(Direct translations of news articles from Narinjara News Agency and
EMG group.)
Pike-thae Bengali Muslim Ward in Min Byar Town burning. |
Bengalis said Buddhists did
it while Buddhists were claiming the Muslims burned their own houses down to
exaggerate the racial problems and attract international sympathy.
According to U Thar Kyaw the
member of Arakan State Parliament for Min Byar constituency, altogether
eighteen Muslim houses from Pike-thae Bengali village were completed burnt
down.
“18
house from Pike-thae were gone. It happened at about 9 in the evening. Bengalis
were drunk and they started the fights by attacking a Yakhine with slingshot,”
said U Thar Kyaw.
The Buddhist Yakhine
attacked by the Bengalis was U San Thein (47) from Kin-seik Buddhist village right next to the Pike-thae Bengali
village.
Later it was reported that Bengali
Muslim man Buteeyar did catapult metal spikes with his slingshot at San Thein when
the Buddhist man from the Kin Seik Buddhist village came out and looked at them
while Buteeyar and his wife Aminar Khartu were quarrelling in adjacent Pike-thae
Bengali village. The Buddhists retaliated by throwing Molotov cocktails and
burning down 18 houses in Pike-thae Bengali village.
Ferry port at Myaunk-U Town. |
As soon as the riots started
the army and police personnel had arrived and arrested 15 Buddhists and stabilized
the volatile situation. But the news of the violence spread to the neighbouring
villages and Tha-yet-oat Bengali village near Pan-myaung Buddhist village was
attacked and houses were burnt down later that night.
Also there were reports of
racial violence between Pu-yein Bengali village and Pu-yein Buddhist village in
Myauk-U township.
October 22, 2012 News of
Arakan Race Riots
The whole Yai-thae Bengali
village in Myauk-U was burning but the Muslim casualties were unknown. Three Yakhine
Buddhists attackers were reportedly killed there by the defending Bengali
Muslims while two Yakhine Buddhists in Nar-gar-yar village were shot dead by the
army trying to maintain the law and order there.
“The
fighting’s broken out since this morning. Our 3 Yakhines were killed and many
were injured. The injured and wounded were taken to the Min Byar Hospital, but
some were sent to Myauk-U Hospital,” said the local teacher U
Kyaw Htun Aung. He also added that the whole Yai-thae village was gone but he didn’t
know what happened to the Bengali Muslims there.
At the Nar-gar-yar village also
in Myauk-U township the army has shot dead two Yakhine Buddhist attackers. “So far now at 5 pm the situation is still
tense. We’ve been asking for the bodies of two Yakhines shot dead by the army.
But we still haven’t got them yet. They were killed in Nar-gar-yar. Yakhine crowd
there is about 6,000 – 7,000 at Nar-gar-yar,” a Pan-myaung local reported.
The Nar-gar-yar Buddhist
village also has two nearby Bengali villages also called Nar-gar-yar-out and
Nar-gar-yar-pyin. Many thousands strong Yakhine Buddhist mob was still
gathering at the Nar-gar-yar Yakhine village.
Wounded Maung Maung Naing at Sittwe Hospital. |
Three Yakhine Buddhist severely
wounded during the race riots in Myauk-U are now at the Sittwe Hospital. They
are U Sein Thar Aung (60) from Lun-taung village, Maung Maung Naing (30) from
Maung-thar-kone village, and Htun Sein (25) from Kyaung-taung village.
U Sein Thar Aung has sword-wounds
in left hand and chest. Maung Maung Naing has sword- wounds in shoulder and
hands. Htun Sein was stabbed from belly through to his back with a bayonet.
At the Pu-yein village
battle three Yakhine Buddhists were killed and seven were wounded severely.
(Wounded from the Racial Violence at Min Byar and Myouk-U in Arakan)
October 23, 2012 News of
Arakan Race Riots
Tens of thousands of people
both Buddhist Yakhines and Muslim Bengalis were fleeing their homes in Min Byar
and Myauk-U townships.
The Yakhine refugees now
arriving in Myauk-U were from the villages of Ywa-houng-daw, Kyauk-twin-gone,
Maung-tar-gone, Pi-bin-gone, Nan-kya, Laung-kyet-taung-maw, and
Shouk-pone-gyun.
“Since
yesterday morning the people from the Buddhist villages near the Muslim
villages started moving into town as they don’t feel safe there anymore. And
right now the refugees are thousands here in Myauk-U,”
said U Kyaw Htun Aung the retired head of Archaeological Research department in
Myauk-U.
But the Muslim villagers
were said to be fleeing to the Pu-yein Muslim village in Myauk-U township.
“But
the Muslims from villages such as Poung-doke and Let-ma are now in Pu-yein, and
also the Muslims from Tha-yet-oat and Na-gar-yar villages where fighting
occurred yesterday are also crowding at Pu-yein too,”
added worriedly U Kyaw Htun Aung.
As the anxiety for the
safety of Yakhine villages such as Maung-tar-gone, Pi-bin-gone, and Pri-gone
near the Muslim stronghold Pu-yein heightened the Buddhist crowd from the
Myauk-U town and the villagers from Tein-nyo and Na-gan are now marching towards
Pu-yein.
On the same day there were
racial fights between Buddhists and Muslims at the village of Myauk-U’s
Yin-thea ward and the fights had spread to the village sof Zi-zar and
Na-ga-gway.
October 24, 2012 News of
Arakan Race Riots
Kyauk Phyu's Pike-seik Muslim Ward Burning. |
The Paik-seik Muslim ward
has been burning and many fights broke out between Buddhists and Muslims all
over Kyauk-phyu and already there are six Yakhines at the hospital. Muslim
casualties are not known yet.
According to an
eye-witnesses most Muslim familes had already fled Kyauk Phyu by over 40
motorised sea-going boats. “They could
cross the sea towards Bangladesh or even end up at Sittwe,” said the
eye-witness. “Most Muslims are gone now,
only a very few Muslims left in the town,” added him.
More than 100 houses were
burned and many from both sides were killed in Kyauk Phyu and the hospital is
now filled with the injured and wounded.
October 25, 2012 News of Arakan Race Riots
The race riots in Myauk-U, Min Byar, Myay Bone, and Kyauk Phyu has now reached the Kyauk Taw town. During the violent confrontation at Pike-thae Muslim village 3 Buddhist attackers were killed. Two Yakhine Buddhist were shot dead by the security forces trying to maintain law and order.
The attacks occured in the early morning at two Muslim villages Pike-thae and Let-saung-gauk and army has arrived later and shoot at the crowd to disperse. But the Yakhine Buddhist crowds are still gathering around the burning Pike-thae village despite the shooting soldiers.
Kyauk Phyu's Pike-seik Muslim Ward burning. |
Bengali Muslims fleeing Kyauk Phyu by a boat. |
Bengali Muslim boats fleeing Kyauk Phyu beached near Sittwe. |
Kyauk Phyu's Muslim Ward burning. |
The attacks occured in the early morning at two Muslim villages Pike-thae and Let-saung-gauk and army has arrived later and shoot at the crowd to disperse. But the Yakhine Buddhist crowds are still gathering around the burning Pike-thae village despite the shooting soldiers.