South Asian Pulse

Why the Genocide of Burmese Muslims? By Saeed Malik

After reading and watching helplessly the recent massacre of minority Burmese Muslims by the Buddhist majority, let not another hypocrite sing that phoney and repugnant 'song' about Buddhists being "peaceful."


In June 2012, hundreds Burmese Muslims have been butchered, and many
more injured and made homeless in Burma as a result religious
intolerance by the Buddhist majority. The Burmese military government,
far from trying to resolve the problem and protect the minority, has
been silently conniving with the rioters by creating greater hardships
for the Muslim minority.



The reason of this June 2012 riot is unknown except for the periodical
outbursts of the Burmese Buddhists to show their might and vent their
anger on the helpless minority. It is commonly accepted that the June
2012 massacre of Burmese Muslims was intentionally orchestrated by the
rioters in collaboration with the government. Yet the world, including
the UN, is conveniently silent. The brazenly hypocritical and
unscrupulous woman, Aung San Suu Kyi, is very prompt at accusing the
Burmese military of human rights violations when she is under house
arrest. But she finds nothing wrong when the military helps the
Buddhist mobs to murder the innocent Muslim minority of her country.

As in India, anti-Muslim riots are nothing unusual in Burma. Violence
in Burma against Muslims have been erupting periodically since the
1920s based simply on religious intolerance by the Buddhist majority.

The Muslims of Burma mainly belong to the Arakan state in western
Burma. They are known as Rohingya or Burmese Muslims. The term
"Rohingya" has been derived from the Arabic word "Raham" meaning
sympathy. Muslim settlements began being established in the Arakan
province of Burma since the arrival of the Arabs in the 8th century.
Presently about 800,000 Rohingya live in Burma. The United Nations
describes them as "one of the world’s most persecuted minorities." Yet
it has never bothered to help them.

Religious freedom for Muslims in Burma has been systematically curbed.
In the post 9/11 era, random accusations of "terrorism" against
Muslims have become a common form of persecution and harassment by
Burmese Buddhists. Burmese Government does not consider Rohingya
Muslims as citizens and they are hated by the Buddhist majority.
Rohingya Muslims in Burma have long demanded recognition as an
indigenous ethnic group with full citizenship by birthright. But the
Government regards them as illegal immigrants from neighboring
Bangladesh and denies them citizenship.



"Nobel Prize winner," Aung San Suu Kyi, does not consider Muslims as
citizens. Speaking at London School of Economics meeting on June 2012
during her visit to the UK, she said "Rohingya Muslims should not be
considered citizens." Later during her press conference at Downing
Street, she did not condemn the killings of Rohingya Muslims taking
place in Burma. Instead, she simply said that this "ethnic conflict
should be investigated and dealt with wisdom." It wasn't just an
insufficient response but a very shocking one from someone supposed to
have won a "Noble Peace Prize."

The notorious master hypocrite and undercover CIA agent, Dalai Lama,
continues to globe trot without mentioning a single word of the
dangerously growing Buddhist intolerance in Burma, Thailand, Tibet and
across the world. Such intolerance and persecution invariably result
in resistance by the oppressed. Many Muslims have joined armed
resistance groups, fighting for greater freedom in Burma.

On June 3rd 2012, eight Muslims returning to Rangoon in a bus after
visiting a Masjid in the Arakan province were attacked by a mob of
hundreds of Buddhists and slaughtered brutally. An eye-witness
reported that after the mass murder "the culprits were celebrating
triumph spitting and tossing wine and alcohol on the dead bodies lying
on the road."

"These innocent people have been killed like animals," said Abu Tahay,
of the National Democratic Party for Development, which represents the
country’s much-persecuted stateless Muslim Rohingya community.

The Rohingya Muslims of Burma have continued to suffer from human
rights violations under the Burmese junta since 1970s. Over the years
thousands of Rohingya refugees have fled to neighboring countries like
Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh etc. Even as refugees they have
been facing hardships and have suffered persecution by the Thai
government. In February 2009, a group of 5 boats packed with Burmese
Rohingya Muslims were taken out and abandoned in the open sea by the
Thai army. Four of these boats sank in a storm and one was washed
ashore near the Indonesian islands. The few survivors who were rescued
by Indonesian authorities told horrific stories of being captured and
beaten by the Thai military and then abandoned at open sea.

Being "peaceful" or "humble" (as claimed by their biased supporters)
is a far cry concerning the Burmese Buddhists. Their vindictive
temperament prowls for vendetta, waiting to use even the most
insignificant occurrence as an excuse to perpetrate violence on
Burmese Muslims. At any time, if there's some ethnic disturbance
between Muslims and Buddhists/Hindus in any other country, the Burmese
Buddhists waste no time going on a murderous spry killing the Muslim
minority in Burma. If there is the slightest of trouble between
Muslims and non-Muslims in Indonesia, it's taken as a pretext to kill
Muslims in Burma by Buddhist mobs. The destruction of the statues in
Bamiyan (Afghanistan), created an immediate excuse to commit violence
against Muslims in Burma in 2001. The firebrand Buddhist monks
demanded a Muslim masjid to be destroyed in retaliation. Mobs of
Buddhists led by monks, vandalized Muslim-owned businesses and
property in Burma, and attacked and killed Muslims in Muslim
communities.

Gruesome images of murdered Rohingya Muslims in the recent June 2012
riots in Burma have been circulated on websites, resulting in protests
in several Muslim countries and by various human rights activists
around the world demanding justice & protection in Burma for the
minority, but has fallen on deaf ears as usual, getting little or no
coverage from mainstream news channels.

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