*This article is originaly written by Kyaw H. Aung on Facebook. Featured image is by the cartoonist Herjules Katha.
Recent wave of sectarian violence in Burma has resulted in loss of lives and properties on both sides; Burmese and Bengali (so called Rohingya). It has threatened her road toward democracy and fledgling reform process. It is imperative for all Burmese and Bengalis no matter any race or faith they belong to should restrain and refrain from committing further violence. Restraint from one side is not enough. Both sides must realize that sectarian clashes always bring destruction to both sides. Therefore, both side must show restraint.
The current clashes in Burma impacted and got impacted by not only Burmese inside the country but also people around the world. For better or worse, media, Facebook and non-governmental organizations have all contributed a great deal. While some people are trying to calm both sides, some people feel compelled to take side. However, at this time of high racial tension, it is important for people from both sides especially those from international community to stop feeding incitement and “fanning the fire”.
On June 16, 2012, The Daily Star, online newspaper of Bangladesh published an op-ed titled “The Rohingya question” written by Ashfaqur Rahman. He blatantly wrote, “Indeed up to 1784, Arakan was an independent Muslim kingdom. In that year it was colonized by a Buddhist Burmese king called Bodawphaya.” All experts and Burmese people know the statement is totally false. Such statement has caused widespread anger among Burmese who are very proud of their rich history and heritage. It clearly indicates Mr. Rahman has never been to Arakan where Buddhism has flourished for over 2000 years and where Buddhist pagoda shines on almost every hilltop.
Ashfaqur Rahman’s op-ed on The Daily Star
There is a saying in Burmese, “Don’t just see the baton. See who is holding that baton”. So I wonder where Mr. Rahman gets all of his information.
Blogs and websites developed by Bengalis around the world have been propagating such fabricated history for over a decade. Due to the lack of internet access in the past and slow internet connection at the present in Burma, most of the Burmese were not aware of such manufactured stories until very recently. In fact, a lot of people from Burma have never heard of the term Rohingya until recently. Though there are some Burmese experts who know about it and who have long been standing their ground on truthfulness and been critical of such fabricated stories, the majority of Burma did not realize the magnitude of those impacts on Burma.
On June 19, 2012, Ben Rogers of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a long time staunch supporter of Bengali wrote a commentary titled “A friend’s appeal to Burma” on Mizzima. He claimed that “I am biased not in favor of one community over another, in favor of one race or religion over another, in favor of one particular political party over another.” But he wrote, “Homes burned, mosques desecrated, women raped, people killed”. To be fair, he did point out both sides suffered. But if he is not biased, why was he emphasizing only mosques? During the riots, Hindu and Buddhist temples were torched and burnt down to the ground by Bengalis. Why did he leave them out if he is not biased? Why was he particularly pointing out mosques?
Ben Rogers
So far, the clashes have been between Burmese and Bengali; not between Buddhists and Muslims. We all people of Burma from different religions and ethnic groups especially Ko Mya Aye who is a Burmese Muslim and one of the leaders of the prominent 8888 Generation Students have been working very hard to contain the crisis and to prevent the situation from turning into a religious one. Burmese organizations; religious, political and social, have been calling for restraint from further clashes. Through the unified statement signed by 20 Arakanese organizations from Burma and released on June 16, 2012, Arakanese have called for restraint. World Arakanese Organization, one of the largest oversea Arakanese organizations has called both sides to end violence on its statement dated June 9, 2012.
However, both press releases, before and after (dated June 3 and June 19, 2012) Maungdaw riot, by so called Arakan Rohingya Union, the largest oversea Rohingya Bengali organization did not call for either restraint or peace. Instead, June 3 press release blamed ethnic Rakhine for Taung Goke incident while it is still under investigation and while it is so far believed to be staged by a third party. Such emotional and immature action on the part of ARU instigated anger among Bengalis and encouraged them to commit unwarranted arson and murder in Maundaw. Like Burmese organizations, both Ben Rogers and Bengali should try their best to contain the current crisis and should stop pushing the current Arakan conflict into religious one.
We all have to very careful of what we say and write at this time. We all should avoid provoking anger and hatred. One action can result in loss of many lives and property especially when one acts upon receiving information from one sided source. Ben Rogers and his Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) based their actions on Rohingya sources as they have admitted on their press release dated June 12, 2012. In every race, there are bad people and good people. In his commentary on Mizzima, Ben Rogers wrote, “The Rohingya (Bengali) I know are among the most hospitable, kind, gentle, decent, tolerant, peace-loving human beings I have met. They have clung on to human decency, even when others have tried to deny them human dignity.” Just because one has a few nice Bengali friends, that does not mean a thing. Is Ben Rogers saying that all Rohingya are kind and gentle and all Burmese are unkind and cruel?
In his op-ed titled “Why are Rohingyas being refused entry into Bangladesh” on The Daily Star, Barrister Harun Ur Rashid explained one of the reasons why they are not allowing Bengali to come back into Bangladesh, “Rohingya refugees have reportedly created a bad image of Bangladesh in the Middle East. It is alleged that most of the “Bangladeshis” who committed crimes in Saudi Arabia were Rohingyas with fake or forged Bangladesh passports.” So according to Mr. Rashid, could we say all Rohingyas are bad? Who is right? Mr. Rogers or Mr. Rashid? The answer is simply neither. With one-sided information source Mr. Rogers receives, no one would be surprised that he is biased and a racist against Arakanese and Burmese. But he should stop feeding biased information and opinion to incite more racial hatred.
When it comes to Bengali issue, Mr. Rogers has a quite long record. The most interesting and mendacious that people have witnessed so far was his blatant lie to the whole world a few years ago. Ben Rogers brought Tun Khin from Burmese Rohingya Organizaiton UK to Washington and asked one Congressman to push for Bengali rights in Burma. Later he produced a statement saying that “US Congress calls” Burmese military government to recognize Bengali as citizens. In fact, it was not the whole U.S Congress but one U.S Congressman out of 541 elected officials. At this sensitive time, Burmese people need no incitement from a person with mendacious record like Ben Rogers and he should show some restraint.
Ben Rogers with Tun Khin on their lobby trip to Washington D.C.
If one looks back at Maungdaw riot, it started on Friday after prayer service at the mosque. Between Taung Goke incident which occurred on June 3 and Maungdaw riot on June 8, no violence erupted. One of the main reasons is in all towns of Arakan where Arakanese are the majority, parents and religious leaders strictly prevented the locals from instigating or committing violence against the minority. In Yangon, Ko Mya Aye successfully urged a group of Burmese Muslim protesters to remain calm and disperse. Instead, in Maungdaw where Rohingya Bengali makes up about 97 percent of the population took advantage of Friday prayer mass and started a rampage against the minority Arakanese.
Foreign press tends to refer Rohingya Bengali as minority. However, the term minority is location dependent. In Taung Goke, Arakanese would be the majority but in Maungdaw, Rohingya Bengalis are the majority. As Ko Min Ko Naing, a prominent 8888 Generation Students leader said, “At one place, Buddhists would probably be a majority but at another place, there are many Buddhists who live among majority Muslims.” Majority must protect the minority. Those who have never been to Arakan and who has no idea about Arakan history and current demographics or who receive Arakan and Burma news from one sided information source must not instigate any racial or religious hatred to cause more bloodshed. Both side must show restraint. One sided restraint is nothing but will prolong the conflict.
nurulla
June 24, 2012
The side that does not restraint is magh(Rakhines) not burmese nor rohingya as your article is instigating the riot to maintain prolong by labeling Rohingyas as Bengalis intentionally, to receive supports from your sympathizers. Please give up the calling of Bengali to the Rohingya ethnic minority and show your restraint.
Admin
June 25, 2012
May we have any solid proof to call them “Rohingya” or even “ethnic minority”? If you could provide reliable facts and figures to prove it, we won’t mind calling them so. One problem is why do you think Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said she doesn’t know whom people are referring to whey they are mentioning “Rohingya”, Nurulla from Malaysia?
saif ali khan
October 1, 2012
When Rohingyas burn ancient Buddhist temples to ground:
Monday, October 1, 2012
Front Page
A night of joy turns to nightmare
Julfikar Ali Manik
It was a day meant to be full of joy and charity. But it plunged into sadness and bitterness. A pall of gloom spread over the neighbourhood.
Ramu, with a significant Buddhist population, was all set to celebrate its Madhu Purnima (full moon) yesterday morning. Many of its inhabitants were busy doing last minute shopping on Saturday night, just hours before the festival of offering honey to Bhikkhus (Buddhist monks) in local temples.
Little did they know that their happy occasion would turn into a nightmare. Overnight, the festive mood turned into one of the bitterest experiences of their lifetime.
Many of their age-old temples were burnt to ashes by some fanatic groups of people within hours around Saturday midnight.
A 40-year-old college teacher of Sridhon Para at Ramu was returning home from Cox’s Bazar that night. Around 9:15pm, he got a phone call from his wife who told him that she was listening to sounds of slogans outside their home with demonstrators hurling abuse against Buddhists.
“I was very surprised because such things never happened at Ramu,” he told The Daily Star over the phone, requesting repeatedly not to be named fearing attack.
He received a few more calls from his friends before reaching Ramu around 9:45pm, when he saw a public gathering at Choumohni circle.
“I went to a fruit shop, bought some grapes and apples for Madhu Purnima,” he said, adding, “We’ve honey at home. We prepare food and offer it before the statue of God Buddha and distribute honey among the Bhikkhus at the temple on this occasion.”
The teacher said the Buddhist community in other places celebrated the occasion on Saturday. But at Ramu it was to be on Sunday, according to the calendar followed there.
At the fruit shot, he learnt form the vendor that a photo, insulting Islam, posted on a Facebook account belonging to a Buddhist youth had triggered the agitation.
“I felt very bad to hear that. We condemn any such thing. We have always had communal harmony at Ramu. So I was thinking of doing something to uphold this friendly ambiance in our area.”
Himself a Buddhist, the teacher spent some time talking to friends about the issue and then went to a friend’s home nearby to know a little more about what was happening.
A little later, the agitated people brought out more processions and were chanting slogans such as Naraye Takbir Allahu Akbar.
Fearing attack, the teacher did not come out of his friend’s house to go home where his wife, a four-year-old boy and his mother were up through the “scariest night” yet of their lives.
He himself spent a sleepless night at his friend’s form where he saw a flame engulfing a temple on Buddha Mandir road.
“I saw the flame of fire in the area for a long time,” he said, “I left my friend’s house around 3:30am [Sunday] and went home.”
The rest of the fearful night seemed to never end for the family. And when it ended without anything bad happening to him or his family, the teacher went out around 6:00am yesterday to see first-hand what had actually happened.
He found four Buddhist temples on the Buddha Mandir road burnt to the ground.
“Those temples are 100 to 400 years old with very rare aesthetic wooden art work,” said the teacher, sobbing at one stage fearing further attack.
“At one point, I went to a 300-year-old Ramu Shima Bihar temple at my own village Marangroa, where we were supposed to go to celebrate Madhu Purnima this [Sunday] morning with my wife, child and mother.
“But I found that the temple had been reduced to ashes,” he said, adding that the monks fled the area at night fearing for their lives.
Distressed and panicked by the nightmarish night, the teacher, who opened a Facebook account about a year ago, closed it yesterday.
For who knows who tags or posts him with what photo and when? He does not want to be a part of any such violence.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Front Page
12 Buddhist Temples Torched, 50 Houses Smashed
Extremists ‘linked’
A statue of Lord Buddha is left standing amidst the ruins of a temple burnt down by a violent mob at Ramu upazila in Cox’s Bazar early yesterday. Photo: Focus Bangla Star Report
Islam-insulting Facebook photo led to outburst, unidentified person tagged Buddhist man in the pic, locals say some Rohingya, militant groups incited mayhem since Saturday midnight
In what turned out to be long hours of arson and vandalism, a mob destroyed 12 Buddhist temples and monasteries and more than 50 houses in Ramu upazila of Cox’s Bazar early yesterday. The violence was apparently triggered by a Facebook posting of a photo defaming the holy Quran.
Some miscreants also vandalised two monasteries and a Hindu temple in Chittagong’s Patiya upazila and torched two monasteries at Ukhia and five houses at Teknaf upazila in Cox’s Bazar.
Selim Md Jahangir, Cox’s Bazar superintendent of police, said three Buddhist temples were burnt to ashes during the frenzy that started around midnight Saturday and continued till 3:00am yesterday.
The temples include some century-old pagodas, most revered by the country’s minority Buddhists.
Locals, politicians and law enforcers suspected militants and Rohingyas of instigating the violence.
Ramu Upazila Chairman Sohel Sarwar said insurgents from the Rakhine state of Myanmar, Rohingyas — the Myanmarese ethnic group who often intrude into Bangladesh — and anti-liberation forces might have had a hand in the attacks.
Locals said the rioters blamed the spread of the photo on a local Buddhist, identified as Uttam Kumar Barua, son of Supto Barua of Baruapara at Ramu.
Ashutosh Barua, a government official of the upazila, told The Daily Star that 25-year-old Uttam worked as an assistant deed writer in Ramu upazila.
Some media reports have quoted a minister as saying the youth was an employee of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC). The Daily Star was yet to verify it.
Uttam claimed someone had tagged him in the photo on the social network site. Soon after the violence broke out, his Facebook account was closed and police escorted him and his mother Madhu Barua to safety, said SP Selim.
Abdur Rahim, manager of Diamond Restaurant at Kolatoli in Cox’s Bazar, told a correspondent of The Daily Star yesterday afternoon that many in his neighbourhood had received the anti-Islam picture over their mobile phones through Bluetooth.
He too got it from a Rohingya man, whose name he couldn’t say.
Issuing a press release yesterday, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission said on its request, the Facebook authority had removed the derogatory photo of the holy Quran.
The BTRC also said it would continue efforts to get anti-Islam elements removed from social network sites and it urged all to refrain from posting and circulating anti-religious posts, messages and pictures.
Yesterday morning, the Cox’s Bazar district administration imposed Section 144 in Ramu.
Members of the armed forces and strong contingents of law enforcers were deployed to contain the situation, with government ministers rushing to the spot.
In the capital, addressing a press briefing, Information Minister Hasanul Haque Inu alleged that communal forces had been involved in the Ramu violence.
“We have information that identified communal forces of Ramu and Cox’s Bazar were present during the violence. The government will find them and ensure stern punishment.”
HOW VIOLENCE FLARED UP
Police and witnesses said after the spread of the news about the Facebook photo, hundreds of people thronged Choumuhani area of Ramu and staged angry demonstration around 10:00pm Saturday.
Police from Ramu upazila tried to cordon off the area but were soon outnumbered and pushed back.
Nojibul Islam, officer-in-charge of Ramu Police Station, said several thousand people on trucks from Gorjonia, Rashidnagar, Jhilongja, Eidgaon, Kochhopia and Rajarkul areas of the upazila swarmed into Choumuhani.
Around midnight, chanting slogans Naraye Takbir Allahu Akbar, they started ravaging and setting Buddhist temples and houses afire, he added.
Riot police and Rab arrived around 11:00pm, but by then hundreds of people had set fire to Buddhist households in Baruapara.
Around 12:30am, a mob burned down a 250-year-old Buddhist temple on Cheranghata road, Borokang Buddha Bihar and Kendriyo Shima Bihar. An angry mob also vandalised Baruapara Buddhist temple at Srikul of Ramu.
Buddhist people started to flee their homes as the fire services failed to reach the spot amid increasing violence around 1:00am.
With the help of police, the fire services managed to douse the blaze around 2:30am but the temples and the houses had already been gutted by then.
Pragganando Bhikkhu, resident director of the 250-year-old Shima Bihar, said some 80 to 90 people wearing red bandanas on the forehead spread gun powder and petrol and torched the temple late last night. The monks tried to douse the blaze but the miscreants obstructed them.
Around 3:30am, the BGB, Rab and police managed to quell the violence and bring the situation under control with the help of local influential people, including lawmaker Lutfur Rahman and Ramu Upazila Parishad Chairman Sohel Sarwar.
Since yesterday morning army, BGB, Rab and police have been guarding all the 27 Buddhist monasteries and temples in Ramu.
However, police were unable to confirm the number of injured persons as most Buddhist people have been in hiding since Saturday night.
The damaged temples include Progga Mitra Bihar, Uttar Mithachari Bimurta Bhabona Kendra, Ukhia Ghona Jojoba Bihar, Srikul Maitree Bihar, Srikul Natun Bihar, Lal Ching Bihar, Sada Ching Bihar, Mahajan Bihar and Ramu Kendrya Shima Rajbon Bihar at Merongloa area.
Biplob Barua, a victim of the incident, said the demonstrators had burnt his house with gunpowder.
UKHIA
Upazila Nirbahi Officer Jahirul Islam told the Daily Star that some 500 demonstrators had burnt a temple named Pashchim Ratna Sudarshan Buddha Bihar in Kotbari area around 7:30pm yesterday.
He said he had heard a gunshot but could not confirm its source.
The mob left the scene after police rushed there and opened blank fire to disperse them.
Meanwhile, some people attacked Balukia Kalachand Bijoyanta Bibekaram Bihar around 7:00am, locals said. But the UNO could not confirm it.
PATIYA
Some miscreants in Patiya yesterday morning vandalised the Hindu temple Kolagaon Nabarun Sangha Durga Mandir and Buddhist monasteries Kolagaon Sarbojanin Ratnangkur Buddha Bihar and Lakhera Avoy Bihar.
Upazila Chairman Md Idris said the mob had demolished the idols.
Police arrested 26 persons in connection with the incidents, said OC Aminur Rashid of Patiya Police Station. Most of the arrestees are workers of the Western Marine Shipyard, he said.
Patiya police said the workers had joined a local gang.
Reached over phone, Western Marine Chairman Saiful Islam denied the allegation. He said some 10 to 12 workers who took part in the vandalism were not employees of Western Marine; they worked for the company’s sub-contractor.
“However, we’ll identify them and hand them over to the law enforcers.”
TEKNAF
Local sources said some thousand people went to Hoyangton union to destroy a Buddhist temple around 7:30pm. But they failed as police and BGB members opened blank fire to disperse them. Police also baton-charged the mob, injuring at least 10.
The unruly people attacked the Buddha neighbourhood and set five houses on fire.
5 Buddhist temples attacked in Ukhia
Sun, Sep 30th, 2012 9:02 pm BdST
Cox’s Bazar, Sept 30 (bdnews24.com) – After the overnight charge on a pro-dominantly Buddhist village in Ramu, five more Buddhist temples in Cox’s Bazar district’s Ukhia Upazila were also attacked on Sunday.
Unidentified miscreants set a temple of the Paschimratna Sudarshon Buddhist Vihara, situated in the upazila’s Court Bazar area, on fire around 7pm.
Locals said two other temples, Uttar Borobil Buddhist Vihara and Paschim Maricya Shraddhangkur Buddhist Vihara, were set ablaze while another two temples, Rajapalong Zadimura Buddhist Vihara and Rejur Kul Dhormashok Buddhist Vihara, were vandalised.
Police and Rapid Action Battalion were sent to those temples to ‘control the situation’, Cox’s Bazaar Superintendent of Police Selim Mohammad Jahangir had told bdnews24.com earlier.
Earlier on Sunday, a mob of religious fanatics torched and vandalised a Buddhist village in Ramu Upazilla in one of the worst religious attacks in Bangladesh which appeared to have been triggered by a Facebook post allegedly defaming the Quran.
Seven Buddhist temples, around 30 houses and shops were torched in the attacks that started at 11:30pm on Saturday and lasted until around 4am on Sunday. More than a hundred houses and shops were also reportedly attacked, vandalised and ransacked.
Abil Uddin Chowdhury, President of the ruling Awami League’s Ukhia Upazlia unit, told bdnews24.com thousands of people attacked the Paschimratna Sudarshon Buddhist Vihara. “Locals did not even recognise most of the assailants.”
They could not even tell whether the attackers were Rohingya Muslim refugees coming from Myanmar, he added.
One of the local residents, Prashanta Barua, confirmed bdnews24.com about the attack taking place around 7pm.
There are two temples, new and old, at that Vihara and the old one was torched.
However, the attackers fled the scene after RAB and police arrived there.
bdnews24.com/corr/mhp/su/trb/bd/2345h
After Ramu, temples attacked in Patia
Sun, Sep 30th, 2012 4:29 pm BdST
Chittagong, Sep 30 (bdnews24.com)— Hours after rampaging through a Buddhist village in Cox’s Bazaar’s Ramu Upazila in the early hours, religious fanatics on Sunday launched attacks on Hindu temples and Buddhist monasteries in Patia at noon.
“The attacks took place between noon and 1:30pm,” Acting Officer-in-Charge of the Patia Police Station Aminur Rashid told bdnews24.com.
The police officer said the fanatics had carried out the attacks alleging defamation of Prophet Mohammad.
He said two Hindu temples and two Buddhist viharas were damaged in the attacks.
According to the accounts of local journalists, several hundred fanatics took out a procession and launched attacks on the Lakhara Abhoy Buddhist Viahar at around noon and set it on fire.
They also attacked the Kolagaon Rotnangkur Buddhist Vihara, Kolagaon Nobarun Sangha Durga Mandir (temple) and the Matri Mandir at Jele Para, they said.
The attackers reportedly smashed an ancient Buddhist statue at the Rotnangkur Buddhist Vihara and set fire to a statue of Goddess Durga at the Nobarun Sangha Mandir. The fanatics also set fire to various goods in the temples, according to the newsmen.
The OC said the situation was calm. “Additional police forces and members of the RAB have been deployed at the scene to avert further tension,” he added.
Meanwhile, tension is running high among the locals following the attacks. Top administrators and local MP Shamsul Hoque Chowdhury were present at the spot.
Earlier on Sunday, a mob torched and vandalised a Buddhist village in Cox’s Bazaar’s Ramu Upazila in one of the worst religious attacks in Bangladesh which appeared to have been triggered by a Facebook posting allegedly defaming the Quran.
Seven Buddhist Viharas, around 30 houses and shops were torched in the attacks that started at 11:30pm on Saturday lasted until around 4am on Sunday. More than a hundred houses and shops were also reportedly attacked, vandalised and ransacked.
bdnews24.com/us/zk/ano/1730h
Monday, October 1, 2012
Front Page
Ramu attack premeditated
Says home minister; points at local MP
Staff Correspondent
Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir yesterday said the violence in Ramu in Cox’s Bazar centring an anti-Islam photo on Facebook is a “premeditated and deliberate act of communal violence against the minority”.
The minister alleged local BNP lawmaker Lutfor Rahman had fuelled the violence, saying the MP neither met the visiting team from the capital nor visited the victims.
“This lawmaker used the people who went there to stage protests against the photo. He instigated them to launch an attack and kill the Buddhists,” he said while talking to the press in Dhaka.
Earlier at 2:00pm, while addressing an impromptu rally at Choumuhani intersection in Ramu, he said, “We found evidence of gunpowder and petrol in Saturday’s arson of the Buddhist monasteries and houses.”
Alamgir and Industries Minister Dilip Barua, Inspector General of Police Hassan Mahmood Khandker, Border Guard Bangladesh DG Maj Gen Anwar Hussain, Rab Director General Mukhlesur Rahman, DGFI officials accompanied by local Awami League leaders, visited the spots of violence shortly after their arrival in Ramu around 10:00am.
“We have been informed that police and fire service men were inactive during the arson,” said the minister, adding that a committee headed by the additional divisional commissioner in Chittagong would be formed soon to investigate whether the law enforcers had remained inactive.
Alamgir in his speech also promised to rebuild the Buddhist monasteries and temples and compensate the victims whose houses were destroyed.
The minister held out the assurance that the miscreants who stirred the violence would be traced and brought to book within 15 days.
Upon his return to Dhaka in the afternoon, he told journalists the country’s fundamentalists had plotted the incident and implemented it with the help of their “foreign agents” through Facebook.
“We will unearth the people who were behind this violence. We are not holding anyone right now because we don’t want any innocent to be pushed into trouble. Hopefully, we will be able to publish the names of those involved tomorrow,” he added.
The law enforcement and intelligence agencies have been put on alert so that the violence again cannot erupt in the adjacent areas, he said.
On Uttom Kumar Barua’s activities, he said, “Uttom shared the photo with his Facebook acquaintances. We have seen the photo and we are sure that Uttom did not create that.”
“In the photo, we saw a foreigner woman who kept her foot on the holy book. So we assume the photo was supplied from abroad, but Uttom might have acted as their agent.
“He is an employee of Bangladesh Institute of Small Industry and Cottage [BISIC]. We are trying to know about his Facebook network,” he added.
He said, “Uttom’s Facebook account has been blocked. Police have taken his mother and sister in their custody. But we don’t know his whereabouts.”
The minister claimed no causalities occurred as many people from different areas had come forward to save the Buddhists following the incident.
“We heard about the incident at around 2:00am and immediately sent the army, police, BGB and detectives to the spot. They worked together and brought the situation under control.
“We have visited all the affected Buddhist monasteries and consoled the monks. We have assured them that the government will provide them with full security; nobody will further hurt them.”
The affected people will get food and financial support, their houses and monasteries will be built by the government, the minister added.