After deaths, refugees moved to Suan Plu

By Boonluan Phromprathankul

Foreign agencies concerned about the treatment of detainees

Ranong (The Nation)- Following the deaths of two Rohingya detainees in the Ranong immigration checkpoint detention cells, the remaining 55 detainees have been moved to the Immigration Bureau in Bangkokกฆs Soi Suan Plu area.

Immigration checkpoint inspector Pol Lt-Colonel Nattarit Pinpak said the evacuation order came from the Royal Thai Police and Ranong authorities had prepared two vehicles for the late-night trip to the capital.

A source at the Immigration Bureau said the move followed concern from many parties over the Rohingya detention, especially following the two deaths and several reports of serious illness. The source said the situation had led international organisations to criticise Thailand and its treatment of the Rohingya refugees, most of whom were boat people from Burma.

The source said that during a recent visit by human rights groups and lawyers, detainees had complained that when they fell sick and called for medical attention, Thai guards didnกฆt allow them doctors but gave them basic medicine such as painkillers.

On July 1, detainee Abdul Salam, in his 20s, died. Fellow detainees said he had vomited blood many times, but when they alerted guards to get him treated, they were ignored.

On August 13, Hamma Tula aged about 18, died without any symptoms and was buried according to the Islamic faith on the same day. Reports said there were many more sick Rohingya people in detention who needed urgent attention.

Three welfare groups the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB), the Cross Ethnic Integration in Andaman Project and the Sathiarakoses-Nagapradipa Foundation have asked the government to take action. They had three requests:

** The Rohingya be given medical care and an appropriate place to live, not the Ranong detention cells that were harmful to life and health.

** Since the Rohingya are Muslim, officials must allow them to perform religious activities during the Rama-dan period, starting from August 21.

The government must announce a clear policy not to push the Rohingya back to possible death or torture.

At the Ranong immigration checkpoint, there were initially 86 Rohingya detainees กV a batch of 78 rounded up in January, combined with several others arrested earlier. Since then two have died, 29 were sent to Bangkok for Bangladesh national identification, and 55 remained in detention.

READ MORE---> After deaths, refugees moved to Suan Plu...

China Detains 319 More in Uighur Unrest

By VOA News

China says it has detained another 319 people in connection with last month's deadly ethnic violence in the Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region of northwestern China.

The state-run Xinhua news agency reported Sunday that the suspects were detained in the regional capital, Urumqi, and other parts of Xinjiang based on information from the public and a police investigation.

It did not specify the charges facing the 319 people, or the more than 1,000 others detained after the July 5 riots.

Nearly 200 people died in clashes between Xinjiang's ethnic Uighurs, Chinese security forces and majority Han civilians.

Beijing blamed the violence on outside forces stirring up separatist sentiments among the mostly Muslim Uighur minority.

But Uighurs blame the police for provoking the violence, which they say was partly a response to what they feel is China's repressive policies.

The leader of an extremist group called the Turkistan Islamic Party is urging Muslims worldwide to attack Chinese interests in retaliation for what he calls the oppression of the Uighurs.

An audio message posted on the Internet Sunday in the name of Abdul Haq al-Turkistani calls for attacks on Chinese embassies, consulates and people inside and outside of the country.

His group, which refers to Xinjiang as East Turkistan, has been blamed for violence in the past.

02 August 2009

READ MORE---> China Detains 319 More in Uighur Unrest...

Dhaka Delegation in Naypyidaw for Border Talks

By LAWI WENG
The Irrawaddy News

A delegation of Bangladeshi experts on border issues met with Burma’s foreign minister in Naypyidaw on Friday to discuss an territorial dispute between the two countries, according to Burma’s state-run media.

The Burmese-language Myanma Alin newspaper reported that talks with the Dhaka delegation focused on efforts to reach an agreement on disputed maritime boundaries. The delegation, led by retired commodore Khurshed Alam, an expert on maritime affairs, arrived in Naypyidaw on July 29.

The meeting comes as rival claims to offshore deposits of natural gas have raised tensions between the neighboring countries. Earlier this month, Bangladesh raised the stakes of the conflict when it granted nine offshore gas blocks in the Bay of Bengal to two foreign oil firms, ConocoPhillips and Tullow Oil.

Tin Soe, an editor with the Bangladesh-based Kaladan News Network, said that the Burmese military regime told Dhaka that three of the offshore gas blocks belong to Burma.

“The delegation has to go Burma because they are worried about a disagreement with the Burmese government over the offshore exploration contracts,” he said.

Dhaka has said that it wants to discuss multiple issues with Burma, including the border dispute and the repatriation of Rohingya refugees. It has recently sent four delegations to Burma, but has made little progress on either issue.

In October 2008, the junta’s No 2, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, also visited Bangladesh to discuss maritime boundaries, trade and economic ties between the two nations.

After the trip, however, tensions between the two nations grew over the issue of maritime boundaries, prompting both countries to step up their military defenses in the Bay of Bengal.

In March of this year, Burma set up a 200-km fence along the border, claiming that it was to prevent human trafficking of Rohingya people.

There are nearly 30,000 Rohingya refugees from Burma’s Arakan State living in two makeshift camps in Cox’s Bazar District in Bangladesh, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Many more are believed to live outside the camps.

In early July, about 400 crude dwellings belonging to Rohingyas living near the Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar were destroyed or relocated, and an estimated 1,000 people were forcibly evicted by Bangladeshi police and camp management, said the UNHCR.

The Rohingya are a stateless Muslim minority who face severe discrimination in Burma. Many have fled the country to escape human rights abuses, including forced labor by the Burmese army. They also face abuses in Bangladesh. Right groups say that many Rohingya have died while traveling by boat to Thailand or Malaysia in search of work.

In June, the Burmese regime agreed to allow the Bangladesh government to repatriate Rohingya refugees. However, Dhaka said it fears the Rohingya will return if there is no improvement in the human rights situation in Burma.

READ MORE---> Dhaka Delegation in Naypyidaw for Border Talks...

Burmese Muslims attack government office

(DVB)–Around 40 Muslims in western Burma were detained for allegedly ransacking a local immigration office after officials there assaulted a local Muslim man for not paying a fine.

A resident in Arakan state’s Kyauk Ni Maw village said the dispute started after a local Muslim man who returned from travelling refused to pay a fine for exceeding stay outside of the village as shown in his travel permit.

Muslims in Arakan state are required to get a document known as the Form-4 from government immigration if they want to travel outside of their region.

“He said he couldn’t pay the money they asked for as he had already paid a lot acquiring the [permission] document and the officials [at the immigration office] beat him up,” said the village resident, adding that he was left with a broken arm and vomiting blood.”

News on the attack quickly spread to Kyauk Ni Maw village where 75 percent of the population are Muslim. Some local villagers, including the man’s relatives, were enraged.

“They went to the immigration office and beat up the people who beat up the man. They also tore down the office building and broke some flag poles,” he said.

Following the incident, authorities arrested around 40 people, including some who were not involved, the villager said, and detained them in nearby Yanbyal township jail.

The detainees are due to appear in court on 10 August where they will face charges for breaching peace.

“They just arrested random people, but all Muslim, in the village without identifying who was involved in the attack,” said the villager. “Some people had already fled in fear of getting arrested in connection with the case.”

Muslims living in Burma have long been marginalized by the military government.

Three prominent ‘anti-Muslim’ riots have erupted in Burma in the past 12 years following heightened tension between Muslims and Buddhists.

Their situation was thrown into the spotlight earlier this year when around 1000 Rohingya refugees washed up in boats on Thailand’s shores, only to be towed back out to sea and set adrift by Thai authorities.

The Rohingya, who are a minority Muslim population, are not recognized by the Burmese government and suffer frequent discrimination due to their lack of legal status.

Reporting by Thurein Soe

READ MORE---> Burmese Muslims attack government office...

Burmese trying to enroll in Bangladeshi voters list arrested

Dhaka (Narinjara): Eighteen Burmese Muslims were arrested on Wednesday by the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) on the border when they were trying to enter Bangladesh to enroll in the country’s voters list, said an official report.

Bangladeshi election authorities are now updating the country’s electoral rolls. So some Burmese nationals are trying to sneak into Bangladesh to enroll their names in the voters list. Should they succeed in registering their names in the voters list, they will become Bangladeshi citizens, the report said.

The Burmese nationals were arrested from different areas of Nakhongshari Township, opposite MaungdawTownship in Burma during a joint operation by the Bangladeshi security forces, official sources said.

“Acting on secret information, they entered Bangladesh territory to enroll themselves in the updated voters list. We caught them on the border,” said an official.

The BDR also arrested 11 Burmese nationals from different villages in Nakhongsari Township on Sunday and Monday while they were intruding into Bangladesh.

Despite Bangladeshi border authorities arresting many Burmese Muslims and pushing them back to Burma the exodus of Muslims from the neighbouring country continues unabated.

Most from the Muslim community in Arakan are entering Bangladesh to flee the economic crisis in the State. The people as a whole in Arakan are mired in financial crisis making it difficult for them to eke out a living, reports from Arakan say.

READ MORE---> Burmese trying to enroll in Bangladeshi voters list arrested...

Ethnic Burmese among world’s ‘most threatened’

(DVB)–Nine ethnic groups in Burma have been ranked fifth on a table measuring groups of people throughout the world deemed to be most under threat of genocide, mass killing and other systematic violent repression.

Burma’s myriad ethnic groups, thought to number 137 in total, have long been marginalized by the ruling State Peace and Development Council, which is made up predominantly of the Burman group, which accounts for nearly 70 percent of Burma’s population.

The conflict between government forces and the ethnic opposition Karen National Union (KNU), which appears to be nearing an end, is thought to be the world’s longest running, and has forced 140,000 Karen into refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border.

Burma stands out in the Peoples Under Threat 2009 table, compiled by Minority Rights Group International (MRGI), as being one of only three countries in the top ten where Islam is not the dominant religion.

It is the threat of conflict in Muslim countries, in the context of Western countries tackling Islamic extremism, that dominates the top of the table.

Burma also takes a surprisingly high place given that, unlike Iraq, Afghanistan and, to an extent Pakistan, who rank second, fourth and sixth respectively, Burma faces no external interference.

Several prominent authorities on Burma, including British MPs, senior judges and a former advisor to the International Criminal Court, have said that state-sanctioned human rights abuses in Burma could now warrant charges of war crimes.

An Early Day Motion put forward by over 60 British MPs in May urged the UN to act on the campaign of ethnic cleansing that the ruling State Peace and Development Council is carrying out against ethnic nationalities.

The plight of Burma’s ethnic population was thrown into the spotlight earlier this year when around 1000 Rohingya refugees washed up in boats on Thailand’s shores, only to be towed back out to sea and set adrift by Thai authorities.

The Rohingya, who are a minority Muslim population, are not recognized by the Burmese government and suffer frequent discrimination due to their lack of legal status.

Reporting by Francis Wade

READ MORE---> Ethnic Burmese among world’s ‘most threatened’...

Push-Back of Muslims to Burma Continues

Cox’sbazar (Narinjara): While the Bangladesh government is keen to repatriate Muslim refugees to Burma from Bangladesh, the number of Muslims entering the country illegally from Burma is reportedly continuing by the day.

Because of the continued increase, Bangladesh border forces have had to continually push back many Muslims from Burma repeatedly after arresting them on the border.

According to a local source, over 1,000 Muslims from Burma were pushed back to their homes in Arakan by Bangladesh authorities in the last two months.

Even though there is a high risk that they'll be caught and returned, Rohingya people from Burma continue to enter Bangladesh by crossing the Naff River.

Yesterday, Bangladesh Rifles at Teknaf pushed back 28 Burmese Muslims to Burma after arresting them.

According to a local source, the group included seven men, 11 women, and ten children.

They were held by Bangladesh border security at Shah Parir Dwip in Teknaf Town after they attempted to enter Bangladesh without authorization by crossing the Naff River.

Deputy Commander of 42 Rifles Battalion Major Shahinur Rahman also confirmed the incident.

Maung Tha Aye, who is a social activist on the border, said that the plan for repatriation would be good if it were possible, but it is not currently possible at present because there are many human rights violations being committed in Arakan State by the Burmese military authorities. The Bangladesh government needs to address the root causes of the migration into Bangladesh in order to solve the problem, he added.

READ MORE---> Push-Back of Muslims to Burma Continues...

BDR Deploys Additional Troops After Flag Meeting

Cox’sbazar (narinjara): Additional Bangladesh Rifles troops have been deployed by Bangladesh authorities in southernBangladesh near the Burmese border to deal with undocumented Muslim migrants crossing the borderfrom Burma, according to a report from a Bangladesh official.

The plan was carried out by BDR after a commander-level flag meeting with Burma that was held in Cox's Bazar on 22 June, 2009.

In the meeting, the delegations from both countries agreed to stop the Muslim influx from Burma into Bangladesh.

However, Burmese border security forces, Nasaka, have yet to take any action honoring their agreement to stop Muslims fleeing Burma.

BDR has also deployed 100 BDR personnel brought from BDR sector headquarters in Chittagong, the second largest city in Bangladesh.

The BDR official said that the additional deployment was to help deal with Muslims crossing over fromBurma, reported sources within BDR.

The BDR source said, "The Bangladesh Rifles has strengthened its patrol along the frontier under Naikhongchhari Township in Bandarban District in southern Chittagong Hill Tracts to check the increasing trend of Muslim migration and cross-border smuggling [from Burma]."

BDR Regiment No. 15 has set up two more camps at Baishari and Baidherkhil of Ghundhum Union Council under the sub-district on Wednesday to ensure strict vigilance to stop the continued trespass of Burmese Muslim into Bangladesh and cross-border smuggling, he added.

BDR has taken steps after observing the continued cross-border smuggling, infiltration of Muslims from Burma, and the building of a barbed-wire border fence by Nasaka in contravention of international frontier norms, said a Bangladesh official from the border.

However, he also added that the border situation between Burma and Bangladesh is now considered normal.

READ MORE---> BDR Deploys Additional Troops After Flag Meeting...

Buddhist Monk Killed in Southern Thailand

The Irrawaddy News

BANGKOK (AP)— Police have arrested two suspected Muslim insurgents on suspicion of shooting to death a 60-year-old Buddhist monk and wounding another as they collected food from the faithful on Friday in southern Thailand.

The assailants allegedly opened fire with AK-47 assault rifles as the monks made their daily alms rounds through a Buddhist community in Yala, one of three southernmost provinces where more than 3,400 people have been killed in a five-year-old separatist insurgency.

Police Lt Col Niyom Ruenraeng said the attackers likely hoped to incite conflict between Buddhists and Muslims following the killing of 10 people at a mosque in neighboring Narathiwat province on Monday.

In a related incident in Narathiwat, the army detained two young men found in possession of leaflets accusing the government of masterminding the June 8 mosque massacre.

The two were seized on Thursday night as they distributed the leaflets, said Army 2nd Lt Yothi Youngdam.

Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala provinces—the only Muslim-majority provinces in predominantly Buddhist Thailand and the focus of the separatist insurgency—are governed by martial law. The military can hold suspects for up to 30 days without charge under martial law provisions.

Since the mosque attack, rumors have circulated among some villagers that government authorities were behind the shootings and a number of incidents have followed in recent days, including a bomb explosion and arson.

The government has denied involvement in one of the deadliest incidents of the insurgency and has stepped up security across the region.

Five or six men shot automatic rifles into the mosque in Joh-I-Rong district, according to police. Among the dead was the mosque's imam, or prayer leader.

Security forces sometimes blame the insurgents for attacks on Muslim individuals and institutions, claiming they mean to stir up hatred to boost their cause and trigger sectarian strife.

But it is widely believed that some local Buddhists, with the help of rogue security forces, have their own vigilante groups to fight against suspected insurgents.

READ MORE---> Buddhist Monk Killed in Southern Thailand...

178 Burmese Muslim Pushed Back to Burma in 4 Days

By Tun Kyaw

Cox's bazar (Narinjara): Within four days 178 Rohingya Muslims from Burma who entered Bangladesh illegally were arrested and pushed back across the border to Burma by Bangladesh authorities, a source reports.

The individuals were arrested by Bangladesh Rifles Battalion No. 17 in the area of Bangladesh's Ukia Sub-division under Cox's Bazar District on the border of Maungdaw Township in Arakan State as they attempted to enter Bangladesh illegally to seek refuge.

Many Rohingyas were arrested on a bus in an area of Phalaung Khali while another 25 were arrested on a bus in the area of Balukhali in Ukia Sub-division, on the Teknaf - Cox's Bazar highway last Wednesday when authorities set up checkpoints for buses traveling that route.

Rohingyas from Burma have been illegally entered Bangladesh in groups one after another over the last month. "The flow of Burmese Muslims into Bangladesh has been unabated," said a border security officer on the condition of anonymity.

Local newspapers claim that Burmese entering Bangladesh are mixing into populations in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and causing crime and social unrest.

Due to the increasing numbers of Rohingyas fleeing Burma and entering Bangladesh, a committee comprised of 17 government departments was formed to prevent an influx of Rohingyas from Burma, said an official report.

READ MORE---> 178 Burmese Muslim Pushed Back to Burma in 4 Days...

Large stretch of embankments for barbed wire fences complete

Maungdaw (Narinajara): A stretch of over 200,973 feet of embankments for erecting barbed wire fences have been completed till 30 May 2009, according to an official report of Maungdaw. The project to fence the western border began in February this year.

The embankment is being constructed by 7,000 workers at the site everyday. So far over 200,973 feet of embankments have been completed along the Naff River in the western border township of Maungdaw. Construction began in February, the report said.

The Burmese Army authorities have built a lengthy embankment along the Naff River to erect barbed wire fences.

Among the 7,000 workers at the site there are 800 soldiers and 600 riot policemen. The rest are local Buddhists and Muslims.

A worker said he receives 2500 Kyats per day but a Muslim worker receives 2000 Kyat per day. However most of the Muslim workers are working at the construction sites with the lesser amount without any angst.

Though some workers are receiving wages, most workers in the northern part of Maungdaw Township do not receive wages regularly.

A worker from Aung Zay Ya village in northern Maungdaw said that the army pays between 2000 Kyat to 2500 Kyat to a worker but it is not usual and permanent. On some days army officials do not pay the money to workers even though they have worked from sunrise to sunset.

The Burmese military junta has been erecting barbed wire fences along the western Burma border with Bangladesh to prevent human trafficking and cross border smuggling from February 2009.

The military authorities are likely to complete fencing soon before strong objections are raised by the international community and the Bangladesh government. So the construction of fences is being done hurriedly by using many workers and a large budget.

READ MORE---> Large stretch of embankments for barbed wire fences complete...

Fifty two Burmese nationals pushed from Bangladesh

ROHINGYA ARE NOW CALLED "BURMESE MUSLIM NATIONALS"

Teknaf (Narinjara): Fifty two Burmese nationals, all Muslims, were pushed back by the Bangladesh Rifles, the country’s border security force to their home lands on Saturday through border crossing points, said an official report.

Lt. Colonel Abdul Khaleque, Commanding Officer of the BDR’s 42 Rifles Battalion based in Teknaf said that among the 52 deportees, 20 are children and 10 are women while the rest are men.

The BDR pushed back 45 of them to Burma from Naitong Hill Point in Teknaf Township, located on the bank of Naff River, while seven were sent back to Burma from the Gundum-Taungbro land crossing border point.

The Colonel said recently 400 Muslims from Burma were caught at several border points after illegally entering Bangladesh. They were subsequently pushed back to Burma.

Earlier, many Muslim people were pushed back to Burma after Bangladeshi border security forces stopped them at the border. Most of the Burmese nationals entered Bangladesh from several border points including Naitong border point on Naff River, St Martian Island located at the mouth of the Naff River, Nila border point and the Gundum –Taungbro border points.

The exodus of Muslims from Burma to Bangladesh has increased after the Burmese junta authorities started to erect barbed wire fences along the border.

Bangladeshi border security forces are closely watching the border after many Muslims from Arakan state started entering Bangladesh.

Burmese Muslims are entering Bangladesh at a time when the Bangladesh government is preparing to repatriate Muslim refugees from two refugee camps located in southern Bangladesh to Burma.

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni said at a press conference in Dhaka on Friday that the Burmese military authorities told her during her latest trip that the country would take back the Burmese Muslim refugees.

During her visit on May 16 and 17, the junta leaders admitted that the Muslim are Myanmarese and agreed to take them back, she said

She also said the Burmese regime has sought a list from Dhaka on the number of Muslim Refugees living in Bangladesh as part of the repatriation process.

She observed that the influx of Burmese refugees from Myanmar was not a new development, rather the Arakan people were continuously intruding into Bangladesh for a long time.

Her rather candid comments came as the Bangladeshi media reported massive intrusion of Burma Muslim refugees in Cox's Bazaar and Bandarban districts.

Dipu Moni said the refugee flow would not stop unless Burma military authorities guaranteed "qualitative change" in Arakan state.

"Muslims from Burma infiltrating has always been there. They have been coming continuously," she said.

READ MORE---> Fifty two Burmese nationals pushed from Bangladesh...

Thailand’s Rohingya ‘deterrence’ breaks refugee obligations

(DVB)–Thailand’s denial of entry to Burmese Rohingya refugees violates international legal obligations towards asylum seekers, claims the first full report into the mistreatment of Rohingya refugees in Thailand.

International outrage was sparked in January this year when photographs emerged of Thailand’s treatment of the Rohingya ‘boat people’, the majority of whom had fled Burma’s western Arakan state and sailed to Thailand.

The Rohingya, a Muslim minority, don’t have a citizenship of any country, and thousands are believed to have left Burma, many in the direction of Thailand’s southern coast.

According to the report released yesterday by Human Rights Watch, Rohingyas arriving on the Thai coast have been held on isolated islands with limited access from staff at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

“Steadily increasing numbers of Rohingya arriving in southern Thailand have sparked a deterrence policy that violates Thailand’s international legal obligations towards asylum seekers,” said the report, entitled Perilous Plight.

Thai authorities were found to have towed Rohingya boats back to sea with little supplies, a move which is in violation of international laws on refugees.

“Any refugees or migrant workers actually entering the country can’t be immediately dragged back to the sea; they have to be processed by the law and dealt with accordingly,” said David Mathieson, Burma consultant at Human Rights Watch.

Earlier this year, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva acknowledged the towing of Rohingya refugees out to open sea, following denial from a navy chief that the allegations “were even possible”.

He added that it wasn’t in line with the authorities’ policy and that those responsible would be brought to account if enough evidence was found.

“Most Rohingyas see Thailand as a transit point, they don’t want to stay in Thailand; they want to go to Malaysia,” said Mathieson.

Thailand has reportedly claimed the Rohingyas are economic refugees, and a threat to national security.

Proposals to set up temporary holding centres have been dismissed, and they remain unrecognised as refugees, asylum seekers or undocumented migrants.

“There are actually very low numbers of Rohingya in Thailand as far as we know compared to other nationalities from Burma,” said Mathieson.

“Some people say that there’s 20,000 Rohingya in Thailand but I would say it is significantly less than that, just a few thousand.”

Burma has repeatedly claimed the Rohingya are originally from Bangladesh, not Burma, and have denied them citizenship or status as an ethnic minority. (JEG's: correct, in the old days in the 1500s, 1700s but the ones we are dealing with right now were born in Burma therefore they are Burmese with all the human rights entitlements)

Most of the Rohingyas in Arakan state rely on international aid organisations for survival.

Reporting by Rosalie Smith

READ MORE---> Thailand’s Rohingya ‘deterrence’ breaks refugee obligations...

Burmese Officials Take Bangladesh Mobile Phones as Bribes

Maungdaw (Narinjara): Bangladesh-network mobile phones have become a valuable commodity in soliciting bribes by Burmese officials on the western border, said a local resident.

He said, "At least 100,000 kyats have to be paid to Burmese officials whenever a mobile phone is seized on the western Burmese border."

If the mobile phone holders are unable to pay the requested bribe, authorities typically punish them with long prison terms.

"Many mobile phone holders have faced long terms in prison, from two to three years, as they could not pay the bribe to officials when their phones were seized by the authorities," the resident added.

Recently two Muslim youths - Muhmad Rofit, son of Au Lar Myar, and Muhamad Toyu, son of Habet Ahmout from Mae Di Village in Kun Thee Bin Village Tract in Taungbro - were facing potential prison terms but the youths' families have arranged to pay a bribe to local army officials.

According to a family source, and intelligence officer, Kyaw Myo Lat from Taungbro Wave Left in Nasaka Area No. 3, seized two mobile phone sets from the youths on 20 May, 2009. After seizing the mobile phones, Kyaw Myo Lat asked for 100,000 kyat from each youth.

The resident said, "If the youths can not pay the money, they will be sent to the police station and punished with long prison terms."

Burma does not allow the use of Bangladesh-network mobile phone in Burmese territory, but many people in Maungdaw and Buthidaung Townships are using the phones in secret. It is estimated that over 10,000 Bangladesh mobile phones are being used illegally by locals in the western Burmese border area.

"Bangladesh-network phone sets and sim cards are very cheap, so Burmese people can easily use them on the Burmese side. In our country, mobile phones are very expensive and ordinary people are unable to use Burma-network mobile phones because the price is so high," the resident said.

Burmese mobile phones such as CDMA phones cost at least 1.6 million kyat in Maungdaw, while the same phones are only 50,000 kyat in Bangladesh.

Even though Burmese authorities seize Bangladesh-network mobile phones from locals, a number of Burmese military officials on the western border, including Nasaka Chief Colonel Aung Gyi and the Maungdaw district chairman, have been using Bangladesh mobile phones for their own communications. #

READ MORE---> Burmese Officials Take Bangladesh Mobile Phones as Bribes...

Muslims proscribed from worshipping in residential flats

by Phanida

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Aping a recent diktat against the country's Christian community, authorities have summoned and warned leaders of Burma's Muslim community not to worship in residential flats.

Rangoon's Kyauktada Township Peace and Development Council office, as they did with Christian pastors from the city, summoned Islamic leaders on the 5th of this month and warned them to halt all religious services and the reading of the Quran in residential flats.

"The government doesn't give permission to build mosques, so people of the Islamic faith have to worship in residential areas such as those in Thaketa, North and South Okkalapa [towships]. Now local authorities have warned leaders not to provide religious services in these residential flats," an Islamic leader from Rangoon told Mizzima.

A similar ban against Christians was reported by Mizzima on Wednesday (http://www.mizzimaburmese.com/news/inside-burma/2238-2009-01-08-12-06-59.html).

"We had special religious services at night. But now local authorities have banned such services. They warned us not to provide these services, and if we defy the order serious action would be taken against us. So the people are scared and dare not to gather at these places. It seems we have to perform our religious services in a mosquito net. The people now dare not ask us to provide religious services in their homes as has been customary up to this time. Instead, they come to the mosque and read the Quran. However, the poor cannot come to these downtown locations," explained another Muslim leader.

Thai-based Human Rights Education Institute of Burma (HREIB) Director Aung Myo Min said the position of the government is a clear violation of human rights in that the ruling discriminates against a religious minority in Burma.

"According to the latest constitution drafted and approved by the SPDC [government], all are equal before the law, irrespective of their race and creed. This is a violation of the fundamental rights of a citizen and moreover is discriminatory against a minority religion," he expounded.

Further, Burma is signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which clearly stipulates religious freedom and the right to practice one's faith.

"Previously we heard about such repression against religious minorities only in Chin and Kachin states. But now such restrictions are being imposed in major cities such as Rangoon, which shows the deterioration of the situation in this regard," Aung Myo Min added.

A majority, nearly 90 percent, of Burmese follow the Theravada Buddhist faith, with the country's Christian and Islamic communities representing five and four percent of the population, respectively.

READ MORE---> Muslims proscribed from worshipping in residential flats...