SECTARIAN BLOODSHED GRIPS MYANMAR
Thandwe, Myanmar28 Dzulqo’idah 1434/4 October 2013 (MINA) – Sectarian bloodshed has forced women and children to flee to forests in western Myanmar after Buddhists have killed at least five Muslims.
Security forces patrolled villages on Wednesday in Rakine State, where more than 800 Buddhist rioters torched homes and attacked local Muslims a day before.
“We are doing all of this just out of our desire to protect our own religion, because we heard that a Muslim man in Thandwe abused Buddhism,” one rioter said.
The violence left at least four men and a 94-year-old woman dead, a police official said.
Four Rakhine Buddhists were injured in clashes and a fifth was missing, while 59 houses and a mosque have been torched since tensions flared on Saturday, police said.
“The police are merely shooting into the air and not doing enough to prevent the violence,” a resident said.
President’s visit
The religious bloodshed coincided with President Thein Sein’s two-day tour in the violence-racked area as part of his first official visit to Rakhine state since a wave of violence erupted there last year.
About 250 people have been killed and more than 140,000 left homeless in several outbreaks of inter-religious violence around the country since June 2012, mostly in Rakhine.
In a message to a multi-faith conference, which was carried in state media on Wednesday, Thein Sein lamented “instigations fuelling minor crimes into conflicts between the two communities and two religions”.
The recent unrest has overshadowed internationally praised political reforms and increased pressure on the former military government general, who took power in 2011.
The United States said it was “deeply concerned” about the latest unrest and urged authorities to respond “decisively”, in a statement issued by its embassy in Yangon.
The region is home to the popular tourist destination of Ngapali Beach although no foreigners were believed to have been caught up in the unrest.
Fear grips western Myanmar after five Muslims killed
Terrified women and children hid in forests and security forces patrolled tense villages in western Myanmar on Wednesday, residents said, after sectarian clashes which left five Muslims dead, International Islamic News Agency (IINA) quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
Communal bloodshed has overshadowed internationally praised political reforms and piled pressure on the former junta general, who took power in 2011. The United States said it was “deeply concerned” about the latest unrest and urged authorities to respond “decisively,” in a statement issued by its embassy in Yangon. Around 800 Buddhist rioters torched homes and attacked local Muslims in a village in the area of Thandwe on Tuesday, according to the authorities.
“The death toll rose to five — four men and a woman,” a Rakhine police official who did not want to be named told AFP, adding that the victims were all killed during Tuesday’s violence.
A 94-year-old Muslim woman, who suffered stab wounds, was among the dead. Four Rakhine Buddhists were injured in clashes and a fifth was missing, while 59 houses and a mosque have been torched since tensions flared on Saturday, police said. Around 250 people have been killed and more than 140,000 left homeless in several outbreaks of inter-religious violence around the country since June 2012, mostly in Rakhine.
A local Muslim official told AFP that police had fired warning shots but could not control the mob. “We are disappointed that we have a government that is unable to provide security for us,” the official, Myint Aung, told AFP.
“We are living in fear. Many people, including women and children, are hiding in the forest nearby,” he said. AFP reporters on the scene saw a large security presence in the area, which appeared quiet on Wednesday. The region is home to the popular tourist destination of Ngapali Beach although no foreigners were believed to have been caught up in the unrest. Thein Sein held meetings with members of Buddhist and Rohingya Muslim communities during his two-day tour.
He spent Tuesday visiting a different area of Rakhine populated mainly by stateless Rohingya Muslims. In a message to a multi-faith conference, which was carried in state media on Wednesday, Thein Sein lamented “instigations fueling minor crimes into conflicts between the two communities and two religions.”
“Such instability based on religion and race harms and delays the state reforms and tarnishes the national image internationally,” he warned. Four major Myanmar Muslim organizations released an open letter to Thein Sein late Tuesday calling on the government to take urgent law-enforcement action. “The concerns of minority Muslims around the country have reached peak levels. They feel they have no security,” the letter said. (T/P08/E1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
