have little opportunity to counter.

    “It is a borderland defined by its entanglements and ambiguities, with the Chinese playing an inevitable role in what they consider their own backyard.”

    • মাসুদ করিম - ১ জুন ২০১৩ (১১:০৩ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

      Myanmar Anti-Muslim Violence Fueled By 969 Radical Buddhist Movement[http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3366863]

      LASHIO, Myanmar — When a huge mob of Buddhist thugs crawled on the roof of Ma Sandar Soe’s shop, doused it with gasoline and set it ablaze, the Buddhist businesswoman didn’t blame them for burning it to the ground despite seeing it happen with her own eyes.

      Instead, her wrath was reserved for minority Muslims she accused of igniting Myanmar’s latest round of sectarian unrest.

  28. মাসুদ করিম - ২১ জুন ২০১৩ (৪:২৪ অপরাহ্ণ)

    বিশ্ব থেকে বিচ্ছিন্ন সামরিক জান্তা আর বৌদ্ধ ভিক্ষুদের বার্মা বিশ্বের সাথে যোগাযোগ স্থাপনের পরপরই চরমপন্থী বৌদ্ধ অনুশাসন ও সন্ত্রাস নিয়ে আমাদের সামনে এসেছে। ৯৬৯ — বুদ্ধ, বৌদ্ধ ধর্মীয় কর্মকাণ্ড ও বৌদ্ধ গোষ্ঠীবদ্ধতার প্রতীক — এমনটিই বলছে বৌদ্ধ ভিক্ষুরা, কিন্তু ৯৬৯ — এখন বার্মিজ বৌদ্ধত্ববাদের প্রতীক, চরমপন্থার প্রতীক, সন্ত্রাসবাদের প্রতীক — এবং বার্মিজ ভিক্ষুদের প্রায় অর্ধেক এখন এই ৯৬৯ সংঘের অনুসারী এই সংঘের প্রসারের নিবেদিতপ্রাণ কর্মী। সবচেয়ে উদ্বেগজনক হচ্ছে এই হিংসা ও চরমপন্থা ছড়ানো হচ্ছে সারা দেশে শিশু কিশোরদের মধ্যে ‘রবিবারের ধর্মশালা’র মধ্য দিয়ে, কমিউনিটি সেন্টারের মাধ্যমে এবং ধর্মকথার নামে হিংসাত্মক ডিভিডি প্রচারের মাধ্যমে। বিস্তারিত পড়ুন : এখানে।

  29. মাসুদ করিম - ৯ অক্টোবর ২০১৩ (৬:২৩ অপরাহ্ণ)

  30. মাসুদ করিম - ১৬ এপ্রিল ২০১৪ (২:১৫ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Daw Suu refuses to meet land protesters

    Twenty farmers whose land has been confiscated for the Thilawa Special Economic Zone gathered outside her house on April 5. Her doctor, Dr Tin Myo Win, told the farmers she was unable to meet them.

    The demonstration came two days after more than 100 protesters gathered outside her home on April 3 to demand the Nobel laureate’s assistance in resolving a land dispute.

    Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who leads the parliamentary Rule of Law, Peace and Stability committee, told demonstrators she would consult with the Lawyers’ Network to see if she could help the protesters. However, she stopped short of making any promises on possible outcomes.

    “We hope [Daw Aung San Suu Kyi], as chair of the rule of law committee, can help us,” said Daw May Theingi Oo.

    The protesters were evicted from Mayangone township in 2003 after the government auctioned the land on which they were living to U Aik Lin, owner of construction firm Great Nine. Altogether 293 households were evicted to make way for the Taw Win Cherry Housing project, which was built from 2004 to 2006.

    The group demonstrated outside Taw Win Cherry on March 25 to April 2 but the site’s owners refused to negotiate with them.

    The protesters accused Great Nine of not paying fair compensation [why is it not fair?].

    They also said legal documents held by the company may not be genuine.

    Daw May Theingi Oo said they had tried to seek redress through the legal system “but all the court ignored us and the government didn’t take any action”.

    “We protested because we had no other choice,” she said.

    But Great Nine manager U Nay Linn Oo said the former residents had already received compensation ranging from K1 million to K15 million.

    “Only five of the 293 houses didn’t accept the compensation. We took legal action against them and removed them under a court order in 2006,” he said.

    “We have all the legal documentation and other evidence so we are ready for any legal action.”

    Meanwhile, activist Ko Htin Kyaw, who led the April 3 protest, was charged by Bahan township police under section 18 of the peaceful protest law for allegedly demonstrating without official permission.

  31. মাসুদ করিম - ২৯ মে ২০১৪ (১২:২৪ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Myanmar’s Appalling Apartheid

    Minura Begum has been in labor for almost 24 hours, and the baby is stuck. Worse, it’s turned around, one tiny foot already emerging into the world in a difficult breech delivery that threatens the lives of mother and child alike.

    Twenty-three years old and delivering her first child, Minura desperately needs a doctor. But the Myanmar government has confined her, along with 150,000 others, to a quasi-concentration camp outside town here, and it blocks aid workers from entering to provide medical help. She’s on her own.

    Welcome to Myanmar, where tremendous democratic progress is being swamped by crimes against humanity toward the Rohingya, a much-resented Muslim minority in this Buddhist country. Budding democracy seems to aggravate the persecution, for ethnic cleansing of an unpopular minority appears to be a popular vote-getting strategy.

    This is my annual “win-a-trip” journey, in which I take a university student on a reporting trip to the developing world. I’m with this year’s winner, Nicole Sganga of Notre Dame University, spotlighting an injustice that some call a genocide.

    There are more than one million Rohingya in Rakhine State in the northwest of Myanmar. They are distinct from the local Buddhists both by darker skin and by their Islamic faith. For decades, Myanmar’s military rulers have tried systematically to erase the Rohingya’s existence with oppression, periodic mass expulsions and denials of their identity.

    “There are no people called Rohingya in Myanmar,” U Win Myaing, a spokesman for Rakhine State, told me. He said that most are simply illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

    This narrative is absurd, as well as racist. A document as far back as 1799 refers to the Rohingya population here, and an 1826 report estimates that 30 percent of the population of this region was Muslim.

    Since clashes in 2012 claimed more than 200 lives — including children hacked with machetes — the authorities have confined Rohingya to internment camps or their own villages. They are stripped of citizenship and cannot freely go to the market, to schools, to university, to hospitals.

    Tens of thousands have made desperate attempts to flee by boat, with many drowning along the way.

    This year, the Myanmar authorities have cracked down even harder, making the situation worse. First, the government expelled Doctors Without Borders, which had been providing health care for the Rohingya. Then orchestrated mobs attacked the offices of humanitarian organizations, forcing them out.

    Some kinds of aid are resuming, but not health care. That’s a sterile way of putting it. I wish readers could see the terrified eyes of Shamshida Begum, 22, a mom whose 1-year-old daughter, Noor, burned with fever.

    Shamshida said that at home the thermometer had registered 107 degrees. Even after damp cloths had been placed on Noor to lower her temperature, the thermometer, when I saw it, still read 105 degrees. What kind of a government denies humanitarians from providing medical care to a toddler?

    Noor survived, but some don’t. We visited the grief-stricken family of a 35-year-old man named Ba Sein, who died after his tuberculosis went untreated.

    “He died because he couldn’t get medicine,” said his widow, Habiba, as friends made a bamboo coffin outside. Now she worries about her four small children who, like other children in the camp, haven’t been vaccinated. The camp is an epidemic waiting to happen.

    Minura, the woman with a breech delivery, survived a 28-hour labor and hemorrhaging, but lost her baby. The infant girl was buried in an unmarked grave — one of a large number of achingly small graves on the outskirts of the camp.

    “Because I am Rohingya, I cannot get health care and I cannot be a father,” Minura’s husband, Zakir Ahmed, a mason, said bitterly after the burial.

    The United States has spoken up, but far too mildly; Europe and Asia have tried to look the other way. We should work in particular with Japan, Britain, Malaysia and the United Nations to pressure Myanmar to restore humanitarian access and medical care.

    President Obama, who visited Myanmar and is much admired here, should flatly declare that what is happening here is unconscionable. Obama has lately noted that his foreign policy options are limited, and that military interventions often backfire. True enough, but in Myanmar he has political capital that he has not fully used.

    As a university student, Obama denounced apartheid in South Africa. As president, he should stand up to an even more appalling apartheid — one in Myanmar that deprives members of one ethnic group even of health care.

    Myanmar seeks American investment and approval. We must make clear that it will get neither unless it treats Rohingya as human beings.

  32. মাসুদ করিম - ২২ জুলাই ২০১৪ (১:০২ অপরাহ্ণ)

  33. মাসুদ করিম - ৩১ আগস্ট ২০১৪ (১২:২৪ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Burma reveals initial census data

    Burma’s Ministry of Immigration and Population released provisional census data on Saturday, showing that the country has a population of 51.4 million people, almost ten million fewer than previous estimates.

    The data indicates that of that number, 26,598,244 are women and 24,821,176 are men. A total of 50,213,067 people were enumerated, but the figures include an estimated 1.2 million people who were not counted in parts of Arakan, Kachin and Karen states.

    According to a statement by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), about 1.09 million people were not counted in parts of Arakan State.

    “Most of those who wanted to self-identify their ethnicity as Rohingya were not enumerated,” the statement read.

    Rohingya Muslims are denied citizenship in Burma, as the government and much of the general population considers them illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

    Burma’s national census — the country’s first population count in 30 years, conducted from 29 March to 10 April — was highly contentious partly because it solicited detailed ethnic information.

    While questions about ethnicity hit a nerve with many people in Burma, which has struggled with ethnic insurgencies and repression of minorities for decades, it was particularly sensitive in Arakan State, where people who self-identify as Rohingya were instructed to call themselves either “Bengali” or “other”.

    The survey was problematic in other parts of the country, as well; census workers were unable to go to several areas controlled by the Kachin Independence Army in northern Burma, where armed conflict has devastated communities since mid-2011.

    Fighting in Kachin State and parts of northern Shan State have displaced approximately 120,000 people over the last three years, an unknown number of whom have fled to China. Such displacement has further complicated attempts to accurately depict the population.

    In Karen State, southeastern Burma, the UNFPA said that the Karen National Union provided data that they collected independently for one area, but that it was checked against other similar territories and appeared consistent enough to base an estimate upon.

    The UNFPA, which has provided technical, logistical and financial support for Burma’s census, said that data collection and analysis were conducted under the guidance of foreign experts and in accordance with international standards.

    “The census is a valuable national resource,” said UNFPA representative Janet Jackson, speaking at a meeting in Rangoon on Saturday, 30 August. “For the first time in decades, the country will have data it needs to put roads, schools, health facilities and other essential infrastructure where people need them most.”

    The UNFPA said that more detailed information will be available in in May 2015, and that it is not uncommon for the fully analysed data to vary slightly from preliminary results.

    Myanmar census lowers population

    The first census in three decades for Myanmar (Burma) shows the country has a population of 51 million people, authorities say, about nine million fewer than an earlier estimate.

    The former junta-ruled nation’s last survey was in 1983, and in more recent estimates the government had put the population about 60 million.

    The census, which triggered international concern after authorities refused to allow minority Muslims to register their ethnicity as Rohingya, was done in March and April.

    ‘The provisional result of the population in Myanmar is 51,419,420. The female population is 1.7 million more than the male population,’ Immigration Minister Khin Yi said at a media conference on Saturday.

    The full results, including breakdowns by religion and ethnicity, will be released in May 2015.

    About 1.2 million people were missed out of the census in parts of western Rakhine state and conflict-torn Kachin and Karen states, according to Khine Khine Soe, an immigration ministry director.

    She said the 60 million population estimate was based on the 1983 census and an earlier population growth rate, adding that a declining birth rate might help explain the lower count.

    Myanmar views the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, despite many being able to trace their family back for generations in Myanmar.

    Critics had warned the United Nations and donors before the census that the tally had the potential to spark unrest, pointing out controversy over questions of ethnicity and religion in the survey.

    An eruption of violence just days before the census began forced humanitarian workers to flee Rakhine, leaving tens of thousands of displaced people without adequate healthcare, food and water.

    The census was largely carried out by an army of teachers, and its 41 questions were designed to give policymakers a full picture of the country as it emerges from decades of direct military rule, which ended in 2011.

    রোহিঙ্গা ফাঁকি: মিয়ানমারে জনসংখ্যা কমেছে ৯০ লাখ

    তিন দশকের মধ্যে করা প্রথম আদমশুমারির প্রাথমিক ফলাফল প্রকাশ করেছে মিয়ানমার, যেখানে জনসংখ্যা দেখানো হয়েছে আগের ধারণার চেয়ে ৯০ লাখ কম।

    দীর্ঘদিন স্বৈরশাসনে থাকা দক্ষিণ এশিয়ার এই দেশটিতে সর্বশেষ আদমশুমারি হয় ১৯৮৩ সালে। মিয়ানমার সরকার বলে আসছিল, দেশের জনসংখ্যা ছয় কোটির মতো।

    তবে গত মার্চ-এপ্রিলে করা আদমশুমারির যে প্রাথমিক ফলাফল শুক্রবার প্রকাশ করা হয়েছে, তাতে দেশের জনসংখ্যা দেখানো হয়েছৈ ৫ কোটি ১০ লাখ।

    বিবিসির এক প্রতিবেদনে বলা হয়, রাখাইন প্রদেশের রোহিঙ্গা মুসলমানদের জাতিগত পরিচয় উল্লেখ করার কোনো সুযোগ আদম শুমারিতে দেয়া হয়নি।

    শুমারির প্রাথমিক ফল প্রকাশ করে রাষ্ট্রনিয়ন্ত্রিত টেলিভিশনের খবরে বলা হয়, আগামী বছর মিয়ানমারের জনসংখ্যার বিস্তারিত তথ্য প্রকাশ করা হবে যেখানে বিভিন্ন ধর্মীয় সম্প্রদায় ও জাতিগোষ্ঠীর জনসংখ্যা নিয়েও তথ্য থাকেবে।

    বিবিসির খবরে বলা হয়, গত কয়েক দশক ধরে নির্যাতনের শিকার হয়ে আসা অন্তত আট লাখ রোহিঙ্গা মুসলমান এই শুমারিতে নিজেদের ‘রোহিঙ্গা’ হিসাবে অন্তর্ভুক্ত করার সুযোগ পাননি।

    জাতিসংঘ মিয়ানমারকে এই শুমারির কাজে সহযোগিতা দেয়ার পাশাপাশি জনগণকে তাদের জাতিগত পরিচয় বেছে নেয়ার সুযোগ দিতে বলেছিল। কিন্তু সম্প্রতি গণতন্ত্রের পথে আসা মিয়ানমার সরকার তা আমলে নেয়নি।

    মিয়ানমারের ১৩৫টি জাতিগোষ্ঠীর মানুষ শুমারিতে নিজেদের জাতিগত পরিচয় উল্লেখ করার সুযোগ পেলেও রাখাইন রাজ্যের রোহিঙ্গা এবং বিদ্রোহী কোচিন জনগোষ্ঠী সে সুযোগ পায়নি।

    রাখাইন প্রদেশের সংখ্যালঘু মুসলিম জনগোষ্ঠী দীর্ঘদিন ধরেই জাতিগত ও সাম্প্রদায়িক সহিংসতার শিকার। সরকারও এই নিপীড়নে প্রত্যক্ষ ও পরোক্ষ ইন্ধন যুগিয়ে যাচ্ছে বলে অভিযোগ রয়েছে।

    ২০১২ সালে রাখাইন রাজ্যের বৌদ্ধ ও মুসলিমদের মধ্যে ভয়াবহ জাতিগত দাঙ্গায় অন্তত ২০০ মানুষ প্রাণ হারায়। ওই সময় ১০ হাজারের বেশি রোহিঙ্গা গৃহত্যাগে বাধ্য হন।

    এসব কারণে জীবনের ঝুঁকি নিয়ে রোহিঙ্গারা থাইল্যান্ড-মালয়েশিয়া-বাংলাদেশসহ বিভিন্ন দেশে পাড়ি জমাচ্ছেন। অবৈধ পথে বিদেশে ঢুকতে গিয়ে তাদের অনেকেই মারা পড়ছেন, নয়তো আইনশৃঙ্খলা রক্ষাকারী বাহিনীর হাতে ধরা পড়ে কারাগারে যাচ্ছেন।

    আন্তর্জাতিক বিভিন্ন মানবাধিকার সংগঠন ও রাষ্ট্র রোহিঙ্গাদের বিরুদ্ধে এই সহিংসতা বন্ধের পাশাপাশি তাদের নাগরিক হিসেবে স্বীকৃতি দেয়ার আহ্বান জানিয়ে এলেও মিয়ারমার সরকার নিজেদের অবস্থানে অটল।

    জাতিগত ও রাজনৈতিক সংঘাতের কারণে প্রায় দুই দশক আগে রোহিঙ্গারা বাংলাদেশে ঢোকা শুরু করে। জাতিসংঘের শরণার্থী বিষয়ক সংস্থা ইউএনএইচসিআর ও বাংলাদেশের রোহিঙ্গা শরণার্থী ত্রাণ ও প্রত্যাবাসন কমিশনের (আরআরআরসি) তথ্য অনুযায়ী, কক্সবাজারের কুতুপালং ও নয়াপাড়া শরণার্থী শিবিরে নিবন্ধিত ৩০ হাজারসহ দুই লাখের বেশি রোহিঙ্গা বর্তমানে বাংলাদেশে রয়েছেন।

    এর বাইরে আরো প্রায় পাঁচ লাখ রোহিঙ্গা বাংলাদেশের বিভিন্ন স্থানে অবস্থান করছেন বলে সরকারের পক্ষ থেকে বলা হয়ে থাকে। বাংলাদেশি পাসপোর্ট নিয়ে রোহিঙ্গারা বিদেশে বিভিন্ন অপরাধে জড়িয়ে পড়ছেন বলেও মনে করা হয়।

    বিভিন্ন সময়ে বাংলাদেশ থেকে তাদের ফিরিয়ে নেয়ার আহ্বান জানানো হলেও মিয়ানমার সরকার তাতে সাড়া দেয়নি।

  34. মাসুদ করিম - ৫ অক্টোবর ২০১৪ (৫:৪০ অপরাহ্ণ)

    এশিয়ার এই দরিদ্র অঞ্চলটায় জনজাতি রাষ্ট্র দেখতে চাই

    বার্মা যদি ব্যাপারটাকে এভাবে দেখে বাংলাভাষী রোহিঙ্গারা বাঙালি, রাখাইনরা রাখাইন, শানরা শান, বর্মনরা বর্মন এবং এরা সবাই বার্মার নাগরিক তাতে আমার কোনোই আপত্তি নেই বরং শক্ত সমর্থন আছে, এবং বলার আছে বাংলাদেশও বার্মাকে অনুসরণ করুক বাঙালিরা বাঙালি, চাকমারা চাকমা, গারোরা গারো হয়েই বাংলাদেশের নাগরিক হোক। তামিলরা তামিল হয়ে বাঙালিরা বাঙালি হয়ে ভারতীয় হোক। জাতিরাষ্ট্র বিদায় নিক এশিয়ার এই দরিদ্র অঞ্চলটায় জনজাতি রাষ্ট্রের পত্তন হোক।

  35. মাসুদ করিম - ২৩ নভেম্বর ২০১৪ (১:২৩ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Muslims, Buddhists team up to bring about peace for Rohingya

    Muslims and Buddhists in Indonesia are joining forces to push for conflict resolution in Myanmar, where the Rohingya Muslim minority has been persecuted and denied citizenship for more than three decades.

    Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said that in collaboration with the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and the Council of Buddhist Communities (Walubi), it would make a trip to Myanmar in December to start a dialogue with Buddhist monks there.

    “I agree with the United Nations which said that the conflict in Myanmar could be resolved by allowing the Muslim community and Buddhist community to meet and talk. This is not only a problem for Myanmar, but also our concern,” NU executive council chairman Slamet Effendy Yusuf told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

    Slamet said his team had finalized preparations for the trip to Myanmar. He added that the Indonesian Embassy in Myanmar had arranged meetings with some monks in the country.

    Slamet, a former Golkar Party politician, said that NU, the MUI and Walubi had also organized a screening of a movie portraying the peaceful coexistence of Muslims and Buddhists in Indonesia.

    “One of the scenes shows the sun rising at Borobudur temple, during which time you can hear the adzan [Muslim call to prayer],” he said. “This is to show how we as Muslims and Buddhists can live together in harmony.”

    Borobudur temple is the largest Buddhist monument in the world, located in the predominantly Muslim city of Magelang in Central Java.

    The film will also show celebrations for Waisak, the Buddhist Day of Enlightenment, taking place around the Borobudur compound. “You can see how Muslims merrily join the celebrations,” he said.

    Suhadi Sendjaja from Walubi said that through the visit, he hoped that people in Myanmar could learn from Indonesia.

    “Here, the number of Muslims is so many while the Buddhists are only a few, but we are safe. In Myanmar, it is the other way around,” he told the Post on Saturday.

    Suhadi, however, was quick to add that the Indonesian delegation would not force a reconciliation in Myanmar.

    “We will not direct them toward a reconciliation. We will only explain our situation in Indonesia,” he said.

    The UN General Assembly’s human rights committee approved on Friday a resolution urging Myanmar to allow its persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority “access to full citizenship on an equal basis”.

    Myanmar’s 1.3 million Rohingya have been denied citizenship and have almost no rights. Authorities want to officially categorize them as “Bengalis”, implying they are illegal migrants from neighboring Bangladesh. People who reject that identity become candidates for detainment and possible deportation.

    In recent years, attacks by Buddhist mobs have left hundreds dead and 140,000 trapped in camps, while other Rohingya are fleeing the country.

    US-based interfaith organization Religions for Peace said that as a follow-up to the visit, members of the Buddhist community in Myanmar are expected to visit Indonesia.

    “It should happen both ways. They should come to Indonesia and make friends with Muslims. This has never happened before and I think this is important,” Religions for Peace deputy secretary-general Kyoichi Sugino said.

    Sugino said that members of the international community, especially countries that have close diplomatic ties with Myanmar, such as EU countries, Japan and Indonesia, could play a role as mediators in the conflict between Muslims and Buddhists in the country.

    He said the fifth World Peace Forum, which is currently underway in Jakarta, has allowed relevant parties to develop a dialogue mechanism for the Rohingya and the Myanmar government.

    “Therefore, all relevant parties should start discussing so that international NGOs and other countries could act as facilitators,” said Sugino.

  36. মাসুদ করিম - ২৮ মে ২০১৫ (১০:০৯ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Dalai Lama urges Suu Kyi to act on Rohingya

    The Dalai Lama has urged fellow Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to do more to help Myanmar’s persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority amid a worsening migration crisis.

    Despite thousands of Rohingya fleeing on harrowing boat journeys to Southeast Asia to escape poverty and discriminatory treatment by the country’s Buddhist majority, opposition leader Suu Kyi is yet to comment.

    Observers have attributed this to fears about alienating voters ahead of elections slated for November.

    The Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader said she must speak up, adding that he had already appealed twice to her in person since 2012, when deadly sectarian violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state pitted the Rohingya against local Buddhists, to do more on their behalf.

    “It’s very sad. In the Burmese (Myanmar) case I hope Aung San Suu Kyi, as a Nobel laureate, can do something,” he told Thursday’s The Australian newspaper in an interview ahead of a visit to Australia next week.

    “I met her two times, first in London and then the Czech Republic. I mentioned about this problem and she told me she found some difficulties, that things were not simple but very complicated.

    “But in spite of that I feel she can do something.”

    The issue was thrown into the spotlight this month when thousands of Rohingya, together with Bangladeshi migrants, were rescued on Southeast Asian shores after fleeing by boat.

    The crisis has shone a spotlight on the dire conditions and discrimination faced by the roughly one million Rohingya in western Myanmar, a group widely seen as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

    The Dalai Lama, perhaps the world’s most famous refugee, added from his exile in the Indian Himalayas that it was not enough to ask how to help the Rohingya.

    “This is not sufficient. There’s something wrong with humanity’s way of thinking. Ultimately we are lacking concern for others’ lives, others’ well-being,” he said.

    Malaysia has been a favourite destination for the Rohingya. Migrants often travelled to Thailand by boat, then overland to northern Malaysia.

    But Thailand began a crackdown on smuggling following the discovery of mass graves there, which appears to have thrown regional human-trafficking routes into chaos.

    More than 3,500 migrants have arrived on Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian soil in recent weeks, and hundreds or thousands more are feared still trapped on boats.

    Seven camps — some with dozens of graves believed to contain the bodies of Rohingya — have been uncovered in Thailand’s Songkhla province close to the Malaysian border.

  37. মাসুদ করিম - ১৮ জুন ২০১৫ (১২:১৫ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Aung San Suu Kyi on the state of democracy in Burma

    Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel peace laureate and chair of the opposition National League for Democracy party in Burma, spoke Tuesday by telephone about her recent trip to China, elections scheduled for November and other matters. An edited transcript is below.

    Q: What did you learn on your trip to China?

    A: It was a good discussion. We all understand that neighbors have to live in peace and harmony.

    Did you discuss the imprisonment of [fellow Nobel peace laureate] Liu Xiaobo?

    I have to keep explaining that I never discuss details of my conversation with leaders of governments or organizations. These are usually considered private.

    During your imprisonment, the Chinese weren’t supportive of you, and you welcomed when foreign leaders raised the issue of your imprisonment.

    Freedom and democracy in each country will be something that their own people will work for. With regard to our relationship with China, it’s always been based on independence, and I believe we can maintain this relationship, even if we don’t agree on the ideologies we wish to practice within our respective countries.

    So “freedom and democracy in each country will be something that their own people will work for” — is that the attitude the U.S. should take toward Burma?

    I think all people work for what they want for their own country, and of course they do expect their friends to help if they can.

    Well, let me ask about your own country.

    Yes, please do. I think I prefer talking about my own country.

    How likely are elections in the fall to produce a government that’s representative of the people?

    Well, we’ve entered a very exciting period. For the first time we’ve started discussing draft amendments to the constitution in the legislature. How free and fair the elections will be will be linked to whether the constitution has been amended to provide a level playing field.

    So there’s still a chance the constitution will be amended before the election?

    Oh, there’s always a chance. We’re not counting on it, we’re not campaigning for the elections on the assumption that the constitution will be amended. But we don’t entirely shut off the possibility.

    If not, can the people’s will be reflected in the president and parliament that are elected?

    If the elections are free and fair, of course, the legislature will reflect the will of the people. With regard to the presidency, that will depend on whether the constitution has been amended.

    But what about the 25 percent rule [reserving one-quarter of parliament seats for the military]?

    We know about the 25 percent rule, but rules, you know, don’t last forever, they don’t have to. And don’t people say that rules are made to be broken?

    So if it’s not changed before the election, would the NLD have the political wherewithal to get it changed?

    The NLD has stated very clearly that unelected representatives are not democratic, and this will have to be changed. But we have also said that in the interest of national reconciliation, this will have to be negotiated step by step, and we’re not going to insist on all the unelected members leaving the legislature.

    In general, how do you view the state of political reform?

    What we had hoped for is that the government would enter into genuine negotiations to make sure that the democratization process is a real one. But it has become increasingly obvious that the government is not really very interested in negotiation. . . .

    But on the other hand we really hadn’t expected it to be smooth running all the way.

    Could the government succeed in stopping the process where it is now, or where Cambodia, say, is now, with a veneer of democracy, but with the government and former generals still controlling most of the economy and political power?

    We do worry that the reforms will turn out to be a total illusion, and we think that we need more concrete steps to ensure that the democratization process is what it was meant to be.

    But we’re very different from Cambodia. I think the problems are much more difficult to sort out than the problems of Cambodia. The size of the country, the size of the population, the internal wars and battles that have been taking place for such a long time.

    Why the rise of Buddhist nationalism?

    I think we have to make a distinction between nationalism and extremism, and what we worry about is extremism. Nationalism, when it’s controlled and when it’s used in the right way, that is not a bad thing. It’s extremism that is a problem.

    And is it a problem at this point in Burma?

    I think extremism all over the world, not only in Burma, in any society, extremism would be a problem.

    What’s the source of it in your country? Why are we seeing it now?

    Well, I wonder, too. But of course, if you’re talking about the [western state of] Rakhine, these problems have existed for many, many decades. They’ve been simmering for quite some time, and the government has not done enough to lessen the tension and to remove the sources of the conflict.

    Do you think the Rohingya should have citizenship?

    The government is now verifying the citizenship status under the 1982 citizenship law. I think they should go about it very quickly and very transparently and then decide what the next steps in the process should be.

    What do you say to your friends outside the country who say you should have been speaking more about the plight of the Rohingya and other minorities?

    We have many minorities in this country, and I’m always talking up for the right of minorities and peace and harmony, and for equality and so on and so on, all the democratic values that the NLD and others have been fighting for for three decades now. We have been subjected to tremendous human rights violations all these years, and so have others, and many, many of our ethnic minorities took up arms because their rights have not been protected.

    The protection of rights of minorities is an issue which should be addressed very, very carefully and as quickly and effectively as possible, and I’m not sure the government is doing enough about it. Well, in fact, I don’t think they’re doing enough about it.

    What do you mean by “very, very carefully”?

    It just means that it is such a sensitive issue, and there are so many racial and religious groups, that whatever we do to one group may have an impact on other groups as well. So this is an extremely complex situation, and not something that can be resolved overnight.

    Do extremist parties pose a political risk to the NLD, and could that be one reason such sentiment is being fomented?

    It’s possible, because the NLD has never supported extremism of any kind, so extremist groups would not look upon themselves as friends of the NLD, and it’s very possible that there’s a political motive behind the rise of so-called religious movements.

    How much of an impact could voter roll problems have?

    We’ve studied 10 townships in the Rangoon Division, and in some townships the mistakes were as high as 80 percent. That’s very bad. In some they were as low as 30 percent. How are we going to correct all of these lists in time for the election? And if things are that bad in Rangoon, how will they be in the border areas, for example? The election commission chairman is very serious about correcting all of these mistakes, but I just wonder if they have enough time and technical expertise to be able to correct these mistakes in time.

    Has there been a retrenchment of basic freedoms since the early liberalization?

    Well, it was more than a year ago that we began to notice that the government was beginning to crack down on freedom of the media. You must have heard about it, how some journalists were arrested and sentenced to somewhat longish terms in prison. And we felt then that the reform process was not only stalled but perhaps going backwards.

    Are reforms still going backward?

    I don’t think anything is going to happen ahead of the elections, apart from the constitutional issue, and in my opinion the government is totally opposed to constitutional amendment. That’s regression enough, don’t you think?

    How does it feel to be turning 70?

    Well, I don’t feel very different, but it’s interesting that I’ve made it this far.

  38. মাসুদ করিম - ৮ জুলাই ২০১৫ (১:১৬ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Myanmar’s Parliament Approves Controversial Interfaith Marriage Law

    Lawmakers in Myanmar passed contentious legislation on Tuesday that imposes restrictions on interfaith marriages in the predominantly Buddhist country, despite opposition from rights advocates who say it discriminates against women and Muslims in the conservative, predominantly Buddhist country.

    The law requires Buddhist women and men of other faiths to register their intent to marry with local authorities, who will display a public notice of the engagements. Couples can marry only if there are no objections; but if they violate the law, they could face imprisonment.

    Critics have argued that the legislation does not apply the law equally to all people and flies in the face of domestic and international human rights standards.

    “This kind of law shouldn’t be issued by parliament because it is not an essential law for all ethnic [groups] in Myanmar; it is just a law that discriminates against ethnic people when it comes to religion,” said Zar Talam, an ethnic Chin lawmaker from the Htantlang constituency of Chin state in western Myanmar.

    Proponents, however, say the law will protect Buddhist women who marry outside their faith.

    “This law was written for Myanmar Buddhist women who marry men from other religions so they have equal rights in marriage, divorce, inheritance and taking care of children, as well as have effective protection,” said Saw Hla Tun, a member of parliament’s Draft Law Committee.

    The law is part of a series of four laws on marriage, religion, polygamy, and family planning proposed by a Buddhist organization called the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion, which is affiliated with a nationalist Buddhist monk group.

    Women’s groups and civil society organizations who have opposed the measure issued a statement earlier this year, arguing that the draft law denied women the inherent rights of freedom of survival and freedom of choice.

    “We believe that current faith-based political activities, including the arguments against interfaith marriage currently taking place in the country, are not in accordance with the objectives of the peaceful coexistence of all faiths and the prevention of extreme violence and conflict, but are instead events and ideas designed to distract the public before the 2015 election,” the statement said, referring to the general elections scheduled for November.

    Although the law does not mention any specific religion, it has prompted speculation that it could be aimed at preventing Muslims from trying to coerce Buddhist women into abandoning their faith for marriage or otherwise.

    Last year, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom and New York-based Human Rights Watch condemned the four pieces of draft legislation, saying they discriminated against non-Buddhists in religious conversions, marriages, and births, and would encourage further repression and violence against Muslims and other religious minorities.

  39. মাসুদ করিম - ১০ নভেম্বর ২০১৫ (৮:১৭ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    গণতন্ত্রে মায়ানমার, জয়ী সু কি

    সরকারিভাবে ভোটের ফল এখন‍ও বার হয়নি, কিন্তু দেশজুড়ে গণনার গতি দেখে গণতান্ত্রিক আন্দোলনের নেত্রী সুকির জোট এন এল ডি–র কাছে পরাজয় স্বীকার করে নিলেন মায়ানমারের শাসক দল ইউ এস ডি পি–র চেয়ারম্যান হতাই ও। ২৫ বছর পর মায়ানমারে (পূর্বতন বার্মা) এই প্রথম হল অবাধ গণতান্ত্রিক নির্বাচন। দেশজুড়ে যে গণনা চলছে, তাতে দেখা যাচ্ছে, শাসক দল ইউনিয়ন সলিডারিটি অ্যান্ড ডেভেলপমেন্ট পার্টির চেয়ে ঢের বেশি ব্যবধানে এগিয়ে রয়েছে আং সান সু কি–র নেতৃত্বাধীন ন্যাশনাল লিগ ফর ডেমোক্র্যাসি। আসন প্রাপ্তিতে নিরঙ্কুশ গরিষ্ঠতার পথে এন এল ডি । এই খবর পেয়েই মায়ানমারের প্রেসিডেন্ট থিয়েন সেইনের ঘনিষ্ঠ ইউ এস ডি পি–র চেয়ারম্যান হতাই ও বিদেশি সাংবাদিকদের কাছে বলেছেন, ‘হেরে গেছি। আড়াই দশক পর দেশের প্রথম গণতান্ত্রিক নির্বাচনের জনরায় মেনে নিচ্ছি।’ হতাই বলেছেন, ‘চূড়ান্ত সরকারি ফলের জন্য অপেক্ষা করব। তবে যা খবর, তাতে কোনওরকম দ্বিধা ছাড়াই এই পরাজয় স্বীকার করব। জনরায়কে মান্যতা দেব।’ ইরাবতী নদীর অববাহিকায় যে অঞ্চলকে শাসক ইউ এস ডি পি–র ঘাঁটি এলাকা ভাবা হত, সেখানকার সংসদীয় কেন্দ্র হিনথাড়ায় তিনি নিজে বিপুল ভোটের ব্যবধানে হারের সম্মুখীন হওয়ায় বিস্ময় প্রকাশও করেছেন শাসক দলের চেয়ারম্যান হতাই ও। সরকারিভাবে ফল ঘোষিত হওয়ার পর সব কিছুই গণতান্ত্রিকভাবে পালিত হলে মায়ানমারে ক্ষমতাসীন হতে চলেছেন গণতান্ত্রিক আন্দোলনের নেত্রী ৭০ বছর বয়সী আং সান সু কি। রাজধানী ইয়াঙ্গনে বের হয়ে গেছে সু কি–র গণতান্ত্রিক জোট এন এল ডি–র বর্ণাঢ্য বিজয় মিছিল। নির্বাসিত দশা কাটিয়ে ভারত থেকে সু কি ১৯৮৮ সালে স্বদেশে ফিরতেই তৎকালীন বার্মার সামরিক সরকার গৃহবন্দী করে রাখে। রাষ্ট্রপুঞ্জ ও বিভিন্ন রাষ্ট্রের চাপে ১৯৯০ সালে মায়ানমারের সামরিক সরকার সাধারণ নির্বাচন ডাকে। ওই সময় মুক্তও হন সু কি। ওই নির্বাচনে সু কি–র এন এল ডি ৫৯ শতাংশ ভোট পেলেও নানা রাজনৈতিক জটিলতা সৃষ্টি করে ক্ষমতা অঁাকড়ে থাকে সামরিক জুন্টা। সু িক–কে আবার গৃহবন্দী করা হয়। এর পরের বছরগুলিতে মায়ানমারের ক্ষমতা অঁাকড়ে থাকে সেনাবাহিনীর মদতপ্রাপ্ত সরকার। বার বার সু কি–কে গৃহবন্দী রাখা হয়েছে এই বছরগুলিতে। আন্তর্জাতিক চাপে মায়ানমারের সামরিক মদতপুষ্ট সরকার ২০০০ সাল থেকে সু কি–কে রাজনৈতিক কাজকর্মের অনুমতি দিয়েছে। ওই বছর থেকে তিনি সারা মায়ানমার সফর করে গণতান্ত্রিক আন্দোলনকে এগিয়ে নিয়ে গেছেন।

  40. মাসুদ করিম - ৩০ মার্চ ২০১৬ (৩:১৬ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Arakan Chief Minister: We ‘Haven’t Discussed’ the State’s IDP Camps

    After his appointment to the role of Arakan State Chief Minister by the National League for Democracy (NLD), party member and Lower House MP Nyi Pu spoke to The Irrawaddy’s Moe Myint on Tuesday about the local opposition to his selection for the post, the state level cabinet and terminology regarding the state’s Muslim minority.

    Locals have been protesting against you and the NLD. What do you think about this?

    I have heard there are several protests. All those matters are concerning the development of Arakan State and maybe they are expressing their personal wishes. I have nothing special to say about that [to protestors]. I would like to say that people should do what benefits their state.

    If these rallies continue happening, what will you do?

    I can’t say precisely what is going to happen next, it’s really difficult to say. As I said, if we have difficulties, we have to solve them together.

    Many Arakanese have strong ideas regarding partisanship. What challenges could you face as the chief minister of Arakan State?

    There may be some difficulties in Arakan State, but no matter whether we call them challenges or difficulties, we will try our best and collaborate with others to solve the problems—people who can help us. I will cooperate with them, but I haven’t specified who that might be.

    The NLD government has decreased the number of Union ministries and ministers. What will the state-level cabinet look like? Will the number of state level ministers also decrease?

    It is possible. I don’t know exactly right now. It is uncomfortable to say because it hasn’t officially been announced yet. I have selected some people. The central authorities [of the NLD] are choosing.

    NLD chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi met with the 14 appointed Union ministers in Naypyidaw last week and they reportedly discussed their conceptual plan for the first 100 days in power. Do you have a strategy for your first 100 days as chief minister?

    We had a plan, but later, when we start to serve our duties, I will discuss and negotiate these matters with the state level ministers who are involved in the cabinet. We have many things to do. After the discussion, we will decide which matters should be targeted as the first priorities.

    Would you give some examples of that?

    They will concern Arakan State development.

    After Arakan State’s riots in 2012, many people became displaced and were forced to seek shelter in refugee, or IDP, camps within the region. Community tensions have not eased yet and security has been heightened in several quarters and villages. How will you proceed—will you maintain these camps in the same manner as the previous administration?

    I can’t say exactly at this time and haven’t discussed this.

    Many locals refer to the people in these camps as ‘Bengali’ and allege that they migrated from Bangladesh, but many in the international community know them as ‘Rohingya.’ As you are an ethnic Arakanese minister, how do you regard them—which term will you use?

    Before us, the previous government already specified which to use the word for them and Suu Kyi has considered it too, recently. That is all I can say.

    So, you are going to follow the previous government’s usage?

    At the moment, that still exists.

    When the Arakan State state speaker read your name as the chief minister appointee to the regional legislature, all of the Arakan National Party (ANP) MPs walked out on Monday. Can you comment on that?

    I realize they had [their own] feelings about how to develop their state and they showed their dissatisfaction. That’s all.

    On the ground, are there any bad relationships between NLD and ANP MPs?

    Not bad, but we have some difficulties—they vary but they are difficult to unveil.

    Suu Kyi meet with Naypyidaw-based ANP MPs and asked about collaboration. You are the one who has to talk everyday with Sittwe-based ANP MPs. Have you asked also them for collaboration on the ground?

    Collaboration is the designated policy of our party and I will do as much as I can, based on the party’s policies.

    According to state media, the state of emergency that had been placed on Arakan State in June 2012 following communal riots was lifted on Monday, on the second to last day of the outgoing administration’s term. It also coincided with the protests mentioned earlier. What do you think about the government’s decision to do this? Was it intentional or coincidental?

    When it is retracted, people are independent and they can protest freely. People also protested due to the military regime. In a democratic country, it is [their right to do this]. I have no feeling about this.

  41. মাসুদ করিম - ২৫ আগস্ট ২০১৬ (৩:১৩ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Former UN chief tipped to lead Rakhine commission

    Former UN general secretary Kofi Annan will advise Myanmar’s government on resolving conflicts in Rakhine State, the office of the state counsellor announced today.

    Rakhine State, one of the poorest in the Union, was wracked by sectarian violence in 2012 that forced more than 100,000 – mostly Muslims who ethnically identify as Rohingya – into squalid displacement camps where they face severe restrictions on movement as well as access to health care, education, and other other basic services.

    Addressing the ongoing crises has posed one of the most troubling challenges to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy-led government.

    Earlier today, the government announced the formation of an advisory panel that will be chaired by former UN chief, and focus on “finding lasting solutions to the complex and delicate issues in the Rakhine State”.

    The board will submit recommendations to the government on “conflict prevention, humanitarian assistance, rights and reconciliation, institution-building and promotion of development of Rakhine State,” a statement from the state counsellor’s office said.

    The statement did not use the word “Rohingya”. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has come under fire both at home and from international rights groups for failing prioritise to address the group’s plight and seeking to placate hardline Buddhist nationalists by avoiding the politically-charged term. The government has already requested that the US Embassy and other diplomatic groups avoid the term Rohingya, and in June, she proposed “Muslim community of Rakhine State”.

    The proposed neutral terminology, which the state counsellor ordered government officials to adopt, sparked mass protests in Rakhine State and in Yangon by hardline nationalists, who insist on use of the term “Bengali” that was also preferred by the previous government’s to suggest the group’s origins in neighbouring Bangladesh.

    In July UN special rapporteur for human rights Yanghee Lee urged the government to make ending “institutionalised discrimination” against the Rohingya and other Muslims in Rakhine an urgent priority.

    Myanmar also announced this week that current UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will attend the highly-anticipated 21st Century Panglong conference at the end of the month.

    The five-day talks, aimed at ending a host of complicated border ethnic conflicts that have lasted for decades, will begin on August 31.

  42. মাসুদ করিম - ৩ ডিসেম্বর ২০১৬ (৭:৫২ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Myanmar’s Suu Kyi says international attention fuelling divisions in north

    Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi accused the international community on Friday (Dec 2) of stoking resentment between Buddhists and Muslims in the country’s north-west, where an army crackdown has killed at least 86 people and sent 10,000 fleeing to Bangladesh.

    Ms Suu Kyi appealed for understanding of her nation’s ethnic complexities, and said the world should not forget the military operation was launched in response to attacks on security forces that the government has blamed on Muslim insurgents.

    “I would appreciate it so much if the international community would help us to maintain peace and stability, and to make progress in building better relations between the two communities, instead of always drumming up cause for bigger fires of resentment,” Ms Suu Kyi told Channel News Asia during a visit to the city-state.

    “It doesn’t help if everybody is just concentrating on the negative side of the situation, in spite of the fact that there were attacks against police outposts.”

    The violence in the north-west poses the biggest challenge so far to Ms Suu Kyi’s eight-month-old government, and has renewed international criticism that the Nobel Peace Prize winner has done too little to help the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority.

    Soldiers have poured into the north of Rakhine state, close to the frontier with Bangladesh, after attacks on border posts on Oct 9 that killed nine police officers. Humanitarian aid has been cut off to the area, which is closed to outside observers.

    Myanmar’s military and the government have rejected allegations by residents and human rights groups that soldiers have raped Rohingya women, burned houses and killed civilians during the operation.

    Ms Suu Kyi’s remarks came as a commission led by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan arrived in the state, where ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims have lived separately since clashes in 2012 in which more than 100 people were killed.
    ‘CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY’

    Despite often having lived in Myanmar for generations, most of the country’s 1.1 million Rohingya are denied citizenship, freedom of movement and access to basic services such as healthcare and education.

    The UN’s human rights agency said this week that abuses suffered by the Rohingya may amount to a crimes against humanity, repeating a statement it first made in a June report.

    The Rohingya are not among the 135 ethnic groups recognised by law in Myanmar, where many majority Buddhists refer to them as “Bengalis” to indicate they regard them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

    In northern Rakhine, one of the poorest parts of the country, Muslims outnumber the ethnic Rakhine population.

    “In the Rakhine, it’s not just the Muslims who are nervous and worried,” said Ms Suu Kyi. “The Rakhine are worried too. They are worried about the fact that they are shrinking as a Rakhine population, percentage-wise.”

    UN officials said this week more than 10,000 people have fled the recent fighting to Bangladesh.

    There are continuing reports of people fleeing across the river border in flimsy boats, bringing accounts of razed villages, uprooted communities and separated families.

    Still, Ms Suu Kyi said the government has “managed to keep the situation under control and to calm it down”.
    ANNAN’S TASKFORCE

    Ms Suu Kyi identified Rakhine as one of the areas that required special attention from the outset of her term, nominating Mr Annan in August to lead a taskforce to come up with long-term solutions to the problems of the divided state.

    The six Myanmar and three foreign commissioners, on their second trip to Rakhine, met community leaders, local government representatives and Muslims from camps for displaced people in the state capital of Sittwe.

    “There have been security actions there, but security actions should not impede humanitarian access to those in need,” Mr Annan told reporters after the meetings, referring to the north.

    “We have discussed it and I expect progress to be made. Some agencies have been able to go in, but there’s a great deal of needs, and I expect to see further progress in the next few days or so.”

    The UN has said some 30,000 people have been internally displaced by the fighting and, while nearly 20,000 have had their deliveries of aid restored, around 130,000 are still not getting food and other assistance they had been receiving prior to the outbreak of violence.

    Ms Suu Kyi bowed to weeks of international pressure late on Thursday to appoint a commission to investigate the original attacks and allegations of human rights abuses in the military operation that followed.

    However, she raised eyebrows with her pick for the chief of the team, vice president Myint Swe, who headed the feared military intelligence under former junta leader Than Shwe.

    Mr Myint Swe, a close confidant of the former junta supremo, was the chief of special operations in Yangon when Mr Than Shwe ordered a crackdown on anti-junta protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007, known as the Saffron Revolution.

  43. মাসুদ করিম - ৯ এপ্রিল ২০১৭ (১২:১৬ পূর্বাহ্ণ)

    Suu Kyi’s denial is disillusioning

    We are outraged and disappointed at Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s denial of the atrocities that amount to ethnic cleansing, committed by Myanmarese security forces on Rohyingya Muslims. It is unfathomable that the Nobel Laureate, internationally known as a defender of human rights, would make this statement in a BBC interview. She has even claimed that the conflict was due to ‘Muslims killing Muslims as well’ completely ignoring the UN report that has found mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingyas by the Myanmar army and police.

    The report was based on interviews with survivors in Bangladesh and revealed horrific accounts of Rohingya women, children and men being brutally killed and tortured. Is Suu Kyi trying to say that all these accounts have been made up? Apart from the UN investigations, local and international media have continuously reported the campaign of killing and rape of Rohingya people who have been denied citizenship for decades because of their ethnicity and religion. Around 75,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh to flee the latest bout of violence in October 2016. If this isn’t ethnic cleansing, what is?

    Myanmar says its operations, which began last October, were aimed at tracking down militants who attacked police border posts in Rakhine. If that were so how can it justify the mass murders of men, the execution of babies and rapes of women as fleeing Rohingyas have told UN workers?

    The lukewarm reassurance made by Suu Kyi in the BBC interview that “if they come back they will be safe” rings hollow in the wake of her outright denial of the atrocities committed. Instead of denial she should make all out efforts to see that the persecution of Rohingyas are stopped, that the perpetrators are held to account and that Rohingyas are given their rightful status in their homeland, Myanmar.

  44. মাসুদ করিম - ১৭ সেপ্টেম্বর ২০১৭ (২:০১ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Towards a Peaceful, Fair and Prosperous Future for the People of Rakhine

    Final Report of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State

    After one year of consultations held across Rakhine State and in other parts of the country and the region, the Advisory Commission submitted its final report to national authorities on 23 August. The report recommends urgent and sustained action on a number of fronts to prevent violence, maintain peace, foster reconciliation and offer a sense of hope to the State’s hard-pressed population.

    The final report of the Advisory Commission chaired by Kofi Annan puts forward recommendations to surmount the political, socio-economic and humanitarian challenges that currently face Rakhine State. It builds on the Commission’s interim report released in March of this year.

    “Unless concerted action – led by the government and aided by all sectors of the government and society – is taken soon, we risk the return of another cycle of violence and radicalisation, which will further deepen the chronic poverty that afflicts Rakhine State”, said Kofi Annan, Chair of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State.

    The final report addresses in depth a broad range of structural issues that are impediments to the peace and prosperity of Rakhine State. Several recommendations focus specifically on citizenship verification, rights and equality before the law, documentation, the situation of the internally displaced and freedom of movement, which affect the Muslim population disproportionally. An overview of the thematic focus areas of the report and its recommendations can be found below.

    The report is the outcome of over 150 consultations and meetings held by the Advisory Commission since its launch in September 2016. Commission members have travelled extensively throughout Rakhine State, and held meetings in Yangon and Naypyitaw, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Geneva.

    “The Commission has put forward honest and constructive recommendations which we know will create debate,” Commission Chair Kofi Annan said. “However, if adopted and implemented in the spirit in which they were conceived, I firmly believe that our recommendations, along with those of our interim report, can trace a path to lasting peace, development and respect for the rule of law in Rakhine State.”

    With the submission of its final report, the Advisory Commission on Rakhine has completed its mandate. However, the Commission’s report recommends a national mechanism be established to ensure the effective implementation of its recommendations.

    “We propose a ministerial-level appointment to be made with the sole function of coordinating policy on Rakhine State and ensuring the effective implementation of the Rakhine Advisory Commission’s recommendations,” says Commission Chair Kofi Annan. “The appointee should be supported by a permanent and well-staffed secretariat, which will be an integral part of the Central Committee on Implementation of Peace and Development in Rakhine State and support its work.”

  45. মাসুদ করিম - ১৭ সেপ্টেম্বর ২০১৭ (২:২০ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Myanmar exiles pen open letter to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

    A number of Myanmar exiles have signed an open letter to Aung San Suu Kyi asking her to re-evaluate her position as ‘Burmese society is sleep-walking into the abyss of racial hatred and religious bigotry’ The following is the letter in full.

    “As your fellow countrymen, with deep roots in our troubled birthplace, we are writing to you to share our sadness and concern about your personal legacy as the nation’s leader, the plight of our people, and the future of Myanmar as a nation.

    Some of our family members and parents were contemporaries and colleagues of your late father, General Aung San. They made contributions to the country’s welfare as he did.

    When you delivered your first speech in 1988, declaring that “as my father’s daughter I could no longer remain silent when the public remains subject to decades of oppression”, we were deeply moved and inspired by your determination and courage.

    Like millions of Burmese we transferred to you, the love, respect and trust which your martyred father earned from our parents and generations of Burmese.

    In your long years of captivity as a Prisoner of Conscience, we stood by you and did everything in our power, individually and collectively, to secure your freedom and build an international movement in support of your leadership.

    We did indeed respond to your famous call, “use your liberty to promote ours”. Irrespective of our ethnic and religious backgrounds – including Rohingyas, other Muslims, Hindus and Christians, we all rallied to your call to end the oppression of the majority by an elite minority in the Tatmadaw.

    We rejoiced when you were released, and waited to see how you would rally the nation to our common cause – democracy. But you acknowledged none of your able supporters and fellow dissidents, exiled or formerly jailed, much less consulted with them. Many would have assisted you in any way they could with years of invaluable global experience in many fields. You showed no interest in soliciting any intellectual or professional support.

    Worse still, we were shocked by your statement that you were a politician – meaning political expediency might guide your decision-making, as if universal human rights and politics were mutually exclusive.

    Then the make-up of your government caused us concern. None of the well-respected experienced senior NLD leaders were included. No one of outstanding ability and experience was drafted into your cabinet. Most were inexperienced NLD newcomers and the only ones with any real capacity or experience were ex-military, functionaries of the very regime that had incarcerated you, oppressed the nation for the last fifty years, and whitewashed the crimes of our former tormentors and jailers.

    Where are we headed? Has our democratic transition in Myanmar turned full circle? Are we back under an autocratic regime albeit one that was democratically elected? You need to encourage a free press, allow dissent in the ranks, debate policy differences, and build up the next generation of leaders from all ethnic backgrounds and religions, besides building trust with the generals. We know it is not easy. But they are the building blocks of any reformist agenda. We are not expecting you to do it alone. It can only be done with a strong team.

    Given the memory of your father and the supreme leadership position that you now hold in the country, we are appealing to you to draw a firm line based on democratic principles and human compassion. Burmese society is sleep-walking into the abyss of racial hatred and religious bigotry. The violence against the Rohingya must end. Whatever the crimes of the militants, it is wrong to kill innocent villagers – men, women, and children, in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan States, especially in Rakhine. You have a moral obligation to act.

    We also urge you to allow the United Nations and human rights organizations full access to determine what went wrong. Humanitarian aid should also be made available to all those in need irrespective of whether or not they are citizens of Myanmar.

    We, the undersigned are making this statement with sadness and regret. But we are compelled by the credible reports of the catastrophic turn of events in Norther Rakhine. You can still heal the wounds and lead the reconciliation process. We would like you to take the initiative as the elected leader of Myanmar. It is not too late to do the right thing by your father’s legacy.

    We wish you well. May you walk in peace.

    Sincerely,

    1. Ko Aung, UK
    2. Tun Aung, USA
    3. Kin Oung, Australia
    4. Bilal Raschid, USA
    5. U Kyaw Win, USA
    6. Harn Yawnghwe, Canada
    7. Maung Zarni, UK
    8. Moethee Zun, USA”

  46. মাসুদ করিম - ১৩ অক্টোবর ২০১৭ (১:২৩ অপরাহ্ণ)

  47. মাসুদ করিম - ২২ অক্টোবর ২০১৭ (১০:৩২ অপরাহ্ণ)

    The ties that bind Suu Kyi’s hands

    Recent events along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border have put the spotlight on a domestic Myanmar issue, which like the refugee crisis is unlikely to be resolved any time soon: the relationship between the powerful military and the country’s elected representatives.

    In the initial stages of the crisis, international critics tended to blame State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi for the crackdown on the Rohingya.

    Jacob Judah, a Dhaka-based writer suggested in an op-ed piece for the New York Times on September 7 that Suu Kyi should be stripped of her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, referring to “Aung San Suu Kyi and her generals” and stating that she, “in her capacity as state counselor…plays a role in overseeing the country’s military.”

    Even an experienced writer such as Nicholas Kristof wrote an article for the New York Times on September 9, which began by saying that “Aung San Suu Kyi, a beloved Nobel Peace Prize winner, is presiding over an ethnic cleansing in which villages are burned, women raped and children butchered.” A week later, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned Suu Kyi of a “last chance” to act on the refugee crisis.

    By law, though, Suu Kyi has no power over the wholly autonomous military, which is under the exclusive control of Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. While Suu Kyi was criticized for the ill-treatment of Rohingya even before August this year, Min Aung Hlaing visited Austria and Germany in April, Russia in June, India in July and Japan in August.

    On each visit he received a red carpet welcome while the Rohingya crisis, not to mention the wars against Kachin, Palaung and Shan ethnic minority rebels in Myanmar’s north, was apparently never broached.

    Critics argue that there is a profound misunderstanding in the outside world of the nature of civil-military relations in Myanmar, and what power the country’s elected representatives actually possess.

    When elections were held in November 2010, leading to the formation of a quasi-civilian government under President Thein Sein, some saw the opening of a new, more liberal political era.

    The subsequent release of prisoners of conscience, allowances for unprecedented media freedoms and rights to organize political events led the European Union’s External Action Service counselor Robert Cooper to characterize the steps as “Myanmar’s Berlin Wall moment.”

    Thein Sein, a former army general who fronted the previous ruling junta, was hailed as Myanmar’s Mikhail Gorbachev while some suggested that there was a power struggle between his “reformers” and “hardliners” from the old military regime.

    What Myanmar has experienced since has not been so much a transition from dictatorship to democracy but rather the emergence of a new hybrid political system that maintains military control over all important organs of power, including all security related ministries, while the elected government is responsible for health, education, agricultural policies and, to some extent, foreign policy.

    Before elections were held in 2010, a new constitution was drafted under military auspices and promulgated after a fraudulent referendum in May 2008. The first chapter of the constitution states that one of the “objectives” of the “Union” is to enable “the Defense Services to…participate in the National political leadership role of the State.”

    The charter puts all important organs of power, including the armed forces, the police, the local administration and all issues relating to border security, under military control. It also gives the military a 25% bloc in parliament and requires any amendment to the charter secure the vote of 75% of lawmakers.

    The military also retains control over the government’s three most powerful ministries, namely defense, home and border affairs. The General Administration Department (GAD), a body under the Ministry of Home Affairs, staffs all local governments, from state and regional levels down to districts and townships.

    Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) government, the country’s first non-military cabinet in 54 years, assumed power in April 2016 after sweeping elections in November the previous year.

    But with the military still in charge of most important ministries and departments, NLD ministers are little more than nominal heads of their respective government departments; the underlying bureaucracy is still populated by military-appointed officials who had dutifully served previous authoritarian regimes, meaning there has been little actual transfer of power to civilian-controlled institutions.

    But that doesn’t mean Suu Kyi’s hands are completely tied in dealing with the Rohingya crisis. Critics argue that she could, without challenging the military, have widened the limited civilian space in Myanmar’s political scene by traveling to Rakhine state to meet the democratically elected local government.

    She may not like its members, many of whom are radical Rakhine nationalists, but such a visit would have shown the public that there is a civilian component to Myanmar’s governmental structure.

    She could also have visited local hospitals to meet victims of the violence from all religious communities in the area, Muslims as well as Buddhists and Hindus. In a broader sense, she could be on national television every week to talk about issues such as health, education, culture and other social issues.

    But her leadership style since 2016 has puzzled even many of her supporters. She has become a recluse in the capital Naypyitaw, removed from the people who voted for her — and political change — in 2015. Her international reputation has been severely damaged from her policy of outsourcing the emotive Rohingya issue to the callous military.

    Most of the controversial statements on her and her office’s website and Facebook accounts were not even written by her, but one of her advisors, Zaw Htay, and his team. Zaw Htay is a former army official who served in the same role under Thein Sein.

    By contesting a by-election in 2012, which Suu Kyi won and subsequently became an MP, as well as the 2015 general election, which her party overwhelmingly won, it could be argued she has become hostage to the 2008 charter that she herself once described as “one of the world’s worst constitutions.”

    Suu Kyi turned 72 in June and time is arguably running out for her.

    Without Suu Kyi, the NLD would likely not garner the same massive popular support in the next 2020 election as it did in 2015. Nor has Suu Kyi or the party’s elder leaders groomed a next generation of NLD activists to take over once she is no longer active in politics.

    Suu Kyi is therefore likely to leave behind a power vacuum within her party that can be easily exploited by the military and its political backers.

    She could but has so far failed to begin a process of widening the civilian space in government and public life, which in the long run could have an impact on civil-military relations and, therefore be the beginning of a real transition to democracy.

    But there is no “Berlin Wall moment” in sight for Myanmar, and it may take more then a generation and many bold steps for that to ever become a reality.

  48. মাসুদ করিম - ১৬ ফেব্রুয়ারি ২০১৮ (৫:৪৪ অপরাহ্ণ)

    Suu Kyi could face genocide charges: UN envoy

    Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi could be held accountable for crimes against humanity, said UN Special Envoy Yanghee Lee in an interview with the UK’s Channel 4 News.

    She said that Suu Kyi could be found guilty of what the interviewer said as “very very serious crimes.”

    The State Counsellor of Myanmar has been facing criticism for failing to stand up against ‘systematic targeting and persecution’ since August last year.

    Lee said, “Either she is denying or she is really far away moved.”

    Asked whether there has been an effort to destroy the very identity of Rohingyas, which appears to suggest genocide was occurring, her reply was, “Absolutely.”

    “One has to be legally correct to determine genocide and it has to be through a process of legal procedures. So, therefore, I can only say it bears a hallmark of genocide,” said the UN envoy.

    Over the Myanmar leader’s years of reputation of what the interviewer described as “a sort of goddess of democracy and human rights”, the UN envoy said, “She was never a goddess of human rights … She was a politician and she is a politician.”

    Lee had been in the past prevented from going to Rakhine and after the latest exodus of Rohingyas, she has been barred from visiting the country.

    “Well, they say I was biased and unfair. And every time I asked what was it that I was unfair and biased about, there was no clear answer,” Lee said during the interview.

    “When I said, well…Rohingyas this and that, the government said ‘We don’t have any Rohingyas’. I cannot accept that in principle. And that’s being biased?”

    “When I declare that there’s been extrajudicial killing and arbitrary arrests, or rape, they (Myanmar government) would say ‘no we have never done that’.”

    According to bdnews24, the UN envoy said the Rohingyas in Bangladesh cannot be safely repatriated under the existing conditions.

    “I have been stating that unless the discriminatory and oppressive laws against the Rohingya population are dismantled, you are going to see the same things happen again. Even, after they return.”

    Buddhist-majority Myanmar has treated Muslim Rohingyas like “herding cattle through a small alley”, which has been happening for years, said Lee.

    “And this is what happened metaphorically and physically to the Rohingya population. They have been herded into a small area, emotionally and physically.

    “And with all kinds of barriers put on, infringements on their human rights. And where they are at a point, there’s nowhere to go,” the UN envoy said.

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