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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

[chottala.com] Re: 1942 Rohingya Massacre in Arakan Revisited Again in 2012



State media issues correction after publishing racial slur

By HANNA HINDSTROM
Published: 6 June 2012
Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi talks to Myanmar Muslims leaders at the National League for Democracy head office in Yangon
Aung San Suu Kyi talks to Burmese Muslims leaders at the National League for Democracy head office in Rangoon on 6 June 2012. (Reuters)

Burmese state media has issued a retraction for the use of racially offensive language in its official appeal for calm after sectarian violence saw ten Muslims brutally killed by an angry mob on Sunday in Arakan state.

A government statement published in the New Light of Myanmar on Tuesday warned against "anarchic and lawless" acts, but attracted a virulent backlash for referring to the victims as "kalar" – a racial slur for Muslims or persons of Indian appearance.

In a correction published today, the government paper urged readers to refer to the victims as "Islamic residents".

Dozens of people took to the streets in Rangoon yesterday to protest growing anti-Muslim violence and accused the government of fanning the flames of sectarian tensions. Political leaders and civil society groups appealed for calm and called on the government to issue an apology.

"The newspapers should not stoke this conflict. Are they trying to suggest that one race is more violent than others?" said ethnic Arakanese MP Aye Maung from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party.

Religious tensions have flared in Arakan state after three Muslim men were accused of the gang rape and murder of an ethnic Rakhine girl. It culminated in a bloody massacre on Sunday, when an angry mob set upon a bus filled with Muslim pilgrims and beat ten of them to death before setting the vehicle ablaze and defiling their corpses.

The violence has once again brought to the fore allegations of entrenched racism in Burmese society, particularly targeted against Muslims and the much-persecuted Rohingya minority group – dismissed as "illegal Bengali immigrants" by the government.

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi today finally threw her voice into the debate, calling for the perpetrators to be held to account in accordance with the rule of law. She added that "the majority of the people in a society should have sympathy for the minority."

"Maybe some people wouldn't like me saying this but I have to say what I must say regardless of whether they like it or not. When you are the majority in a society, then you are the strong party. If you are strong then you must be generous and sympathetic. I would like to see all people in Burma get along with each other regardless of their religion and ethnicity."

In the past, Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy has carefully steered clear of discussing Burma's Muslim minority, especially the Rohingya, which is seen a hot-button political issue that risks alienating many of its supporters.

A joint statement issued by several Rohingya and human rights groups on Monday also called for religious tolerance and reconciliation.

"The government is fully responsible for the law and order situation in the whole country. It should not make the Muslims scapegoats, but it has full responsibility to protect the rights, honour and dignity of all citizens," they said.

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Author:              Category: News, Politics


On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 7:07 AM, Abid Bahar <abid.bahar@gmail.com> wrote:


On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 4:08 AM, Abid Bahar <abid.bahar@gmail.com> wrote:
News | June 6, 2012, 8:11 am

Murder of Muslims in Taungup due to Lack of Legal Protection

Taungup: The killing of ten Muslims in a mob attack on a bus in Taungup in southern Arakan State was the result of a lack of protection by law enforcement said a local resident who witnessed the attack.

undefined"If the army or police had controlled the mob, they would have been able to save the victims. They knew the situation well, but the did not do anything to control the mob or protect the victims. The attack did not happen instantly. They were just in the situation of pulling and pushing for a long time. As the authorities did not do anything to control the situation, the incident eventually happened," said the resident.

He added that army and police personnel were just behind the mob while the attack was happening.

"I don't know how the problem would be tackled by the authorities. The police and the army were there when the mob was beating the victims, but they did not do anything to control the mob or protect the victims. The attack happened right in front of their eyes. So, it was just a matter that the law enforcers did not do what they should have done during the attack," he added.

Another eyewitness, a woman from Taungup also confirmed that the police and soldiers were at the scene when the attack happened.

"The policemen and soldiers were there on the spot when the attack was happening, but they did not prevent the attack and did not say anything to the youths to stop their attack on the victims. They were just watching the attack with their hands folded," said the woman.

Residents said "local authorities were aware of the situation and had the means to prevent the attack. The mob was very noisy along the road as it followed the Roma Thitsar Bus that departed from its station in downtown Taungup carrying the victims. The mob was able to stop the bus outside of town because some of them had followed the bus on motorcycles" they added.

According to an unconfirmed report, "The bus was said to have been driven into the compound of the immigration department on the road as the mob followed it, but responsible officials in the department forced the bus to back out, saying they could not take any responsibility because the bus was carrying Muslims."

U Khin Hla, Secretary of the National League for Democracy in Taungup, told the VOA Burmese program that "the Muslims were killed due to the lack of law and order in his hometown."

"I think such an incident happened due to the lack of law and order because it happened in broad daylight just around 4:30 pm, and it was also not just an incident in which a man hacked and killed another and ran away. On the contrary, I think the officials who are working for the rule of law and order in the country are very responsible for such an incident," said U Khin Hla.

When contacted by Narinjara, Daw Saw Mra Razar Lunn, Chairperson of the Rakhine Women's Union, she also said, "I think the lack of rule of law is to blame for [such violence]. The authorities are responsible to carry out the rule of law in the country, so the people, regardless if they are Buddhist or Muslim, are able to live together peacefully. Anyone who commits a crime action should have taken against them in accordance with the existing laws."

Taungup is situated as the main gateway for travel to central Burma from Arakan State. The authorities are said to have sowed anti-Muslim sentiment among the people of the town in order to help prevent Muslim migration and settlement into central Burma from the region.

On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 9:59 PM, Abid Bahar <abid.bahar@gmail.com> wrote:
RROHINGYA MASSACRE PICTURES
Link:
http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2012/06/rohingya-chronicle-vol.htmlTheinternationalcommunitymustinterveneimmediately,andprovideprotectiontovictimsofhateinBurma





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[chottala.com] HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU KID: ABDUL OSMAN, LORD MAYOR OF LEICESTER



HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU KID: ABDUL OSMAN, LORD MAYOR OF LEICESTER

June-04-12 6:37 AM
This article appears in today's edition of More, weekend supplement of the Leicester Mercury.

"Here's looking at you, kid" is a regular feature, where prominent Leicester people reflect on their childhoods and how those early years helped shape their later lives. It isn't included on the paper's website, but I thought it well worth posting here.
Here's looking at you, kid:

Abdul Osman, Lord Mayor of Leicester
Leicester taught me tolerance, that you grow up living next to people and you respect themI came to Leicester when I was six. We came from Mombasa, Kenya. It was like landing on a different planet. It was January 31, 1970. There were seven of us: me, four siblings, my parents.I remember vividly the sights and the sounds of this new place we would call home: the cold - oh, it was so cold - and the houses, all those red brick houses, with their smoking chimneys. It all seemed so grey, compared to the sunshine and blue skies of Mombasa.We lived at first with my uncle in Highfields. His family and our family in a little Victorian terrace. It was tight.What I remember most about that house was the fireplace - a big roaring fire, in the middle of the house. I couldn't believe it. I thought that maybe that's where they did the cooking. And the toilets were in the back yard. I didn't like that in the cold, especially at night. All these things were strange to me.I started school at six. I couldn't speak a word of English. What I remember, though, is the school dinners. Mashed potato, over-boiled vegetables. I hated it. And because the meat was not Halal, I had no meat. Just vegetarian meals which, back then, was the same dinner, but without the meat.But I would cheer up when the puddings came out. I loved stodgy English puddings with custard. And ice creams. And then, later, discovering all those English sweets. Wow. So many different types of sweets.It took me a long time to feel settled in Leicester. I had to learn a new language, well, three new languages - as I was learning English I was also learning Gujarati and Arabic.I had to walk to school, which was a mile-and-a-half away, the come home and go to the Mosque to learn Arabic.There wasn't much time for play.By the time I was in my teens, the National Front was  was marching in Leicester. There was a lot of fighting in St Matthew's. I had to walk through there to get to college.I was chased by skinheads more than once. They never got me, but they tried. It was a scary walk to school, looking over your shoulder, listening for taunts, ready to run.Leicester taught me tolerance, that you grow up next to people and you respect them. Look for the positives in that. Most people in Leicester feel like that, I think. It's why the far right have never prospered here.I left school at 16 with only a few qualifications, so I went back to college. I studied politics and my politics was Roger Blackmore - who would become the leader of the Lib Dems in Leicester.He was a good teacher, and he had a good sense of humour. We have had many disagreements in the council chamber, but always remained friends.I did several jobs. I was a bricklayer. I can still lay bricks to this day.I worked nights at a factory. I looked at myself one day and said: come on, you can do more than this.So I started an access course as a mature student, then a law degree, which I deferred after two years to get a degree in careers education. I became a careers advisor. I got involved in local politics in the 1980s, mainly because of Thatcher and the way her government was causing so much imbalance and inequality in our communities.I was a county councillor before local government re-organisation, then I became a city councillor. I lost my seat in 2003, but came back in 2007.There have been achievements, proud moments, frustrations. I am proud that they named the sports hall after me in Highfields. That was such an honour.It was notable, though, coming to the city council from the county council, that there are many more different factions here.At the county, councillors would have a drink with each other afterwards. At the city, that rarely happened. Different groups, different cliques. Colleagues on the same side not speaking to each other. Not being able to be seen to speaking [sic] to some councillors. I don't like that.I feel proud to be [Lord] Mayor of Leicester, the first Muslim mayor of the city. It's a prestigious position and I know my late father would have been very pleased.My five-year-old goes round the school saying she's The Little Mayor. He likes it. My 16-year-old daughter is the opposite. She's so embarrassed.Me? I just remember where I came from, from being taken to school on my father's bike in Mombasa, a small terraced house in Highfields - and now Lord Mayor. It's humbling.

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