Myanmar’s army said Sunday that a mass grave of 28 Hindus had been discovered in violence-wracked Rakhine state, blaming the killings on Muslim Rohingya militants.
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Hindus as well as members of the majority Buddhist population in Myanmar (also called Burma) have also been displaced from their homes by the violence in Rakhine.
Western Rakhine, for years a hotbed of tension between Myanmar’s Rohingya minority and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, has been seized by crisis since the army launched a crackdown on Rohingya militants in late August.
“The decision to relocate the Rohingyas to Bhashanchar will be taken after the arrival of the prime minister but we hope that the Rohingyas will go back to Myanmar”, he said. If India has any security concerns, they should understand that not all of them can be viewed through one lens.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh has complained to the United Nations that Myanmar soldiers have been laying internationally banned anti-personnel landmines across the border, the Press TV reported.
The UN and others have described the violence as ethnic cleansing.
“According to eyewitness accounts, photographic evidence, and multiple reports, antipersonnel mines have been laid between Myanmar’s two major land crossings with Bangladesh, resulting in casualties among Rohingya refugees fleeing government attacks on their homes”, the group said, using another name for Burma.
“Almost all the people I know have arrived in Bangladesh”, Yusuf Majihi – another Rohingya leader at a camp at Balukhali near Cox’s Bazar – told AFP. He also objected to the terminology Rohingya Muslims saying they are Muslims, Christians, and Hindus. “There’s a lot of bad violence that has occurred and it will take a long time for people to heal their wounds, longer than satisfying their basic needs”, Grandi said.
On Friday Amnesty International said new videos and satellite imagery confirmed fires were still ripping through Rohingya villages, scores of which have already been burned to the ground.
President Erdogan, who has repeatedly highlighted the plight of the Rohingya, again accused the Yangon government of carrying out a “genocide” against the people in Rakhine state.
“Continuance of Rohingyas’ illegal immigration into India and their continued stay, apart from being absolutely illegal, is found to be having serious national security ramifications and has serious security threats”, Centre said in the affidavit.
Bangladesh’s four mobile phone providers were threatened with fines if they provide any of the almost 430,000 newly-arrived refugees from Myanmar with SIM cards while the ban is in force.
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Around 429,000 Rohingya have fled Burma, where many of their families lived for generations. The home minister said India would not be violating any worldwide law if it deports Rohingyas as it is not a signatory to the UN Refugees Convention 1951.
