Tensions flared in northwestern Myanmar after 10 Muslims were beaten
to death by a mob of Buddhist vigilantes Sunday in retaliation to the
rape and murder of a girl allegedly by Muslim men.
About 300 people belonging to the Buddhist majority stopped a bus
carrying Muslims from a religious gathering, dragged 10 of them out and
beat them to death before burning the vehicle in Taunggup, in the state
of Rakhine, 300 kilometers north of Yangon, the state television
reported.







Anti-Muslim pamphlets were distributed in the region after a young
Rakhine girl had been allegedly raped and murdered by three Muslim men.
Over a dozen people were injured in confrontation with the police
when a mob besieged a police station demanding the release of a man
arrested in a market dispute in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine, about
500 kilometers northwest of Yangon. The police fired warning shots using
rubber bullets and used teargas to disperse the mob, an AFP report
said. Nine people were detained and 12 others were injured.
The Myanmar government issued a warning against "anarchic activities"
Monday, assuring that legal action would be taken against those
involved.
"Nowadays peaceful assembly and peaceful rallies for democracy and human rights
are being allowed under the law," said the state television in a report
on the attacks. "But such an anarchic and unlawful gathering and acts
are not permitted. So a necessary investigation will be conducted into
this event."
Remote Rakhine, along the Bangladesh border, is an area known for
incidences of sectarian violence between the Buddhist residents and the
Muslim minority.
In February 2001, the then-ruling junta declared a curfew in Sittwe
after violent clashes between the Muslims and the Buddhists broke out.
Buddhist monks widely distributed inflammatory anti-Muslim pamphlets
inciting hatred, fueled by the destruction of Buddhist images in
Bamiyan, Afghanistan, in March 2001, and the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, DC.About 200 Muslims were killed and 11 mosques and 400 buses were
destroyed in a riot that broke out in Taungoo, Pegu division, May 15,
2001.
The Buddhists comprise 89 percent of Myanmar's population while the
Muslims represent four percent. The Muslim minority consists of the
Rohingya people and the descendents of Muslim immigrants from
neighboring India, Bangladesh, China and early Arab and Persian settlers.
According to an Amnesty International report, the Rohingya have been subjected to various human rights violations under the junta rule since 1978.


"The Rohingyas' freedom of movement is severely restricted and the
vast majority of them have effectively been denied Burma citizenship,"
Amnesty said in a report in 2004.
"They are also subjected to various forms of extortion and arbitrary
taxation; land confiscation; forced eviction and house destruction; and
financial restrictions on marriage. Rohingyas continue to be used as
forced laborers on roads and at military camps, although the amount of
forced labor in northern Rakhine State has decreased over the last
decade."
However, unconfirmed sources said that none of those killed Sunday by the Buddhists were Rohingyas, Reuters reported quoting Ko Kyaw Lay, a local Muslim and a human rights activist who belongs to an opposition party.

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for
Democracy (NLD) won 81 percent seats in the Parliament in the recent
elections, is a practicing Buddhist.
Buddhist monks and students have always been at the forefront of
Myanmar's struggle for independence and later for democracy. In
September 2007, the Buddhists took to the streets in a mass uprising
against the military junta.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/348681/20120605/buddhist-muslims-death-myanmar-communal-violence.htm

http://sheikyermami.com/2012/06/06/backlash-in-burma/