Buddhists Leaving Bangladesh Welcomed in West Burma

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Arakan, Myanmar -- After a year that saw Buddhist and Muslim communities in Burma’s Arakan State engage in numerous bloody clashes, the state government has now taken the step of welcoming Buddhist Arakanese from neighboring Bangladesh. But it is resettling them in violence-wracked northern parts of the state.

<< A Buddhist temple burnt by Muslim rioters in Cox’s Bazar in September. (Photo: Reuters)

Arakan State government spokesperson Win Myaing said in recent months local authorities had welcomed “hundreds” of Buddhist people, such as ethnic Arakanese, Maramagyi and Thet, who wanted to leave southeastern Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar District in Chittagong Division.

“We have not set how many we will accept, but if they come, we will help them,” he said by telephone.

More than a dozen Buddhist temples and 45 houses were set ablaze after hundreds of Muslim protesters ran riot in Cox’s Bazar on Sept. 29 last year. Following the violence some Buddhist groups have begun leaving Bangladesh for western Burma’s Arakan State.

There are some 300,000 Arakanese and other Buddhist minority groups living in southeastern Bangladesh, according to some estimates.

The tensions in Bangladesh’s Cox Bazar District seemed to be a spillover of the inter-communal violence in Burma’s neighboring Arakan State, where Arakanese Buddhist and Muslim Rohingya clashed repeatedly after an outbreak of violence since June last year.

During waves of religious communal violence that swept over Arakan State scores of people were killed, villages were burned down and some 115,000 people—mostly Muslim Rohingya—fled their homes.

According to a local social worker, “two or three” Buddhist families from Bangladesh were crossing into Maungdaw Township in northern Arakan State daily since December.

“We have to help them because they are fellow [Arakanese] ethnic group,” said the worker, who preferred not to be named.

State official Win Myaing said the local government had decided to settle these new arrivals in Maungdaw Township, where it had begun to create guarded and government-supported “model villages” for them.

“So far we have provided for 44 households in our ethnic villages in Maungdaw,” he said. “We provide homes and 2 acres of farmland to each household.”

Newcomers, he explained, were first being settled at Baho Buddhist monastery in Maungdaw town, where they would receive assistance before being transported to the “model villages” located about 10 to 15 km from central Maungdaw town.

Win Myaing said the newly-arrived Arakanese would be provided with security by Maungdaw township authorities and Burma Border Securtiy Force, who they could contact for protection in case of local communal tensions.

“We take care of their security and there is no need to worry about it,” he claimed.

Maungdaw Township in northern Arakan State was one of the scenes of bloody clashes between Muslim Rohingya’s and Buddhist Arakanese last year.

Buddhist and Muslim communities live in close proximity of each other in parts of Arakan State. In most parts, Buddhist communities outnumber Muslims.

In Maungdaw Township the Rohingya are present in greater numbers and the Buddhist villagers who did live there, fled after last year’s outburst of violence, leaving for Sittwe Township and other areas further south.

A Maungdaw resident said that tensions there had come down and the security situation was “stable,” although people felt “fear in their minds.”

He said that it made sense to settle Buddhist arrivals in the area, as there so few of them left. “We have 600,000 Muslims here, but only 20,000 Buddhists,” claimed the resident, who preferred not be named.

It remained unclear on Friday, whether the families who had left Bangladesh were aware of the fact that they were being settled in an area that was the scene of recent inter-communal violence.

Arakan State’s Buddhist leaders have been accused by international human rights groups of being complicit in last year’s violence. State authorities allegedly offered little support to Muslim Rohingya communities that were being attacked, while the communities were being encouraged to leave.

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Monk protest in Bangkok against Bangladesh unrest

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BANGKOK, Thailand -- About 300 Buddhist monks demonstrated in the Thai capital Bangkok on Wednesday against recent attacks by Muslim mobs targeting temples and houses in Bangladesh.

<< Bangladeshi monks studying Buddhism in Thailand display signs and pictures of destruction in their country as they hold a demonstration calling for an end to attacks against Buddhist communities in Bangladesh, in front of the United Nations regional office in Bangkok. (AFP - Christophe Archambault)

Holding signs reading "No More Violence We Want Peace" and "Stop Muslim Terrorism on Bangladesh Buddhist", the monks from Bangladesh, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand massed outside the UN offices to call for a probe into the unrest.

"We don't want to blame anyone, but we want this barbaric incident to stop because now Buddhist followers have to seek protection from police around the clock," one of the event organisers, Kanraya Tasanasarit, told AFP.

Bangladesh police said Tuesday they had arrested nearly 300 people in connection with the violence, which saw Buddhist temples and homes damaged or set on fire.

Buddhists, who make up less than one per cent of Bangladesh's 153 million mostly Muslim population, are based mainly in southeastern districts, close to the border with Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Sectarian tensions have been running high since June when deadly clashes erupted between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar's western Rakhine state.

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Rioters torch Buddhist temples, homes in Bangladesh

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Ramu, Bangladesh -- Thousands of rioters torched Buddhist temples and homes in southeastern Bangladesh Sunday over a photo posted on Facebook deemed offensive to Islam, in a rare attack against the community.

<< The burnt Buddhist temple of Shima Bihar in Ramu. Thousands of rioters have torched Buddhist temples and homes in southeastern Bangladesh over a photo posted on Facebook deemed offensive to Islam, in a rare attack against the community.

Officials said the mob comprising some 25,000 people set fire to at least five Buddhist temples and dozens of homes in Ramu town and its adjoining villages, some 350 kilometres (216 miles) from the capital Dhaka.

The rioters claimed the photo allegedly defaming the Koran was uploaded on Facebook by a Buddhist man from the area, district administrator Joinul Bari said.

"They became unruly and attacked Buddhist houses, torching and damaging their temples from midnight to Sunday morning," he told AFP.

"At least 100 houses were damaged. We called in army and border guards to quell the violence," he said, adding that authorities had temporarily banned public gatherings in the area to prevent further clashes.

It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties, and authorities did not say if any of the rioters were arrested.

The country's home minister, industries minister and national police chief rushed to the scene Sunday morning.

Police officer Rumia Khatun said about "25,000 Muslims chanting God is Great" first attacked a Buddhist hamlet in Ramu, torching centuries-old temples, and later stormed Buddhist villages outside the town.

Witnesses said the rioters left a trail of devastation at the Buddhist villages.

"I have seen 11 wooden temples, two of them 300 years old, torched by the mob. They looted precious items and Buddha statues from the temples. Shops owned by Buddhists were also looted," said Sunil Barua, a local journalist on the scene.

Barua, himself a Buddhist, said 15 Buddhist villages were attacked and more than 100 houses were looted and damaged. "The villages look like as if they were hit by a major cyclone," he told AFP by phone.

Buddhists, who make up less than one percent of Bangladesh's 153 million population, are based mainly in southeastern districts, close to the border with Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

Sectarian tensions have been running high since June when deadly clashes erupted between Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar's western Rakhine state.

Although Bangladesh, where nearly 90 percent people are Muslims, has witnessed deadly clashes between Muslims and Hindus in the past, sectarian clashes involving Buddhists are rare.

In recent weeks tens of thousands of Muslims have hit the street across the country to protest a US-made anti-Islam mocking the prophet Mohammed.

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