"Recent violence in Myanmar between Buddhists and Muslims in the central town of Meikhtila (also spelt Meiktila) and areas beyond, which has left a reported 43 people dead, as many as 12,000 displaced, and more than 1,000 homes and building destroyed, has raised concerns over the stability of the country?s current democratic transition and the imposition of martial law in the troubled area has raised the specter of a return to direct military rule. The communal riots of the past year in Myanmar?s western Rakhine State between Buddhist Rakhines and Muslim Rohingyas have now expanded into a broader Buddhist versus Muslim framing that has spread dangerously across the country. Buddhist campaigns against Muslims, such as the increasingly visible Buddhist nationalist ??969?? movement, seem to have inflamed tensions in Meikhtila and prompted outside observers to worry about the role of monks in encouraging discrimination and even violence against Myanmar?s minority Muslim population. [1] While Buddhist nationalism has long had the potential to be turned against non-Buddhist groups, Buddhism?s influence on politics and public opinion requires careful analysis in Myanmar?s contemporary context..."