A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Monday, August 28, 2017
Gunfire heard near Bangladesh border as thousands flee Myanmar violence
Ruma Paul-AUGUST 27, 2017
The death toll from the violence that erupted on Friday with coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents has climbed to 104, the vast majority militants, plus 12 members of security forces and several civilians, according to a Reuters tally based on official releases.
The death toll from the violence that erupted on Friday with coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents has climbed to 104, the vast majority militants, plus 12 members of security forces and several civilians, according to a Reuters tally based on official releases.
The government said it was investigating whether members of
international aid groups had been involved in an alleged siege by the
insurgents of a village in Rakhine.
The United Nations had pulled out non-essential staff from the area,
said a spokesman, while Pope Francis expressed his solidarity with the
Muslim minority in his weekly address in Rome.
Bracing for more violence, thousands of Rohingya - mostly women and
children - attempted to forge the Naf river separating Myanmar and
Bangladesh and the land border. Reuters reporters at the border heard
gunfire from the Myanmar side, which triggered a rush of Rohingya
towards the no man’s land between the countries.
“Please save us,” 61-year-old Amir Hossain told Reuters near the
Bangladeshi village of Gumdhum. “We want to stay here or else we’ll get
killed.”
Around 2,000 people have been able to cross into Bangladesh since
Friday, according to estimates by Rohingya refugees living in the
makeshift camps in Bangladesh.
The violence marks a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has simmered
in the region since last October, when a similar but much smaller
Rohingya attack prompted a brutal military operation dogged by
allegations of serious human rights abuses.
The treatment of approximately 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya in mainly
Buddhist Myanmar has emerged as the biggest challenge for national
leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi has condemned the raids in which
insurgents wielding guns, sticks and homemade bombs assaulted 30 police
stations and an army base.
Win Myat Aye, Myanmar’s minister for social welfare, relief and
resettlement, told Reuters late on Saturday that 4,000 “ethnic
villagers” who had fled their villages had been evacuated, referring to
non-Muslim residents of the area.
ONGOING CLASHES
The military, known as the Tatmadaw, reported several clashes involving
hundreds of Rohingya insurgents across northern Rakhine state on Sunday.
“The Tatmadaw column going to Nanthataung Village for operation also
confronted about 800 Bengali terrorists at 9 am today. They are still
fighting there,” the army said in a statement.
The term “Bengali” is seen as derogatory by many Rohingya as it implies
they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, although many can trace
family in Myanmar for generations.
The government said it was investigating whether international
non-government organisation staff were involved when militants
surrounded and blockaded a village in August.
A member of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) tells a Rohingya girl not to come on Bangladesh side, in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, August 27, 2017.
A member of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) tells a Rohingya girl not to come on Bangladesh side, in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, August 27, 2017.
A local reporter in the town of Buthidaung told Reuters he had seen
nearly 100 staff of international aid agencies leave the town in
speedboats following that statement.
The government also re-posted photographs of energy biscuits with the
logo of the World Food Programme (WFP) on it which it said had been
found at a “terrorist camp” in August.
The WFP said it took “any allegation of food diversions very seriously,”
adding it had requested details on the biscuits from the authorities,
but had not heard back.
“In light of the situation on the ground, the U.N. in Myanmar has
decided to temporarily relocate non-critical staff out of Maungdaw,” the
U.N. said referring to another major town in northern Rakhine, without
giving more detail.
In a statement that risked complicating his visit to Myanmar planned for
later this year, Pope Francis expressed his solidarity with the
Rohingya.
“We all ask our Lord to come to their rescue and to prompt men of good
will to come to their aid so they have full rights. Let us also pray for
our Rohingya brothers,” he said.
NO MAN'S LAND
The Rohingya have for years endured apartheid-like conditions in
northwestern Myanmar - they are denied citizenship and face severe
restrictions on their movements. Many Myanmar Buddhists regard them as
illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.
The Myanmar government called on Rohingya civilians to cooperate with
the security forces and said those not related to the insurgents would
not be affected.
It has declared the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which
instigated the October attacks and claimed responsibility for the latest
offensive, a terrorist organisation in the wake of the attacks.
On Sunday, it also indicated it may take action against media calling
the group "insurgents" and not "terrorists" as per the government's
designation.
At the no man's land near Gumdhum, dozens of Rohingya women, most
wearing burqa, sat cramped under a few black plastic sheets shielding
them from the harsh sun.
A number of Rohingya men ran to the unoccupied area between the two
countries after several gun shots rang out on the Myanmar side.
Bangladesh border guard officials said they were providing food and water to the Rohingya, but that no one would be let in.