Nizam Ahmed
A senior official of the United States (US) is expected to visit Bangladesh, Myanmar and Japan for a week from Tuesday next to discuss issues relating to conflicts in Myanmar and exodus of refugees from the country, officials said on Saturday.

US State Department Senior Advisor for Myanmar Mr W. Patrick Murphy will undertake the tour at such a time when fleeing Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have become a matter of concern for neighbouring countries.

The intrusion of Rohingyas in the south and the southeast Asian countries including Bangladesh have increased following spells of communal riots between Rohingya Muslims and local Buddhists in Rakhine state, in western Myanmar since June last year.

Indian coast guards have rescued 108 Rohingyas off the coast of the country’s eastern Andaman archipelago, a website in the islands reports.
The ‘Andaman Sheekha’ said that two coast guard ships, C-145 and Aruna Asaf Ali, rescued these Rohingyas from an unmanned barge ‘Ganpati’, which was tugged away from Myanmar to Mumbai by ‘Tug Star Jakarta’.

Some officials of Indian company Punj Llyod drew the attention of the coast guards about the presence of some 15 unidentified people in the unmanned barge and the presence of some boats in its vicinity on the evening of 28th Feb, the website said.

On receipt of the information, Interceptor Boat C-145 under the command of Coast Guard Commandant SR Nagendrgan was pressed into action.

Vitit Muntarbhorn

Although the term “Rohingya” is subject to various interpretations, it has been used in recent times primarily to cover the ethnic Muslim minority found in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Rohingya have sadly been in the news because of the violence, discrimination, dispossession and marginalisation to which they have been subjected. The depth of their tragedy cries out for a robust helping hand from their state of origin and the international community.

Their persistent plight invites deeper understanding of their situation. First, it should be noted that their status in Myanmar was not adequately dealt with at the time of Burma’s (later Myanmar) independence. In effect, many of them are stateless. The 2008 constitution of the country perpetuates their marginalisation by providing that a citizen is either a person “born of parents both of whom are nationals of the Republic of Myanmar” or “a person who is already a citizen by law on the day this constitution comes into operation”. This is compounded by the 1982 Myanmar Citizenship Law which fails to list Rohingya as a “national ethnic group” entitled automatically to Myanmar citizenship, even though it recognises other national ethnic groups for this purpose.

ASEAN must break away from its silence and tediously guarded policies and western countries must be confronted by their own civil societies: no normalization with Rangoon when innocent men, women and children are being burned alive in their own homes, writes Ramzy Baroud.

One fails to understand the unperturbed attitude with which regional and international leaders and organizations are treating the unrelenting onslaught against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, formally known as Burma. Numbers speak of atrocities where every violent act is prelude to greater violence and ethnic cleansing. Yet, western governments’ normalization with the Myanmar regime continues unabated, regional leaders are as gutless as ever and even human rights organizations seem compelled by habitual urges to issue statements lacking meaningful, decisive and coordinated calls for action.

By South-East Asia correspondent Zoe Daniel, ABC
The Thai military has been accused of shooting Rohingya asylum seekers fleeing conflict in western Burma.

People who were on the boat have told the ABC that they jumped into the water and swam when Thai authorities began towing it out into international waters.

It is claimed Thai soldiers then fired shots.

The military has denied shooting the asylum seekers, but Thai villagers say they later retrieved two bodies from the water, one with a gunshot wound to the head.

Communal violence in western Burma is driving thousands onto boats to find safety.