A United Nations (UN) human rights investigator on Friday urged the Myanmar government led by Nobel Peace Prize victor Aung San Suu Kyi to investigate the recent mob attack on a mosque and crack down on religious violence.
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Security forces were unable to control the mob, which tore down the building and set it alight, according to state-owned newspaper the Global New Light of Myanmar.
In one of the most serious outbursts of inter-religious violence in months, a group of men from a village in central Myanmar last week destroyed a mosque in a dispute over its construction and beat up a Muslim man.
Police are reported to be guarding the village of Hpakant in Kachin state, after failing to stop Buddhist villagers setting the mosque ablaze.
Sporadic but fierce violence against Muslims in Burma has occurred since rioting in 2012 forced more than 100,000 members of the Muslim Rohingya minority to flee their homes in the western Rakhine State.
While Kaman Muslims are recognised by the government as an official ethnic minority, the Rohingya are not, rendering the almost one-million strong group effectively stateless.
The violence that was originally directed toward Rohingya in Rakhine has since affected Muslim communities in other parts of the overwhelmingly Buddhist country.
The state has since been nearly completely divided on religious grounds, with Muslim communities trapped in camps or isolated communities and subject to a range of restrictions on their movements and access to basic services and employment. Local media said that more than one building was burnt down in the attack, which has been blamed on a group of over 200 Buddhists.
After a 12-day visit to Rakhine and other conflict sites in Myanmar, a United Nations rights investigator warned Friday that “tensions along religious lines remain pervasive across Myanmar society”.
Aung Sang Suu Kyi (left) has been criticised for failing to speak out in defence of the Muslim minority.
Her government recently ordered officials to refer to the group as “people who believe in Islam in Rakhine State” instead of Rohingya – a term whose use has set off protests by hardline Buddhists who insist the group are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
She urged the country’s new civilian government to make “ending institutionalised discrimination against the Muslim communities in Rakhine State.an urgent priority”.
Incidents of hate speech, discrimination, hatred, violence and religious intolerance were a cause for concern, she said.
The attacks underscore the challenges Suu Kyi faces as she deals with the legacy of decades of direct junta rule and bitter religious and ethnic divisions.
“It is vital that the government take prompt action, including by conducting thorough investigations and holding perpetrators to account”.
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Around 70 Muslims, including children, sought shelter in a police station overnight on Thursday, he said, adding there were no serious injuries and peace had been restored. I am therefore concerned by reports that the government will not pursue action in the most recent case due to fears of fuelling greater tensions and provoking more conflict.
