State Racism in Burma and Genocides of Muslims

 -Dr. Abdul Ruff

[Dr. Abdul Ruff, Specialist on State Terrorism;Chancellor-Founder of Centor for International Affairs(CIA); Independent Analyst;Chronicler of Foreign occupations & Freedom movements(Palestine,Kashmir, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Xinjiang, Chechnya, etc.) Former university Teacher; website: abdulruff.wordpress.com/ abdulruff_jnu@yahoo.com.]

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Clearly,  there has been a sustained attack on Muslims globally. Muslim minoritie in many countreis are under serious civilizational threat – the positon of Muslims in Burma is a typical example.  While the NATO terror synicates led by USA-UK terror twins, target Muslim nations for creating a cluster of  puppet regimes to promote the US interests, non-Muslim nations also attack Muslims. Arab nations keep slint about the plight of Muslims in Burma or India, but just support NATO in massacres of Muslims in Mideast. International courts like ICJ and ICC jut ignore anti-Islamic crimes taking place globally!

It is fair enough today, therefroe, to conclude that the every systematic attack on Muslims any where in the world is being propelled by the concerned regime itself through its various agencies, though the state role would not be overtly visible for anyone to detect the dirty hands of the regime in such ghastly terror mischief.

The destruction of Babri Mosque, massacres of Muslims in Indian states and neighboring Kashmir (now under Indian brutal control) have been organized by the government through  by employing political n and administrative arms.  

The perpetual persecution of Muslim in Burma exemplifies the state role in organized crime against humanity.  Nearly one million Muslims are currently undergoing one of the most violent episodes of their history, and their suffering is one of the most pressing issues anywhere in the world. Yet their plight is suspiciously absent from regional and international priorities, or is undercut by giddiness over the country’s “ample resources of hydro-carbons, minerals, gems and timber.”

The minority Muslims in Burma (or Myanmar) known as Rohingyas face some of the worst discrimination in the world. The news of the systematic elimination of Burmese Muslims and its black-out by anti-Islamic media have alarmed the humanity and crated panic among Muslims. The state abuses of minorities are widespread and majority rioters are facing no repercussions for their actions. The state shields the majority criminals.

Not all Muslims in Burma are from the Rohingya ethnic group. Some are descendants of Indian immigrants, some have Chinese ancestry, and some even have early Arab and Persian origins. Burma is a country with a population of an estimated 60 million, only 4 percent of whom are Muslim.

It all started all over again on 3rd June 2012 when 11 innocent Muslims were killed by the Burmese Army and the Buddhist mobs after bringing them down from a bus. A vehement protest was carried out in the Muslim majority province of Arakan, but the Protestants fell victims to the tyranny of the mobs and the army. More than 50 people were reported killed and millions of homes destroyed in fires as Muslim-ethnic Rohingya and Buddhist-ethnic Arakanese clashed in western Burma.

In fact from June 16 onwards, the military became more actively involved in committing acts of violence and other human rights abuses against the Rohingya including killings and mass-scale arrests of Rohingya men and boys in North Rakhine State. Even the pro-democracy’ Burmese groups and individuals are also taking part in the war against minorities. One pro-democracy group stated on Twitter that the so-called Rohingya are liars,” while another social media user said, “We must kill all the kalar. Kalar is a racist slur applied to dark-skinned people from the Indian subcontinent. Anti-Indian sentiments started after the First World War during the British rule. In Burma there were a half million Muslims in 1921. More than half of Indians were Indian Muslims. Although Burma Muslims are different from Indian Muslims and Indian Burma Muslims, Burmese Buddhists put them together, even with Hindu Indians, and called them Kala.

The Muslim community in Burma has been under perpetual threat from majority people for years now. Radio Free Europe reported on July 12 a Burmese helicopter set fire to three boats carrying nearly 50 Muslim Rohingyas fleeing sectarian violence in western Burma in an attack that is believed to have killed everyone on board. This reveals the real picture of Muslims in Burma being controlled by the military.

Over the years thousands of Rohingya also have fled to Thailand. There are roughly 111,000 refugees housed in 9 camps along the Thai-Myanmar border. There have been charges that groups of them have been shipped and towed out to open sea from Thailand, and left there. In February 2009 there was evidence of the Thai army towing a boatload of 190 Rohingya refugees out to sea. A group of refugees rescued by Indonesian authorities also in February 2009 told harrowing stories of being captured and beaten by the Thai military, and then abandoned at open sea. By the end of February there were reports that of a group of 5 boats were towed out to open sea, of which 4 boats sank in a storm, and 1 boat washed up on the shore. February 12, 2009 Thailand's Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said there were "some instances" in which Rohingya people were pushed out to sea.

Britain - Guilty of Burmese attack on Muslims 

Burmese hatred towards fellow Muslims in the country has a long history.

Myanmar has a Buddhist majority. The Muslim minority in Myanmar mostly consists of the Rohingya people and the descendants of Muslim immigrants from India (including what is now Bangladesh) and China (the ancestors of Chinese Muslims in Myanmar came from the Yunnan province), as well as descendants of earlier Arab and Persian settlers. Indian Muslims were brought to Burma by the British to aid them in clerical work and business. After independence, many Muslims retained their previous positions and achieved prominence in business and politics

Myanmar  has a Buddhist majority which hates minorities. When General Ne Win swept to power on a wave of nationalism in 1962, the status of Muslims changed for the worse. Muslims were expelled from the army and were rapidly marginalized.  Muslims are stereotyped in the society as "cattle killers" (referring to the cattle sacrifice festival of Eid Al Adha in Islam). The generic racist slur of "kala" (black) used against perceived "foreigners" has especially negative connotations when referring to Burmese Muslims. The more pious Muslim communities who segregate themselves from the Buddhist majority face greater difficulties than those who integrate more at the cost of observance to Islamic personal laws.

Hisotrically, the Burmese kings oppressed the Muslims and severely punished them for practicing Islamic faith in any manner. Attempts were also made to convert Muslims into Buddhism. King Bodawpaya (1782–1819) arrested four famous Burma Muslim Moulvis (Imams) from Myedu and killed them in Ava, the capital, after they refused to eat pork. According to the Myedu Muslim and Burma Muslim version there were seven dark days after that execution and the king later apologized and recognized them as saints.

However, Muslims contnued to serve under Burmese king Bayintnaung (1550-1589 AD). In 1559 AD after conquering Bago (Pegu) he prohibited the Muslims from having halal meals of goats and chickens by not allowing them to kill these animals in the name of God. The king ordered the Muslims to just kill any animal and eat without attaching any religious significance. He showed religious intolerance and had forced some of his subjects to listen to Buddhist sermons and some were even said to be converted by force. He also disallowed the Eid ul Adha, Kurbani, sacrifice of cattle

There was an anti-Muslim riot in 1938, while Burma was still under British rule. The real agenda was aimed at British government but the Burmese dare not show this openly. Growing Nationalistic sentiments were fanned by the local media and disguised as anti-Muslim to avoid early detection and notice. It was followed by the full blown force of the mighty British Government machinery. Throughout the Burmese struggles against British rule, all the political issues, movements, meetings, demonstrations, riots, rebellions and even the revolutions were instigated, inspired, influenced and led by newspapers. The Burmese started the Burma for Burmese only Campaign and marched to the Muslim (Surti) Bazaar.  Muslim properties: shops, houses and mosques were looted, destroyed and burned. They assaulted and even massacred the Muslims. It spread all over Burma and a recorded 113 mosques were damaged.

On 16 March 1997 beginning, a mob of 1,000-1,500 Buddhist monks and others shouted anti-Muslim slogans. They targeted the mosques first for attack, followed by Muslim shop-houses and transportation vehicles in the vicinity of mosques, damaging, destroying, looting, and trampling, burning religious books, committing acts of sacrilege. The area where the acts of damage, destruction, and lootings were committed was Kaingdan, Mandalay.

Generally, anti-Muslim pamphlets were widely distributed by monks generating hatred for Islam and Muslims. On May 15, 2001, anti-Muslim riots broke out in Taungoo, Pegu division, resulting in the deaths of about 200 Muslims, in the destruction of 11 mosques and the setting ablaze of over 400 houses. On May 15, the first day of the anti-Muslim uprisings, about 20 Muslims who were praying in the Han Tha mosque were killed and some were beaten to death by the pro-junta forces. On May 17, Lt. General Win Myint, Secretary No.3 of the SPDC and deputy Home and Religious minister, arrived in Taungoo and curfew was imposed there until July 12, 2001. Buddhist monks demanded that the ancient Hantha Mosque in Taungoo be destroyed in retaliation for the destruction in Bamiyan in Afghanistan. On May 18, however, Han Tha mosque and Taungoo Railway station mosque were razed to the ground by bulldozers owned by the SPDC junta. The mosques in Taungoo remained closed as of May 2002. Muslims have been forced to worship in their homes. Local Muslim leaders complain that they are still harassed. After the violence, many local Muslims moved away from Taungoo to nearby towns and to as far away as Yangon. After two days of violence the military stepped in and the violence immediately ended.

The BMC, Burma Muslim Congress was founded almost at the same time with the AFPFL, Anti-Fascist Peoples’ Freedom Party of General Aung San and U Nu before World War II. Later U Nu decreed Buddhism as the state religion of Burma against the will of the ethnic minorities and various religious organizations including Burma Muslims. U Nu, a devoted Buddhist, was pressured by the wealthy and influential fanatic Hindu merchants who ordered the prohibition of the slaughtering of cattle. Hindus saw an ally in anti-Islamism in Buddhists. Although General Ne Win revoked the first order and allowed the slaughter of cattle for daily consumption, the second order of strict restriction for the sacrifice remained up to the present. Even a mosque’s official who failed to adhere to the permitted number of cattle was arrested and punished. Some Muslims complained that U Nu’s government had made more difficult conditions and regulations for the Haj pilgrimage than the Buddhists pilgrims going to Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Hatred towards Islam is Huge shame on Globe

The Western media, otherwise looking for opportunities to present Burma in negative sense, has its own reasons to black-out or play down the unfortunate events.

The relatively little media interest in Burma’s ‘ethnic clashes’ does not mean that the cleansing of Muslims in Burma is not a significant event. The recent flaring of violence followed the raping and killing of a majority Rhakine woman on May 28, allegedly by Rohingya men. The first reaction of business was the beating to death of ten innocent Muslims. The victims, who were dragged out of a bus and attacked by a mob of 300 strong Buddhist Rhakine.

The dictatorial government of Burma , which operates a pervasive internal security apparatus, generally infiltrates or monitors the meetings and activities of virtually all organizations, including religious organizations. Religious freedom for Muslims is reduced. Monitoring and control of Islam undermines the free exchange of thoughts and ideas associated with religious activities. Accusations of "terrorism" are made against Muslim organizations such as the All Burma Muslim Union. It is widely feared that persecution of Muslims in Burma could foment Islamic extremism in the country. Many Muslims have joined armed resistance groups who are fighting for greater freedoms in Burma.

Any excuse of communal violence abroad is used as a pretext to commit violence against Muslim minorities in Burma. Buddhist mobs are permanent gangs operating across the nation to attack Muslims. Mobs of Buddhists, led by monks, vandalized Muslim-owned businesses and property and attacked and killed Muslims in Muslim communities. Fanaticism in Burma reached the height when Buddhist monks demanded that the Hantha Mosque in Taungoo be destroyed as In India Hindu extremists wanted to demolish Babri Mosque.

This explains why anti-Islamic India tries to be closer to Burma.

The violent targeting of Burmese Muslim minorities arrived at an interesting time for the USA and Britain. Their pro-democracy campaign was largely called off when the junta agreed to provide semi-democratic reforms. Eager to offset the near exclusive Chinese influence over the Burmese economy, Western companies jumped into Burma as if one of the most oppressive regimes in the world was suddenly resurrected into an oasis for democracy.

US President Barak Obama’s recent lifted the ban on American investment in the country with Secretary Clinton shaking hands with heretofore untouchables of the world. Britain immediately followed suit, as a UK trade office was hurriedly opened in Rangoon on July 11. The US and Britain eye Burma as an investment destination and a “New Gold Rush” for Burma has already begun.

It is deadly unfortunate that the systematic attack on Muslims was intensified when the foremost human rights activist of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi was elected as the new leader of Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi a Nobel Peace Laureate, is staying on the fence—as if the slaughter of the country’s ‘dark-skinned Indians’ is not as urgent as having a parliamentary representation for her party, the National League for Democracy in Burma.

All Islamic organizations like Arab League operate as US agencies.  Secretary General of the impotent Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu called on Aung San Suu Kyi to do something, anything. “As, we are confident that the first step of your journey towards ensuring peace in the world would start from your own doorstep and that you would play a positive role in bringing an end to the violence that has afflicted Arakan State,” he wrote.

As of 2005, the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) had been assisting with the repatriation of Rohingya from Bangladesh, but allegations of human rights abuses in the refugee camps have threatened this effort. Despite earlier efforts by the UN, the vast majority of Rohingya refugees have remained in Bangladesh, unable to return because of the regime in Myanmar. Now they face problems in Bangladesh where they do not receive support from the government. In February 2009, many Rohingya refugees were helped by Acehnese sailors in the Strait of Malacca, after 21 days at sea.

Representatives from different religions and minorities in Pakistan condemned the atrocities inflicted on the Muslims of the Republic of Union of Myanmar. They said that minorities across the world had equal rights to lead their lives according to their belief, traditions and culture while the majority should not exploit their rights and narrow their path towards free movement. They said that genocide of Myanmar Muslims was a serious threat to world peace and was a serious human rights violation, which the United Nations should stop immediately.

Pakistan is the only country in the world who took more than 3 million refugees from Afghan border. Pakistan opened their borders to their Muslim brothers generously while India & Bangladesh for not letting these people as refugees.  It is heart-breaking to see that no one is willing to take in these refugees. There are so many well doing Muslims countries out there, but no one is willing to take these people in and save them from slaughter.

Can any one, not just Muslims, feel the pain for fellow Muslims brothers and where is the media and what about the Muslim Ummah?

A Word

Military can impose the majority will on minorities more ruthlessly than political regimes do. According to Amnesty International, the Muslim Rohingya people have continued to suffer from human rights violations under the Burmese military (junta) since 1978, and many have fled to neighboring Bangladesh as a result. 

When America does not actively operate against crimes, many Muslim nations function as mere puppets of Washington, like Pakistan, also keep mum – so are their media nuts.

The Burmese Muslims being killed en mass are ethnic “Rohingya” who trace their name back to a ship wreck in the 8th century CE. According to them, after the Arab ship wrecked near Ramree Island, Arab traders were ordered to be executed by the Arakanese king. Then, they shouted in their language, ‘Rahma’. Hence, these people were called ‘Raham’. Gradually it changed from Raham to Rhohang and finally to Rohingyas.

These Muslims, like those of Bosnia, are now target of the fury of Ethnic Buddhist Rakhine majority, which has the full support of the Burmese government.  The widespread killings of Rohingya Muslims in Burma—a.k.a. Myanmar—have received only passing and dispassionate coverage in most media. What they actually warrant is widespread outrage and decisive efforts to bring further human rights abuses to an immediate halt.

The funny problem is the terror strategists have spread rumors that Islam is out to capture the West and America in an attempt to create an alternative universe. This is deliberate mischief perpetrated by both anti-Islamic nuts and some fanatic Muslims. In fact not many have understood the real meaning of teaching to Islam and Holy Quran. Islam does not require to attack or capture anybody - rather others, including non-believers and hypocrites, will come flocking the Islamic faith.