ISSN
J3108|Date of Issue: October 31, 2008|The publication of the Rohingya Review will remain suspended until further notice due to unavoidable circumstances.
On Oct 16, 2008, one hundred nine youth members of Burma ’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) from about 19 townships in Rangoon Division, resigned en masse complaining that they were not allowed to participate in decision-making of the party. The mass resignations followed a statement on previous day by NLD Chairman Aung Shwe announcing the appointment of six new youth advisors and assigning ten others to lead youth activities.
Nay Chi Win, one of those who resigned, complained that the appointments had been made by Aung Shwe without consulting other members of the NLD central executive committee or youth members.
“We became members of the NLD because we believed that the party can solve the conflict in Burma and the plight of the Burmese people,” Nay Chi Win said. “But we later realized that the party could not guarantee that.”
Khin Htun accused the NLD leadership of ignoring the will of the party’s youth members despite assurances that they wanted to encourage the work of youth members.
Using the name Burma, rather than the official name
Myanmar, is a politically sensitive choice. The military
regime changed the name of the country from 'Burma' to
'Myanmar'. But the common people of Burma and the
pro-democracy groups of the country use the name 'Burma'
instead of 'Myanmar', which is why we usually use
'Burma'.Contributors to The Rohingya Review are free to choose
which name to use, but are requested to prefer 'Burma'. The
term 'Burmese' is used for any person originally coming from
Burma irrespective of ethnicity or religion, while the term
'Burman' is used for people from the ethnic majority
group.
SOS from Starving Rohingyas in Bangladesh-Burma border
By Ahmedur Rahman Farooq
On June 09, 2008, a vernacular daily of Bangladesh ‘Dainik Purbokone’ ran a report saying that 18 Rohingya children died of hunger and lack of medical treatment in previous two days (June 7th and 8th) in Ukhiya Koto-Palong area of Cox's Bazar, the southern district of Bangladesh. The report also said that about 10,000 Rohingya families with about 100,000 members gathered at east-south Koto-Palong Rohingya refugee camps and in areas adjacent to Ukhiya TV relay center and they are living under open sky. They are passing their days without shelter, adequate food and medical treatment. The Rohingyas particularly their children are suffering from various diseases causing death almost every day due to the lack of medical treatment and adequate food. The report also said that the Bangladesh Government is not taking care of their plight.
The Lingering Disaster in Burma By Benedict Rogers
On July 27, Nhkum Hkawn Din, a 15 year-old school girl in Kachin State, northern Burma, was brutally gang-raped and then murdered by Burma Army soldiers. Her skull was crushed beyond recognition, her eyes gouged out, her throat cut, she was stabbed in her right rib cage and stomach, and all her facial features were obliterated. Her body was found after a three-day search, naked and mutilated, 200 meters from an army checkpoint near Nam Sai village, Bamaw District. She was on her way to bring rice to her brother.
On August 15th the Burmese government raised the price of fuel 500%. This sparked a series of peaceful demonstrations all over the country, beginning with demonstrations in Rangoon, now called Yangon, the former capital of the country. They have since spread to Pakokku and Mandalay in Northern Burma. In Pakokku, Budhhist monks took some army officers hostage for a few hours, and in Mandalay, where traditionally monks have been highly politicized and aware, it is reported that the army has units surrounding the city in readiness for an inevitable clampdown.
Nuclear deal and strategic concerns: Myths and realities By Alok Kumar Gupta
INDIAN diplomacy has displayed maturity and has acted in accordance with the economic aspirations of the country. This becomes evident upon a careful analysis of the following myths and realities that surround our 'strategic concerns.'
First, India's nuclear program is guided primarily by strategic threats from China. Nuclear deterrence involves a complete weapons system which includes a payload i.e. bombs, launching vehicles, missiles and bombers and launching pads (mobile as well and over-ground and underground facilities). The Agni missile programme is still in its trial stage and it would take time for India to develop an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile capable of bringing China within its range and thus provide India with credible nuclear deterrence. Today, Multiple Independently Targetable Reentry Vehicle can drop nuclear bombs on more than one city with acute precision. However, India has a long way to go towards acquiring a second-strike capability necessary for any meaningful deterrence. Therefore, mere possession of bombs and a right to conduct tests would not provide us a credible deterrence. Moreover, in a world that may eventually, move towards reduced arsenals and non-proliferation, this is a retrograde proposition.
"I AM NOT WILLING TO LIVE IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE." By Roland Watson
Nan Bway Poung was a 22 year old Wa woman and she had been married for about a year. She lived in Kyaukyi township, Nyaunglabin District, Karen State, Burma. Two years ago today, on 10 June 2002, she was the only woman in a group of villagers out looking for vegetables that was captured by SPDC Light Infantry Battalion 349. Later that day the group, excluding Nan Bway Poung, was released.
The Rohingyas in Bangladesh: "There's no happiness in this place"
Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF)
Fifteen years ago, more than 250,000 Rohingya Muslims fled from Northern Rakhine State, Myanmar to Bangladesh, pushed out of their own land by discrimination, violence and forced labour practices carried out by the Myanmar authorities. Over the years, most of them have been returned to Myanmar while others have continued to come.
Today the problem still remains on the Bangladeshi side of the border: more than 26,000 refugees who refused to go back, remain in the two official camps of Kutupalong and Nayapara, south of Cox's Bazaar, and an unknown number of Rohingya are living in the Teknaf area, near the border with Myanmar.
Over 7500 live in the squalid makeshift Tal camp and around 2200 on the beach area of Shamlapur. A minority of them has managed to integrate into Bengali society. Some of these people have returned after being repatriated and other new people continue to arrive.
Rohingya refugees: Some legal issues By Mir Md. Amtazul Hoque
On 9 August 2008, the learned judges of Cox's Bazar judgeship, including the learned judicial magistrates, spearheaded by the learned District and Sessions Judge Mr. Nirmal Kanti Chowdhury visited the Kutupalong refugee camp at Ukhya, Cox's Bazar. Kutupalnog and Nayapara, two places situated at the south eastern end of the country, have the considerable concentration of Rohingya refugees in two cramped camps. Through this visit, the learned judges have gathered some unique experience. In the light of the visit I, in this write-up, would like to focus on the legal aspect of this Rohingya refugee problem in the perspective of our country. Relevantly, the history of this problem, the involvement of the UNHCR in these camps and several other aspects would also come up.
A Village on Fire: The destruction of rural life in southeastern Burma Karen Human Rights Group
Naw Mu Eh (not her real name) is an unassuming 53 year-old Karen woman who has been displaced from her village in the Papun hills of southeastern Burma. She has no clear idea of why her village was destroyed by the Burmese army -- there were no members of armed opposition groups there, only farmers. Her story is repeated by hundreds of other villagers from her district and by thousands more throughout rural southeastern Burma. In recent years, two hundred villages have been destroyed in Naw Mu Eh's district alone, its residents hunted down and shot on sight by Burmese Army patrols. Since 1996, at least 1,500 villages (comprised of some 300,000 people) in central Shan State have been destroyed and their inhabitants forcibly moved.
Burma's struggle, Aung San Suu Kyi's role By Kyi May Kaung
Aung San Suu Kyi is in many ways an embodiment of Burma's (renamed “Myanmar” by the junta in 1989) modern history. Her father, General Aung San, was gunned down with his entire cabinet on 19 July 1947 at the age of 32 by a nephew of his political rival, U Saw.
Reforming the Judiciary in Pakistan Int'l Crisis Group
Pakistan’s return to civilian government after eight years of military rule and the sidelining of the military’s religious allies in the February 2008 elections offer an opportunity to restore the rule of law and to review and repeal discriminatory religious laws that restrict fundamental rights, fuel extremism and destabilise the country.
The charred bodies and pulped faces of Chinese migrants murdered during the riots in Lhasa on 14 March 2008 are likely to become a new and terrible image of Tibet. Just as those Tibetans who have died in ethnic violence or at the hands of the security forces, those killed in the latest struggle over Tibet's future died what should have been unnecessary deaths.
The desperation of Tibetans living on the Tibetan plateau has been documented for several decades by scholars and journalists, as well as in repeated appeals by exiles and their leader, the Dalai Lama. Major grievances include:
