Migrants found in mass graves

We are probably going to find more bodies . . . These graves are believed to be a part of human trafficking activities involving migrants.

Mass graves thought to contain the bodies of hundreds of illegal migrants from Burma and Bangladesh have been discovered at abandoned jungle camps used by human traffickers in Malaysia.

The discoveries by police at more than 17 remote sites near Padang Besar was made in a rugged forest area at the northern tip of Malaysia bordering southern Thailand, according to officials.

One of the graves contained nearly 100 skeletons, according to Malaysian newspaper The Star. Another account in newspaper Utusan Malaysia claimed that 30 large graves had been discovered in two areas, containing hundreds of people. They are thought to include the remains of Rohingya Muslims escaping persecution in mainly Buddhist Burma as well as Bangladeshis.

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Malaysia’s Home Minister, said police and forensic experts were working to identify and count victims and verify the finds in an area that has been used for years by human trafficking networks.

It was unclear how long the bodies had been there but the camps, north of Perlis and close to the Thai state of Songkhla, are thought to have been abandoned only recently. Hamidi believed the camps had been in use for at least five years. ‘‘We don’t know how many there are,’’ he said. ‘‘We are probably going to find more bodies . . . These graves are believed to be a part of human trafficking activities involving migrants.’’

The discovery follows the identification of similar shallow graves containing about 30 bodies on the Thai side of the border, which led to a crackdown on the trade in Thailand.

About 3600 boatpeople, many starving, have arrived on the shores of Indonesia and Malaysia since May 10 after the clampdown.

Many smugglers left boats packed with human cargo drifting at sea while others are thought to have hastily abandoned jungle transit camps.

There was more anger yesterday over the treatment of Burma’s Rohingya minority, as human rights groups accused the country of introducing a population law designed to eliminate the ethnic group. The rules, approved by President Thein Sein on May 19, permit state governments in Burma to introduce family planning regulations such as forcing women to wait ‘‘at least 36 months’’ after giving birth before having another child.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it was squarely aimed at Muslim Rohingya, who live in the western state of Rakhine, bordering Bangladesh, and who have been the target of intensifying Buddhist nationalism in recent years. Although they have lived in Burma for generations, ethnic Burmese refer to the Rohingya as ‘‘Bengalis’’ – implying they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

They have faced systematic persecution and repression at the hands of the nation’s Buddhist majority. Tens of thousands have fled Rakhine in recent years to escape ethnic violence and the denial of citizenship and education rights. Many have sought to escape to relatively prosperous, Muslimmajority Malaysia to find employment.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director of HRW, said the population law would increase ethnic tensions in Burma, where ethnic rioting in 2012 left hundreds dead and displaced up to 140,000 people – mostly Rohingya. ‘‘We fully expect that the Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine state will be target number one of this legislation,’’ he said.

The new law will allow state governments to survey their regions to decide if ‘‘resources are unbalanced because of a high number of migrants in the area, a high population growth rate and a high birth rate’’.