Inter-Communal violence and discrimination - Myanmar - General articles and analysis

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Title: Burmese Junta kills Muslims in Yangon and Arson Attacks Mosque in Sagaing
Description: "20 May 2022 - London/Yangon - The Burmese military has increased its attacks on marginalised minorities throughout the country since the coup in February 2021. These incidents escalated yet again on 20 May when the Burmese army set fire to the homes and mosque in Innywa Village, Kathar District, Northern Sagaing Region. A Muslim girl (Sofia) and her uncle were shot and killed by Junta’s thugs (ThwayThaut) in Yangon in a separate event. One other person was injured in the incident. BHRN calls on all nations to heed these warnings of another potential mass atrocities in Myanmar before it happens. “The world cannot sit idly by and allow further atrocities in Burma. What happened to the Rohingya will happen to any minority mainly Muslims and Christians minorities. The efforts by the international community so far have not altered the Junta’s course or stopped them from attacking civilians. If the world put only a fraction of the effort into Burma that they have into Ukraine, we can avert these atrocities,” said BHRN’s Executive Director, Kyaw Win. The Burmese military frequently uses arson attacks on minority areas. The intentional killing of civilians is unacceptable and targeting anyone for their religious and ethnic background is especially atrocious. Similarly, civilians have regularly been shot arbitrarily by the military in areas where no conflict or armed groups are present. BHRN calls on the international community to increase the severity of sanctions on Burma, emphasizing all enterprises that the military directly profits from, particularly their energy sector. All nations must establish a global arms embargo to prevent the military from resupplying weapons that they will use to harm and kill innocent civilians. The crisis in Ukraine has shown the power the world has when it chooses to act, we must be willing to do the same for Burma. BHRN calls on the world to completely sanction all of the Burmese military’s assets and endeavours, particularly the gas and oil sector. A complete arms embargo must be launched against the Junta and they must be ostracised from the world stage. As long as the fascist military continue to exist in power the threat of mass atrocities against the religious and ethnic minorities is highly likely to take place again in Burma. Simultaneously, the National Unity Government must also recognise it as genocide and stop avoiding using the term “genocide”. The world has taken great measures to stand up to the cruelty of dictators and warlords around the world. It must finally do the same for the people of Burma. Organisation’s Background BHRN is based in London and operates across Burma/Myanmar working for human rights, minority rights and religious freedom in the country. BHRN has played a crucial role in advocating for human rights and religious freedom with politicians and world leaders..."
Source/publisher: Burma Human Rights Network
Date of publication: 2022-05-20
Date of entry/update: 2022-05-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: 2022 Annual Report Full Version of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Description: "The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has monitored and reported on religious freedom conditions in Afghanistan for more than two decades, but 2021 was particularly difficult. Following U.S. withdrawal from the country, the Taliban took control on August 15, 2021. The Taliban’s victory was calamitous for many reasons, including the detrimental effect it had on religious freedom. USCIRF has long raised concern that the Taliban’s brutal application of its extremist interpretation of Sunni Islam violates the freedom of religion or belief of all Afghans who do not adhere to that interpretation, including Muslims and adherents of other faiths or beliefs. With the Taliban’s return to power, religious freedom conditions in Afghanistan, and the overall human rights situation, significantly deteriorated in 2021. Religious minorities faced harassment, detention, and even death due to their faith or beliefs. The one known Jew and most Hindus and Sikhs fled the country. Christian converts, Baha’is, and Ahmadiyya Muslims practiced their faith in hiding due to fear of reprisal and threats from the Taliban. Years of progress toward more equitable access to education and representation of women and girls disappeared. Throughout 2021, USCIRF consistently called attention to the escalating persecution of religious minorities in the country, including in two virtual events, two podcast episodes, and a factsheet. Given the sharp decline in religious freedom conditions witnessed in the country in 2021, USCIRF recommends in this Annual Report that the U.S. Department of State designate Afghanistan under the Taliban’s de facto government as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA). The last such recommendation by USCIRF was in 2001, right before the ousting of the previous Taliban regime that controlled most of the country starting in 1996. Even before its return to power, the Taliban presented a grave threat to religious freedom, including in 2020 and the first half of 2021. The group committed violent attacks, excluded religious minorities, and punished residents in areas under their control in accordance with their extreme interpretation of Islam. The government of Afghanistan, under then President Ashraf Ghani, faced difficulties maintaining territorial control and security, impacting the safety of religious minority communities. Given these conditions, USCIRF in its 2021 Annual Report recommended that the Taliban be designated as an “entity of particular concern” (EPC) under IRFA and that Afghanistan be placed on the State Department’s Special Watch List (SWL), a lesser category than CPC. The State Department has designated the Taliban as an EPC every year since its first set of EPC designations in 2018, most recently in November 2021. The State Department caveated that this designation was based on information analyzed as of August 15, 2021, before the Taliban’s takeover as the de facto governing authority. The crisis in Afghanistan should serve as a collective call to action to ensure the protection of the most vulnerable religious communities around the globe. Beyond Afghanistan, this report sounds the alarm regarding the deterioration of religious freedom conditions in a range of other countries and provides policy recommendations to the U.S. government to respond to violations occurring in these places. This year, these countries include the Central African Republic (CAR), which USCIRF removed from last year’s annual report following improvements in religious freedom conditions, after previously reporting on the country since 2015. During 2021, Central African authorities and their partners committed egregious and ongoing violations of religious freedom in CAR—including targeted abductions, torture, and killings of Muslims—which led USCIRF to reinstate its recommendation to place CAR on the SWL. USCIRF is also concerned about the potential for backsliding in countries that did not meet the CPC or SWL standard this year, particularly Sudan, where the October 2021 military takeover threatens recent advancements in religious freedom protections made by the civilian-led transitional government. USCIRF continues to monitor the situation in Sudan closely. In all contexts where the freedom of religion or belief is violated or under threat, we urge the U.S. government to actively promote this fundamental right and protect persecuted religious communities. About This Report Created by IRFA, USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. government advisory body, separate from the U.S. Department of State, that monitors and reports on religious freedom abroad and makes policy recommendations to the president, secretary of state, and Congress. USCIRF bases these recommendations on the provisions of its authorizing legislation and the standards in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and other international documents. USCIRF’s mandate and annual reports are different from, and complementary to, the mandate and annual reports of the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom. USCIRF’s 2022 Annual Report assesses religious freedom violations and progress in 27 countries during calendar year 2021 and makes independent recommendations for U.S. policy. The key findings, recommendations, and analysis in this report are based on a year’s research by USCIRF, including hearings, meetings, and briefings, and are approved by a majority vote of Commissioners. Under the statute, each Commissioner has the option to include a statement with his or her own individual views. Although USCIRF was not able to travel in 2021 to observe religious freedom conditions abroad due to the coronavirus pandemic, USCIRF was able to meet virtually with various stakeholders to further substantiate reports received throughout the year. The report’s primary focus is on two groups of countries: first, those that USCIRF recommends the State Department should designate as CPCs under IRFA, and second, those that USCIRF recommends the State Department should place on its SWL. The report also includes USCIRF’s recommendations of nonstate actors for designation by the State Department as EPCs under IRFA. In addition, the report analyzes the U.S. government’s implementation of IRFA during the reporting year and provides recommendations to bolster overall U.S. efforts to advance freedom of religion or belief abroad. It also includes a section discussing key trends and developments in religious freedom globally during the reporting period, including in countries that are not recommended for CPC or SWL status. This year, that section covers topics including the COVID19 pandemic and religious freedom, blasphemy and hate speech law enforcement, transnational repression of religious freedom, religious intolerance in Europe, deterioration of religious freedom conditions in South Asia, and political upheaval raising religious freedom concerns. Finally, the report’s last section highlights key USCIRF recommendations that the U.S. government has implemented since USCIRF’s previous annual report. In this report, USCIRF uses the terms “religious freedom,” “freedom of religion,” and “freedom of religion or belief” interchangeably to refer to the broad right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief—including the right to nonbelief—protected under international human rights law. Standards for CPC, SWL, and EPC Recommendations IRFA defines CPCs as countries where the government engages in or tolerates “particularly severe” violations of religious freedom. It defines the State Department’s SWL for countries where the government engages in or tolerates “severe” violations of religious freedom. Under IRFA, particularly severe violations of religious freedom mean “systematic, ongoing, [and] egregious violations . . . , including violations such as—(A) torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; (B) prolonged detention without charges; (C) causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction or clandestine detention of those persons; or (D) other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons.” Although the statute does not specifically define severe violations of religious freedom, in making SWL recommendations USCIRF interprets it to mean violations that meet two of the elements of IRFA’s systematic, ongoing, and egregious standard (i.e., that the violations are systematic and ongoing, systematic and egregious, or ongoing and egregious). To meet the legal standard for designation as an EPC, a nonstate group must engage in particularly severe violations of religious freedom, as defined above, and must also be “a nonsovereign entity that exercises significant political power and territorial control; is outside the control of a sovereign government; and often employs violence in pursuit of its objectives.” The Annual Report highlights the countries and entities that, in USCIRF’s view, merit CPC, SWL, or EPC designation; it is intended to focus U.S. policymakers’ attention on the worst violators of religious freedom globally. The fact that a country or nonstate group is not covered in this report does not mean it did not violate religious freedom during the reporting year. It only means that based on the information available to USCIRF, the conditions during that year did not, in USCIRF’s view, meet the high threshold— the perpetration or toleration of particularly severe or severe violations of religious freedom—required to recommend the country or nonstate group for CPC, SWL, or EPC designation. In the case of a nonstate group, it also could mean that the group did not meet other statutory requirements, such as exercising significant political power and territorial control. USCIRF monitors and has concerns about religious freedom conditions abroad, including violations of freedom of religion or belief perpetrated or tolerated by governments and entities not covered in this report. The full range of USCIRF’s work on a wide variety of countries and topics can be found at www.uscirf.gov. USCIRF’s 2022 CPC, SWL, and EPC Recommendations For 2022, based on religious freedom conditions in 2021, USCIRF recommends that the State Department: • Redesignate as CPCs the following 10 countries: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan; • Designate as additional CPCs the following five countries: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, Syria, and Vietnam; • Maintain on the SWL the following three countries: Algeria, Cuba, and Nicaragua; • Include on the SWL the following nine countries: Azerbaijan, CAR, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Turkey, and Uzbekistan; • Redesignate as EPCs the following seven nonstate actors: al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, the Houthis, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP) (also referred to as ISIS-West Africa), and Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM). The conditions supporting the CPC or SWL recommendation for each country are described in the relevant country chapters of this report. The conditions supporting the EPC recommendations for Boko Haram and ISWAP are described in the Nigeria chapter and for HTS in the Syria chapter. For al-Shabaab, the Houthis, ISGS, and JNIM, the EPC recommendations are based on the following conditions: Although al-Shabaab’s territorial control continued to shrink, the group actively operated in the southern and southcentral regions of Somalia in 2021. The terrorist group carried out a series of deadly attacks in Somalia and in neighboring Kenya against both Muslims and non-Muslims. Reportedly, the group carried out amputations, floggings, and executions of Muslims who disagreed with its interpretation of Sunni Islam. In Lamu County, Kenya, a priest reported that the group attacked Christians and destroyed a church. In 2021, the Houthi movement, formally known as Ansar Allah, expanded its territorial holdings throughout Yemen. In March 2021, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi accused the United States of “seeking to establish Baha’i, Ahmadiyya and atheist [communities] in Yemen in order to undermine Islam.” The group forced Yemenis living in Houthi-controlled areas to take indoctrination “trainings,” even when these trainings were contrary to their religious beliefs. Prison officials also forced detainees to take Islamic religious trainings as a condition for their release, even when the detainees were not Muslim. The group’s slogan, posted widely throughout Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, includes the phrase “a curse on the Jews,” and the tiny remaining Jewish community faced ongoing and severe repression from Houthi authorities. Houthi authorities continued to detain Jewish prisoner of conscience Libi Marhabi despite a court order for his release. Houthi authorities also continued to prosecute Baha’is released from prison in 2020 and blocked Baha’i bank accounts in March 2021. Christians, especially converts, were also persecuted by Houthi authorities. In 2021, Houthi authorities detained two Christian convert priests and arrested a Christian man on charges of apostasy and promoting Christianity. In 2021, militant Islamist groups ISGS and JNIM continued to control territory in parts of Mali and Niger. While reporting during the calendar year is sparse, these groups likely continued trends of executing individuals with differing religious beliefs, restricting religious practice and preaching, and imposing harsh punishments based on a singular interpretation of Islamic law. Violations of Human Rights on the Basis of Religion USCIRF’s mission is to advance international freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) by independently assessing and unflinchingly confronting threats to this fundamental right. Within this conception, USCIRF is committed to addressing human rights violations perpetrated based on the coercive enforcement of interpretations of religion and has done so since it was created by Congress in 1998. USCIRF fulfills this commitment through its reporting, advocacy, and policy recommendations to the president, secretary of state, and Congress. Some foreign governments enforce laws and policies that permit or condone violations of human rights of minority groups and other vulnerable communities on the basis of religion. Under international human rights law, however, religion is not a legitimate justification for egregiously violating individuals’ fundamental rights. As explained by the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee—the body of independent experts charged with interpreting provisions of the ICCPR—the existence of a state or majority religion cannot result in the impairment of the rights of individuals under the ICCPR. International law requires states to respect FoRB and other human rights for everyone, equally. Thus, states must not coercively enforce religious interpretations on individuals or communities who do not adhere to those interpretations. Individuals and religious communities enjoy the right to hold and follow diverse views on religious precepts free from government interference. Governments are accountable to international human rights standards guaranteeing FoRB and other fundamental human rights to all. To that end, USCIRF has provided qualitative and quantitative information in its annual reports, publications, and other work (see Appendix 4) highlighting problematic laws and policies of foreign countries that permit or condone violations of human rights of minority groups and other vulnerable communities on the basis of religion. Some of USCIRF’s key recent activities on this topic are discussed below. Throughout 2021, USCIRF published products and held public events that provide examples of states’ abuses of human rights on the basis of religion. USCIRF’s Country Update: Iran, released in August 2021, detailed how the Iranian government uses religion as a basis for violating the rights of its citizens, including by executing members of its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community. USCIRF’s September 2021 Country Update: Saudi Arabia described Saudi authorities’ enforcement of the government’s interpretation of Sunni Islam and the country’s guardianship system, which severely limits women’s rights. These themes were further explored in USCIRF’s December 2021 hearing on “State-Sanctioned Religious Freedom Violations and Coercion by Saudi Arabia and Iran.” Additionally, USCIRF released a factsheet on Religious Minorities in Afghanistan in October 2021, outlining the Taliban’s imposition of its strict interpretation of Sunni Islam that violates the freedom of religion or belief of Afghanistan’s religious minorities and others who do not share the same religious beliefs. USCIRF further highlighted the impact of the coercive application of these beliefs on religious minorities and other vulnerable Afghans during the “USCIRF Conversation: Update on At-Risk Religious Communities in Afghanistan” event held in October 2021. Also in October, USCIRF released a factsheet on Religious Freedom Violations in the Republic of Chechnya describing how the Chechen dictatorship maintains hegemony through the imposition of a purported “traditional” version of Islam, including by conducting violent purges of the LGBTI community and witch hunts that often target elderly women. In November 2021, USCIRF published Country Update: Malaysia addressing how the implementation of religion-based law in Malaysia’s dual court system can violate religious freedom and related rights. In this report, USCIRF details the use of these religious laws to target members of vulnerable groups, such as Malaysia’s Muslim LGBTI community. USCIRF also conducted research on the coercive enforcement of interpretations of religion by nonstate actors, particularly EPCs. In November 2021, USCIRF published a report on EPCs and Religious Freedom, which outlines the human rights responsibilities of EPCs and other armed nonstate actors. USCIRF also released reports on Violent Islamist Groups in the Central Sahel and Violent Islamist Groups in Northern Nigeria, which address the imposition of a strict interpretation of Shari’a by EPCs and other violent Islamist groups in these areas and its impact on human rights. USCIRF continued to highlight the ways in which the enforcement of blasphemy or apostasy laws, which are based on religious interpretations, undermines human rights—including freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression—and often targets vulnerable religious and other communities. Commission reports on this topic published in 2021 include Country Update: Egypt, Factsheet on Religious Freedom Violations in Kano State, Nigeria, and Factsheet on Ahmadiyya Muslims. At the end of 2021, USCIRF’s FoRB Victims List showcased 73 victims targeted under blasphemy or apostasy laws. USCIRF’s 2021 work on other problematic laws based on religious interpretations included the March factsheet on The Use of Shari’a as Religious Justification for Capital Punishment against LGBTI Persons discussing how such laws violate the human dignity and rights of LGBTI persons and embolden societal hostility, discrimination, and violence against them. In addition to the work described above, USCIRF also raises awareness on these issues through its public hearings, briefings, and other events, which seek to highlight the Commission’s research and recommendations and showcase diverse panelists offering a variety of perspectives. In May 2021, for example, USCIRF hosted an event with Nasreldin Mufrih, Sudan’s then Minister of Religious Affairs, where he provided an update on how the country’s transitional government was addressing the previous regime’s violations of human rights based on religion. These efforts were further discussed in USCIRF’s Policy Update on Sudan, released in November 2021. In February, a USCIRF event focused on ways the U.S. government can protect and assist refugees and asylum seekers, including those fleeing the coercive enforcement of religion. During 2021, USCIRF’s podcast series, Spotlight, offered in-depth analysis about developments that have implications for religious freedom and other human rights. Examples of episodes that discuss the official imposition of religious norms include Pakistan’s Laws that Enable Islamist Extremism, Hazara Community Threatened in Afghanistan, Enforcing Blasphemy Laws Have Dire Consequences, Religious Restrictions in Iran, and Governments Using Shari’a to Impose Death Sentences on LGBTI Persons. Information on all of USCIRF’s activities can be found at https://www.uscirf.gov/..."
Source/publisher: The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Date of publication: 2022-04-26
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf
Size: 6.63 MB (Original Post) - 100 pages
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Title: အီးဒ်ပွဲတော်နေ့ကျင်းပခြင်းနှင့် ပတ်သက်၍ မွတ်စလင်လူထုသို့ မေတ္တာရပ်ခံချက်
Description: "မြန်မာစစ်တပ်သည် ဆယ်စုနှစ်ပေါင်းများစွာ တိုင်းရင်းသား လူမျိုးစုများအပေါ် လူ့အခွင့်အရေး ချိုးဖောက်မှုများ ဆိုးရွားစွာ ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သည့်အပြင် ပြည်တွင်းစစ်များတွင် စစ်ရာဇဝတ်မှုမြောက်သည်အထိ ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့ကြောင်း ကုလသမဂ္ဂနှင့် ပြည်တွင်း၊ ပြည်ပ သုတေသနမှတ်တမ်းများအရ သိရှိရသည်။ ရိုဟင်ဂျာနှင့် မွတ်စလင်များကိုလည်း စစ်တပ်သည် မူဝါဒချမှတ်၍ စနစ်တကျ မဟာဗျူဟာမြောက် နည်းလမ်းများသုံးပြီး Genocide ကို အဆင့်ဆင့်ကျူးလွန်နေကြောင်း BHRN က မှတ်တမ်းတင်ထားသော သုတေသန အချက်အလက်များအရ လည်းကောင်း၊ နိုင်ငံတကာအဖွဲ့အစည်းများနှင့် အမေရိကန် နိုင်ငံခြားရေး ဝန်ကြီးဌာန က ထုတ်ပြန်ထားသော မှတ်တမ်းများအရ လည်းကောင်း တွေ့ရှိရသည်။ ၎င်း ရိုဟင်ဂျာနှင့် မွတ်စလင်ဆန့်ကျင်ရေး မူဝါဒများကို အလွယ်တကူ အကောင်အထည်ဖော်နိုင်ရန်နှင့် အဆင့်ဆင့် အောင်မြင်အောင် အကောင်အထည်ဖော်နိုင်ရန် အစ္စလာမ်မိုဖိုးဘီးယား အစ္စလာမ်ကြောက် ရောဂါကို မြန်မာပြည်သူလူထုကြားသို့ ဆယ်စုနှစ်များစွာကတည်းက ဖြန့်ကျက်ထားသည်။ မွတ်စလင်များသည် တိုင်းပြည်၏အချုပ်အခြာအာဏာကို တိုက်ရိုက်ထိပါးနေသော အန္တရာယ်အဖြစ် လည်းကောင်း၊ အမျိုး၊ ဘာသာ၊ သာသနာကို ဖျက်ဆီးမည့် ဓမ္မန္တရာယ်အဖြစ်လည်းကောင်း၊ အမုန်းစကားများကို နိုင်ငံတဝန်းရှိ ပြည်သူများသို့ နည်းလမ်းပေါင်းစုံ အသုံးပြု၍ လှည်းနေလှေအောင်း၊ မြင်းဇောင်းမကျန် ပျံ့နှံ့စေခဲ့သည်။ မျိုးဆက်နှင့်ချီ၍ ဖြန့်ဝေခဲ့သော အမုန်းတရားများသည် မြန်မာပြည်သူများ၏ ရင်ထဲ၊ အသည်းထဲတွင် စွဲမြဲစွာ ကိန်းအောင်း လာချိန်တွင် အမျိုးမပျောက်စေရန် ကာကွယ်ရန် နည်းလမ်းများဟူ၍ လူထုလှု့ံဆော်မှုများ ပြုလုပ်ခဲ့သည်။ ယင်းနောက် ဘာသာရေးအကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ၊ နယ်မြေရှင်းလင်းရေးများအထိ ပြုလုပ်လာခဲ့ပြီး ယင်းလုပ် ဆောင်ချက်များသည် တိုင်းပြည်လုံခြုံရေးနှင့် အမျိုးဘာသာသာသနာအတွက် ပြုလုပ်ခြင်းဖြစ်၍ တရားကြောင်း ပြည်သူလူထုအား လှည့်စားခဲ့သည်။ အာဏာသိမ်းပြီးနောက် ဖွဲ့စည်းခဲ့သော စစ်ကောင်စီသည် လူထုတော်လှန်ရေးနှင့် ပြည်သူ့ကာကွယ်ရေး လုပ်ငန်းစဉ်များကြောင့် အုပ်ချုပ်ရေးယန္တရား မလည်ပတ်နိုင်ဘဲ ပိုမိုကြပ်တည်းသောအခြေအနေများဖြင့်သာ ရင်ဆိုင်နေရသည်။ နိုင်ငံတကာ အသိအမှတ်ပြုမှုမရှိဘဲ အာဏာသိမ်းအကြမ်းဖက်အဖွဲ့အဖြစ်သာ နိုင်ငံတကာ မျက်နှာစာတွင် သတ်မှတ်ခံထားရသည်။ အရက်စက်အကြမ်းကြုတ်ဆုံးနည်းများသုံး၍ ပြည်သူလူထုအား အကြောက်တရားဖြင့် ထိန်းချုပ်သော်လည်း အများပြည်သူလူထုမှာ ပြည်သူ့ကာကွယ်ရေးအဖွဲ့များနှင့် စစ်အာဏာရှင် ဆန့်ကျင်ရေး လှုပ်ရှားမှုများကို ပိုမိုထောက်ခံအားပေးနေသောကြောင့် စစ်ကောင်စီမှာ အုပ်ချုပ် ရေးယန္တရားပင် မလည်ပတ်နိုင်ဘဲ ကဏ္ဍအသီးသီးတွင် အထွေထွေအကြပ်အတည်းနှင့် ရင်ဆိုင်နေရသည်။ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်က ၂၀၁၇ ခုနှစ်တွင် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်အတွင်း ရိုဟင်ဂျာလူမျိုးသုန်းသတ်ဖြတ်မှု ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့ကြောင်း အမေရိကန်အစိုးရက ကြေညာခြင်းနှင့် နိုင်ငံတကာက ပိတ်စို့အရေးယူမှုများကြောင့်လည်း စစ်ကောင်စီသည် အဖက်ဖက်မှ ထွက်ပေါက်ပိတ်လာခဲ့သည်။ ထိုသို့သော အခြေအနေတွင် မွတ်စလင်လူထုကို ဥပဒေဘောင်ပြင်ပမှ လုပ်ပိုင်ခွင့်များပေး၍ စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ ယန္တရားများ လည်ပတ်စေရန် လုပ်ဆောင်လာသည်များကိုလည်း ဝမ်းနည်းစွာ တွေ့ရှိရသည်။ ဘာသာရေးလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်နှင့် ကန့်သတ်ထားမှုများ ဖြေလျော့သယောင် သွားလာလှုပ်ရှားမှုများကို ခွင့်ပြုပေးပြီး ဗလီဝတ်ကျောင်းတော်တွင်း ဥပုသ်ကာလ စုပေါင်းဝါဖြေမှုများတွင် စစ်ကောင်စီ တိုင်းမှူးများလာရောက်၍ ဗလီ ဝတ်ကျောင်းတော်ပိုင် စားဖွယ်ပစ္စည်းများကို စစ်ကောင်စီက ၄င်းတို့ အလှုပစ္စည်းများ သွားရောက်ဝေငှသည်ဟု မီဒီယာများတွင် အရှက်မဲ့စွာ လိမ်လည်ဖော်ပြခဲ့သည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ ယင်းလုပ်ဆောင်ချက်များသည် လူထုအတွင်း ပုံမှန်လည်ပတ်နေသည်ဟု ထင်ယောင်ထင်မှားဖြစ်စေရန် လိမ်လည်လှည့်စားမှု တစ်ရပ်အဖြစ်လည်းကောင်း၊ ပြည်သူတစ်ရပ်လုံးမှ ၎င်းတို့အာဏာသိမ်းမှုအား ဆန့်ကျင်လှုပ်ရှားမှုများ ပြုလုပ်နေချိန် မွတ်စလင်များ ပုံမှန်လည်ပတ်နေသည်ဟု ယုံမှားစေရန် ဖန်တီးလုပ်ဆောင်မှုများအဖြစ် BHRN က ရှုမြင်သည်။ ၂၀၂၀ ခုနှစ်တွင် ကိုဗစ်ကပ်ရောဂါကြောင့် လည်းကောင်း၊ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်တွင် အာဏာသိမ်း စစ်ကောင်စီ ၏ ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်မှုများကြောင့် လည်းကောင်း၊ မြန်မာပြည်သူများမှာ သမိုင်းတလျှောက်တွင် မကြုံခဲ့ဖူး သော ခက်ခဲကြပ်တည်း ကြမ်းတမ်းသော ကာလကို ဖြတ်သန်းခဲ့ရသည်။ ၂၀၂၁ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီ ၁ ရက် အာဏာသိမ်းမှုနောက်ပိုင်းတွင် နိုင်ငံတဝန်း စစ်အာဏာရှင် တော်လှန်ရေး လူထုလှုပ်ရှားမှုများ ပေါ်ပေါက်လာခဲ့ရာ ဒေသအသီးသီးက မွတ်စလင်ကျောင်းသား လူငယ်များသည်လည်း ကဏ္ဍအသီးသီးက ပါဝင်ခဲ့ကြသည်။ ၎င်းတို့သည် မည်သည့် ဘာသာရေး လူပုဂ္ဂိုလ်၊ အဖွဲ့အစည်း၏ အားပေး လှုံ့ဆော်မှုကြောင့် မဟုတ်ဘဲ စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့၏ မတရား ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ် ဖိနှိပ်မှုများကို မိမိတို့၏ နိုင်ငံရေးခံယူချက်အလျောက် အသက်စွန့်၍ တွန်းကန်တော်လှန်ခဲ့ကြသည်၊ တွန်းကန်တော်လှန်နေကြသည်။ ပြည်နယ်နှင့် တိုင်းအသီးသီးရှိ ပြည်သူ့ကာကွယ်ရေး လုပ်ငန်းစဉ်မျာတွင်လည်း တာဝန်ထမ်းဆောင်လျက် ရှိကြောင်း လေ့လာတွေ့ရှိရသည်။ ၂၀၂၂ တွင်လည်း တော်လှန်ရေး မြှင့်တင်လာမှုကြောင့် စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ ရက်စက်သတ်ဖြတ်မှုများကို ပြည်သူများ ကြံ့ကြံ့ခံဆက်လက် ရင်ဆိုင်နေရသည်။ မွတ်စလင် (၆၂) ဦးအပါအဝင် ပြည်သူ(၂၀၂၉)ဦး မတရား သတ်ဖြတ်ခံခဲ့ရပြီး AAPP စာရင်းအရ ပြည်သူပေါင်း (၁၀၂၉၀) ဦးကျော် ဖမ်းဆီးခံထားရသည်။ မြန်မာပြည်အနှံ့ အိုးအိမ်စွန့်ခွာ ပြည်သူလူထုမှာလည်း တစ်သန်းကျော် ရှိနေပြီဖြစ်သည်။ ယခုကဲ့သို့ တိုင်းပြည်အမှောင်အတိ ကျရောက်နေချိန်တွင် လူများစု ဗုဒ္ဓဘာသာဝင်များသည် ၄င်းတို့၏ ၁၂ ရာသီ ပွဲလမ်းသဘင်များကို လည်းကောင်း၊ အထွတ်အမြတ်ထားရာ သင်္ကြန်နှင့် နှစ်သစ်ကူးပွဲလမ်း သဘင်များကိုလည်းကောင်း ကျင်းပခြင်းမပြုလုပ်ကြကြောင်း တွေ့ရသည်။ ခရစ်ယာန်ဘာသာဝင်များ သည်လည်း ခရစ်စမတ်အပါအဝင် မည်သည့်ပွဲလမ်းသဘင်များမှ မကျင်းပဘဲ ဝတ်ပြုဆုတောင်းမှုများသာ ပြုလုပ်ခဲ့သည်။ ဟိန္ဒူနှင့် အခြားသော ကိုးကွယ်ယုံကြည်မှုများသည်လည်း ထိုနည်းလည်းကောင်း ပြုမူခဲ့သည်ကို တွေ့ရသည်။ မကြာခင်ကျရောက်မည့် အီးဒ်ပွဲတော်ကာလတွင်လည်း မွတ်စလင်ပြည်သူများအနေဖြင့် အခြား ဘာသာဝင်ညီနောင်များနှင့်အတူ ညီညွတ်စွာရပ်တည်ပြီး ပွဲလမ်းသဘင်များကို ရှောင်ရှားကာ ဝတ်ပြုဆုတောင်းမှုများကိုသာ ပြုလုပ်ပေးကြပါရန် BHRN က မေတ္တာရပ်ခံအပ်ပါသည်။ အဖွဲ့အစည်းနောက်ခံ +++++++++++ BHRN သည် ၂၀၁၂ ခုနှစ်တွင် တည်ထောင်ခဲ့ပြီး ၂၀၁၅ ခုနှစ်မှစတင်ကာ လူနည်းစုများအပေါ် ဖိနှိပ်ခွဲခြား ဆက်ဆံမှုများ၊ လူ့အခွင့်ရေးချိုးဖောက်ခံရမှုများ၊ ဘာသာရေးလွတ်လပ်ခွင့်ဆုံးရှုံးမှုများနှင့် စစ်တပ်၏ ညှင်းပမ်းဖိနှိပ်မှုများကို စောင့်ကြည့်လေ့လာမှတ်တမ်းတင်ခြင်း၊ သုတေသနတွေ့ရှိချက်များကို နိုင်ငံတကာ အစိုးရများနှင့် အဖွဲ့စည်းများထံသို့ တင်ပြပြီး စစ်တပ်ကိုထိရောက်စွာအရေးယူရန် နိုင်ငံတကာအဆင့် လှုပ်ရှားနေသော အဖွဲ့အစည်းတစ်ရပ်ဖြစ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: Burma Human Rights Network
Date of publication: 2022-04-25
Date of entry/update: 2022-04-25
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Title: Over 100 Religious Buildings Destroyed by Myanmar Regime Forces
Description: "The Myanmar military regime has destroyed more than 100 Buddhist and Christian religious buildings in resistance strongholds in the country’s northwest, heartland and southeast since the coup last year. Since late last year, the junta has conducted artillery and airstrikes on civilian areas in Chin State and Sagaing and Magwe regions, as well as in Kayah State. It has been facing strong resistance from local people in all those areas. The regime’s attacks on civilian targets in predominantly Buddhist and Christian areas haven’t spared religious buildings, in which people often taken shelter when clashes erupt. In predominantly Christian Chin State, nearly 35 churches and 15 affiliated buildings were destroyed in junta attacks between February 2021 and January 2022, according to the Chin Human Rights Organization. In mostly Christian Kayah State in southeastern Myanmar, about 12 churches were destroyed in the same period, the Karenni Human Rights Group said. In May last year, the regime forces’ continuous shelling of the Sacred Heart Church in Kayah State’s capital Loikaw killed four people taking shelter there, not to mention causing damage to the religious building. The junta’s claim that the building harbored resistance fighters was largely denied by people there. The attack prompted Myanmar’s Cardinal Charles Maung Bo to request that the regime refrain from targeting religious buildings. But the regime forces ignored the cardinal’s request, shelling one of the main churches in Kayah State’s Demoso Township, the Queen of Peace Church, on June 6. A Karenni Christian leader said the regime had shelled churches even during times when there was no fighting between junta and resistance forces. Sometime it attacked religious buildings located away from the combat areas, he said. “They are attacking the churches intentionally to suppress the spirit of Christian people by attacking their sacred churches. I condemn their bad intentions,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. Thantlang has been the worst-affected area in Chin State in Myanmar’s northwest, suffering artillery and arson attacks by the regime 26 times since September last year, forcing residents to desert the town. During the attacks, a Chin pastor was shot dead and his wedding ring cut from his finger by Myanmar junta soldiers when he went outside to help put out fires caused by the military’s shelling. Aerial pictures of the smoldering town with smoke snaking upward to the sky shocked the world. Three churches in the town caught on fire on Oct. 29 alone. On Nov. 1, Washington condemned the Myanmar junta’s horrific use of violence in Chin State. The targeting of churches in Kayah and Chin states reflects the regime’s frustration at not being able to assert control in the states despite almost 10 months of intense fighting against Karenni and Chin resistance fighters, during which the regime has resorted to using airstrikes and heavy weapons including artillery. Additionally, the regime’s forces—who have vowed to protect Buddhism—have destroyed and launched arson attacks on Buddhist monasteries, especially in Sagaing and Magwe regions, two strongholds of anti-regime armed resistance in Myanmar’s heartland. Based on media reports, at least 30 Buddhist monasteries in Sagaing Region and 20 in Magwe Region, which are predominantly Buddhist regions, have been destroyed, raided and looted by regime soldiers since April last year. During clearance operations in the areas where they suspect locals of harboring resistance forces, junta troops have used heavy weapons and conducted arson attacks on monasteries, as well as destroying property and stealing valuables while quartered in the buildings. Early this month, as many as six people died when the monastery they were sheltering in was shelled in Latpandaw Village in Sagaing Region’s Yinmabin Township. The same township suffered the regime’s brutality in late February when soldiers raided Chin Phone Village’s monastery and detained over 80 primary schoolchildren as human shields for 36 hours. “When the abbot of the monastery tried to negotiate with the regime forces, they pointed a gun at the monk and wouldn’t let him out of the monastery,” a villager recalled. The regime forces turned the Buddhist monastery into an interrogation center and tortured and killed nine people including a 19-year-old woman, and stole 50 million kyats donated to the monastery by villagers. U Waryama, a striking Buddhist monk and member of the Spring Revolution Sangha Network, said that while the regime made a lot of noise about protecting and promoting Buddhism, it never failed to show its true colors whenever its power was challenged. “They build pagodas and monasteries to show they are the guardians of Buddhism but will not hesitate to kill monks if they pose a threat to their power,” the monk said..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2022-03-28
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar Junta Burn Church and Homes During Operations in Chin State
Description: "Junta troops advancing from Sagaing Region to Chin State have been torching houses and a church along the Falam-Hakha road, forcing hundreds from their homes. More than 40 trucks carrying junta soldiers and an armored vehicle arrived in Falam on Wednesday and they torched houses and a church along the road to Hakha. At least six houses and a church in a village about 15km from Falam were reduced to ashes on Wednesday, according to the Chin Baptist Convention (CBC). Two more houses were burned down in another village the following day. According to the CBC and other sources, junta troops set ablaze at least 15 houses and a church on Wednesday and Thursday. “It was an indiscriminate attack on homes and religious buildings. People are devastated. They think it disregards and insults religion,” said the CBC chairman. The village that was torched on Wednesday has only around 40 inhabitants from 10 households. Another small village was torched on Thursday and all the residents have fled their homes. A junta deployment has entered northern Chin State and another from Magwe Region into the south of the mountainous state to attack Chin resistance forces. Chin resistance groups have ambushed junta troops entering the state. Around 300 residents from at least five roadside villages have fled the clashes, said the CBC chairman. Humanitarian aid cannot reach those displaced due to tightened road checks. “There is no one to help them as there is no guarantee for security on the road,” he said. A resident who fled to Hakha said: “I am sad that I might lose my house and all the belongings that I left behind. But life is the most important and I can do nothing.” Salai Htet Ni, a spokesman for the Chin National Front (CNF), said the regime was targeting the CNF headquarters as it works with the civilian National Unity Government to train and arm resistance fighters. “Clashes will intensify in Thantlang, Falam and Hakha in northern Chin State. We are prepared. We are working with the Chin Defense Forces to repel attacks,” Salai Htet Ni told The Irrawaddy. The CNF has negotiated with humanitarian agencies to enable civilians to take shelter on the Indian border, he said. The military regime has not commented on its Chin operations and did not reply to The Irrawaddy’s requests for a comment. In September, dozens of houses were destroyed in Thantlang by junta shelling and firefights with the combined Chinland Defense Force in Thantlang and Chin National Army. A Chin pastor Cung Biak Hum was shot dead by junta forces during a clash with the resistance in Thantlang on September 18. The Christian leader left his church to help put out fires caused by a junta artillery barrage. His wedding ring was taken by junta soldiers who cut his finger off..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2021-10-15
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Statement on Terrorism by the Military Council in Thantlang Township - ထန်ထလန်မြို့နယ်အတွင်း စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်၏ အကြမ်းဖက်လုပ်ရပ်များအပေါ် သဘောထား ထုတ်ပြန်ချက်
Description: "ထန်ထလန်မြို့နယ်အတွင်း စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်၏ အကြမ်းဖက်လုပ်ရပ်များအပေါ် သဘောထား ထုတ်ပြန်ချက် ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်၊ စက်တင်ဘာလ (၂၂) ရက် ချင်းရေးရာအဖွဲ့ချုပ်သည် စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်၏ အကြမ်းဖက်ပစ်ခတ်မှုများကြောင့် စစ်ဘေး ဒဏ်နှင့် ကြီးမားသော ဆုံးရှုံးမှု ခံစားနေရသည့် ထန်တလန်ပြည်သူများနှင့်အတူ ထပ်တူထပ်မျှ ဝမ်းနည်းကြေကွဲရပါသည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်သည် ထန်ထလန်မြို့နယ်အတွင်းရှိ လူနေအိမ်များနှင့် ပြည်သူများအပေါ် အကြမ်းဖက်တိုက်ခိုက်မှုကို ရည်ရွယ်ချက်ရှိရှိ ကျူးလွန်နေကြောင်း ထင်ရှားနေပါသည်။ ဩဂုတ်လ (၂၅) ရက်နေ့တွင် စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်မှ ထန်တလန်မြို့တွင်းသို့ လက်နက်ကြီးများဖြင့် ရမ်းကားပစ်ခတ်မှုကြောင့် နေအိမ်ထဲတွင် ပုန်းခိုနေသည့် (၁၀) နှစ်အရွယ် ကလေး ကျည်ထိမှန် သေဆုံးခဲ့ရပြီး ပြည်သူ (၉) ဦး ဒဏ်ရာရရှိခဲ့သည်။ နေအိမ်အများအပြား ကျည်ထိမှန် ပျက်စီးခဲ့သည်။ ဩဂုတ်လ (၂၇) ရက်နေ့တွင် စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်မှ ပစ်ခတ်သည့် မပေါက်ကွဲဘဲ ကျန်နေသည့် လက်နက်ကြီးကျည်ဆံအား နေအိမ်မှ ဖယ်ရှားရန် ကြိုးစားရာမှ ပေါက်ကွဲမှု ဖြစ်ခဲ့ကာ အိမ်ရှင် ဖြစ်သူနှင့် (၁၄) နှစ်အရွယ် သားဖြစ်သူ သေဆုံးခဲ့ပြီး ပြည်သူ (၁၁) ဦး ပြင်းထန်စွာ ဒဏ်ရာရရှိခဲ့သည်။ စက်တင်ဘာလ (၉) ရက်နေ့ မွန်းလွဲပိုင်းတွင် စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်၏ မြို့တွင်းစစ်ဆေးမှုများကြောင့် ပစ်ခတ်မှုဖြစ်ပွားရာ ထန်တလန်မြို့ အမှတ် (၂) ရပ်ကွက်မှ နေအိမ် (၁) လုံး မီးလောင်ပြီး၊ Thantlang Baptist Church (TBC) ဘုရားကျောင်း အဆောက်အအုံခေါင်မိုးများ ကျည်ထိခဲ့ ရသည်။ ထို့အပြင် (၉) လအရွယ်ကလေးငယ်၊ ၁၅ နှစ်အရွယ် မိန်းကလေးတစ်ဦး၊ (၂၃) နှစ်နှင့် (၅၅) နှစ်အရွယ် အမျိုးသမီးနှစ်ဦး စုစုပေါင်း ပြည်သူ (၄) ဦးလည်း ကျည်ထိဒဏ်ရာရရှိခဲ့သည်။ စက်တင်ဘာ (၁၀) ရက်နေ့တွင် လုံလဲရ်ကျေးရွာရှိ စစ်ကောင်စီစခန်းအနီးတိုက်ပွဲတွင် စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်မှ တိုက်လေယာဉ်အသုံးပြုကာ လုံလဲရ်ကျေးရွာအပေါ် ဗုံးကြဲတိုက်ခိုက်ခဲ့ရာ နေအိမ် (၃၄) အိမ်ခန့် ဗုံးဒဏ်သင့်ခဲ့ရပြီး Methodist Church၊COTR (Church on The Rock) နှင့် Baptist Library အဆောက်အအုံများ ပျက်စီးခဲ့ရသည်။ စက်တင်ဘာ (၁၄) ရက်တွင် စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်မှ လက်နက်ကြီး ပစ်ခတ်မှုကြောင့် ထန်တလန်မြို့ ရှိ Johnson Memorial Baptist Church (JMBC) ဘုရားကျောင်းအမိုးများနှင့် ပြတင်း ပေါက်များ ပျက်စီးခဲ့သည်။ စက်တင်ဘာ (၁၈) ရက်နေ့တွင် စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်မှ မြို့တွင်းသို့ လက်နက်ကြီးများဖြင့် ပစ်ခတ် တိုက်ခိုက်မှုကြောင့် အစိုးရအဆောက်အအုံအပါအဝင် လူနေ အိမ် (၁၉) ခန့် မီးလောင်ကျွမ်း ခဲ့ရသည်။ မီးလောင်ဆုံးရှုံးမှုတန်ဖိုးမှာ ကျပ်သိန်း နှစ်ထောင်မှ သုံးထောင်ဝန်းကျင်ခန့်ရှိကြောင်း သိရှိရပါသည်။ ထို့အပြင် မီးငြိမ်းသတ်ရန် ရောက်လာသည့် ခရစ်ယာန် ဓမ္မဆရာ Pastor Cung Biak Hum အား စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်မှ ပစ်ခတ်ကာ လက်သူကြွယ်ဖြတ်ပြီး လက်ထပ်လက်စွပ်၊ ဖုန်းနှင့် နာရီတို့ကိုပါ ခိုးယူခဲ့သည်။ ထိုသို့ စစ်ကောင်စီတပ်၏ ကျေးရွာလူနေအိမ်များအပေါ် တိုက်လေယာဉ်အသုံးပြု၍ ဗုံးကြဲ တိုက်ခိုက်ခြင်း၊ ဘာသာရေးအဆောက်အအုံများအား ပစ်မှတ်ထား တိုက်ခိုက်ခြင်း၊ မြို့ပေါ်လူနေ အိမ်များအတွင်း လက်နက်ကြီးများဖြင့် ရမ်းကားပစ်ခတ်ခြင်းတို့သည် စစ်ပွဲဆိုင်ရာကျင့်ဝတ် များကိုဖောက်ဖျက်ပြီး လူသားမျိုးနွယ်အပေါ် ကျူးလွန်သည့်ပြစ်မှုမြောက်ပါသည်။ စစ်ကောင် စီတပ်သည် မိမိတို့ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သည့် လုပ်ရပ်များအတွက် တာဝန်အပြည့်ယူရမည် ဖြစ်ကြောင်း သိစေအပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: Institute of Chin Affairs
Date of publication: 2021-09-22
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: The Statement of Kachin Baptist Convention - ကချင်နှစ်ခြင်းခရစ်ယာန်အဖွဲ့ချုပ် ၏ သဘောထားထုတ်ပြန်ခြင်း။
Description: "1. CBC (Chin Baptist Convention), one of the 18 Language & Region Conventions of MBC (Myanmar Baptist Convention) released a statement on the 19th of September 2021. Reading upon the shocking news, KBC (Kachin Baptist Convention) members are saddened by the news, and KBC would like to convey that we are in this together. 2. As stated in CBC’s statement, KBC, too, strongly condemns the inhumane murder of Pastor Cung Biak Hum, the torching of churches, buildings, and houses, and the barbaric acts of threatening the security and life of the pastors, the members of churches and the civilians in Chin state. 3. Since 1st of February 2021, the citizens of Myanmar face with immense worries and feeling of hopelessness for the future. Hence, KBC’s stand is: the wills and voices of the citizens must be implemented by standing on the side of the truth..."
Source/publisher: Kachin Baptist Convention
Date of publication: 2021-09-20
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar Junta Finds Allies Among Well-Known Buddhist Monks
Description: "Seven months after the military coup in Myanmar, some young Buddhist monks have taken off their yellow robes to join the armed struggle against the junta, while other older and senior ones are throwing in their lot with the junta leaders. One of the monks in the latter group is Sitagu Sayadaw, who accompanied Vice Senior General Soe Win, the No. 2 man in the military regime, on his Russia trip earlier this month. Another big name that is closely connected with the coup is U Kovida, a monk from Shan State’s Kengtung who has been accused of providing coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing with astrological advice ahead of the takeover. Other influential monks include 92-year-old Bhaddanta Dhamma Siri from Tachileik in eastern Shan State; Bhaddanta Kavidaja from Hpa-an in Karen State, a leading monk in the now-defunct Association for Protection of Race and Religion, known by its Burmese acronym Ma Ba Tha; and Dhammaduta Ashin Chekinda. After the coup, some Buddhist monks joined civilians in street protests against the regime, some staged silent demonstrations inside their monasteries, some were beaten and arrested by security personnel for their anti-junta activities, and some took off their robes to take up arms against the regime. But it has been a different story for other high-profile monks including Sitagu Sayadaw. The 84-year-old is the second-most-influential leader of Shwe Kyin, one of Myanmar’s nine Buddhist clergy sects. Its members are known for strictly obeying the Vinaya, the code of conduct for Buddhist monks. The monk was widely recognized for his outreach and charity work, and was an outspoken critic of military dictatorships in the past. He apparently got close with Myanmar’s military under U Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government in 2015 when he, as the vice chairman of the nationalist organization Ma Ba Tha, pushed for enactment of a legislative package known as the race and religion protection laws, which are designed to prevent the spread of Islam in Myanmar. Later, Myanmar’s military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing—now the coup leader—became a familiar face among his high-level followers. Since the coup, he has never failed to portray himself as a promoter of Buddhism, making the most of popular opinion among the country’s nationalists that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s ousted National League for Democracy government favored human rights over the religion that the majority of citizens practice. He started his mission by hastily paying a visit to the well-known Zaygone Sayadaw and other monks in Naypyitaw one day after the coup. (Sadly, the monk died in a military plane crash in June.) The general has also ordered his subordinates to follow suit, visiting and making offerings to other monks. As Myanmar is a Buddhist-majority country, senior monks have a significant influence on their many followers. Min Aung Hlaing might think that if he has blessings from the monks, support from their disciples will follow. While many young Buddhist monks were taking to the streets nearly every day against the regime, Sitagu Sayadaw never failed to receive Min Aung Hlaing and his wife at his monastery at Sagaing Hill. When Min Aung Hlaing took blessings from Myanmar’s senior monks for his construction of the world’s largest Buddha statue in Naypyitaw in March, Sitagu Sayadaw was there. At the time, nearly five dozen protesters were gunned down by the regime’s troops across the country. The monk was present when since-ousted State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of the National League for Democracy government offered meals to Buddhist monks. He often receives offerings from Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and the general’s wife, Daw Kyu Kyu Hla. Some three months before the coup, the couple offered meals to the monk. The monk is currently at the Myanma Theravada Buddha Vihara Monastery in Moscow. The monastery has received donations from Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing and his wife, among others. Ashin Arsara, a striking monk from Mandalay, said he felt sad to see Myanmar’s leading monks like Sitagu Sayadaw stand with the regime when the whole nation is fighting against it. “One of the figureheads of the Buddhist clergy is standing with the unjust. As a Buddhist monk, I feel embarrassed and sorry for the people,” he said. Another famous monk is U Kovida, commonly known as Vasipake Sayadaw and famous for his vows of silence. Min Aung Hlaing has been his follower since 2006, when the general was serving as the commander of the Myanmar military’s Triangle Region, which oversees eastern Shan State. He has been accused of advising the senior general to tell security forces to shoot protesters in the head. Most of the anti-regime protesters killed in the early days of the junta crackdown had bullet wounds to the head. The monk was singled out for criticism at anti-regime protests, with some protesters attaching photos of him to htamein—women’s sarongs—and hanging them in public places to express their wrath. Seeing the pictures of the monk he venerates attached to htamein is an infuriating sight for Min Aung Hlaing. He ordered his troops to take the women’s garments down and publicly announced in his state-run papers that anyone committing the act would be charged with insulting Buddhism. The 64-year-old monk has close ties with Sitagu Sayadaw. Another monk, Bhaddanta Dhamma Siri, known as “Two Dragon Sayadaw” after his monastery, was the first to receive the Abhidhaja Maha Rahta Guru, one of the highest religious titles in Myanmar, after the coup. The monk with red and white amulets on both wrists came under fire as the coup leader presented the title to him in person at his monastery, and he accepted the title after hundreds of young activists had been killed by the regime. It’s noteworthy that Min Aung Hlaing personally presented titles or paid visits only to monks who either have influence or knowledge of some “special power.” The coup leader was seen, even at the regime’s governing body meetings, wearing a red amulet believed to be given by one of the monks on his return from Kengtung and Tachileik. In May, during their tour to Karen State, Min Aung Hlaing and his wife visited the radical monk Bhaddanta Kavidaja, who, prior to the NLD government’s ousting, publicly showed his support for the military by organizing pro-military rallies. The monk, known as Zwegabin Sayadaw after the name of his monastery, publicly defied the NLD government’s designation of the Ma Ba Tha as an unlawful association and its order that the group’s signboards should be taken down across the country. He is widely believed to have taken the helm of the Buddha Dhamma Parahita Foundation, the successor to Ma Ba Tha. Dhammasuta Chekinda is known for his summer school programs, in which he teaches teenagers Buddhism and other subjects, attracting hundreds of youngsters annually. The monk has barely appeared in public since the coup and has been tight-lipped about the regime’s brutal crackdowns on peaceful protesters, some of which were the same age as his summer school students. He is therefore thought to share the views of Sitagu Sayadaw. Ashin Chekinda currently serves as a department head at the International Theravada Missionary University in Yangon. Rumors have it that the monk chooses not to offend the regime and senior monks who have close ties to it, like Sitagu Sayadaw, because in order to become the rector of the university he may need the approval of senior monks and authorities. Military dictators have never been reluctant to manipulate religion to maintain their grip on power. The regime earlier this week dropped the legal case against firebrand nationalist monk U Wirathu, who was charged with sedition by the since-ousted NLD government. U Wirathu, who has earned a notorious name among Myanmar people, is a faithful follower of Sitagu Sayadaw, who once blessed the younger monk by calling him “my comrade.”..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2021-09-09
Date of entry/update: 2021-09-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar’s Monks, Leaders of Past Protests, Are Divided Over the Coup
Sub-title: Some senior members of the Buddhist clergy have given their blessing to the generals in power. But hundreds of lower-ranking monks have been jailed for protesting.
Description: "Day after day, despite a raging pandemic and the threat of snipers’ bullets, a small band of Buddhist monks in burgundy robes gathers in the city of Mandalay in Myanmar. Their acts of dissent last only a few minutes, hasty candlelight vigils or flash-mob protests in the shadow of a monastery with gilded eaves. The clerics’ demand is lofty: men in uniform, men who protest a bit too loudly that they are pious Buddhists, must exit politics. The military has dominated Myanmar for the better part of 60 years, most recently by staging a coup against an elected government and killing more than a thousand people for daring to oppose its power grab. “In the future, there should be no dictatorship at all,” read one sign held aloft by a monk on Monday. In an overwhelmingly Buddhist nation where monks are seen as the supreme moral authority, the political chaos since the Feb. 1 coup has laid bare deep divisions within Myanmar’s clergy. While a minority of monks have openly joined the protest movement, and hundreds have been imprisoned for it, clerics have not taken the leadership role that they were known for in past bouts of resistance to the military. Some prominent monks have even given the generals their blessing. This split in the monastic community, Buddhist clerics say, is partly due to the military’s assiduous courting of influential monks, luring them with donations and promises that soldiers, more than civilian leaders, are the true defenders of the faith. Harder-edged tactics have also been used to discourage monks from protesting, as armed security forces occupy monasteries — potential centers for resistance — and order clerics to return home, citing the coronavirus pandemic. The relative absence of monks from the protests, particularly in the first weeks after the coup, has not matched the broader mood in Myanmar. Millions marched in the streets after Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the army chief, ordered the jailing of elected leaders. Even today, as security forces shoot protesters on sight and the coronavirus rips through the country, pockets of democratic rebellion have endured. For centuries, Myanmar’s monks have taken bold political stands, from hunger strikes demanding independence from Britain to street protests against the army’s rule in 2007. And though the government-run national clerical council mostly capitulated to the new order imposed in February, some monks have defied it. U Mani Sara, a monk from Mandalay, spent a month in prison for attending anti-military rallies earlier this year. On the way to his cell, he was forced to jump like a frog for hours, he said. Spoiled rice was delivered in the morning in a plastic bag, which he had to use for other purposes because there was no toilet. “The military is a demonic force that uses Buddhism for political purposes to build power,” Mr. Mani Sara said. The Tatmadaw, as the military is known, has always used lavish displays of religiosity to legitimize its rule. On the day after the February coup, General Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the putsch, prostrated himself at the feet of a senior Buddhist abbot. The image of the general and the monk, which appeared in state media outlets, carried a clear message: In a deeply devout country, the army takeover had been sanctified by a higher authority. “The military is one of the main culprits in tarnishing the image of Buddhism in Myanmar,” said U Ariyawuntha, an abbot in Mandalay. General Min Aung Hlaing, who has ordered multiple pogroms against religious minorities, has deliberately fused faith to flag. His army has instructed Buddhists that protecting the religion is a national duty, and that the Tatmadaw is the country’s ultimate spiritual guardian. When an army-led campaign of atrocities drove more than three-quarters of a million Rohingya Muslims into neighboring Bangladesh in 2017, monks were among the fiercest champions of the violence, echoing the military’s baseless claims that Buddhism was being threatened by a resurgent Islam. The public largely supported the deadly campaign, which the United States has described as ethnic cleansing. But the junta’s sectarian justifications for its coup — that the civilian government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was in cahoots with oil-rich Muslim nations to degrade Buddhism — have not gained such widespread acceptance. And some monks, far from supporting the generals, have disrobed to join the armed People’s Defense Force, which is aligned with a self-declared opposition government formed from remnants of the ousted civilian leadership and representatives of ethnic, religious and civil society groups. “I will be a soldier until we get democracy,” said Bo Thaid Dhi, who was a monk until he began training with the People’s Defense Force this summer. “I have traded the monkhood for manhood.” In 2007, tens of thousands of monks marched, some with their begging bowls upturned to symbolize their discontent with military rule. With the clergy leading the way, hundreds of thousands of laypeople joined the protests. The military responded by shooting pro-democracy protesters who had gathered in the shadow of a golden pagoda. Dozens of monasteries were ordered shut. Public sentiment hardened against the generals, and the military eventually fashioned a power-sharing agreement with Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, whose second landslide victory at the polls, in November, was followed by the February coup. This time around, many Buddhist institutions have stayed silent as the military has cracked down on dissent, though a vocal minority of monks participating in the flash protests have had their actions amplified on social media. The state religious council, which depends on official funding, has largely toed the line. Nationalist monks have echoed the military’s criticism of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, accusing her of betraying Buddhism to Islam (even though, while in office, she defended the military’s persecution of Rohingya Muslims). “Only pessimists or dissidents have accused Senior General Min Aung Hlaing of using Buddhism to gain power,” said the monk U Su Citta Sara, a spokesman for the Committee for the Protection of Nationality and Religion, or Ma Ba Tha, which preaches against mixing with Muslims. “The people who were killed by the military on the streets during the protests may not be really innocent.” Monks associated with Ma Ba Tha receive financial support from Tatmadaw generals. They have toured razed Rohingya villages and offered benediction to Buddhist civilians who took part in the bloodshed. “After 2007, the military understood the strength of monks and tried to create Ma Ba Tha to create divisions between monks using Islam, so that is why fewer monks are involved in the 2021 revolution,” said U Par Kata, another monk who escaped to the area where the People’s Defense Force has conducted training. “Monks who support the military and coup are not only destroying the country, they are also destroying Buddhism.” After the coup, the nation’s most respected monk, Ashin Nyanissara, known more commonly as Sitagu Sayadaw, was silent as security forces shot and killed unarmed demonstrators and child bystanders alike. He allowed men in uniform to pray at his feet. Only weeks later did he urge the junta to stop killing peaceful protesters. Sitagu Sayadaw has monastic outposts in the United States and runs theological universities. As the army’s campaign of slaughter, mass rape and arson against the Rohingya intensified, he delivered a sermon to military officers that provided religious justification for killing non-Buddhists. The military and monkhood cannot be divided, he said. When General Min Aung Hlaing went to Moscow on arms-buying trips in 2018 and 2019, Sitagu Sayadaw accompanied him. When the general, now Myanmar’s self-appointed prime minister, returned to Russia in June for more weapons procurement, he attended a ceremony at a temple complex that Sitagu Sayadaw had blessed on one of their earlier trips. Another chief monk who stayed silent while soldiers killed protesters was Sayadaw Bhatanda Kavisara, the abbot of a monastery near Naypyidaw, the military-built capital. It was at his feet that General Min Aung Hlaing prayed on the day after the coup. In June, a military plane carrying Sayadaw Bhatanda Kavisara, army officers and some of his wealthy donors crashed in bad weather, killing nearly everyone on board. His ornate funeral, attended by General Min Aung Hlaing, was front-page news in state newspapers. Some Buddhists who oppose the coup said they saw something close to karmic retribution in the abbot’s death. A very different path was taken by another abbot, U Kay Tha Ya, who until earlier this year led a monastery in Yangon, the nation’s biggest city. When the police tried to arrest him for joining the protests, Mr. Kay Tha Ya fled to a part of Myanmar controlled by ethnic rebels, where he gave up his robes. Since then, he said, he has killed two soldiers as a member of the People’s Defense Force. “As a monk I couldn’t kill them, so I decided to become a soldier,” he said. “It’s like going down from heaven to hell. But I think it was necessary.”..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The New York Times" (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-08-28
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-28
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Title: Karenni religious leaders cry foul as churches come under fire
Sub-title: Church leaders say the military’s shelling of places of worship, despite repeated appeals to respect their sanctity, is no accident
Description: "Less than a month into its campaign to crush Karenni resistance forces in eastern Myanmar, the military has hit at least eight churches in what some are calling deliberate attacks. Church leaders have appealed to the military to end its shelling of places of worship, which they say has greatly increased the hardships of civilians seeking refuge from the fighting. “We told them there are no armed groups hiding in our churches, just people taking shelter,” said a Catholic priest who took part in talks with military officials during the early stages of the conflict. “They know that we’re housing the elderly, children and women. Sometimes I don’t even know what to say about them. This is just a planned, deliberate action,” he added. Local resistance forces, armed with hunting rifles and other simple weapons, began clashing with regime troops late last month. Since then, eight churches have been damaged or destroyed by artillery shells in Kayah State’s Loikaw and Demoso townships and Moebye and Pekhon townships in southern Shan State. According to local residents, junta troops have also set up camp in church compounds, further violating their role as sanctuaries for people in need. Ignoring appeals Father Celso Ba Shwe, the apostolic administrator of Christ the King Cathedral in Loikaw, said that church officials met with senior military officers several times to discuss their concerns. “We let them know from the beginning. We’ve had a couple of meetings, both with the chief of the interrogation centre in Loikaw and at the Eastern Command,” he said. However, as the situation continued to deteriorate, the church was forced to make a more public appeal. On May 25, a day after an artillery shell killed four people and injured eight at the Sacred Heart Church in Kayan Tharyar, a village near Loikaw, Cardinal Charles Bo, the Archbishop of Yangon, released a statement calling on the junta to refrain from targeting churches. “Let us remember the blood that is spilled is not some enemy’s blood; those who died and those who were wounded are the citizens of this country. They were not armed; they were inside the church to protect their families,” said the cardinal. While the military has denied targeting churches, few who are familiar with the situation on the ground believe that such incidents are accidental. “There’s no way they shot these churches by mistake. For one thing, they’re on big compounds that are very easy to identify by their buildings. And we’ve set up white flags at every church,” said one priest who spoke to Myanmar Now. On the night of May 26, just one day after Cardinal Bo issued his appeal, junta troops opened fire on the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Demoso, destroying walls and windows. Civilians sheltering at the church were forced to relocate after the incident, according to a local priest who asked to remain anonymous. “There were about a thousand people staying there at the time. Most were very old, or women with young children. Some were in bad health, and there were pregnant women as well. They came to the church because they couldn’t run far,” he said. According to a local resistance fighter, the church is now being used by the military as a temporary base. Three days later, St. Peter’s Intermedia Seminary in Loikaw’s Narnattaw ward came under attack. One 50-year-old man was killed instantly when junta troops raided the church, which was housing around 1,300 displaced people. According to church officials, the soldiers also stole around 2 million kyat ($1,200) in cash that had been collected for charity purposes. Ongoing attacks Despite the military’s denials, attacks on churches continue unabated as the regime moves to bring the conflict zone firmly under its control. On the evening of June 3, after clashing with resistance forces in San Pya 6 Mile, a village in Demoso Township, the military took over the village’s Our Lady of Lourdes Church. The next day, junta forces broke into a church in Moebye Township’s Pwe Kone ward 3 and abducted three men and a 17-year-old boy who were there on security duty. All four were used as human shields when fighting broke out later that day, according to local sources. The boy was also reportedly forced to carry a bomb. “No one will go anywhere near the church now, because they’re afraid they’ll be kidnapped or shot by the soldiers deployed there,” said one Moebye resident. On June 6, two churches—Our Lady of Lourdes in Pekhon and Our Lady, Queen of Peace in Demoso’s Dawngankhar ward—were badly damaged by artillery shells. No longer able to claim that these attacks are accidental, the regime has begun trying to justify them by saying that local “terrorists” are using the churches to launch attacks on regime forces. Resistance fighters dismissed these allegations as ridiculous. “We would never use churches for cover,” said one. “We value religious buildings. Why would we use them to kill people?” Meanwhile, even priests are no longer able to stay in churches, according to Father Celso Ba Shwe. “Churches in these conflict areas aren’t safe for the displaced anymore. But we still have to make sure that they’re OK, so the priests of Demoso can’t stay there, either,” he said..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2021-06-15
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: URGENT REPORT & APPEAL: Civilians and Children, Churches, and People with Disabilities Attacked in Kayah State and Yangon
Description: "H.E.Dr Sasa urgently appeals for strong actions and prayers H.E. Dr Sasa urgently appeals to the international communities and the responsible Governments around the world to pray for and make immediate actions and intervention efforts to end this senseless killing of civilians in Myanmar, destruction of Churches and targeting of already oppressed and marginalized ethnic communities, and to help and support the brave people of Kayah and of Myanmar overcome this brutal reign of terror by the junta ‘SAC’ forces and restore democracy, human rights, and freedom to ALL, and build "A new future in a New Myanmar where a Federal Democratic Union flourishes; and all the people of Myanmar, regardless of ethnic backgrounds, religion, race, culture or gender will be equals.” We have been doing everything we can around the clock, and now we need the support, recognition, actions and intervention from the international communities before more innocent civilians are slaughtered. Myanmar will forever be an ally, friend and partner of all those who help us during this darkest hour of our history..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
Date of publication: 2021-05-24
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Bangkok Bank joins the Republic of the Union of Myanmar in celebrating her national day
Description: "Connecting Myanmar with Asia for 26 years, Bangkok Bank has been a part of the Myanmar business community, connecting business and promoting trade flows and investment from ASEAN and beyond..."
Source/publisher: "Bangkok Post" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2021-01-04
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar Ministry Orders Monastery to Remove Buddha Statues Designed Using Occult Practices
Description: "Myanmar’s Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture has ordered the removal of sitting Buddha statues donated by members of the country’s former military regime, as the stone idols were sculpted according to occult practices that go against Theravada Buddhism, the country’s dominant religion. The 66 statues with “unusual hand gestures” are located in the compound of the Seindamuni Monastery on Mt. Min Wun in Naypyitaw’s Pyinmana Township. The compound also hosts a number of small stupas with strange titles like “May power be long established” and “Let the throne be long established.” The donors of the stupas include the family of Myanmar’s former dictator Senior General Than Shwe, and U Thein Swe, a former major general who served as transport minister under the military regime and is the current minister of labor, immigration and population. Among the donors of the statues are general-turned-politician Thura Shwe Mann; senior members of the country’s former ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP); military commanders; and high-ranking government officials. The statues are described as having “one hand behind the back and the other in front with the palms facing outward.” According to Tampawaddy U Win Maung, a prominent scholar on traditional Myanmar design and architecture, the positions and gestures of these Buddha images are intended to signify that the Buddha is protecting worshipers from misfortune from both behind and in front, and that donating to it or worshiping it will afford such protection to the devotee..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2020-07-07
Date of entry/update: 2020-07-09
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Title: Myanmar jails doctor for insulting monks over sex education
Description: " A Myanmar court has sentenced a doctor to 21 months in jail after convicting him of insulting Buddhist monks in connection with a debate about a proposal to teach sex education in schools. Kyaw Win Thant, 31, was arrested in May after angry scenes at a monastery in the central city of Meiktila, where he apologised to monks for deriding them in Facebook posts, a senior monk said at the time. A court in the city of Mandalay sentenced him under sections of the Penal Code that outlaw insulting religion, a spokesman told reporters on Tuesday. “He feels regretful and admitted his crime so the court gave this decision,” said court spokesman Kyaw Myo Win, according to video footage published by the Irrawaddy news outlet. Kyaw Myo Win declined to comment when contacted by Reuters. He told media Kyaw Win Thant did not have a lawyer and he was not available for comment on Thursday. Kyaw Win Thant’s Facebook posts were in response to comments posted by numerous other monks denouncing a government proposal to teach sex education at school, the senior monk said earlier. The posts have been deleted and could not be verified by Reuters. A senior official from Mandalay district religious affairs department confirmed the sentence. “We filed the lawsuit because he violated the law,” the official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication: 2020-06-04
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar doctor jailed for insulting religion
Sub-title: Nationalists including Buddhist monks have objected government’s plan to introduce sex education to school syllabus
Description: "A Myanmar doctor Tuesday was found guilty of insulting religion for his criticism of conservative monks over a proposal to include sex education in the school syllabus. A 31-year-old physician, Kyaw Win Thant was arrested in Myanmar’s central town of Meikhtila on May 21 after he shared several posts on Facebook criticizing Buddhist monks who oppose the plan to teach sex education in schools. Then he was sent to the city of Mandalay from Meikhtila for security reasons. A court in Mandalay ordered prison term for Win Thant, who is himself a Buddhist, on charges of insulting Buddhist religion. “He was given a one year and nine months jail imprisonment today,” said Ko Ko Aung, an official from Religious Affairs Office in Meikhtila. Win Thant apologized senior monks in the town on May 21 before he was charged under section 294 and 295 of the country’s Penal Code that prohibits insulting a person’s religion and carries a jail sentence up to two years. In one of his Facebook posts, he said monks are strong and healthy, but just live off others without working. “Buddhist monks who complain about the curriculum have no idea about sex education, but do all the same things that laypeople do such as betting and watching porn movies,” he wrote on Facebook on May 19. Nationalists including Buddhist monks objected to a government plan to introduce sex education to the school syllabus for the upcoming academic year that is scheduled to start on July 15. The issue recently went viral on Facebook, the most popular social media platform in Myanmar, becoming a hot debate among users. The Education Ministry recently announced that it has been reviewing the sex education curriculum following the complaints..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication: 2020-06-02
Date of entry/update: 2020-06-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar police arrest Canadian pastor for defying coronavirus ban
Sub-title: Dozens of confirmed cases traced back to service held by Myanmar-born David Lah
Description: "Myanmar police have arrested a Canadian pastor for allegedly holding a service in defiance of a coronavirus ban on mass gatherings – after which he and dozens of his followers and their families became infected. The south-east Asian nation has so far only confirmed 193 cases and six deaths from the disease, although experts fear the true figures could be far higher. The Myanmar-born preacher, David Lah, 43, is based in Toronto, Canada, but often visits his motherland to give sermon tours. Myanmar introduced a ban on mass gatherings in mid-March. Footage emerged early April showing Lah leading services in which he claimed Christians would be spared from the pandemic. “If people hold the Bible and Jesus in their hearts, the disease will not come in,” he told a roomful of faithful followers. “The only person who can cure and give peace in this pandemic is Jesus.” Shortly afterwards Lah tested positive with coronavirus and figures released by the government show dozens of confirmed cases could be traced back to his followers. Myo Gyi, lead singer of Myanmar’s most famous rock band Iron Cross, was among those infected. After emerging from quarantine, Lah was arrested on Wednesday morning and taken to a Yangon court, where he was charged with violating the Natural Disaster and Management Law. He could face three years in prison if convicted. “The police procedure was delayed because he was recovering from the disease,” a police officer told AFP. Three others will also face charges in connection with the same events when they recuperate, he added. The scandal even touched Myanmar’s Christian vice-president, Henry Van Thio, and his family, who had attended an earlier service with Lah in February, although they later tested negative. About 6% of Buddhist-majority Myanmar’s population identifies as one of the various Christian denominations in the country..."
Source/publisher: "The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication: 2020-05-20
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: The Law And Policy Reforms Myanmar Needs To Combat Intolerance And Discrimination Based On Religion Or Belief
Description: "The recent atrocities perpetrated against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (and against other religious minorities in Myanmar) require investigation and the prosecution of those responsible. The atrocities have included the forcible deportation of over 700,000 people from Myanmar to Bangladesh “through a range of coercive acts and that great suffering or serious injury has been inflicted on the Rohingya through violating their right of return to their state of origin.” The International Criminal Court (ICC) is already looking into the atrocities after on November 14, 2019, Pre-Trial Chamber III authorized the Prosecutor to proceed with an investigation. The court has recognized its jurisdiction to consider the situation despite the fact that Myanmar is not a party to the Rome Statute. Similarly, the International Court of Justice (the ICJ) will be considering the atrocities perpetrated in Myanmar, after the Gambia initiated proceedings against Myanmar. Yet, it will take many years before some of those responsible for the atrocities face justice. However, the long pursuit of justice should not distract us from advocating that other steps be taken to ensure that the minorities that were targeted by the recent atrocities are safe in Myanmar and can re-establish their lives..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Forbes" (USA)
Date of publication: 2019-11-18
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar town offers glimmer of hope for Muslims enduring 'apartheid'
Description: "Htoo Maung sits down to lunch, sharing a bowl of traditional noodle soup with old friends, an ordinary act that has become extraordinary in Myanmar's Rakhine state -- because he is Muslim, and they are Buddhist. They used to live side by side as neighbours. But now he can only visit them under a strict curfew enforced by armed guards before he must return to the muddy camp where he and the rest of Kyaukphyu town's Muslims have been confined for seven years. In 2012 inter-communal unrest swept through swathes of western Myanmar, including Htoo Maung's home town, after allegations spread that a Buddhist woman had been raped by Muslim men. Mobs ransacked homes and police rounded up Muslims for their "own safety" to sites that would later be turned into camps. More than 200 died, tens of thousands were displaced and the stage was set for the bloody purge of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims in northern Rakhine five years later. Many fear the enduring deep sectarian suspicions and religious divisions are irrevocable and authorities claim any attempt to reintegrate communities could trigger new unrest..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Yahoo News"
Date of publication: 2019-11-22
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: It Isn’t Just the Rohingya. Myanmar Is Now Attacking Buddhists in Rakhine State, Too.
Sub-title: This latest battle could be the army’s undoing.
Description: "MRAUK U, Myanmar—Here in the town of Mrauk U, in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine state, there has been little to celebrate during this October’s Thadingyut, the second-most important annual festival of the Buddhist calendar. Normally, the auspicious full moon would be hailed with a floating armada of delicate candlelit paper lanterns and song, theater, and dance. Yet this year, there are no celebrations. Instead, at 9 p.m. sharp, a curfew falls as soldiers from the Myanmar Army, known as the Tatmadaw, emerge from their posts to pull barbed wire and steel barricades across roads. Shops and businesses shutter, the streets empty and lights flickering out. Under the looming gaze of hundreds of medieval temples—relics of a time when this was the capital of one of the richest and most powerful states in Southeast Asia—parents gather up their children by flashlight and head into makeshift bunkers, dug into the soft clay beneath their houses. These gimcrack dugouts, ringed with old sand-filled cement bags, may not look much, but they provide at least some shelter from the shells, rockets, and bullets now increasingly flying between the Tatmadaw and local rebels, up above..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Foreign Policy" (USA)
Date of publication: 2019-10-31
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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