Report: More Muslims in Myanmar being oppressed

BANGKOK: The systematic persecution of minority Muslims is on the rise across Myanmar and not confined to the northwestern state of Rakhine, where recent violence has sent nearly 90,000 Muslim Rohingya fleeing, a Myanmar rights group said.

The independent Burma Human Rights Network said persecution was backed by the government, elements among the country’s Buddhist monks and ultra-nationalist civilian groups.

“The transition to democracy has allowed popular prejudices to influence how the new government rules, and has amplified a dangerous narrative that casts Muslims as an alien presence in Buddhist-majority Burma,” the group said in a report yesterday.

The report draws on over 350 interviews in more than 46 towns and villages over an eight-month period since March 2016.

Authorities deny discrimination and say security forces in Rakhine are fighting a legitimate campaign against “terrorists”.

Besides Rohingya Muslims, the report also examines the wider picture of Muslims of different ethnicities across Myanmar following waves of communal violence in 2012 and 2013.

The report said many Muslims of all ethnicities had been refused national identification cards, while access to some Islamic places of worship had been blocked.

At least 21 villages around Myanmar have declared themselves “no-go zones” for Muslims, backed by the authorities, it said.

In Rakhine state, the report highlighted growing segregation between Buddhists and Muslim communities and severe travel restrictions for the Muslim Rohingya, which has limited their access to healthcare and education.