MikeLigalig.com

By FRANCIS WADE / THE IRRAWADDY| Tuesday, April 9, 2013 |



A man stands in front of a mosque as it burns in Meikhtila on March 22. (Photo: Reuters / Soe Zeya Tun)


MEIKHTILA—Pressure is growing on the Burmese government to investigate an alleged massacre of more than 30 Muslim students at a madrasa in Meikhtila town in central Burma, during an outburst of inter-communal violence last month.

Reports of the incident, which would constitute one of the biggest single acts of mass killing since anti-Muslim violence began, have been corroborated by eyewitnesses.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=72669.0

The majority of the Muslim population of Mingalarzayaung quarter now resides in camps outside Meikhtila town. One lady interviewed in an unofficial camp for some 3,400 displaced persons, said she had not seen her son, a 26-year-old teacher at the madrasa, since the attack. Students who managed to escape later relayed his final moments to her.

“He was trying to help the other students to hide in bushes close to the madrasa,” she said. Police had arrived after the mob started attacking and told the students to come out from the bushes. “They [the police] said they would be safe. Some of the students tried to run but were caught by the mob.” Her son confronted a group of the attackers and a fight broke out. “The students told me that they saw him fall to the ground and then they cut him with a sword.”

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=72669.0

Video shot by Radio Free Asia and circulated on Facebook shows the immediate aftermath of the attack on the madrasa and surrounding buildings, with police seen escorting hundreds of Muslims out of Mingalarzayaung quarter. At one point in the video, a woman watching the evacuation from the road is heard shouting “Kill them, kill them!”

The Irrawaddy visited the site in early April and found the area to be a mass of rubble. Various other buildings surrounding the madrasa were also razed–satellite images obtained by Human Rights Watch indicate that 46 buildings were destroyed in the neighborhood. Apart from a few piles of charred clothing, the area had been picked clean by scavengers. Security forces were nowhere to be seen.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=72669.0

The mother of the 26-year-old teacher said she believed his body had been burned during a mass cremation. This would support eyewitness reports of a pile of bodies burning close to the madrasa. Win Htein also said he had heard the bodies were burned. “The Muslim community is very upset that that they weren’t given Muslim rights.”

PHR said in a statement that some of the missing students have been identified in photographs of dead bodies taken in the town immediately following the attacks. The group said the government should allow international investigators to probe the madrasa massacre, and urged community and religious leaders to denounce the violence.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=72669.0

He dismissed reports that the violence was organized, although acknowledged that he had witnessed police standing by and watching several killings take place. “The police had told [government officials] that the violence was stopped early, but it wasn’t—no action was taken.”

By the time a state of emergency was announced on the 22 March, the official death toll had reached 43 and 93 people had been hospitalized. Burmese authorities have made no statement regarding the alleged madrasa attack and it remains unclear whether the incident is being investigated.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=72669.0

A local Burmese reporter said that on 22 March, the day after the madrasa attack, she had seen the remains of six charred bodies, all of whom were dumped on street corners in downtown Meikhtila. She believes they were killed and then dragged to the street corner before being set alight. She was witness to one killing in broad daylight on the morning of 22 March.

“I saw a man, around 30 years old, walking down the street close to the clock tower [in central Meikhtila]. A group of six or seven men surrounded him and slit his throat. They then poured petrol on him and burned him.”

The reporter filmed the whole event; after the attackers told her to stop filming she jumped on a motorbike taxi and fled. The group chased her on motorbikes and when they caught up with her, began hitting her across the back with sticks, but she managed to escape.






Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=72669.0

This is a very sad story and a setback to the reforms that the government on Myanmar has implemented. Brawl ra sa gold shop? Pastilan. Mga putong.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=72669.0