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Press
Release:
Concerning implicating Rohingya groups to have connection with
terrorist organisation
Our attention has been drawn to the news item(s)
appeared in BurmaNet dated October 23, 2001 and other
international media, including the Burmese SPDC press,
implicating Rohingya groups to have connection with terrorist
organisation. So far Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO)
is concerned, we strongly reject any direct or indirect link
with any terrorist organisation.
ARNO condemns the terrorist attacks in
United State on 11 September 2001 and believes that terrorism is
an evil on earth that knows no homeland, nationality, religion,
or race and so everybody must disown it and condemn it. At the
same time, the importance of making distinction between
terrorism or wanton killing of innocent people and freedom
struggle or the right to fight against injustice must not be
overlooked.
Terrorism practiced by the state is most
dangerous and, in this connection, it is to be mentioned that
the Burmese SPDC is a terrorist military clique, which is
practicing the most outrageous crimes and has killed hundreds
and thousands of innocent civilians and democracy activists
across the country. SPDC with the vested interests is now trying
to exploit the grave situation the world is facing today, in the
wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in United States, and
is making conspiracy to discredit its oppositions particularly
the Rohingya organisations -- being Muslim groups-- and to
"tar them with the same brush".
It may here be mentioned that ARNO is one of the
two component organisations of Arakan Independence
Alliance (AIA) and the other is National United Party of Arakan
(NUPA) which is made of largely Rakhine or Buddhist community of
Arakan. AIA is a joint freedom movement of the all people of
Arakan, without distinction as to race, colour, or religion in
order to liberate and restore their lost
independence.
The former Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front (ARIF)
is no more in existence as it was already dissolved and merged
into ARNO. Thus the question of its alleged link with Osama Bin
laden Network does not arise anymore.
The Burmese military has subjected the Rohingya
Muslims of Arakan to large scale persecution, ethnic cleansing,
genocide and extermination. As a result, nearly half of their
population have been in exile in many countries of the world
while those still at home are counting their days in utter
dismay and frustration, on account of SPDC's continued state
terrorism.
In recent weeks, Muslims in Burma have become
vulnerable after terrorist attacks in the United States and
conflict in Afghanistan. The military SPDC or citizens of other
ethnic groups may think that they can justify anti-Muslim
activities as part of "the war on terrorism."
Increasing signs of Muslim and Islam hatred and climate of
victimization of Muslims in Burma have been reported across the
country. Persistent rioting and clashes between Muslims and
Buddhists, destruction of Muslim shops and houses in towns and
cities, tightening of travel and worship restrictions on the
Muslims and stepping up of persecution of Rohingya Muslims in
Arakan have taken place. SPDC is responsible for these
violence on religious line.
At this trying situation, we also condemn the
Burmese military SPDC for perpetrating state terrorism.
Central Executive Committee
Arakan Rohingya National Organisation
Arakan.
October 29, 2001.
Source: Press & Publication Dept., ARNO, 29 October 2001
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Network
Media Group: Nearly one hundred people killed in religious riot
in Southern Burma
Mae Sot, October 28, 2001
Nearly one hundred people were killed in a riot
between Muslims and members of Union Solidarity and Development
Association (USDA) at Pha-auk village in Southern Burma on
October 21, Thit Lwin Oo from Muslim Information Center said to
NMG.
About 150 members from USDA came to destroy the
mosque in Pha-auk village, about four miles from Moulmein, where
one hundred Muslims were worshiping on the evening of October
27. A clash broke out between the Muslims in the mosque and the
USDA members around 7 pm and about 60 Muslims and 35 USDA
members were killed during the clash, said Thit Lwin Oo.
Similar religious riots occurred in Pyi and Pegu
in early this month and about 40 shops, including Tawthargyi
store, on the main road in Pyi were destroyed during these
riots, Thit Lwin Oo continued.
About 34 prisoners arrested during these riots
in Taunggu during May and Pyi and Pegu in early October are
going to be sent to Khamti prison, very remote town in Upper
Burma near Indo-Burma border. The prisoners include 24 from
Mandalay prison and 10 from Pegu prison, a source reported to
NMG.
"Although there are reports about the
arrests, we have not yet known how many Muslims and Buddhists
were among these arrested people," said U Kyaw Hla,
chairman of Muslim Liberation Organization (MLO).
Although there were religious riots in Taunggu,
Pyi, Pegu and Hinthada, Burmese regime has not yet announced on
the casualties in these riots.
Source: BurmaNet 29 October 2001
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KALADAN
PRESS NETWORK: Burma continues to plant mines along
Burma-Bangladesh border
By our correspondent
Cox's Bazar October 26, 2001: Na Sa Ka border
security forces and Burmese regular forces have been planting
landmines along Burma-Bangladesh border since October 15, 2001.
On October 20, 2001 two mines were exploded just on the
border line near pillar No. 48. and no casualty is
reported. Following the incident, again fears have gripped the
bordering villagers of both Arakan and Bangladesh.
It may be mentioned that last year the Na Sa Ka,
with the help of Burma army, started planting hundreds of
antipersonnel mines, soon after monsoon, from October
along almost the whole line, including hilly paths and pass.
Rohingya National Army (RNA), a rebel group from Arakan, had
reportedly cleared a number of those landmines.
Like past years, the Burmese armed forces are
now plating or replacing the old mines with new ones as the
rainy season has just ended. It has been reported that
Bangladesh border security forces (BDR) are giving constant
warning to the villagers living in the border area that they are
in danger of mines being laid by the Burmese armed forces. It is
worthy of mention that every year important number of civilians
from both sides of the Burma-Bangladesh border, most of whom are
Rohingya and Bangladeshi wood cutters, are killed or injured in
land mine incidents.
Editor
Kaladan Press Network
Kaladan Press" is an independent news group
disseminating and reporting news and information covering
western Burma in particular.
Source: KALADAN PRESS NETWORK, 26 October 2001
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Narinjara
News:The Border Trade between Myanmar and Bangladesh suspended
26/10/2001
Cox's Bazaar, 26th October: The border
between Maungdaw and Teknaf has formally been closed, according
to a trader from the border areas. Though there was border trade
formally recognized by the authorities of Myanmar and
Bangladesh, the SPDC regime of Myanmar have kept border trade
suspended for the last two weeks. Everyday, only one boat
carrying three persons are now allowed to cross the Naf river
and back, and stay for a 24 hour period. Previously a
trader could use his passport to obtain permission to stay for
at least one week.
Though there has been no announcement of the
reason behind, mounting tension because of the war on
Afghanistan, scarcity of rice, and fear of probable popular
discontent within Rakhine State have compelled the authority to
suspend border trade with Bangladesh, he added. Though the
illegal trade in rice, shrimp, pulses, salt and other
agricultural produce from Rakhine State still continue unabated
under the very nose of the Military, Paramilitary and Police
organizations.
Meanwhile, the price of fuel oil like diesel,
kerosene and gasoline, has sharply increased throughout the
state. Many owners of small generators have increased the
rate of their services.
Source: Narinjara News, 26 October 2001
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Narinjara
News: One country, two system in Rakhine state
Teknaf, 25 October 01: The Muslim
community in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships of Rakhine State
are debarred from moving to other townships within the state,
let alone to Yangon or beyond. The Muslims including the
Rohingyas are not allowed to travel freely in the country except
they can manage permissions from the local Peace and Development
Council authorities, according to a Muslim trader from Maungdaw
available at Teknaf. For sometime, the rice, bamboo, timber and
cattle from Sittwe and other parts of Rakhine State have been
ordered not to be carried to Buthidaung and Maungdaw areas where
the majority of the population are Muslims. The Muslims cannot
also travel to Sittwe, the state capital, unless they have
clandestine connections with the Military Intelligence and other
law enforcement agencies. Most of the Muslims who hobnob
with the law enforcement agencies are smugglers. As the Muslims
are not allowed to travel by air or by ship to Yangon, the ones
who can bribe the law enforcement agencies to the tune of 500
thousand kyat are sent by the military intelligence agents to
Yangon. These lucky ones are boarded at the Shwebra jetty
at Sittwe, where there are engine boats hired by the military.
The majority of the Muslims have to suffer untold miseries for
the system. According to the trader, the Muslims need to take
official permission to hold wedding ceremonies or religious
ceremonies, and the married Muslim women have to report to the
nearest authority when they become pregnant.
Source: BurmaNet 26 October 2001
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KALADAN PRESS NETWORK:
Arrest After ILO Visit
Maungdaw October 16,2001: Two days after the visit of ILO
delegation to North Arakan, one Nurul Haque of Myint Hlut (Marullah) village, a village about 18 miles south of Maungdaw town was arrested by NaSaKa Border Security Force for talking to ILO
delegation.
A group of 5 people from Min Hlut village tract, including Nurul Haque, son of Noor Ahmed and Fayazu, son of Miah Hussain, went to meet the ILO delegation at Udang village, a village about 3 miles north of Min Hlut village, that is about 15 miles south of Maungdaw town.
On behalf of the group Nurul Haque apprised the delegation of the forced labour situation which was noticed by civil clothed MI (Military Intelligence) personnel. Two days after the visit of the ILO delegation, Nurul Haque was arrested and has since been harassed while engaging him in forced labour day in day out in the nearby NaSaKa camp of Min Hlut Area. The only allegation brought against him is that he talked to ILO visitors in defiance of the verbal warning given by the authorities prior to the visit of the ILO team. It may be mentioned that the authorities threatened the people with serious action if they spoke out to the ILO team about the forced labour situation.
While going to Udang village five of them had carried with them movement passes from the Village PDC. No case is filed against Nurul Haque and four others. But, there is panic that more people will be arrested.
***************
"Kaladan Press" is an independent news group disseminating and reporting news and information covering western Burma in particular.
E-mail < kaladanpress@yahoo.com >
Source: KALADAN PRESS NETWORK, 18 October 2001
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Junta
Hunting Down Muslim Extremists
By Maung Maung Oo
October 15, 2001—Burma’s Ministry of Home
Affairs last week ordered all police forces and intelligence
units to discover the source of anti-American pamphlets being
circulated among the country’s Muslims, according to a
reliable source in Rangoon. The ministry also said that
"serious action" should be taken against those caught
distributing the pamphlets, which attack the United States for
its recent air strikes on Afghanistan.
The pamphlets have been distributed widely
within Burma’s Muslim community, which constitutes roughly 4%
of the country’s population. They originally appeared early
last week in major urban centers of central Burma, including
Magwe, Taungoo, and Pyinmana, before spreading to the capital
Rangoon a few days later.
Sources have reported signs of Muslim unrest
throughout central Burma since the attacks on Afghanistan began
last Monday. In Prome, located about 300 km northwest of
Rangoon, five people were believed to have been killed last week
in communal clashes between Muslims and non-Muslims, while many
others were reported injured, according to sources. Although the
country’s military regime has not reported the recent
violence, sources in Prome said that a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew
has been imposed, and all phone links to the city have been cut.
The unrest appears to have been brought under control, the
sources added.
Earlier this year, a wave of anti-Muslim
violence swept much of central Burma, as well as areas of the
northwestern part of the country bordering Bangladesh.
Information about these incidents was also suppressed in
Burma’s strictly controlled press.
According to sources, the recently circulated
pamphlets accuse the United States of unfairly blaming Muslims
for a series of terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on
Sept 11. Echoing sentiments expressed throughout the Muslim
world, the pamphlets say that the US has offered no evidence to
prove that Osama bin Laden and the Taleban regime in Afghanistan
were behind the attacks, which claimed at least 6,000 lives. The
pamphlets, believed to have been published by an extremist
Islamic group, also call on Burmese Muslims to join the global
jihad, or holy war, against America.
News of the events of Sept 11 has been subject
to stringent censorship in Burma, with the regime reportedly
concerned about the risk of renewed communal violence. Although
the junta has denied reports published in Jane’s Defense
Weekly and the New York Times that there are terrorist cells
linked to bin Laden operating in Burma, mosques around the
country have come under intense scrutiny since Sept 11.
Source: Irrawaddy, 17 October 2001
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DVB:
Restricting Muslims' celebration of Prophet's birthday
Authorities said restricting Muslims'
celebration of Prophet's birthday
Text of report by Democratic Voice of Burma(DVB)
on 16 October
DVB has learned that the SPDC authorities have
been restricting and restraining Burmese Muslims from
celebrating Prophet Mohamed's birthday. The Burmese Muslims held
prayer services to commemorate Prophet Mohamed's birthday at the
Persian mosque in Keng Tung, Shan State on 12-14 October. But
the SPDC authorities, picking the current crisis between the
United States and the Islamic fundamentalists as a reason, tried
to restrict and prevent the ceremonies. The Shan State Peace and
Development Council summoned the Persian mosque elders on 8
October prior to the occasion and warned them to hold the
ceremonies in a limited manner. The authorities also prevented
them from inviting the usual guests - the Chinese Muslims from
Mong La region and other Islamic brethren from around the
nation.
Similarly, in Amarapura, Col Hla Win, commander
of Mandalay No. 7 Region, informed the responsible personnel
from the respective regions to take care of security measures in
order to prevent religious riots and disturbances and to remind
the respective Muslim elders from the mosques.
Source: BurmaNet, Democratic Voice of Burma,
Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 16 Oct 01
Narinjara
News: Military Personnel smuggle rice in Rakhine State
15/10/2001
Cox's Bazaar, Oct 15 : According to a woman from
Buthidaung, Rakhine State, Burma, who came to visit her relative
in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, a few days ago, the members of the
Burmese Army are engaged in racketeering rice. Though officially
there is an open market economy in Burma under the Burmese junta
SPDC, the rice from Sittwe, the capital of the state cannot be
carried to Buthidaung and Maungdaw Townships close to
Bangladesh. The ban is official, so the price of rice is 180/200
kyat a kilo in Maungdaw and Buthidaung. The price of a kilo of
rice in Sittwe is 120/150 kyat. One day's wage for a labourer is
about 500 kyat. The general people are barred from carrying rice
to the border areas while the military personnel carry on the
black market trade in rice and other foodstuff. Smugglers who
have link with the military can smuggle rice in boatloads from
Sittwe into Maungdaw.
Source: BurmaNet 15 October 2001
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Burmese
opposition criticises UN envoy
In Burma, the opposition National League for
Democracy (NLD) has criticised the visiting United Nations human
rights envoy, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro.
An NLD spokesman, U Lwin, told the BBC that Mr
Pinheiro was not spending enough time consulting local
communities.
He said Mr Pinheiro's schedule compared
unfavourably with those of previous UN officials, who had spent
more time talking to prisoners, opposition activists and ethnic
minorities.
U Lwin said that a meeting with the central
leadership of the NLD planned for Friday had been cancelled.
It is not known whether Mr Pinheiro's scheduled
meeting with the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi went ahead.
Mr Pinheiro is now visiting the northern Shan state.
The Burmese authorities released five NLD
prisoners on the day he arrived in the country.
After his first visit in April, Mr Pinheiro said
there was room for cautious optimism about events currently
unfolding in Burma.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
Source: BBC 15 October 2001
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Source:
Burma to Top Heroin Produce
October 12, 2001
AP: International -LONDON (AP) - Burma could
become the world's biggest supplier of heroin if Afghan growers
adhere to the Taliban's ban on opium poppy cultivation, a U.N.
researcher said Friday.
Dr. Sandeep Chawla, chief of research for the
U.N. drug control program, said last year's ban by Afghanistan's
hard-line Taliban rulers was highly effective.
``Afghanistan has gone from producing 70 percent
of the world's opium to less than 10 percent,'' Chawla told a
London conference organized by the British charity Drug Scope.
During the 1990s, Afghanistan produced between
3,000 and 4,000 tons of opium per year, followed by Burma, which
produced 1,000 tons a year, and Laos and Colombia, which
produced 100 tons a year, Chawla said.
At poppy harvest time last year, Afghanistan had
200,000 acres under poppy cultivation, producing 3,276 tons of
raw opium. This year, 18,700 acres under cultivation have
produced 185 tons of opium.
The price of raw opium in Afghanistan went from
$20 a kilo last year to more than $200 this year. It was $700
just before the Sept. 11 attacks, after which it plummeted
dramatically on speculation that the Taliban prohibition on
poppy cultivation would not be enforced, Chawla said.
For the first time in 30 years, the price of raw
opium in Burma is at the same level as in Afghanistan, when
usually it is up to three times higher, he said.
Although there was no evidence so far that
farmers were returning to growing opium, Chawla said they might
if political instability and widespread poverty continued.
Source: Crosswalk, 19 October 2001
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Red
Wa strengthen town against attacks
Wassana Nanuam
The Red Wa-controlled Mong Yawn town in Burma
has been fortified against anticipated air attacks on drug
factories, an army intelligence source said.
The United Wa State Army has installed Chinese-made
anti-aircraft guns and started building a fence and forts around
the border town last month, the source said.
The town's defence system was specially designed to cope with
air attacks amid fears the Thai military would step up drug
suppression efforts against the Red Wa.
The source said the Red Wa was expected to produce up to one
billion speed pills next year despite the Rangoon government's
policy to rid Burma of drugs in five years.
Source: Bangkok Post, 17 October 2001
TOP
Canadians
Mark Day of Rememberence, Healing and Praying
Copyright: http://www.iviews.com
Published Monday July 10, 2000
The Canadian Islamic Congress designated Yom Al
Zekrah to be marked annually on the 15th of July in memory of
more than 8 million Muslims who have fallen victim to genocides
throughout history.
On July 15 in 1099 C.E., 70,000 Muslims were
slaughtered by European Crusaders in Jerusalem in 1099. (A
massacre on the same scale, in proportion to today's world
population, could exceed 5 million!) Canadian Muslims officially
marked this sombre day for the first time in 1999, 900 years
after the Jerusalem Massacre.
Yom Al Zekrah (which in Quranic Arabic means
"day of remembrance") is now an occasion for
commemorating Muslim civilian victims of genocide worldwide and
throughout recorded history -- in Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya,
Kashmir, China, Burma, Iraq, Sabra, Shatela and Qana in Lebanon,
in Jerusalem, and in Africa.
"This is a day of remembrance, healing and
praying, a lesson in history," the CIC national president,
Prof. Mohamed I. Elmasry said. "Regrettably, genocide
against Muslims has not received a fair share of attention and
research by historians or the media."
"Muslims hope and pray that genocide
against any group of humans would cease to happen. Genocides, or
so-called 'ethnic cleansings' are brutal mass exterminations of
innocent civilians who were of the 'wrong' race, the 'wrong'
religion, living at the 'wrong' time, and in the 'wrong'
place," he said. "We would like to keep the memory of
the numerous victims vividly alive."
"Therefore, we commemorate the Muslim
victims of July 11, 1995 at Srebeniza, as much those Muslim
victims of the massacre of Baghdad on February 13, 1258."
An estimated 2 million Muslims died in Russian
concentration camps in the Arctic between 1932 and 1957. Another
2 million were slaughtered during more than eight centuries of
Spanish Crusades and the Inquisition (912-1834). A further 2
million were lost to Mongol invaders between 1219 and 1260, and
an estimated 2 million more were wiped out by European Crusaders
from 1095 to 1272. During the African slave trade to the
Americas, an estimated 2 million African Muslims perished at
sea.
Other massacres of Muslims include recent
tragedies in Kosovo, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kashmir, Lebanon,
Palestine, and Iraq.
"By remembering our Muslim victims on this
day, we are not playing down the genocides committed against
other racial, ethnic, religious or minority groups,"
Elmasry emphasized.
Yom Al Zekrah is followed by a Genocide Against
Muslims Awareness (GAMA) week.
The Congress calls on Muslim Imams and community
leaders worldwide to mark Yom Al Zekrah and for all teachers,
religious and community leaders and media professionals to
participate in GAMA week by helping to educate the public --
Muslim and non-Muslim alike -- about the evils of genocide. The
Congress also calls on peace-loving people of all faiths
everywhere to condemn genocide.
"We are taking particular care to involve
the young in observing Yom Al Zekrah," said Mrs. Wahida
Valiante, national VP of the Congress.
"GAMA week provides a forum for the young
to learn about these terrible crimes ...Today, genocide against
Muslims in Chechnya and Iraq is a daily occurrence."
The term "genocide" was first
introduced in 1944 and is defined by U.N. Resolution 260(III),
December 9, 1948 as follows:
"Genocide, whether committed in time of
peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law.
Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent
to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or
religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing
serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or
in part, imposing measures intended to prevent birth within the
group, or forcibly transferring children of the group to another
group."
Source: Iviews 15 October 2001
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Narinjara
News: Burmese Army monopoly in Rakhine State makes life
difficult
Oct 11: The monopoly on trade and commerce by
the Burmese Army in Rakhine State, western part of Burma, has
made the life of the general population very difficult,
according to a political leader who recently crossed into
Bangladesh. With the beginning of this year's monsoon, the
Burmese Army personnel in various places across Rakhine State
started collecting fruits, rattan, cane, wood, bamboo and other
agricultural produce at a throwaway price arbitrarily fixed by
the military personnel themselves.
At Pohribraung in Ponnagyun Township, the army
has opened a stockpile of Anyan-thee fruit, paying seven kyats
to the hundred and selling the same at one hundred and fifty to
two hundred in Yangoon. The trade of black pepper, a produce of
Pohribraung and Yotoyoke, Ponnagyun, is also being monopolized
beginning this year by the military. In Minbra Township, LIB
[light infantry battalion] 541,and 381, seized more than one
thousand acre of rice paddy in 1998 and started shrimp farm; in
Pauktaw Township, LIB 344 confiscated Ngapri island in September
1998, rendering hundreds of villagers homeless; in Ponnagyun,
LIB 555 seized the tributaries to the Yochaung river, for shrimp
cultivation, closing down waterways for riverine traffic.
The Rakhine villagers have lost their waterways
traditionally handed down since time immemorial. Wholesale
shrimp cultivation in Rakhine State has also threatened the
delicate balance of the ecosystem.
According to the political leader, the trade in
shrimp, rice, peanuts, timber and motorboats, and small mills
are all monopolized by the military, making the life of the
people of Rakhine State very difficult.
The money earned this way is used to support the
families of the military since the Burmese Military Regime
cannot pay the soldiers enough to keep body and soul together.
Source: BurmaNet 11 October 2001
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Mizzima:
Burma's cows being smuggled across the borders
Oct. 10: The cross-border business of Burma's
cows being smuggled into neighboring countries has been growing
in recent years. As a result the price of cows in the country
has increased, and draught cows are becoming relatively rare in
Burma whose economy relies on agriculture.
According to cow traders, Burma's cows are being
smuggled from the border areas of Rakhine State, Chin State,
Shan State, Kaya State, Kayin State and Tanintharyi Division in
Burma not only to neighboring countries such as India,
Bangladesh and Thailand but also to far away countries like
Malaysia.
In Rakhine State, cows are smuggled by boats to
Bangladesh through the townships of Yen Bye and Kyauk Phyu. Cows
from central Burma are smuggled across the Indian border via
Mindat township of Chin State.
Similarly, through Loikaw of Kaya State, cows
are being smuggled daily into Mae Hong Son, Mae Sariang in
Thailand and from Shan State in Burma to the border of Chiang
Rai district in Thailand. Smuggling of cows also takes place
between Kyaik Hto Township in Mon State to the Thai border via
Phar Pun Township. The smuggling routes from the Tanintharyi
Division of Burma to Thailand are the Moe Taung - Pa Kyut border
route, Kaw Thaung-Seit Phu-Kalapuri-Dawei-Nat Ai-taung route.
Moreover, Burma's cows and goats are being transported by boats
up to Malaysia.
Sources in the border areas estimate that
between three hundred and one thousand cows are being smuggled
across these borders from Burma each day. As a result, the price
of cows inside Burma increased. The price of two draught cows
(cattle of an age fit to be used as a beast of burden) is at
present above one lakh of Kyat (Burmese currency) while it used
to be about eight thousand Kyat last year. Some pair-cattle
fetch up to two lakhs.
However, two draught cows are sold at a price of
more than six lakhs if smuggled across the border, according to
a cow trader. Cow smugglers pay bribes and "tax" to
various police, army, intelligence units, and
"cease-fire" groups (armed ethnic groups which have
cease fire agreements with the junta) on their ways to border.
"Sometimes, we need to give only 300 Kyats per cattle to a
Gate and there are also Gates where we have to pay up to five
thousand Kyats per cattle", said a trader.
As there is much profit in the business for
smugglers, more and more people become involved in it. On the
other hand, as cows are still widely used in the country's
farms, Burma is facing a scarcity of cows, and prices are going
up.
Source: BurmaNet 11 October 2001
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AFP:
Major Muslim Mosques Under Close Surveillance in Burma
YANGON, Oct 9 (AFP) -- Classes at the
US-sponsored international school in Yangon have been suspended
and security at sensitive embassies has been stepped up in the
wake of the US-led attacks on Afghanistan, sources said Tuesday.
A heavy security presence has been laid out around the US,
British and Israeli embassies and diplomatic residences, over
and above precautions taken after the September 11 terrorist
assault on New York and Washington. The stretch of Merchant
Street in front of the US embassy in downtown Yangon has been
off-limits to traffic since Monday night and similar measures
have been introduced at the British and Australian embassies on
Strand Road. The Yangon International School has told its
students not to attend classes until further notice, school
sources told AFP. The major Muslim mosques in predominantly
Buddhist Myanmar are under close surveillance, other reliable
sources said.
Source: BurmaNet 10 October 2001
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Muslims
Kept Under Watchful Eye
By Maung Maung Oo
October 10, 2001— Muslims living in Burma have
seen their movements restricted and communities watched by the
government since the September 11 attack on the US, according to
a Burmese Muslim living in Rangoon.
A source in Kawthaung, in southern Burma, told
The Irrawaddy that last week a Muslim man was pulled off a plane
in Kawthaung without reason that was bound for Rangoon and had
has ticket canceled. Airport authorities in Kawthaung refused to
comment on whether Muslims are currently permitted to board
planes in Burma.
"Thousands of Muslims live in Kawthaung and
many have connections with Muslims living in Malaysia. The
government is concerned about reprisals from Muslim extremist
groups in the region," said a security guard working at
Kawthaung’s airport.
A Muslim man in Rangoon vehemently denied that
Islamic terrorists operate in Burma despite reports indicating
that they do.
Police officers have formed additional
checkpoints on highways throughout the country and have been
asking detailed questions as to where Muslims are traveling and
why. Burmese citizens must carry state issued identification
cards that indicate their religion.
Two or more police officers have also been
stationed at Mosques throughout the country and plain clothed
officers have been attending Muslim religious gatherings as
well, according to sources in Rangoon.
In Rangoon, the government tightened security
around the US Embassy as well as other western embassies and
yesterday the US embassy in Rangoon closed for security
reasons.
Source: Irrawaddy, 10 October 2001
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KALADAN
PRESS NETWORK : Destruction of Rohingya village for settlers
By our correspondent
Buthidaung October 7: Since April this year the
whole village of Taring, a Rohingya village about six miles
north-east of Buthidaung town, has been uprooted by the military
compelling the hapless and shelter less people to become
internal refugees. They are wandering from place to place
particularly in the villages along the border with Bangladesh.
Their farm lands are seized for distribution among the Mro
settlers brought from Sindaung Hills. A cluster of houses,
numbering about 200, have been built on the said village
of Taring for the tribal settlers with the forced labour of the
Rohingya people that include uprooted villagers also. Neither
the victims are given any compensation nor are rehabilitated or
relocated. Some of them have already crossed the border into
Chittagong area of Bangla
Speaking to "Kaladan Press" on
condition of anonymity, one of the uprooted villagers said,
"the military beat us, kill us, dishonour our womenfolk,
confiscate our movable and immovable properties, destroy our
mosques and religious schools, even our houses. They have
subjected us to forced labour day after day leaving our families
with nothing to eat. We are now living in constant fear and
jeopardy. We love our sweet homes, yet we have no way out except
to eventually leave our ancestral homeland".
It may be mentioned that many Rohingya
villages were destroyed, with hundreds and thousands of acres of
their land confiscated, during the last several years in north
Arakan, particularly in the townships of Maungdaw, Buthidaung
and Rathedaung. Military establishments and villages for hostile
settlers have already been built on them.
Editor
E-mail < kaladanpress@yahoo.com >
Source: KALADAN PRESS NETWORK, 9 October 2001
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Narinjara
News: Rice mills forced to shut down in Ponnagyun
9/10/2001
Cox's Bazaar,Oct 9 : Privately owned rice mills
have been forced to shut down as a result of the opening of new
rice mills by Military Intelligence Agents in Ponnagyun
township, in the northern part of Rakhine State, in western
Burma. According to a goldsmith from Ponnagyun who recently
crossed to Teknaf, a border town in southern Bangladesh,the
local MI department and a police inspector in Yotoyoke, under
Ponnagyun Township, have established two new rice mills. The two
law enforcement officers have passed a verbal order to the
people in the area that, the rice husked in the rice mills owned
by the villagers shall not be allowed to be taken outside the
village for sale unless the villagers mill their rice in the two
rice mills owned by the two officials. Since the villagers have
no other alternative to the 'order', five other rice mills in
the area have been forced to shut down and the owners of the
mills finding no people coming to their mills now face very
difficult days and are compelled to quit the trade. The names of
the rice mill owners are: U Hla Phaw, Kyaw Zan Oo, Maung Mra
Thein, U San Gyaw Pru and U Aung Phaw. The name of the police
inspector is Maung Maung Soe [48]. The other rice mill is owned
by the local MI authority.
Source: BurmaNet 8 October 2001
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Burmese
Muslim Group Speaks Out on Afghan Attacks
By Maung Maung Oo and Ko Thet
October 8, 2001—A Muslim group from Burma has
expressed its perspective on attacks being carried out in
Afghanistan by the United States and its allies.
Thet Lwin Oo, a spokesperson for the Muslim
Information Committee of Burma (MICB) said that the Muslim
people might be consolable if this war ruins only
Afghanistan’s military targets and terrorist training camps.
"But if this war hurts the innocent people
of Afghanistan or results in other unnecessary bloody events, it
will be more difficult for Western countries to solve the
terrorist problem. If there are other unnecessary consequences,
reprisals would follow, because in Islam, all Muslims are
brothers," he said.
Last night the United States and its allies
started their war against terrorism with air strikes on targets
in Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s air defenses and terrorist
redoubts in the capital Kabul and other cities were hit by
Tomahawk cruise missiles.
According to reports, Osama Bin Laden, the
millionaire Saudi exile accused of financing and masterminding
attacks on New York and Washington on Sept 11, escaped the air
strikes, as did Mullah Mohammed Omar, leader of Afghanistan’s
Taliban regime.
The Irrawaddy asked Thet Lwin Oo if he believed
there was a danger of the US war against terrorism turning into
a religious war. "As long as this war lasts, it could
change," he replied.
"I think it is early to have a war against
Afghanistan because America cannot show any concrete evidence of
Bin Laden’s involvement in the Sept 11 attacks," he said
when asked if he felt the war against Afghanistan was fair or
not.
The MICB spokesperson said that most Muslims in
Burma know little about Bin Laden, but believe that he is
carrying out a war to defend the Muslim people. "But if he
is responsible for the Sept 11 attacks in America, which claimed
thousand of lives, we, Burmese Muslims, would not be support
him," he added.
Most Burmese Muslims, he said, regard Burma’s
military government as the real terrorist group because of their
practice of demolishing mosques and persecuting Muslims.
Source: Irrawaddy, 8 October 2001
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INDONESIAN
FIRM AWARDED CONTRACT FOR ARAKAN BRIDGES
Courier News Service: October 1, 2001
RANGOON - A major contract signed last Saturday
at the office of the Ministry of Construction will bring the
much-talked-about highway linking the port of Kyaukpyu on the
Arakan coast to central Burma a step closer to reality. The deal
signed is with PT Waagner Biro of Indonesia which is to supply
the steel girders for bridges along a section of the highway
leading from Ma-ei on the mainland to a midway point on Ramree (Yinbye)
Island.
The 40-mile stretch will lead across an
inundated muddy plain that separates Ramree Island from the
mainland and involve the construction of nine major bridges. One
of the bridges across Minkyaung creek is to be 1900 feet long
with approach structures, while another, the Lontawpauk will
cover 1260 feet. The heavy duty bridges will be capable of
bearing 60-ton loads.
The completion of another major span across Maei
creek in a few months time should speed up the tempo of
construction along the stretch of the highway leading to the
island. Preliminary work is already underway on five of the nine
bridges.
This is a first venture into Burma for Waagner
Biro which specializes in manufacturing structural steel, major
construction work and heavy duty equipment sales. But the
company has close links with United Engineers of Singapore which
already has a Myanmar subsidiary.
The harbour at Kyaukpyu, the best on the Arakan
coast, will assume increasing importance as the pace of offshore
oil and gas developments in Myanmar waters in the Bay of Bengal
is stepped up.
Observers noted that the contract for steel
girders has been awarded to an Indonesian company rather than to
the China National Heavy Machinery Corporation which has had a
virtual monopoly on the steel frames for a series of five
bridges across the Irrawaddy and other major spans in the south
and west of the country.
Source: Burma Courier, 6 October 2001
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WHY
CHECHNYA IS DIFFERENT
The Washington Post, 10/4/2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2683-2001Oct3.html
...Mr. Putin would like the world to believe
that the U.S. steps are equivalent to his own support for a U.S.
offensive against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban regime in
Afghanistan. But they are not; and before the Bush
administration goes further in backing Mr. Putin's policies in
Chechnya, it is worth reviewing why that conflict, and the
terrorism associated with it, are different.
Chechnya is not a terrorist syndicate or an
Islamic movement but a nation that was conquered by Russia in
the 19th century and that for more than a decade has been
seeking to regain self-rule. Its leader, Aslan Maskhadov, is not
an Islamic extremist or even a man of arms but a pro-Western
politician who was democratically elected in 1997, two years
before Mr. Putin chose to reverse a peace accord by sending
80,000 Russian troops to invade the republic.
Most important, the most brutal atrocities of
the Chechen conflict -- a fight that could have been avoided had
Russia been willing to grant self-rule to this subject nation --
have been perpetrated not by international terrorists or the
Chechen rebels but by Mr. Putin's own Russian forces...
Source: CAIR-NET, 4 October 2001
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Uzbekistan:
U.S. Cautioned on New Ally
Secretary of Defense Cannot Afford to Turn a Blind Eye to
Abuses by Uzbekistan
(New York, October 4, 2001) U.S. Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld should exercise caution in dealing with
Uzbekistan, America’s newest ally in the fight against
terrorism, Human Rights Watch said today.
Secretary Rumsfeld is due to visit Uzbekistan
this week.
Human Rights Watch called on Rumsfeld to make
clear that Uzbekistan should not read its new relationship with
the U.S. as a green light to add further abuses to its already
abysmal rights record.
“If the United States is going to ally itself
with Uzbekistan, it has to find a way to avoid aligning itself
with Uzbekistan’s brutal policies,” said Tom Malinowski,
Washington Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch.
Uzbekistan, which became an independent state in
1991, has retained much of its Soviet legacy. It has no
independent political parties, no free and fair elections, and
no independent news media.
Torture and police brutality are widespread.
Most vulnerable are political dissidents and religious Muslims
who worship outside state controls.
“President Bush has said the war on terrorism
cannot become a war on Islam,” Malinowski said. “The
government of Uzbekistan is undeniably at war with forms of
Islam it does not control.”
The government of Uzbekistan, led by President
Islam Karimov, has waged a merciless four-year campaign against
non-violent religious Muslims who practice their faith outside
state controls.
Citing the threat of “Islamic extremism,”
authorities have arrested, tortured, and convicted thousands of
these independent Muslims: men who attended sermons of state
religious leaders who later fell out of favor, men who prayed at
home or in small private groups, and those who belonged to
unregistered Islamic organizations or possessed religious
literature not sanctioned by the state.
Few of the estimated 7,000 independent Muslims
sitting in Uzbekistan’s prisons today were accused of
participation in any violent act, while thousands of peaceful
Muslims were locked up for holding beliefs or worshiping in ways
the state disapproves.
Human Rights Watch has called on the U.S.
government to condition further assistance to Uzbekistan on
improvements in its rights record.
“Uzbekistan already has its own interest in
countering Osama bin Laden,” Malinowski said. “The United
States shouldn’t have to buy its cooperation with
unconditional rewards.” For more information on Uzbekistan,
please see Uzbekistan: Background on Human Rights (HRW Press
Release, September 26, 2001) at http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/09/uzbek092501.htm
Source: Human Rights Watch, 4 October 2001
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People
feel encouraged by ILO visit
Maungdaw October 5, 2001: A four member
high level International Labour Organization (ILO) team,
headed by former Australian Governor General Sir Ninian Stephen,
visited North Arakan from 25 to 26 September 2001. It is
reported that some days before the arrival of ILO team the
military authorities held separate meetings at Maungdaw and
Buthidaung, which were attended by all quarter and
village Peace and Development Council chairmen of the townships
and forced each one of the attendants into signing on 50 (fifty)
blank paper sheets. According to a source, the signed blank
sheets were said to have been used by the authorities later by
writing therein, among other things, "there have been no
extraction of forced labour from the villagers from
last one year". The military asked them to manage
everything well and to instruct the villagers to tell the ILO
team that there was no forced labour.
The military threatened the people with serious ladan
Press Network
Source: KALADAN PRESS NETWORK, 6 October 2001
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Narinjara
News: Tight Security in Sittwe, Rakhine State
Cox's Bazaar, 2 October 2001: Since the recent
race riots in Sandway,Rakhine State, the security in Sittwe, the
capital of the Western State of Myanmar, has been tightened in a
move to tackle an apparently tense situation prevailing after
the kamikaze attack in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
According to a top Arakanese businessman in Sittwe, for every
ten houses in the capital, one soldier has been engaged for
surveillance besides the Ra Ya Ka (local area administration)
using informers.
Last month, a Rakhine resident of Sittwe was
arrested for carrying the picture of the destroyed Bamiyan
Buddha image in his pocket. He has been threatened to be
sentenced to 4 or 5 years' RI. At Aung Mangala Quarter (also
called Ambala by the Muslims), the situation is quieter now. But
the prices of essentials have skyrocketed in the town rendering
it very hard for the poorer section of the people to survive.
For example, the price of a fifty-kilo bag of rice is about
8,000 kyat,1,000 kyat more than it was by the beginning of the
imposition of curfew a month ago. The price of life-saving drugs
have shot up to a new record high so that a poor person can
hardly afford to go to hospitals for treatment. Even the
government-run state hospital has run short of medicine, while
the essential medicines supplied by the UNICEF for free
distribution are reported to be sold openly in the black market,
the source said. The local residents now face a very hard time.
According to the source, many residents are willing to sell
their houses in the town to move elsewhere, but they cannot find
anyone willing to buy them in such an abnormal situation caused
by the long curfew.
Narinjara News is an independent news
organization focusing especially on the western part of Burma.
Source: Mhone Shwe Yee, Narinjara, 2 October 2001
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USA
Today Reporter Writes about the local facts prevailing in
Israel
Jack Kelley of USA Today wrote a cover story
called "Vigilantes take up arms, vow to expel 'Muslim
filth'" In it, he describes Israeli extremists and
terrorists and their hatred of Muslims.
It was one of the best and objective major cover
stories exposing the Israeli terrorism against Palestinians.
Unfortunately, Mr. Kelley received over 300
emails from Zionists all around the world condemning his story.
He only received 5 positive emails, one from a CAIR member.
Mr. Kelley is very upset because he is under
tremendous and overwhelming pressure from the criticism pouring
down on him from Zionists worldwide due to his truthful article.
The article can be found at:
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010904/3599125s.htm
PLEASE DO THE FOLLOWING TWO THINGS RIGHT AWAY:
1. Email USA Today and Jack Kelley thanking them
for their objective insight into the terrorism committed by
Israelis. They can be reached at:
jkelley@usatoday.com
editor@usatoday.com
2. Send this email to as many others as you can.
BurmaNet:
Forced conversion order drives Muslim refugees from Karen
State
October 2, 2001
According to information from border sources,
regime troops operating in the Karen State have been ordering
Muslims there leave unless they convert to Buddhism or Hindhuism.
This round of forced conversions is resulting in an unusually
large outflow of Muslim refugees to Thailand.
Mae La, the largest Burmese refugee camp in
Thailand is bearing the brunt of the exodus with nearly one new
arrival in three being a Muslim.
Source: BurmaNet 2 October 2001
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Christian
Solidarity Worldwide: Military Regime in Burma Enacts New Law
to Stop Church Services
September 28 2001
[Abridged]
The military dictatorship in Burma has banned
Christians from meeting in buildings less than a century old.
An order, known as the Higher Policy of the
State Peace and Development Council, was issued in early July
and is having a significant and wide-ranging impact on Christian
communities across the country.
More than 80 church buildings have already been
closed in the capital Rangoon since June and a further 20 have
been shut in Shwe Pyi Tar, a township north of the capital.
All church buildings have been forced to close
in the southern township of Hlaing Tai Yar, with Christians
there allowed to meet in private homes, but ordered not to sing.
The authorities were using recent violent
clashes between Buddhists and Muslims to close churches, but the
new law puts even more pressure on believers.
The regime has warned church leaders, including
those from Rangoon, Mandalay Division, Shan State, Rakhin State
and Sagaing Division, that if they defied the order, all places
of worship would be closed down.
Many churches meet in residential apartments or
schools as it is virtually impossible to obtain official
permission to construct or repair church buildings, many of
which are very run-down. The Higher Policy also forces churches
more than a hundred years old to silence their church bells on
Sundays and forbids the placing of crosses on the buildings.
Two Christian children's homes, Agape Orphanage
House and Agape Orphanage Ministry, both near Rangoon, have also
been closed down. At least 17 Christian ministers have gone into
hiding and five missionaries are known to have been ordered to
leave the country. One minister was arrested and is still
missing. The military regime already closely monitors all
religious activities and gatherings of any kind with five or
more people are officially illegal.
The recent crackdowns not only violate
international standards on the right to freedom of religion,
they also infringe on the freedom of expression, conscience and
assembly.
Source: BurmaNet 2 October 2001
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Narinjara
News: Arakanese Students Missing Since The Race Riot
28/9/2001
Cox's Bazaar, 28 Sep. 01: According to an
Arakanese student who recently fled into Bangladesh, about three
thousand Rakhine students, teachers and monks have so far been
taken into custody in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, in
the western part of Myanmar since the Buddhist and Muslim race
riots that broke in February 2001. The Military Intelligence and
the Police together with other paramilitary forces arrested them
and held without trial. Students as young as ten or eleven year
olds were also nabbed for interrogation. According to the
Arakanese student, about two thirds of the arrested were
released after paying as much as fifteen thousand kyat as bribe
to the officials concerned with the law enforcement.
Among the rest, most of who could not pay the
bribe were either sent to the Thai border for portering and
forced labour or have been missing ever since. Many of the lucky
ones who could trace their children who had been sent to the
Thai border, followed to the far-off places and bribed the law
enforcement authorities there for the release of their children.
A Ko Ko Naing (fictitious name), aged 16, of Moouleik quarter of
Sittwe, was taken to Tacheleik of Shan State, along with 47
other fellow students. There the Burmese Military engaged him in
hard labour and used them as porters in the operational areas.
His father took permission from the Military Intelligence 10
stationed at Sittwe by paying a large sum of money to the
authority and went to Shan State to bring back his only son. A
large number of students and monks from Sittwe have since been
missing without any whereabouts. According to the student, most
of the parents of the missing children are even afraid of asking
the law enforcement agencies about the whereabouts of their
children or what faith they had in the aftermath of the race
riot. The military junta has clamped news blackout as usual
regarding the incidence.
*Narinjara News is an independent news
organization focusing especially on the western side of Burma.
The news published here can freely be used by mentioning the
source.
Source: BurmaNet 1 October 2001
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AP:
ILO investigators return from Myanmar countryside
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Members of an
International Labor Organization delegation investigating
efforts by Myanmar's military government to end forced labor
returned to the capital from field trips to remote parts of the
country Friday morning, diplomatic sources said.
The four-member team, led by former Australian
governor general Sir Ninian Stephen, had split into two groups
to travel to Dawei in southeastern Myanmar and Sittway, the
capital of western Rakhine state.
The ILO team is scheduled to hold meetings with
relevant government officials during the weekend before
traveling again on Monday and will leave Myanmar sometime next
week, said several diplomats, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has long been
assailed by the United Nations and Western nations for its human
rights record, including forcing its citizens to do unpaid
manual labor on public works and serve as army porters.
Most violations are alleged to take place in
countryside areas outside the capital.
The mission by the ILO is the first time the
U.N. agency has been allowed by the ruling junta to travel
around the country to make its ``own direct assessment of the
forced labor situation,'' according to an ILO statement which
announced the visit.
In an unprecedented move last November, the ILO
urged its 175 member governments to impose sanctions and review
their dealings with Myanmar to ensure they are not abetting
forced labor. The ILO team's mandate is to assess the impact of
various laws and measures announced by the government to comply.
Its report will be considered by the ILO
governing body, which will meet at the agency's headquarters in
Geneva in November.
Since arriving on Sept. 17, the ILO team has
also met in Yangon with government leaders and with opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under virtual house arrest. It
met as well with representatives of ethnic-based political
parties and foreign ambassadors. 2001-09-28 Fri 05:34
Source: BurmaNet 1 October 2001
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NLD
DEMANDS UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE FOR AUNG SAN SUU KYI
On September 27th, the National League for
Democracy (NLD) issued its strongest demand since the start of
its dialogue with the regime last year.
The NLD called for the immediate and
unconditional release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and all other
political prisoners at a ceremony marking the 13th anniversary
of the party's founding. According to Amnesty International,
more than 1,500 political prisoners remain in jail. Bohmu Aung,
one of Burma's independence heroes issued a statement supporting
the NLD in its effort to: bring about the emergence of a
democratic nation where all the people including the
nationalities of the Union of Burma enjoy full human
rights."
Source: Burma News Update -- "Reuters,"
September 27, 2001, "Democratic Voice of Burma,"
September 28, 2001
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