Date: 03/05/2013
We the undersigned organisations reject the 186-page official report dated 22 April 2013 of
the Arakan Investigation Commission as follows:
1. The Rakhine Investigation Commission formed on 17 August 2012 by President
Thein Sein included representatives from various religious and political parties and
democracy groups except Rohingya representatives, who have been actual and
potential victims of deadly violence and genocidal attacks. Haji U Nyunt Maung
Shein and U Tin Maung Than, the two prominent Muslim leaders were purged from
the Commission seeing that they were most insistent on the truth.
2. It is a biased report favouring Rakhines, their hostile views and arguments towards
Rohingya people. It purposely suppresses the core fact of the problem that the
Rohingya people have long been subjected to institutionalised persecution, ethnic
cleansing and genocidal onslaughts at the hands of the government and state
sponsored non-state actors, particularly the extremist Rakhines
3. The Enquiry Commission has lost its credibility since it has been manned with people
who either directly or indirectly supported, involved or publicly put fuel on crisis.
The commission member veterinary doctor Aye Maung (MP), leader of the Rakhine
Nationalities Development Party (RNDP), is the main mastermind in the violence and
‘Rohingya ethnic cleansing’, who graphically described his Rohingya annihilation
plan in Rathedaung Rakhine Conference held on 25-26 September 2012. Nearly
every understanding or recommendation of the Commission translates the view of the
RNDP.
4. The Commission, despite comprising of scholarly people, has largely distorted
Rohingya historicity dubbing them ‘Bengalis’ and depicting them migrant community
with no historical roots in Arakan, although they are a people developed in Arakan
from peoples of different ethical backgrounds over the centuries with their Muslim
settlements dated back to early 8th century.
5. The previous parliamentary government recognized the ‘Rohingya’ as one of the
many ethnic groups of the Union of Burma with their language program relayed
thrice weekly from government Burma Broadcasting Service (BBS), Rangoon. In
spite of that the Commission has deliberately ignored this documented fact and used
the term ‘Bengali’ supporting the fierce contention of the Rakhine promoting
‘Rohingya ethnocide’ aims at turning Arakan into a Muslim-free Rakhinized region.
6. The Commission report falsely elevates the position of Rakhine as ‘prime nation’ and
relegates the Rohingya as ‘sub-nation’ thus promoting the government’s current plan
to segregate Rohingya under its ‘neo-apartheid policy’. It describes the Rohingyas as
low-class and uncultured hardworking people, who produce more children and want
to seize the arable lands of the lazy Rakhines. It is insulting that the commissioners
felt irritated by the repeated telephone calls from ‘dying-alive Rohingyas’ giving
accounts of their sufferings emotionally for redress.
7. The Commission never called for the accountability of the government and its
agencies, state sponsored non-state actors or Rakhine extremists for June-October
2012 deadly violence or carnage, and for their decades of Rohingya persecution,
tyranny, exclusion and xenophobia that reduce them to the present state of
helplessness, without basic freedoms like freedom of movement, religion, education,
marriage, right to business, right to work etc.
8. The Commission never pointed out the hostile environment and impossible situation
created by the administration with the oppressive functionaries and government
agencies like NaSaKa border security force, police, Lon Htin and army and Rakhine
terrorists for a peaceful living of the Rohingya. As a result, half of their population of
more than 1.5 million people have had left their homeland of Arakan to escape
persecution. They are living in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Thailand,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zea land, Europe, USA, Canada and other
countries.
9. The Commission never hinted the tragedies of the Rohingya boat people arising out
of the continued large-scale persecution and crimes against humanity against
Rohingya community in Arakan although the problem becomes a concern of the UN,
OIC, EU, ASEAN and international community.
10. The report made no mention of the statement of President Thein Sein as well as the
demand of the RNDP leader Dr. Aye Maung to deport Rohingya people to a third
country, which reflects and promotes official ‘Rohingya ethnic-cleansing policy’ of
the government.
11. The Commission ignored to call for amendment of the world most repressive Burma
Citizenship Law of 1982. Its recommendations lack the spirits of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and international human rights and
humanitarian laws.
12. The report extremely distorted the number of deaths and extent of destruction of the
Rohingya and Kaman Muslims whereas there are reports of several mass graves of
Rohingya dead bodies; and the credible human rights group Human Rights Watch
(HRW) stated that it has uncovered 4 mass graves in North Arakan. Likewise an
Al Jazeera documentary film released after the violence confirmed that crimes of
genocide have been committed in Arakan against the Rohingya.
13. The report stayed away from mentioning that the police, Lon Htin, NaSaKa and army
took part in the killing of the Muslims and torching their houses. The report mentions
about the imposition of section 144, but lamentably it fails to tell the tangible truth
that the curfew has only been applied on the Rohingyas or Muslims while the
Rakhine terrorists, including armed cadres of the Arakan Liberation Party/Army
(ALP/ALA), were allowed to carry on the genocidal onslaughts and mass destruction
against the Muslims.
14. Waves of deadly violence carried against the Rohingyas and Kamans were preplanned by the RNDP, of course, with the backing of the administration under the
pretext of rape and murder of a 28-year old Rakhine woman Ma Thida Twe. Most of
the issues raised by the Commission as the causes of violence were irrelevant as well
as unfounded.
15. The Commission did partiality by endorsing the make-believe story of the
government which stated that Ma Thida Twe was raped and murdered by what they
called three Bengalis. But according to highly credible person of the Commission,
there was no trace of rape found by the doctor who performed post- mortem of her
corpse; but the doctor was forced to sign the official post- mortem report. Moreover,
there was no mention of the ‘suicide in police custody’ of the principal accused Mr.
Htet Htet who happened to be a Rakhine, not Rohingya or Bengalis.
16. It is a concocted allegation of the Commission that an excess number of 5,603
refugee families with 30,338 members had to be repatriated from Bangladesh in
1978. International community was well aware that the repatriation was done under
strict scrutiny on both sides the borders, and that the refugees had resisted the forced
repatriation for lack of congenial atmosphere for their safe return to Arakan. The
question naturally arises is who would be going to the hellish Arakan where the
human right situation of .the Rohingyas were dire.
17. The report said that “in 1988 Ma Ra Waddi monastery at Maungdaw was burned
down by Bengalis and the abbot had escaped away; the monastery was torched by the
Bengalis for three times”. It is baseless information aims at inciting public sentiment
against the Rohingyas.
18. The Commissions reported some imaginary and nonsense information like Rohingyas
attacking Rakhines, destroying Buddhist monasteries and committing rape of their
women. It also said that “in 1998, more than 5,000 people led by Rohingya Liberation
Organisation (RLO) suddenly entered Maungdaw and tried to occupy the town by
destroying Buddhist monasteries, torching Rakhine quarters and killing every single
Rakhine, but the police could control the situation through resistance.” In reality there
was no party by the name of RLO; and also there was no information, record or report
of such plot or attack among the general public and in the media. The allegation is a
blatant lie and politically motivated. It is surprising that, although there have been
numerous cases of killing of Rohingya, rape of Rohingya women and girls,
destruction and torching of their houses, looting of their properties and extortion on
daily basis, committed by the extremist Rakhines, police and security forces, the
biased and bigoted Commission did not mention a single such incident. This lie
proves that the Commission is contemptible and its report is a rubbish piece.
19. There was no incident on 8th of June 2012 that the Rohingyas chanted slogan “long
live Muslilms, kill all Rakhines”. This is concocted report promoting hatred against
the Rohingyas.
20. The Commission reported that 246 Rakhines and 1589 Rohingyas were arrested
since violence, But it is regretted that Commission did not investigate how and why
these Rohingyas had been arrested and also it did not say anything about the jail
killing, the squalid condition and inhuman and degrading treatment and torture of the
Rohingya inmates .
21. The Commission’s recommendations to double the security forces and take effective
measures to prevent so-called illegal immigrants from Bangladesh is just a false
alarm intended to distract attention from the main issue of Rohingya genocide. For
the Rohingyas, increase in armed and security forces means increased crimes against
humanity against them. It is important that repressive functionaries should not be
augmented if they do not maintain law and order situation to ensure security, justice
and equality without discrimination.
22. There are no Rohingya illegal immigrants in Arakan, which has long been a big hell
and concentration camp for the Muslims. In fact, Rohingyas have been systematically
expelled or have had to leave their homeland since 1942 Muslim massacre in Arakan.
In contrast, tens of thousands of illegal Bengali Rakhine Buddhists are regularly
invited and settled down on the confiscated lands of the Rohingyas. The whole
northern Arakan is now dotted with Buddhist settler villages. But the Commission is
silent about it.
23. However, we welcome some forward-thinking recommendations, including
recommendations to address the dire humanitarian situation in Muslim displacement
camps provided that they are truly, humanely, immediately and timely implemented.
24. Last but not least, we call for an immediate UN Enquiry Commission to conduct a
prompt, full and impartial investigation of all allegations and take appropriate action
against those responsible.
Signatories to this joint statement:
1. Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO)
2. Burmese Rohingya Organisation United Kingdom (BROUK)
3. Burmese Rohingya Association Japan (BRAJ)
4. Burmese Rohingya Community in Australia (BRCA)
5. Burmese Rohingya Association Deutschland (BRAD)
6. Burmese Rohingya Community in Denmark (BRCD)
7. Burmese Rohingya Community in Netherlands (BRCNL)
8. Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT)
9. Rohingya Community in Norway (RCN)
10. Rohingya Society Malaysia (RSM)
For more information, please contact:
Tun Khin: + 44 788 871 4866
Nay San Lwin + 49 179 653 5213
Ethnic Rakhine civilians wander through a destroyed mosque in the
Myanmar town of Pauktaw, two weeks after Rohingya Muslims were forced to
flee the town in October. A Myanmar government commission investigating
sectarian violence in the country's west last year has proposed to
bolster security forces and introduce family planning programs to stem
population growth among minority Muslims. (AP Photo)
with the blessing of Thein Sen and Suu Kyi.
This atrocities will continue.
We need more UN presence.
We are very much confused why racist Army Monk Wirathu and his followers are not yet arrested . We are also surprised why the master minder of Arakan genocide Dr Aye Maung and all his racist RNDP followers are not yet book for the trail .
The Thien Sein and his ally must take full responsibility for genocide.I’m clearly saying that this is not the war between Buddhist and Islam .This’s Thien Sein government one sided war against the Rohingyas,Muslim and some Ethnics.
The majority respectable Buddhist Monks and peaceful loving Burmese people must resist the Army Regime collaborator Monks and ifs racist followers . We can’t let these racist group go further. Please stand against them .
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