<p>Bangladesh police have detained several top leaders of the country&#39;s largest Islamist party in a crackdown against the opposition that the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/top-leaders-of-jamaat-e-islami-arrested-in-bangladesh-reports-21200" target="_blank">government blames for inciting militancy</a> but which says it is being unfairly targeted.</p>

<p>Eight leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, including party chief Maqbul Ahmad and secretary general Shafiqur Rahman, were detained in Dhaka on Monday night, police said.</p>

<p>They were formally arrested on Tuesday and ordered held on remand for 10 days while police investigate.</p>

<p>The detentions followed information that the leaders were meeting &quot;to plot and carry out some destructive activities&quot;, a senior police official said.</p>

<p>Jamaat-e-Islami denied the allegations and called for demonstrations on Tuesday to protest. It said in a statement that its leaders were in an informal meeting.</p>

<p>&quot;The government is continuously arresting our innocent activists just to stay in power,&quot; the party said.</p>

<p>The detentions follow a years-long crackdown on the opposition by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina&#39;s government and come ahead of general elections expected next year.</p>

<p>Opposition leaders deny any link to Islamic militants and say the crackdown can be traced to a bitter rivalry, which has long poisoned politics in the country, between Hasina&#39;s ruling Awami League and its main rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), as well as Jamaat-e-Islami.</p>

<p>Police and army commandos have killed more than 60 suspected militants and arrested hundreds since a deadly attack on a Dhaka cafe in July last year. Twenty-two people were killed, most of them foreigners.</p>


The detentions follow a years-long crackdown on the opposition by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government and come ahead of general elections expected next year

Bangladesh police have detained several top leaders of the country's largest Islamist party in a crackdown against the opposition that the government blames for inciting militancy but which says it is being unfairly targeted. Eight leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami, including party chief Maqbul Ahmad and secretary general Shafiqur Rahman, were detained in Dhaka on Monday night, police said. They were formally arrested on Tuesday and ordered held on remand for 10 days while police investigate. The detentions followed information that the leaders were meeting "to plot and carry out some destructive activities", a senior police official said. Jamaat-e-Islami denied the allegations and called for demonstrations on Tuesday to protest. It said in a statement that its leaders were in an informal meeting. "The government is continuously arresting our innocent activists just to stay in power," the party said. The detentions follow a years-long crackdown on the opposition by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government and come ahead of general elections expected next year. Opposition leaders deny any link to Islamic militants and say the crackdown can be traced to a bitter rivalry, which has long poisoned politics in the country, between Hasina's ruling Awami League and its main rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), as well as Jamaat-e-Islami. Police and army commandos have killed more than 60 suspected militants and arrested hundreds since a deadly attack on a Dhaka cafe in July last year. Twenty-two people were killed, most of them foreigners.

Bangladesh govt blames opposition for inciting militancy, detains Jamaat leaders

<p>Pope Francis will meet Myanmar&#39;s top Buddhist monks, its military generals, and civilian leader <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/myanmar-takes-first-step-towards-calming-communal-hatred-21228" target="_blank">Aung San Suu Kyi i</a>n November when he visits that country and <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/bangladesh-islamists-call-on-government-to-arm-rohingyas-21093" target="_blank">Bangladesh</a>, both caught up in a crisis over the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/videos/rohingyas-head-towards-bangladesh-for-safety-5824" target="_blank">Rohingya Muslim minority</a>.</p>

<p>According to a full programme of the November 26-December 2 trip released by the Vatican on Tuesday, the pope will say two Masses in Buddhist-majority Myanmar and one in Bangladesh, which is predominantly Muslim.</p>

<p>Francis will be the first pope to visit Myanmar and the second to visit Bangladesh, where Pope John Paul visited in 1986.</p>

<p>The pope arrives in Yangon, the country&#39;s largest city, on November 27 after a flight of more than 10 hours and is scheduled to rest for about 24 hours before heading to the country&#39;s capital Naypyitaw for a day.</p>

<p>There, he will have separate private talks with President Htin Kyaw and Suu Kyi, who is both State Counsellor and Foreign Minister, making her effectively the country&#39;s civilian leader.</p>

<p>A senior Vatican official said military leaders are expected to attend a separate, public meeting where the pope will address politicians and diplomats. This is where he is expected to give the keynote speech of the trip.</p>

<p>Myanmar is facing international scrutiny over the plight of its Rohingya community. In February, Francis said they had been tortured and killed simply because they wanted to live their culture and Muslim faith.</p>

<p>Last August, some hard-line Buddhists were riled with the pope spoke about &quot;the persecution of our Rohingya brothers and sisters&quot; and asked Catholics to pray for them, adding that they should be given &quot;their full rights&quot;.</p>

<p>On November 29, the pope will address the Sangha Maha Nayaka, the country&#39;s highest Buddhist authority, which is a government-backed panel of senior monks responsible for regulating the Buddhist clergy.</p>

<p>The United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday that Bangladesh border guards reported more than 11,000 Rohingya refugees crossing into their country from Myanmar on Monday alone.</p>

<p>The government offensive has drawn international condemnation and UN accusations of ethnic cleansing, which the government denies.</p>

<p>There are about 700,000 Roman Catholics in Myanmar according to the country&#39;s cardinal, Charles Maung Bo, out of a population of about 51.4 million.</p>

<p>Catholics make up a tiny minority in Bangladesh. Francis will be the second pope to visit that country, after Pope John Paul in 1986.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


According to a full programme of the November 26-December 2 trip released by the Vatican on Tuesday, the pope will say two Masses in Myanmar and one in Bangladesh

Pope Francis will meet Myanmar's top Buddhist monks, its military generals, and civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in November when he visits that country and Bangladesh, both caught up in a crisis over the Rohingya Muslim minority. According to a full programme of the November 26-December 2 trip released by the Vatican on Tuesday, the pope will say two Masses in Buddhist-majority Myanmar and one in Bangladesh, which is predominantly Muslim. Francis will be the first pope to visit Myanmar and the second to visit Bangladesh, where Pope John Paul visited in 1986. The pope arrives in Yangon, the country's largest city, on November 27 after a flight of more than 10 hours and is scheduled to rest for about 24 hours before heading to the country's capital Naypyitaw for a day. There, he will have separate private talks with President Htin Kyaw and Suu Kyi, who is both State Counsellor and Foreign Minister, making her effectively the country's civilian leader. A senior Vatican official said military leaders are expected to attend a separate, public meeting where the pope will address politicians and diplomats. This is where he is expected to give the keynote speech of the trip. Myanmar is facing international scrutiny over the plight of its Rohingya community. In February, Francis said they had been tortured and killed simply because they wanted to live their culture and Muslim faith. Last August, some hard-line Buddhists were riled with the pope spoke about "the persecution of our Rohingya brothers and sisters" and asked Catholics to pray for them, adding that they should be given "their full rights". On November 29, the pope will address the Sangha Maha Nayaka, the country's highest Buddhist authority, which is a government-backed panel of senior monks responsible for regulating the Buddhist clergy. The United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday that Bangladesh border guards reported more than 11,000 Rohingya refugees crossing into their country from Myanmar on Monday alone. The government offensive has drawn international condemnation and UN accusations of ethnic cleansing, which the government denies. There are about 700,000 Roman Catholics in Myanmar according to the country's cardinal, Charles Maung Bo, out of a population of about 51.4 million. Catholics make up a tiny minority in Bangladesh. Francis will be the second pope to visit that country, after Pope John Paul in 1986.

Pope to meet top Buddhist monks in Myanmar, address military

<p>A <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/bangladesh-islamists-call-on-government-to-arm-rohingyas-21093" target="_blank">Bangladesh </a>court on Monday issued an <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/bangladesh-court-issues-arrest-warrants-for-67-opposition-leaders-and-activists-5063" target="_blank">arrest warrant against BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia </a>who is the main Opposition leader and a former prime minister of the country. The arrest warrant was issued in connection with the 2015 agitation against the government by a 20-party alliance led by BNP.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Eight were killed on the spot in a petrol bomb attack on bus passengers by alleged activists of the 20-party alliance during the agitation.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Arrest warrants were also issued against the BNP politicians Rafiqul Islam Mia, MK Anwar, party standing committee vice-chairman Shawkat Mahmud and senior joint secretary Rizvi Ahmed.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Bangladesh newspaper, The Daily Star, quoted public prosecutor Mostafizur Rahman Liton as stating that judge Jesmeen Begum of Comilla district and sessions court passed the order.&nbsp;<br />
Police recently filed charges against 78 BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami politicians and party workers. The case was filed on February 3, 2015.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Zia, however, is said to be in London with her son, and senior politicians of her party apparently expressed ignorance about the date she is expected to return to Bangladesh. Bangladesh daily Prothom Alo quoted ABM Abdus Sattar, Zia&#39;s personal secretary, as claiming that she may return to Dhaka by the third week of this month. Sattar is also currently living in London, United Kingdom.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;Her treatment is yet to be done. We hope she will return home after her treatment by the end of October,&quot; Prothom Alo quoted the telephone conversation with Abdus Sattar on Thursday.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Zia is in London since July 15.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Also read: <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/bangladesh-arrest-warrant-against-former-pm-khaleda-zia-for-celebrating-birthday-on-august-15-8974" target="_blank">Bangladesh: Arrest warrant against former PM Khaleda Zia for celebrating birthday on August 15</a></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


The case pertains to a 2015 rioting case in which eight were killed in a petrol bomb attack

A Bangladesh court on Monday issued an arrest warrant against BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia who is the main Opposition leader and a former prime minister of the country. The arrest warrant was issued in connection with the 2015 agitation against the government by a 20-party alliance led by BNP. Eight were killed on the spot in a petrol bomb attack on bus passengers by alleged activists of the 20-party alliance during the agitation. Arrest warrants were also issued against the BNP politicians Rafiqul Islam Mia, MK Anwar, party standing committee vice-chairman Shawkat Mahmud and senior joint secretary Rizvi Ahmed. Bangladesh newspaper, The Daily Star, quoted public prosecutor Mostafizur Rahman Liton as stating that judge Jesmeen Begum of Comilla district and sessions court passed the order. Police recently filed charges against 78 BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami politicians and party workers. The case was filed on February 3, 2015. Zia, however, is said to be in London with her son, and senior politicians of her party apparently expressed ignorance about the date she is expected to return to Bangladesh. Bangladesh daily Prothom Alo quoted ABM Abdus Sattar, Zia's personal secretary, as claiming that she may return to Dhaka by the third week of this month. Sattar is also currently living in London, United Kingdom. "Her treatment is yet to be done. We hope she will return home after her treatment by the end of October," Prothom Alo quoted the telephone conversation with Abdus Sattar on Thursday. Zia is in London since July 15. Also read: Bangladesh: Arrest warrant against former PM Khaleda Zia for celebrating birthday on August 15

Bangladesh: Arrest warrant against Opposition leader Khaleda Zia in rioting case

<p>Bangladesh Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, 66, has apparently been asked to &quot;go on leave&quot; over the country&#39;s contentious&nbsp;16th Amendment.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In June, a seven-member bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha had upheld the country&#39;s High Court judgement that had scrapped the 16 amendment which meant the country&#39;s Parliament no longer had the power to impeach judges of the apex court.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">So proud that Muslim Bangladesh&#39;s Chief Justice is Surendra Kumar Sinha,a Hindu.But somthing strange.He&#39;s forced to take a leave for a month</p>
&mdash; taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) <a href="https://twitter.com/taslimanasreen/status/916887009364447232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p>The Supreme Court&#39;s move created fissures between Sheikh Hasina&#39;s government and&nbsp;Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha.</p>

<p>Bangladeshi President Md Abdul Hamid has appointed Md Abdul Wahhab Miah as the acting chief justice, reports said.</p>

<p>Sinha has been out of the country to Canada and Japan for the past one month.</p>

<p>Bangladesh&#39;s court will open on Tuesdays after a month-long break.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The 16th Amendment was passed by Bangladesh&#39;s Parliament three years ago empowering the members to impeach the top court judges for &quot;incapability or misconduct via two-thirds majority&quot;.</p>

<p>However, last year Bangladesh&#39;s High Court declared the amendment &quot;illegal&quot;.</p>

<p>The High Court in its judgement said,&quot;The parliamentary mechanism for the removal of judges is an accident of history, though it is in vogue in some countries of the world.&quot;</p>

<p>The High Court said the people &quot;would suffer&quot; because of the 16th Amendment.</p>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Unconfirmed reports <a href="https://twitter.com/Bangladesh?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Bangladesh</a> say Supreme Court&#39;s first Hindu Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha is confined in his residence.<a href="https://twitter.com/MEAIndia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MEAIndia</a> <a href="https://t.co/xgYquRxfa0">pic.twitter.com/xgYquRxfa0</a></p>
&mdash; Tarun Vijay (@Tarunvijay) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tarunvijay/status/915919976325722114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Bangladesh Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, 66, has apparently been asked to "go on leave" over the country's contentious?16th Amendment.?

Bangladesh Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, 66, has apparently been asked to "go on leave" over the country's contentious 16th Amendment. In June, a seven-member bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha had upheld the country's High Court judgement that had scrapped the 16 amendment which meant the country's Parliament no longer had the power to impeach judges of the apex court. So proud that Muslim Bangladesh's Chief Justice is Surendra Kumar Sinha,a Hindu.But somthing strange.He's forced to take a leave for a month — taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) October 8, 2017 × The Supreme Court's move created fissures between Sheikh Hasina's government and Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha. Bangladeshi President Md Abdul Hamid has appointed Md Abdul Wahhab Miah as the acting chief justice, reports said. Sinha has been out of the country to Canada and Japan for the past one month. Bangladesh's court will open on Tuesdays after a month-long break. The 16th Amendment was passed by Bangladesh's Parliament three years ago empowering the members to impeach the top court judges for "incapability or misconduct via two-thirds majority". However, last year Bangladesh's High Court declared the amendment "illegal". The High Court in its judgement said,"The parliamentary mechanism for the removal of judges is an accident of history, though it is in vogue in some countries of the world." The High Court said the people "would suffer" because of the 16th Amendment. Unconfirmed reports @Bangladesh say Supreme Court's first Hindu Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha is confined in his residence.@MEAIndia pic.twitter.com/xgYquRxfa0 — Tarun Vijay (@Tarunvijay) October 5, 2017 ×

Bangladesh's Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha forced to 'go on leave' over row with government

<p>Thousands of Islamist hardliners marched in <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/bangladesh-to-press-for-muslim-refugees-return-to-myanmar-20902" target="_blank">Bangladesh&#39;s port city of Chittagong Friday calling for the government to arm Rohingya Muslim refugees </a>fleeing a crackdown in Myanmar&#39;s troubled Rakhine state.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/10000-rohingya-poised-to-enter-bangladesh-as-exodus-swells-again-20965" target="_blank">More than half a million Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh</a> since attacks by militants belonging to the Muslim minority on Myanmar police posts sparked brutal reprisals by security forces.</p>

<p>The refugees accuse Myanmar&#39;s army, flanked by mobs of ethnic Rakhine, of slaughtering them and burning their villages in a campaign which the United Nations says amounts to &quot;ethnic cleansing&quot;.</p>

<p>Myanmar&#39;s military has blamed the unrest on the Rohingya.</p>

<p>Up to 15,000 people joined the demonstrations in Bangladesh&#39;s second largest city, police said, organised by hardline Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam to protest against the killings of the Rohingya.</p>

<p>&quot;We demanded a halt to the genocide of the Rohingya,&quot; Hefazat spokesman Azizul Hoque Islamabad told AFP.</p>

<p>&quot;We have also asked the government to train and arm the Rohingya so that they can liberate their homeland,&quot; he said.</p>

<p>Communities in Chittagong share close cultural, religious and linguistic ties with the Rohingya, and images on social media purportedly showing abuses against the Muslim minority in mainly Buddhist Myanmar have aroused strong sympathy in Bangladesh.</p>

<p>Islamist parties, including Hefazat, have staged several demonstrations over the issue in recent weeks and some firebrand leaders have called on the government to go to war with Myanmar to liberate Rakhine for the persecuted Rohingya.</p>

<p>Experts said Bangladeshi Islamist extremist groups could exploit the situation and forge closer ties with Rohingya militants.</p>

<p>The plight of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority who are reviled and denied citizenship in Myanmar, has <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/wion-exclusive-pakistans-role-behind-rohingya-insurgent-groups-cant-be-ruled-out-says-ht-imam-20803" target="_blank">roused anger across the Islamic world, with protests held in Pakistan</a>, Malaysia and Indonesia.</p>

<p>The influx has also put Bangladesh under immense strain, with the South Asian country already hosting at least 300,000 Rohingya refugees in squalid camps along its border with Myanmar before the latest surge in arrivals.</p>


Thousands of Islamist hardliners marched in Bangladesh's port city of Chittagong Friday

Thousands of Islamist hardliners marched in Bangladesh's port city of Chittagong Friday calling for the government to arm Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing a crackdown in Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state. More than half a million Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since attacks by militants belonging to the Muslim minority on Myanmar police posts sparked brutal reprisals by security forces. The refugees accuse Myanmar's army, flanked by mobs of ethnic Rakhine, of slaughtering them and burning their villages in a campaign which the United Nations says amounts to "ethnic cleansing". Myanmar's military has blamed the unrest on the Rohingya. Up to 15,000 people joined the demonstrations in Bangladesh's second largest city, police said, organised by hardline Islamist group Hefazat-e-Islam to protest against the killings of the Rohingya. "We demanded a halt to the genocide of the Rohingya," Hefazat spokesman Azizul Hoque Islamabad told AFP. "We have also asked the government to train and arm the Rohingya so that they can liberate their homeland," he said. Communities in Chittagong share close cultural, religious and linguistic ties with the Rohingya, and images on social media purportedly showing abuses against the Muslim minority in mainly Buddhist Myanmar have aroused strong sympathy in Bangladesh. Islamist parties, including Hefazat, have staged several demonstrations over the issue in recent weeks and some firebrand leaders have called on the government to go to war with Myanmar to liberate Rakhine for the persecuted Rohingya. Experts said Bangladeshi Islamist extremist groups could exploit the situation and forge closer ties with Rohingya militants. The plight of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority who are reviled and denied citizenship in Myanmar, has roused anger across the Islamic world, with protests held in Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia. The influx has also put Bangladesh under immense strain, with the South Asian country already hosting at least 300,000 Rohingya refugees in squalid camps along its border with Myanmar before the latest surge in arrivals.

Bangladesh Islamists call on government to arm Rohingyas

<p>Rohingya refugees arriving in Bangladesh amid a fresh exodus from strife-torn Myanmar have described whole villages being emptied and thousands marching to the border as security forces redouble efforts to drive remaining Muslims from their homes.</p>

<p>More than 500,000 Muslim Rohingya have fled ethnic bloodshed in Myanmar in the past month and numbers are again swelling, with Bangladesh reporting 4-5,000 civilians now crossing the border each day after a brief lull in arrivals.</p>

<p>An estimated 10,000 more have reportedly massed in Myanmar near a crossing point into Bangladesh, and are poised to join the hundreds of thousands of mainly Rohingya refugees eking out survival in wretched camps over the border.</p>

<p>The spike in new arrivals -- prompted by what Rohingya say is a fresh drive to purge Muslims still in westernmost Rakhine state -- casts doubt on a Myanmar proposal aired this week to start repatriating the persecuted minority.</p>

<p>Rakhine has been emptied of half of its Rohingya population in weeks, and more are on the move as insecurity presses them to leave villages that have so far been spared the worst of the violence ripping through the state.</p>

<p>Rashida Begum, who arrived in Bangladesh late Monday, said local officials assured the Rohingya community for weeks they would be safe if they remained in their village.</p>

<p>&quot;(But then) the army came and went door to door, ordering us to leave,&quot; she told AFP of the military sweep in Maungdaw on Friday.</p>

<p>&quot;They said they wouldn&#39;t harm us, but eventually they drove us out and burned our houses.&quot;</p>

<p>Begum, 30, fled with her daughter to the coast, where hundreds of Rohingya waited to cross the Naf River dividing Myanmar and Bangladesh.</p>

<p>Myanmar state media said the fleeing Rohingya had left &quot;of their own accord&quot; despite assurances they would be safe.</p>

<p>&quot;I wanted to stay in my village,&quot; Hasina Khatun, 25, told AFP in the coastal border town of Shah Porir Dwip.</p>

<p>&quot;They (local officials) said &#39;don&#39;t go to Bangladesh. Everything will be fine&#39;. We believed them, but nothing improved. Eventually, we had to leave.&quot;</p>

<p>Sumaya Bibi, a softly spoken Rohingya teenager, described more than a thousand civilians hiding along the riverbank late Monday.</p>

<p>She said they boarded about 10 wooden fishing boats, many overloaded and carrying mainly women and children, and drifted under the cover of darkness across the Naf where they washed up on a remote beach.</p>

<p>Reports are difficult to independently verify due to reporting restrictions in Rakhine.</p>

<p>Fazlul Haq, a local councillor in the area, said the flow of boats had almost stopped by late September but has resumed in recent days, bringing scores of Rohingya families reporting threats and intimidation by the army.</p>

<p>The UN said Tuesday that 509,000 refugees had crossed into Bangladesh as of September 30.</p>

<p>The influx began after August 25, when attacks by Rohingya militants spurred a ferocious Myanmar army crackdown that the UN says amounted to &quot;ethnic cleansing&quot;.</p>

<p>Myanmar&#39;s government refuses to recognise the Rohingya as a distinct ethnic group and considers them illegal migrants from Bangladesh.</p>

<p>On Monday a Myanmar minister proposed taking back hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, many of whom are at risk of disease in packed makeshift camps along the border but offered no timeline.</p>

<p>Violence appears to have ebbed in northern Rakhine, although independent reporting is still blocked by an army lockdown, but fear has unsettled many of the Rohingya who remain.</p>

<p>Nurul Amin, who arrived Sunday after the military ordered his village to be evacuated, described a long column of Rohingya civilians growing in size as it snaked toward the coast.</p>

<p>&quot;As we left, people from villages all around us started joining. They (the Myanmar army) weren&#39;t killing anyone, just burning houses,&quot; he told AFP.</p>

<p>Thick plumes of smoke could be seen from Bangladesh rising beyond the border on Tuesday. An EU delegation in Rakhine earlier this week urged an end to the violence after seeing &quot;villages burned to the ground and emptied of inhabitants&quot;.</p>

<p>Amin said there were just &quot;two, maybe three families in hiding, but no houses&quot; in the villages surrounding his razed home in Maungdaw.</p>

<p>&quot;They too will come in time,&quot; he said.</p>


More than 500,000 Rohingya have fled ethnic bloodshed in Myanmar in the past month

Rohingya refugees arriving in Bangladesh amid a fresh exodus from strife-torn Myanmar have described whole villages being emptied and thousands marching to the border as security forces redouble efforts to drive remaining Muslims from their homes. More than 500,000 Muslim Rohingya have fled ethnic bloodshed in Myanmar in the past month and numbers are again swelling, with Bangladesh reporting 4-5,000 civilians now crossing the border each day after a brief lull in arrivals. An estimated 10,000 more have reportedly massed in Myanmar near a crossing point into Bangladesh, and are poised to join the hundreds of thousands of mainly Rohingya refugees eking out survival in wretched camps over the border. The spike in new arrivals -- prompted by what Rohingya say is a fresh drive to purge Muslims still in westernmost Rakhine state -- casts doubt on a Myanmar proposal aired this week to start repatriating the persecuted minority. Rakhine has been emptied of half of its Rohingya population in weeks, and more are on the move as insecurity presses them to leave villages that have so far been spared the worst of the violence ripping through the state. Rashida Begum, who arrived in Bangladesh late Monday, said local officials assured the Rohingya community for weeks they would be safe if they remained in their village. "(But then) the army came and went door to door, ordering us to leave," she told AFP of the military sweep in Maungdaw on Friday. "They said they wouldn't harm us, but eventually they drove us out and burned our houses." Begum, 30, fled with her daughter to the coast, where hundreds of Rohingya waited to cross the Naf River dividing Myanmar and Bangladesh. Myanmar state media said the fleeing Rohingya had left "of their own accord" despite assurances they would be safe. "I wanted to stay in my village," Hasina Khatun, 25, told AFP in the coastal border town of Shah Porir Dwip. "They (local officials) said 'don't go to Bangladesh. Everything will be fine'. We believed them, but nothing improved. Eventually, we had to leave." Sumaya Bibi, a softly spoken Rohingya teenager, described more than a thousand civilians hiding along the riverbank late Monday. She said they boarded about 10 wooden fishing boats, many overloaded and carrying mainly women and children, and drifted under the cover of darkness across the Naf where they washed up on a remote beach. Reports are difficult to independently verify due to reporting restrictions in Rakhine. Fazlul Haq, a local councillor in the area, said the flow of boats had almost stopped by late September but has resumed in recent days, bringing scores of Rohingya families reporting threats and intimidation by the army. The UN said Tuesday that 509,000 refugees had crossed into Bangladesh as of September 30. The influx began after August 25, when attacks by Rohingya militants spurred a ferocious Myanmar army crackdown that the UN says amounted to "ethnic cleansing". Myanmar's government refuses to recognise the Rohingya as a distinct ethnic group and considers them illegal migrants from Bangladesh. On Monday a Myanmar minister proposed taking back hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, many of whom are at risk of disease in packed makeshift camps along the border but offered no timeline. Violence appears to have ebbed in northern Rakhine, although independent reporting is still blocked by an army lockdown, but fear has unsettled many of the Rohingya who remain. Nurul Amin, who arrived Sunday after the military ordered his village to be evacuated, described a long column of Rohingya civilians growing in size as it snaked toward the coast. "As we left, people from villages all around us started joining. They (the Myanmar army) weren't killing anyone, just burning houses," he told AFP. Thick plumes of smoke could be seen from Bangladesh rising beyond the border on Tuesday. An EU delegation in Rakhine earlier this week urged an end to the violence after seeing "villages burned to the ground and emptied of inhabitants". Amin said there were just "two, maybe three families in hiding, but no houses" in the villages surrounding his razed home in Maungdaw. "They too will come in time," he said.

Rohingya fleeing Myanmar say Army redoubling efforts to clear out those who remain

<p>Bangladesh police have rescued 20 Rohingya after busting a gang which ferried the refugees from Myanmar but demanded thousands of dollars for the boat ride, an official said Tuesday.</p>

<p>The Rapid Action Battalion raided a village near the border with Myanmar late Monday to free the Rohingya Muslims who had been held there for a day, said Major Ruhul Amin.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The RAB chief who led the operation at Sabrung near Cox&#39;s Bazar told AFP the 20 included seven women, five men and eight children.</p>

<p>&quot;They were held there by a gang of boat owners and crew who demanded 20,000 takas ($250) per person for a two-hour boat ride from Myanmar,&quot; he said.&nbsp;</p>

<p>A boat ride between Maungdaw and Bangladesh&#39;s main landing station at Shah Porir Dwip would cost no more than five dollars normally.</p>

<p>Amin said they arrested three members of the gang for profiteering. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The UN estimates that 507,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Rakhine into Bangladesh since late August after the latest eruption of violence in the northern Myanmar state.</p>

<p>Many have arrived on rickety boats crossing the Naf river, which marks the border between Bangladesh&#39;s Cox&#39;s Bazar district and Rakhine.</p>

<p>Police said boat owners, crew and fishermen have charged exorbitant prices for the rides.</p>

<p>&quot;It has become a common phenomenon&quot; since the influx began, Amin said.</p>

<p>Authorities have deployed mobile courts to crack down on the profiteering gangs and handed down sentences of up to six months&#39; jail on nearly 200 people.</p>

<p>&quot;We have arrested 20 brokers and freed nearly 2,000 people in raids in the coastal villages. In one raid we rescued about 1,000 Rohingya who were held at six houses,&quot; Amin said.</p>

<p>Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh said the boatmen extracted every last penny from them for the ferry and threatened to throw them overboard if they refused to surrender valuables including gold ornaments</p>

<p>Media reports have mentioned Rohingya being held by boatmen and agents for hours in coastal villages until they made inflated payments for the trip.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Rohingya living in established refugee camps in Bangladesh have also been accused of joining the profiteering.</p>


The Rapid Action Battalion raided a village near the border with Myanmar late Monday to free the Rohingya Muslims who had been held there for a day, said Major Ruhul Amin

Bangladesh police have rescued 20 Rohingya after busting a gang which ferried the refugees from Myanmar but demanded thousands of dollars for the boat ride, an official said Tuesday. The Rapid Action Battalion raided a village near the border with Myanmar late Monday to free the Rohingya Muslims who had been held there for a day, said Major Ruhul Amin. The RAB chief who led the operation at Sabrung near Cox's Bazar told AFP the 20 included seven women, five men and eight children. "They were held there by a gang of boat owners and crew who demanded 20,000 takas ($250) per person for a two-hour boat ride from Myanmar," he said. A boat ride between Maungdaw and Bangladesh's main landing station at Shah Porir Dwip would cost no more than five dollars normally. Amin said they arrested three members of the gang for profiteering. The UN estimates that 507,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Rakhine into Bangladesh since late August after the latest eruption of violence in the northern Myanmar state. Many have arrived on rickety boats crossing the Naf river, which marks the border between Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar district and Rakhine. Police said boat owners, crew and fishermen have charged exorbitant prices for the rides. "It has become a common phenomenon" since the influx began, Amin said. Authorities have deployed mobile courts to crack down on the profiteering gangs and handed down sentences of up to six months' jail on nearly 200 people. "We have arrested 20 brokers and freed nearly 2,000 people in raids in the coastal villages. In one raid we rescued about 1,000 Rohingya who were held at six houses," Amin said. Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh said the boatmen extracted every last penny from them for the ferry and threatened to throw them overboard if they refused to surrender valuables including gold ornaments Media reports have mentioned Rohingya being held by boatmen and agents for hours in coastal villages until they made inflated payments for the trip. Rohingya living in established refugee camps in Bangladesh have also been accused of joining the profiteering.

Bangladesh rescues 20 Rohingya held by refugee racket gang

<p>More than 10,000 Muslim Rohingya have massed in Myanmar near a <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/aid-group-warns-of-death-among-rohingya-in-bangladesh-20298" target="_blank">crossing point into Bangladesh</a>, Myanmar media said&nbsp;Tuesday, apparently poised to join an exodus across the border due to food shortages and fear of attacks in their mainly Buddhist homeland.</p>

<p>Over 500,000 Rohingya have streamed into Bangladesh in just the past five weeks, and numbers are again swelling, raising doubts about the practicality of a Myanmar proposal to begin repatriating them.</p>

<p>Myanmar&#39;s northern state of Rakhine has been emptied of half of its Rohingya population in weeks.</p>

<p>More are on the move as insecurity presses them to leave those villages which have so far been spared the worst of the violence that ripped through the state.</p>

<p>Attacks by Rohingya militants on&nbsp;August 25&nbsp;spurred a ferocious Myanmar army crackdown that the UN says amounted to &quot;ethnic cleansing&quot;.</p>

<p>Over 10,000 &quot;Muslims&quot; have arrived &quot;between Letphwekya and Kwunthpin village to emigrate to the neighbouring country&quot;, the state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported&nbsp;Tuesday.</p>

<p>Myanmar&#39;s government refuses to recognise the Rohingya as a distinct ethnic group, instead of calling them &quot;Muslims&quot; or &quot;Bengalis&quot;, code for illegal migrants from Bangladesh.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Authorities have tried to reassure fleeing Rohingya that they are now safe in Rakhine, the report added, but they want to leave &quot;of their own accord&quot;.</p>

<p>Violence appears to have ebbed in northern Rakhine, although independent reporting is still prevented by an army lockdown.&nbsp;</p>

<p>But fear has unsettled many of the Rohingya who remain, threatened by Myanmar&#39;s army and their hostile ethnic Rakhine neighbours and cut off from aid agencies.&nbsp;</p>

<p>After a brief lull in arrivals, the Bangladesh Border Guard says 4-5,000 Rohingya are now crossing each day.</p>

<p>&quot;They don&#39;t want to stay (in Myanmar). They want to come here... they are being told to leave,&quot; Lieutenant-Colonel SM Ariful Islam told AFP.</p>

<p>Food is also running out, with villagers too fearful to tend to their crops in case they are attacked by their neighbours.</p>

<p>&quot;In some villages, they are scared to pass by Rakhine villages,&quot; Chris Lewa, from Rohingya advocacy group the Arakan Project, told AFP.</p>

<p>Also read: <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/rohingya-infant-washes-up-dead-reminds-world-of-syrian-boy-alan-kurdi-10903" target="_blank">Rohingya infant washes up dead, reminds world of Syrian boy Alan Kurdi</a></p>

<p><strong>Rakhine in ruins&nbsp;</strong></p>

<p>Myanmar denies most Rohingya citizenship and the public in the Buddhist-majority nation does not want them back.</p>

<p>Myanmar&#39;s army has branded them illegal immigrants intent on imposing Islam via the country&#39;s western gateway.</p>

<p>On Monday&nbsp;Myanmar&#39;s Minister of the Office of State Counselor, Kyaw Tint Swe, told Bangladesh his country was ready to accept refugees subject to a verification process agreed in the early 1990s by the neighbours.</p>

<p>The minister&#39;s offer applies only to those who fled in the past year, according to a Bangladeshi official, excluding some 300,000 Rohingya who fled earlier.&nbsp;</p>

<p>And refugees and rights groups say the verification which Myanmar wants will leave huge numbers in the squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh since it relies on documentation which most Rohingya do not have.</p>

<p>The refugees are also deeply fearful of what awaits back in Myanmar, with many recounting stories of rape and mass murder at the hands of the army while their villages have been destroyed.</p>

<p>Relief agencies&nbsp;Tuesday&nbsp;were fighting to contain a diarrhoea outbreak around hugely overcrowded camps in Bangladesh.</p>

<p>A 20-bed clinic was opened at Kutupalong camp&nbsp;Monday&nbsp;for diarrhoea victims and another 60-bed facility will be set up this week.</p>

<p>&quot;We have seen an increasing trend of diarrhoeal disease cases, including cases of diarrhoea with severe dehydration,&quot; said United Nations refugee agency spokesman Andrej Mahecic.</p>

<p>The UN said it would seek $430 million to increase operations in the camps.</p>

<p>Inside Rakhine, already one of Myanmar&#39;s poorest states, conditions are worsening for those left behind.</p>

<p>UN officials toured a conflict-hit portion of the state&nbsp;on Monday, noting the &quot;unimaginable&quot; scale of suffering and urging humanitarian access.</p>

<p>An EU delegation accompanying them on the government-steered day trip urged an end to the violence after seeing &quot;villages burned to the ground and emptied of inhabitants&quot;.</p>

<h1 title="Fires rage in Rakhine as Myanmar army blames Rohingya for mosque blast">&nbsp;</h1>


Over 500,000 Rohingya have streamed into Bangladesh in just the past five weeks

More than 10,000 Muslim Rohingya have massed in Myanmar near a crossing point into Bangladesh, Myanmar media said Tuesday, apparently poised to join an exodus across the border due to food shortages and fear of attacks in their mainly Buddhist homeland. Over 500,000 Rohingya have streamed into Bangladesh in just the past five weeks, and numbers are again swelling, raising doubts about the practicality of a Myanmar proposal to begin repatriating them. Myanmar's northern state of Rakhine has been emptied of half of its Rohingya population in weeks. More are on the move as insecurity presses them to leave those villages which have so far been spared the worst of the violence that ripped through the state. Attacks by Rohingya militants on August 25 spurred a ferocious Myanmar army crackdown that the UN says amounted to "ethnic cleansing". Over 10,000 "Muslims" have arrived "between Letphwekya and Kwunthpin village to emigrate to the neighbouring country", the state-backed Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Tuesday. Myanmar's government refuses to recognise the Rohingya as a distinct ethnic group, instead of calling them "Muslims" or "Bengalis", code for illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Authorities have tried to reassure fleeing Rohingya that they are now safe in Rakhine, the report added, but they want to leave "of their own accord". Violence appears to have ebbed in northern Rakhine, although independent reporting is still prevented by an army lockdown. But fear has unsettled many of the Rohingya who remain, threatened by Myanmar's army and their hostile ethnic Rakhine neighbours and cut off from aid agencies. After a brief lull in arrivals, the Bangladesh Border Guard says 4-5,000 Rohingya are now crossing each day. "They don't want to stay (in Myanmar). They want to come here... they are being told to leave," Lieutenant-Colonel SM Ariful Islam told AFP. Food is also running out, with villagers too fearful to tend to their crops in case they are attacked by their neighbours. "In some villages, they are scared to pass by Rakhine villages," Chris Lewa, from Rohingya advocacy group the Arakan Project, told AFP. Also read: Rohingya infant washes up dead, reminds world of Syrian boy Alan Kurdi Rakhine in ruins Myanmar denies most Rohingya citizenship and the public in the Buddhist-majority nation does not want them back. Myanmar's army has branded them illegal immigrants intent on imposing Islam via the country's western gateway. On Monday Myanmar's Minister of the Office of State Counselor, Kyaw Tint Swe, told Bangladesh his country was ready to accept refugees subject to a verification process agreed in the early 1990s by the neighbours. The minister's offer applies only to those who fled in the past year, according to a Bangladeshi official, excluding some 300,000 Rohingya who fled earlier. And refugees and rights groups say the verification which Myanmar wants will leave huge numbers in the squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh since it relies on documentation which most Rohingya do not have. The refugees are also deeply fearful of what awaits back in Myanmar, with many recounting stories of rape and mass murder at the hands of the army while their villages have been destroyed. Relief agencies Tuesday were fighting to contain a diarrhoea outbreak around hugely overcrowded camps in Bangladesh. A 20-bed clinic was opened at Kutupalong camp Monday for diarrhoea victims and another 60-bed facility will be set up this week. "We have seen an increasing trend of diarrhoeal disease cases, including cases of diarrhoea with severe dehydration," said United Nations refugee agency spokesman Andrej Mahecic. The UN said it would seek $430 million to increase operations in the camps. Inside Rakhine, already one of Myanmar's poorest states, conditions are worsening for those left behind. UN officials toured a conflict-hit portion of the state on Monday, noting the "unimaginable" scale of suffering and urging humanitarian access. An EU delegation accompanying them on the government-steered day trip urged an end to the violence after seeing "villages burned to the ground and emptied of inhabitants".

10,000 Rohingya poised to enter Bangladesh as exodus swells again

<p>Bangladesh opened talks with neighbouring Myanmar on Monday with the aim of securing the return of more than half a million Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar, most of whom have arrived since late August.</p>

<p>The United Nations has called the exodus of 507,000 Rohingya since Aug. 25 the world&#39;s fastest-developing refugee emergency and says Buddhist-majority Myanmar is engaging in ethnic cleansing against its Rohingya Muslim minority.</p>

<p>Myanmar rejects that, Its forces launched an offensive in the north of Rakhine state in response to coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on Aug 25.</p>

<p>Myanmar blames the insurgents for attacks on civilians and for setting most of the fires that have reduced more than half of more than 400 Rohingya villages in the north of Rakhine to ashes. The insurgents deny that.</p>

<p>Myanmar says more than 500 people have been killed in the latest violence, most of the insurgents.</p>

<p>Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called for an end to the violence and for safe zones to be set up in Myanmar to enable refugees to return.</p>

<p>She has also called for a U.N. fact-finding mission to go to Myanmar and for Myanmar to implement recommendations on solving problems in Rakhine drawn up by a team led by former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan.</p>

<p>Bangladesh would focus on those five proposals in talks in Dhaka on Monday between Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Myanmar government official Kyaw Tint Swe, in particular, the return of the refugees, a Bangladeshi foreign ministry official said.</p>

<p>&quot;We don&#39;t think this crisis is going to be resolved in just one meeting,&quot; said the official who declined to be identified as he is not authorised to speak to media.</p>

<p>The crisis over Myanmar&#39;s treatment of the Rohingya is the biggest problem national leader Aung San Suu Kyi has had to face since forming a government last year after winning a landmark election in late 2015.</p>

<p>The Nobel peace laureate, in an address to the nation last month, said Myanmar was ready to start a verification process under a 1993 agreement with Bangladesh and &quot;refugees from this country will be accepted without any problem&quot;.</p>

<p>There were already about 300,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh before the latest exodus.</p>

<p>In Myanmar, the government took diplomats to Rakhine to let them see the situation.</p>

<p>&quot;Maungdaw feels like a ghost town,&quot; Swiss ambassador Paul Seger said on Twitter, as he arrived in the main town in the north of Rakhine.</p>

<p>Myanmar has blocked most aid workers and the media from the area despite calls from Western countries for access to deal with what aid groups fear is an unfolding humanitarian crisis on both sides of the border.</p>

<p><strong>PROTEST</strong></p>

<p>Suu Kyi has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out strongly enough on behalf of the long-persecuted minority and of defending the army action.</p>

<p>The Rohingya are denied citizenship and classified as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots in Myanmar that go back centuries, with communities marginalised and occasionally subjected to communal violence.</p>

<p>Suu Kyi has no power over security policy under a military-drafted constitution and the public in Myanmar, where Buddhist nationalism has surged over recent years, largely supports the offensive against the insurgents.</p>

<p>The United States, in its strongest criticism of Myanmar over the crisis, called last week on countries to suspend providing weapons to Myanmar&#39;s military. But it stopped short of threatening to reimpose sanctions, which were suspended under the Obama administration.</p>

<p>A protest against Western pressure and foreign media coverage of the crisis is planned in the biggest city of Yangon on Monday.</p>

<p>Myanmar has refused to grant access to a U.N. fact-finding mission but Suu Kyi appointed Annan last year to lead an advisory commission and propose solutions.</p>

<p>The commission presented its recommendations on Aug. 24, a day before the insurgent attacks sparked the latest crisis, among them a review of a law that links citizenship and ethnicity and leaves most Rohingya stateless.</p>

<p>The panel also recommended that the government hold perpetrators of rights violations accountable, ensure the right to freedom of movement for everyone in Rakhine and invest in infrastructure to lift the state out of poverty.</p>

<p>Suu Kyi, in her address to the nation last month, said she was committed to the recommendations.</p>


The United Nations has called the exodus of 507,000 Rohingya since Aug. 25 the world's fastest-developing refugee emergency and says Buddhist-majority Myanmar is engaging in ethnic cleansing against its Rohingya Muslim minority

Bangladesh opened talks with neighbouring Myanmar on Monday with the aim of securing the return of more than half a million Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar, most of whom have arrived since late August. The United Nations has called the exodus of 507,000 Rohingya since Aug. 25 the world's fastest-developing refugee emergency and says Buddhist-majority Myanmar is engaging in ethnic cleansing against its Rohingya Muslim minority. Myanmar rejects that, Its forces launched an offensive in the north of Rakhine state in response to coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on Aug 25. Myanmar blames the insurgents for attacks on civilians and for setting most of the fires that have reduced more than half of more than 400 Rohingya villages in the north of Rakhine to ashes. The insurgents deny that. Myanmar says more than 500 people have been killed in the latest violence, most of the insurgents. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has called for an end to the violence and for safe zones to be set up in Myanmar to enable refugees to return. She has also called for a U.N. fact-finding mission to go to Myanmar and for Myanmar to implement recommendations on solving problems in Rakhine drawn up by a team led by former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan. Bangladesh would focus on those five proposals in talks in Dhaka on Monday between Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali and Myanmar government official Kyaw Tint Swe, in particular, the return of the refugees, a Bangladeshi foreign ministry official said. "We don't think this crisis is going to be resolved in just one meeting," said the official who declined to be identified as he is not authorised to speak to media. The crisis over Myanmar's treatment of the Rohingya is the biggest problem national leader Aung San Suu Kyi has had to face since forming a government last year after winning a landmark election in late 2015. The Nobel peace laureate, in an address to the nation last month, said Myanmar was ready to start a verification process under a 1993 agreement with Bangladesh and "refugees from this country will be accepted without any problem". There were already about 300,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh before the latest exodus. In Myanmar, the government took diplomats to Rakhine to let them see the situation. "Maungdaw feels like a ghost town," Swiss ambassador Paul Seger said on Twitter, as he arrived in the main town in the north of Rakhine. Myanmar has blocked most aid workers and the media from the area despite calls from Western countries for access to deal with what aid groups fear is an unfolding humanitarian crisis on both sides of the border. PROTEST Suu Kyi has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out strongly enough on behalf of the long-persecuted minority and of defending the army action. The Rohingya are denied citizenship and classified as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots in Myanmar that go back centuries, with communities marginalised and occasionally subjected to communal violence. Suu Kyi has no power over security policy under a military-drafted constitution and the public in Myanmar, where Buddhist nationalism has surged over recent years, largely supports the offensive against the insurgents. The United States, in its strongest criticism of Myanmar over the crisis, called last week on countries to suspend providing weapons to Myanmar's military. But it stopped short of threatening to reimpose sanctions, which were suspended under the Obama administration. A protest against Western pressure and foreign media coverage of the crisis is planned in the biggest city of Yangon on Monday. Myanmar has refused to grant access to a U.N. fact-finding mission but Suu Kyi appointed Annan last year to lead an advisory commission and propose solutions. The commission presented its recommendations on Aug. 24, a day before the insurgent attacks sparked the latest crisis, among them a review of a law that links citizenship and ethnicity and leaves most Rohingya stateless. The panel also recommended that the government hold perpetrators of rights violations accountable, ensure the right to freedom of movement for everyone in Rakhine and invest in infrastructure to lift the state out of poverty. Suu Kyi, in her address to the nation last month, said she was committed to the recommendations.

Bangladesh to press for Muslim refugees' return to Myanmar

<p>The UN has said the death toll from the capsizing of the boat carrying Rohingya refugees is likely to cross 60.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The boat capsized off the coast of Bangladesh on Thursday.&nbsp;</p>

<p>AFP reported&nbsp;Internation Organisation for Migration spokesman Joel Millman as saying 23 people had been confirmed dead.&nbsp;</p>

<p>There are 40 people missing; they are for the moment presumed dead.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Witnesses and survivors said the boat was just metres from the Bangladesh coast when it was lashed by high winds and rain.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;Survivors described being at sea all night, having no food,&quot; AFP quoted Millman as saying.&nbsp;</p>

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<p>A man watches as the bodies of the dead are brought ashore. (Reuters)</p>
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<p>So far, 23 people have been confirmed dead. (Reuters)</p>
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<p>The boat was carrying almost 80 Rohingya refugees, including 50 children.&nbsp;</p>

<p>AFP quoted Millman as saying the captain of the boat, a suspected trafficker, was also missing.&nbsp;</p>

<p>He too is presumed dead, although he has not been included in the IOM death toll which counts only migrants.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


The boat capsized just metres off the coast of Bangladesh on Thursday

The UN has said the death toll from the capsizing of the boat carrying Rohingya refugees is likely to cross 60. The boat capsized off the coast of Bangladesh on Thursday. AFP reported Internation Organisation for Migration spokesman Joel Millman as saying 23 people had been confirmed dead. There are 40 people missing; they are for the moment presumed dead. Witnesses and survivors said the boat was just metres from the Bangladesh coast when it was lashed by high winds and rain. "Survivors described being at sea all night, having no food," AFP quoted Millman as saying. A man watches as the bodies of the dead are brought ashore. (Reuters) × So far, 23 people have been confirmed dead. (Reuters) × The boat was carrying almost 80 Rohingya refugees, including 50 children. AFP quoted Millman as saying the captain of the boat, a suspected trafficker, was also missing. He too is presumed dead, although he has not been included in the IOM death toll which counts only migrants.

Rohingya boat capsize: Death toll likely to cross 60, says UN

<p>UN chief Antonio Guterres exhorted Myanmar&#39;s leaders to end the &quot;nightmare&quot; faced by Rohingya refugees fleeing an army campaign, after at least 19 people drowned with scores more feared dead when a boat carrying Rohingya families capsized off Bangladesh.&nbsp;</p>

<p>More than half a million Rohingya Muslims have poured into Bangladesh in the last month, fleeing a vicious Myanmar military crackdown on Rohingya rebels that has gutted villages across northern Rakhine state.</p>

<p>Scores have drowned while trying to cross waters separating the two countries, while those who survive face new dangers as they cram into squalid refugee settlements where food and clean water are in short supply.</p>

<p>The billowing humanitarian crisis prompted the UN Security Council to hold its first meeting on Myanmar in eight years, though the member countries failed to arrive at a joint resolution.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The US slammed the army for trying &quot;to cleanse the country of an ethnic minority&quot;, while Beijing and Moscow offered support to Myanmar authorities who have vehemently rebuffed allegations that ethnic cleansing is underway.</p>

<p>Speaking to the 15-member council, Guterres urged Myanmar to halt military operations and open humanitarian access to the conflict-wracked western region.</p>

<p>&quot;The situation has spiralled into the world&#39;s fastest developing refugee emergency, a humanitarian and human rights nightmare,&quot; he said while calling for those displaced by the conflict to be allowed to return home.</p>

<p>The UN chief noted that the &quot;systemic violence&quot; could cause unrest to spill south to the central part of Myanmar&#39;s Rakhine state, threatening 250,000 Muslims with displacement.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Some of the strongest criticism came from US envoy Nikki Haley, who accused Myanmar authorities of waging a &quot;brutal, sustained campaign to cleanse the country of an ethnic minority&quot;.</p>

<p>&quot;It should shame senior Burmese leaders who have sacrificed so much for an open, democratic Myanmar,&quot; she added, in what appeared to be a rebuke to the country&#39;s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose reputation as a human rights champion has been battered by the crisis.</p>

<p>But Myanmar received strong backing from Russia and China, a close ally and key trade partner.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;The international community must be aware of the difficulties faced by the Burmese government, be patient and provide its assistance,&quot; Chinese envoy Wu Haitao said.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;We must be very careful when we talk about ethnic cleansing and genocide,&quot; added Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, taking the Myanmar government line as he blamed Rohingya militants for &quot;burning villages&quot;.</p>

<p>Fires have razed hundreds of communities in northern Rakhine over the past month, in what rights groups say is an army-led effort to drive out the stateless minority that has faced decades of persecution.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Myanmar, a mainly Buddhist country, has denied the allegation and defended its operations as a proportionate crackdown on the Rohingya militants whose deadly raids on police posts on August 25 sparked the military backlash.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Authorities have restricted access to the epicentre of the violence but agreed this week to allow a UN visit to the conflict zone.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The trip has been postponed to October 2 due to bad weather, state media reported Friday.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Boat tragedy&nbsp;</strong></p>

<p>The drowning tragedy is the latest in a series of deadly accidents as desperate refugees surge into Bangladesh, where they are penned into ramshackle tent cities amid dire shortages of nearly all forms of aid.</p>

<p>Witnesses and survivors said the vessel that overturned Thursday was just metres from the coast in rough waters after it was lashed by torrential rain and high winds.</p>

<p>There are fears the death toll could rise sharply with the International Organization for Migration saying about 100 people, mainly children, were believed aboard the downed vessel.</p>

<p>The bodies of 16 people, mostly children, were found Thursday and brought to a local school, said coastguard commander Nasir Uddin.</p>

<p>Two more bodies of young boys were retrieved Friday morning, he added, while another woman was washed ashore in a separate location.</p>

<p>&quot;They drowned before our eyes. Minutes later, the waves washed the bodies to the beach,&quot; said Mohammad Sohel, a local shopkeeper.</p>

<p>One distraught survivor said&nbsp;that his wife and one of their children had been killed when the ship sank.</p>

<p>&quot;The boat hit something underground as it came close to the beach. Then it overturned,&quot; said Nurus Salam, who had set off for Bangladesh from a coastal village in Myanmar late Wednesday with his family.</p>


More than half a million Rohingya Muslims have poured into Bangladesh in the last month, fleeing a vicious Myanmar military crackdown on Rohingya rebels that has gutted villages across northern Rakhine state

UN chief Antonio Guterres exhorted Myanmar's leaders to end the "nightmare" faced by Rohingya refugees fleeing an army campaign, after at least 19 people drowned with scores more feared dead when a boat carrying Rohingya families capsized off Bangladesh. More than half a million Rohingya Muslims have poured into Bangladesh in the last month, fleeing a vicious Myanmar military crackdown on Rohingya rebels that has gutted villages across northern Rakhine state. Scores have drowned while trying to cross waters separating the two countries, while those who survive face new dangers as they cram into squalid refugee settlements where food and clean water are in short supply. The billowing humanitarian crisis prompted the UN Security Council to hold its first meeting on Myanmar in eight years, though the member countries failed to arrive at a joint resolution. The US slammed the army for trying "to cleanse the country of an ethnic minority", while Beijing and Moscow offered support to Myanmar authorities who have vehemently rebuffed allegations that ethnic cleansing is underway. Speaking to the 15-member council, Guterres urged Myanmar to halt military operations and open humanitarian access to the conflict-wracked western region. "The situation has spiralled into the world's fastest developing refugee emergency, a humanitarian and human rights nightmare," he said while calling for those displaced by the conflict to be allowed to return home. The UN chief noted that the "systemic violence" could cause unrest to spill south to the central part of Myanmar's Rakhine state, threatening 250,000 Muslims with displacement. Some of the strongest criticism came from US envoy Nikki Haley, who accused Myanmar authorities of waging a "brutal, sustained campaign to cleanse the country of an ethnic minority". "It should shame senior Burmese leaders who have sacrificed so much for an open, democratic Myanmar," she added, in what appeared to be a rebuke to the country's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose reputation as a human rights champion has been battered by the crisis. But Myanmar received strong backing from Russia and China, a close ally and key trade partner. "The international community must be aware of the difficulties faced by the Burmese government, be patient and provide its assistance," Chinese envoy Wu Haitao said. "We must be very careful when we talk about ethnic cleansing and genocide," added Russian ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, taking the Myanmar government line as he blamed Rohingya militants for "burning villages". Fires have razed hundreds of communities in northern Rakhine over the past month, in what rights groups say is an army-led effort to drive out the stateless minority that has faced decades of persecution. Myanmar, a mainly Buddhist country, has denied the allegation and defended its operations as a proportionate crackdown on the Rohingya militants whose deadly raids on police posts on August 25 sparked the military backlash. Authorities have restricted access to the epicentre of the violence but agreed this week to allow a UN visit to the conflict zone. The trip has been postponed to October 2 due to bad weather, state media reported Friday. Boat tragedy The drowning tragedy is the latest in a series of deadly accidents as desperate refugees surge into Bangladesh, where they are penned into ramshackle tent cities amid dire shortages of nearly all forms of aid. Witnesses and survivors said the vessel that overturned Thursday was just metres from the coast in rough waters after it was lashed by torrential rain and high winds. There are fears the death toll could rise sharply with the International Organization for Migration saying about 100 people, mainly children, were believed aboard the downed vessel. The bodies of 16 people, mostly children, were found Thursday and brought to a local school, said coastguard commander Nasir Uddin. Two more bodies of young boys were retrieved Friday morning, he added, while another woman was washed ashore in a separate location. "They drowned before our eyes. Minutes later, the waves washed the bodies to the beach," said Mohammad Sohel, a local shopkeeper. One distraught survivor said that his wife and one of their children had been killed when the ship sank. "The boat hit something underground as it came close to the beach. Then it overturned," said Nurus Salam, who had set off for Bangladesh from a coastal village in Myanmar late Wednesday with his family.

UN chief tells Myanmar to end 'nightmare' as 19 drown in Rohingya boat capsize

<p>India&#39;s home minister Rajnath Singh has said India will not be violating any international law by deporting Rohingya refugess from the country.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Singh said that was because India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention.&nbsp;</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">India won&#39;t be violating any international law by deporting <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rohingyas?src=hash">#Rohingyas</a> from India, as it isn&#39;t a signatory to 1951 UN Refugee Convention: HM <a href="https://t.co/diVMprFndj">pic.twitter.com/diVMprFndj</a></p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/910755234212745216">September 21, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p>Singh added that the &quot;Principle of non-refoulement applies on those who have taken asylum in India. No Rohingya has applied for asylum in India till today.&quot;&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;Non-refoulement&quot; is defined as &quot;a fundamental principle of international law which forbids a country receiving asylum seekers from returning them to a country in which they would be in likely danger of persecution based on &#39;race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion&#39;.&quot;</p>

<p>He added that &quot;People should understand that one aspect of illegal immigration of Rohingyas is related with the national security.&quot;&nbsp;</p>

<p>There are some 40,000 Rohingya who are registered with the UNHCR as currently living in India.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The government had recently told the Supreme Court that the Rohingyas are a national security risk.&nbsp;</p>

<p>And that some Rohingyas living in India may have links with Pakistani terror groups.&nbsp;</p>


Singh said that was because India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention

India's home minister Rajnath Singh has said India will not be violating any international law by deporting Rohingya refugess from the country. Singh said that was because India is not a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. India won't be violating any international law by deporting #Rohingyas from India, as it isn't a signatory to 1951 UN Refugee Convention: HM pic.twitter.com/diVMprFndj — ANI (@ANI) September 21, 2017 × Singh added that the "Principle of non-refoulement applies on those who have taken asylum in India. No Rohingya has applied for asylum in India till today." "Non-refoulement" is defined as "a fundamental principle of international law which forbids a country receiving asylum seekers from returning them to a country in which they would be in likely danger of persecution based on 'race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion'." He added that "People should understand that one aspect of illegal immigration of Rohingyas is related with the national security." There are some 40,000 Rohingya who are registered with the UNHCR as currently living in India. The government had recently told the Supreme Court that the Rohingyas are a national security risk. And that some Rohingyas living in India may have links with Pakistani terror groups.

India will not violate any international law by deporting Rohingyas: Rajnath Singh

<p>Apparently, it&rsquo;s quite unnatural for Bangladesh and India not to be close allies, especially with India&#39;s involvement in Bangladesh&#39;s War of Independence of 1971. And then, of course, there are the unique cultural similarities and geographical realities with regards to common Ganges-Bramhaputra plain that runs through both the countries. Despite the overt Hasina-Modi bonhomie, the political reality is, however, very different. Bangladesh&#39;s relations with India can best be described as a loose friendship with hidden mutual mistrust and suspicion.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The lack of trust between the two countries&nbsp;comes forth more in the context of Bangladesh-Myanmar tussle on persecution and expulsion of &nbsp;Rohingyas from Arakan.&nbsp;</p>

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<h5>The tensed Bangladesh &ndash;India relationship stems from a variety of issues, such as &lsquo;equitable sharing of all common river water, terrorist camps and migration.</h5>
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<p>The prime deficiency of India&rsquo;s South Asia policy has been its obsession with Pakistan. Only recently a separate desk has been introduced for Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal in the Ministry of External Affairs at the South Block of Raisina Hills in New Delhi. Pakistan became important for its nuisance value while India failed to see the constructive value of the rest, especially Bangladesh which is already the 31st largest economy in the world with more than 6 per cent average economic growth in the last couple of decades. Courtesy the economic growth, the western world has come to view Bangladesh as one of the &lsquo;Next Eleven&rsquo;. Bangladesh has come to develop relations with the west, Japan, Middle-East and China and derived great economic benefits out of those relations.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The tensed Bangladesh &ndash;India relationship stems from a variety of issues, such as &lsquo;equitable sharing of all common river water, terrorist camps and migration. Since 1996 gradual progress has been achieved by Bangladesh and India to address some of these issues. Bangladesh has destroyed the dens the Indian rebels made along Bangladesh -<br />
India borders and proactively searched and sealed all channels of logistics and arms supply to these rebels. Bangladeshi intelligence agencies are also blocking ISI or its proxies&rsquo; probable operations against India from Bangladeshi soil. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Geo-politically, in South Asia and beyond, there are several areas where an alliance between the India and Bangladesh could have brought good mutual dividend and uphold some great IR principles. One such area is Pakistan&rsquo;s export of terrorism and Islamic radicalism. Both India and Bangladesh are affected by that. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Myanmar on the other hand hardly has any principled position. It is buying good numbers of multi-role fighter aircraft&nbsp;from Pakistan, the regional hub of Islamic terrorism, giving a boost to Pakistani military industry and technology. These are made through the collaboration between Pakistan and China, Myanmar&rsquo;s closest ally and India&rsquo;s geo-strategic nemesis. In this context, it&rsquo;s difficult to make sense as to why&nbsp;India is siding with Myanmar in its dissension with Bangladesh on an acute humanitarian crisis like Rohingya.&nbsp;</p>

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<h5>It&rsquo;s difficult to make sense as to why&nbsp;India is siding with Myanmar in its dissension with Bangladesh on an acute humanitarian crisis like Rohingya.&nbsp;</h5>
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<p>Apart from the principle and propriety angle, India hardly gains anything from Myanmar. India can&rsquo;t match the kind of investment China made in Myanmar.&nbsp;</p>

<p>A further irony is, lacs of &nbsp;Indians were expelled from Myanmar like the Rohingyas in the fifties and sixties. The remaining ones and later migrant Indian in Myanmar are still abused in that country with racial slur &#39;Kala&rsquo;. The Myanmar Indians falls in the same absurd 1982 citizenship law as Rohingyas. Myanmar is always likely to be on China&#39;s side despite India&rsquo;s disgraceful pampering.&nbsp;</p>

<p>On the other hand, India has much to lose not by standing by Bangladesh&rsquo;s side at the time of its need both in comparative and absolute terms. &nbsp;Bangladesh might again lean more towards the Islamic bondage rather than the subcontinental one. If Islamic solidarity is revived on this issue, India&rsquo;s massive stake in the Middle East might even be harmed for its direct or indirect support in Rohingya genocide and expulsion.&nbsp;</p>

<p>It seems&nbsp;some of PM Modi&rsquo;s strategic advisors have gone bonkers with anti-Muslim preoccupation and very weak Rohingya terrorism stories. Because of them, soon India might find herself on the wrong side of geopolitics and history. Bangladesh did a balancing act between concerns of India and interest of China by postponing China&rsquo;s proposal for a Sri Lanka and Pakistan like the development of a deep sea port in Sonadia of Chittagong. Now, it&rsquo;s a payback time for India and an opportunity for it to befriend Bangladesh for the long term by strongly being by the latter&rsquo;s side in this crisis.&nbsp;</p>

<p>If India is strongly by the side of Bangladesh now, much of the remaining &nbsp;Indo-Bangla mistrust in the relationship will be gone, and Bangladeshi people, as well as the political forces, will appreciate the value of India&rsquo;s friendship immensely. It will bring a defining shift in Bangladesh-India relation for a very long term. &nbsp;The question is whether PM Modi is ready for an in-depth strategic re-assessment and would his policy strategists allow him to do that?</p>


India?s massive stake in the Middle East and South Asia might be harmed for its direct or indirect support in Rohingya genocide and expulsion.

Apparently, it’s quite unnatural for Bangladesh and India not to be close allies, especially with India's involvement in Bangladesh's War of Independence of 1971. And then, of course, there are the unique cultural similarities and geographical realities with regards to common Ganges-Bramhaputra plain that runs through both the countries. Despite the overt Hasina-Modi bonhomie, the political reality is, however, very different. Bangladesh's relations with India can best be described as a loose friendship with hidden mutual mistrust and suspicion. The lack of trust between the two countries comes forth more in the context of Bangladesh-Myanmar tussle on persecution and expulsion of Rohingyas from Arakan. The tensed Bangladesh –India relationship stems from a variety of issues, such as ‘equitable sharing of all common river water, terrorist camps and migration. × The prime deficiency of India’s South Asia policy has been its obsession with Pakistan. Only recently a separate desk has been introduced for Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal in the Ministry of External Affairs at the South Block of Raisina Hills in New Delhi. Pakistan became important for its nuisance value while India failed to see the constructive value of the rest, especially Bangladesh which is already the 31st largest economy in the world with more than 6 per cent average economic growth in the last couple of decades. Courtesy the economic growth, the western world has come to view Bangladesh as one of the ‘Next Eleven’. Bangladesh has come to develop relations with the west, Japan, Middle-East and China and derived great economic benefits out of those relations. The tensed Bangladesh –India relationship stems from a variety of issues, such as ‘equitable sharing of all common river water, terrorist camps and migration. Since 1996 gradual progress has been achieved by Bangladesh and India to address some of these issues. Bangladesh has destroyed the dens the Indian rebels made along Bangladesh - India borders and proactively searched and sealed all channels of logistics and arms supply to these rebels. Bangladeshi intelligence agencies are also blocking ISI or its proxies’ probable operations against India from Bangladeshi soil. Geo-politically, in South Asia and beyond, there are several areas where an alliance between the India and Bangladesh could have brought good mutual dividend and uphold some great IR principles. One such area is Pakistan’s export of terrorism and Islamic radicalism. Both India and Bangladesh are affected by that. Myanmar on the other hand hardly has any principled position. It is buying good numbers of multi-role fighter aircraft from Pakistan, the regional hub of Islamic terrorism, giving a boost to Pakistani military industry and technology. These are made through the collaboration between Pakistan and China, Myanmar’s closest ally and India’s geo-strategic nemesis. In this context, it’s difficult to make sense as to why India is siding with Myanmar in its dissension with Bangladesh on an acute humanitarian crisis like Rohingya. It’s difficult to make sense as to why India is siding with Myanmar in its dissension with Bangladesh on an acute humanitarian crisis like Rohingya. × Apart from the principle and propriety angle, India hardly gains anything from Myanmar. India can’t match the kind of investment China made in Myanmar. A further irony is, lacs of Indians were expelled from Myanmar like the Rohingyas in the fifties and sixties. The remaining ones and later migrant Indian in Myanmar are still abused in that country with racial slur 'Kala’. The Myanmar Indians falls in the same absurd 1982 citizenship law as Rohingyas. Myanmar is always likely to be on China's side despite India’s disgraceful pampering. On the other hand, India has much to lose not by standing by Bangladesh’s side at the time of its need both in comparative and absolute terms. Bangladesh might again lean more towards the Islamic bondage rather than the subcontinental one. If Islamic solidarity is revived on this issue, India’s massive stake in the Middle East might even be harmed for its direct or indirect support in Rohingya genocide and expulsion. It seems some of PM Modi’s strategic advisors have gone bonkers with anti-Muslim preoccupation and very weak Rohingya terrorism stories. Because of them, soon India might find herself on the wrong side of geopolitics and history. Bangladesh did a balancing act between concerns of India and interest of China by postponing China’s proposal for a Sri Lanka and Pakistan like the development of a deep sea port in Sonadia of Chittagong. Now, it’s a payback time for India and an opportunity for it to befriend Bangladesh for the long term by strongly being by the latter’s side in this crisis. If India is strongly by the side of Bangladesh now, much of the remaining Indo-Bangla mistrust in the relationship will be gone, and Bangladeshi people, as well as the political forces, will appreciate the value of India’s friendship immensely. It will bring a defining shift in Bangladesh-India relation for a very long term. The question is whether PM Modi is ready for an in-depth strategic re-assessment and would his policy strategists allow him to do that?

Rohingya: Why India should side with Bangladesh and not Myanmar

<p>Bangladesh&nbsp;Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said she spoke to U.S. President Donald&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;on Monday about Rohingya Muslims flooding into her country&nbsp;fromMyanmar, but she&nbsp;expects&nbsp;no&nbsp;help&nbsp;from&nbsp;him as he has made clear how he feels about&nbsp;refugees.</p>

<p>As&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;left an event he hosted at the United Nations on reforming the world body, Hasina said she stopped him for a few minutes.</p>

<p>&quot;He just asked how is&nbsp;Bangladesh? I said &#39;it&#39;s doing very well, but the only problem that we have is the&nbsp;refugees&nbsp;from&nbsp;Myanmar&#39;,&quot; Hasina told Reuters in an interview. &quot;But he didn&#39;t make any comment about&nbsp;refugees.&quot;</p>

<p>A&nbsp;Myanmar&nbsp;military response to insurgent attacks last month in the country&#39;s Rakhine state sent more than 410,000 Rohingya Muslims&nbsp;fleeing&nbsp;to neighboring&nbsp;Bangladesh, escaping what the United Nations has branded as ethnic cleansing.</p>

<p>The&nbsp;Myanmar&nbsp;government&nbsp;says&nbsp;about 400 people have been killed in the fighting.</p>

<p>Hasina, who is due to address the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, said&nbsp;Trump&#39;s stance on&nbsp;refugees&nbsp;was clear, so it was not worth asking him for&nbsp;help&nbsp;with the Rohingya Muslim&nbsp;refugees.</p>

<p>&quot;Already America declared that they will not allow any&nbsp;refugees,&quot; she said. &quot;What I can expectfrom&nbsp;them, and especially (the) president. He already declared his mind ... so why I should ask?&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;Bangladesh&nbsp;is not a rich country ... but if we can feed 160 million people, another 500 or 700,000 people, we can do it.&quot;</p>

<p>A senior White House official was unaware of the exchange but said&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;was deeply interested in the subject and that &quot;he would definitely engage if it were brought up.&quot;</p>

<p>Shortly after taking office in January,&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;tried to put a 120-day halt on the U.S. refugee program, bar Syrian&nbsp;refugees&nbsp;indefinitely and impose a 90-day suspension on people&nbsp;from&nbsp;six predominantly Muslim countries.</p>

<p>&quot;The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!&quot;&nbsp;Trump&nbsp;said on Twitter on Friday.</p>

<p>Trump&nbsp;says&nbsp;the move is needed to prevent terrorist attacks and allow the government to put in place more stringent vetting procedures. There is a key Supreme Court hearing next month on the constitutionality of his executive order on the ban.</p>

<p>About a million Rohingya lived in Rakhine State until the recent violence. Most face travel restrictions and are denied citizenship in a country where many Buddhists regard them as illegal immigrants&nbsp;from&nbsp;Bangladesh.</p>

<p>Hasina said she wanted to see more international political pressure on&nbsp;Myanmar&nbsp;to allow the Rohingya to return.</p>

<p>&quot;(Myanmar&nbsp;leader Aung San Suu Kyi) should agree that these people belong to her country and that&nbsp;Myanmar&nbsp;is their country. They should take them back,&quot; she said. &quot;These people are suffering.&quot;</p>

<p>Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has faced a barrage of international criticism for not stopping the violence.Myanmar&nbsp;national security adviser Thaung Tun told Reuters on Monday that&nbsp;Myanmar&nbsp;would ensure those who left their homes could return, but there was &quot;a process we have to discuss.&quot;</p>

<p>U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley urged the&nbsp;Myanmar&nbsp;government to end military operations, grant humanitarian access, and commit to aiding the safe return of civilians to their homes.</p>

<p>&quot;People are still at risk of being attacked or killed, humanitarian aid is not reaching the people who need it, and innocent civilians are still&nbsp;fleeing&nbsp;across the border to&nbsp;Bangladesh,&quot; Haley said after Britain hosted a meeting on the crisis in New York on Monday.</p>

<p>A U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state, Patrick Murphy, is due in&nbsp;Myanmar&nbsp;this week.</p>


As?Trump?left an event he hosted at the United Nations on reforming the world body, Hasina said she stopped him for a few minutes.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said she spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday about Rohingya Muslims flooding into her country fromMyanmar, but she expects no help from him as he has made clear how he feels about refugees. As Trump left an event he hosted at the United Nations on reforming the world body, Hasina said she stopped him for a few minutes. "He just asked how is Bangladesh? I said 'it's doing very well, but the only problem that we have is the refugees from Myanmar'," Hasina told Reuters in an interview. "But he didn't make any comment about refugees." A Myanmar military response to insurgent attacks last month in the country's Rakhine state sent more than 410,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh, escaping what the United Nations has branded as ethnic cleansing. The Myanmar government says about 400 people have been killed in the fighting. Hasina, who is due to address the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, said Trump's stance on refugees was clear, so it was not worth asking him for help with the Rohingya Muslim refugees. "Already America declared that they will not allow any refugees," she said. "What I can expectfrom them, and especially (the) president. He already declared his mind ... so why I should ask?" "Bangladesh is not a rich country ... but if we can feed 160 million people, another 500 or 700,000 people, we can do it." A senior White House official was unaware of the exchange but said Trump was deeply interested in the subject and that "he would definitely engage if it were brought up." Shortly after taking office in January, Trump tried to put a 120-day halt on the U.S. refugee program, bar Syrian refugees indefinitely and impose a 90-day suspension on people from six predominantly Muslim countries. "The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!" Trump said on Twitter on Friday. Trump says the move is needed to prevent terrorist attacks and allow the government to put in place more stringent vetting procedures. There is a key Supreme Court hearing next month on the constitutionality of his executive order on the ban. About a million Rohingya lived in Rakhine State until the recent violence. Most face travel restrictions and are denied citizenship in a country where many Buddhists regard them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Hasina said she wanted to see more international political pressure on Myanmar to allow the Rohingya to return. "(Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi) should agree that these people belong to her country and that Myanmar is their country. They should take them back," she said. "These people are suffering." Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has faced a barrage of international criticism for not stopping the violence.Myanmar national security adviser Thaung Tun told Reuters on Monday that Myanmar would ensure those who left their homes could return, but there was "a process we have to discuss." U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley urged the Myanmar government to end military operations, grant humanitarian access, and commit to aiding the safe return of civilians to their homes. "People are still at risk of being attacked or killed, humanitarian aid is not reaching the people who need it, and innocent civilians are still fleeing across the border to Bangladesh," Haley said after Britain hosted a meeting on the crisis in New York on Monday. A U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state, Patrick Murphy, is due in Myanmar this week.

Bangladesh PM says expects no help from Trump on refugees fleeing Myanmar

<p>&quot;Myanmar is a complex nation. People expect us to overcome all the challenges in shortest time possible,&quot; Myanmar state counsellor and de-facto leader of the country Aung San Suu Kyi said Tuesday in her state of the union address.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Suu Kyi has been under intense global scrutiny because of the Rohingya refugee crisis.</p>

<p>Close to 400,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar since August 25 when violence broke out in Myanmar&#39;s western Rahkhine state after a Rohingya militant group allegedly attacked police outposts there.&nbsp;</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WATCH?src=hash">#WATCH</a> Myanmar&#39;s Aung San Suu Kyi delivers State of the Union address in Nay Pyi Taw <a href="https://t.co/UV80NVsW2Y">https://t.co/UV80NVsW2Y</a></p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/909983585746042880">September 19, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p>Since then, Myanmarese security forces have been accused of conducting a &quot;genocide&quot; or &quot;progrom&quot; against the Rohingya minority. &nbsp;</p>

<p>The United Nations has said that what is happening in Rakhine looks like a &quot;textbook case of ethnic cleansing&quot;.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Suu Kyi was speaking in the Myanmar capital Nyapyidaw.&nbsp;</p>

<p>She had recently cancelled her trip to the United Nations General Assembly, presumably because of the scrutiny of the Rohingya crisis.&nbsp;</p>

<p>World leaders have been calling for Suu Kyi to speak out against what is allegedly being done to the Rohingya, and to put a stop to the violence and the crisis.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;Peace and stability was something we had to achieve after nearly 70 yrs of internal conflict,&quot; Suu Kyi said on Tuesday.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;We condemn all human rights violations, we are committed to peace and rule of law,&quot; she added.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;Myanmar does not fear international scrutiny, (we are) committed to (a) sustainable solution in Rakhine state,&quot; she said.&nbsp;</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">We would like to find out why this exodus is happening, would like to talk to the people who have fled: Aung San Suu Kyi <a href="https://t.co/ZSVSR4CTPX">pic.twitter.com/ZSVSR4CTPX</a></p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/909986565841084416">September 19, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">We condemn all human rights violations, we are committed to peace and rule of law: Aung San Suu Kyi</p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/909985208987934720">September 19, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">We would like you(world) to think of our country as a whole, not just as little afflicted areas: Aung San Suu Kyi</p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/909989569461854209">September 19, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p>&quot;We would like to find out why this exodus is happening, would like to talk to the people who have fled,&quot; said Suu Kyi.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;(The) government has been making every effort to restore peace and stability and to bring harmony in Rakhine communities,&quot; she added.&nbsp;</p>

<p>But Suu Kyi also added a dodge.&nbsp;</p>

<p>She added that: &quot;Myanmar feels deeply for (the) suffering of all groups in Rakhine.&quot; &nbsp;</p>

<p>Suu Kyi has so far maintained a studied silence on the Rohingya crisis, even as world leaders have poured opprobrium on her.&nbsp;</p>

<p>She added that she is &quot;concerned to hear about Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh.&quot;&nbsp;</p>

<p>Suu Kyi said that &quot;many Muslim villagers have remained&quot;, that &quot;not all have fled&quot;. &nbsp;</p>

<p>She added that Myanmar &quot;invite(s) members of the international community to visit.&quot;&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;There have been allegations and counter-allegations, will listen to all, culprits will be punished irrespective of race or religion.&quot;&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;We had made a central committee for implementing rule of law and development in Rakhine,&quot; Suu Kyi said.&nbsp;</p>

<p>She added that Myanmar had invited former UN secretary general Dr Kofi Annan to lead a commission to help resolve long-standing problems in Rakhine state.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;Throughout the last year, we continued with our program of development and establishment of peace,&quot; she added.&nbsp;</p>

<p>And that &quot;Myanmar (was) prepared to start a refugee verification process for those who wish to return.&quot;&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;We don&#39;t want Myanmar to be a nation divided by religious beliefs or ethnicities. Hate and fear are (the) main scourges,&quot; Suu Kyi said on Tuesday. &nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;We would like you (the world) to think of our country as a whole, not just as little afflicted areas,&quot; she added.&nbsp;</p>

<p>And she said that since August 25, Myanmar has declared the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army - the organisation Myanmar says carried out the attacks on the police posts in Rakhine -- a terrorist group.&nbsp;</p>

<p>India&#39;s high commissioner to Myanmar Vikram Misri, reacting to Suu Kyi&#39;s address, said &quot;it was an encouraging address and had many positives&quot;.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;Aid, assistance, and development must reach all those who are affected,&quot; he added.&nbsp;</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">It was an encouraging address and had many positives: Vikram Misri,Indian Envoy to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Myanmar?src=hash">#Myanmar</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AungSanSuuKyi?src=hash">#AungSanSuuKyi</a> <a href="https://t.co/fQ3rwp7DcJ">pic.twitter.com/fQ3rwp7DcJ</a></p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/910024327772250113">September 19, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Aid,assistance and development must reach all those who are affected: Vikram Misri,Indian Envoy to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Myanmar?src=hash">#Myanmar</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AungSanSuuKyi?src=hash">#AungSanSuuKyi</a> speech <a href="https://t.co/Xo1wowC8En">pic.twitter.com/Xo1wowC8En</a></p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/910024798528446464">September 19, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p>India had, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi&#39;s recent visit to Myanmar, offered development assistance to Myanmar&#39;s Rakhine state.&nbsp;</p>


'We condemn all human rights violations,' she added

"Myanmar is a complex nation. People expect us to overcome all the challenges in shortest time possible," Myanmar state counsellor and de-facto leader of the country Aung San Suu Kyi said Tuesday in her state of the union address. Suu Kyi has been under intense global scrutiny because of the Rohingya refugee crisis. Close to 400,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar since August 25 when violence broke out in Myanmar's western Rahkhine state after a Rohingya militant group allegedly attacked police outposts there. #WATCH Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi delivers State of the Union address in Nay Pyi Taw https://t.co/UV80NVsW2Y — ANI (@ANI) September 19, 2017 × Since then, Myanmarese security forces have been accused of conducting a "genocide" or "progrom" against the Rohingya minority. The United Nations has said that what is happening in Rakhine looks like a "textbook case of ethnic cleansing". Suu Kyi was speaking in the Myanmar capital Nyapyidaw. She had recently cancelled her trip to the United Nations General Assembly, presumably because of the scrutiny of the Rohingya crisis. World leaders have been calling for Suu Kyi to speak out against what is allegedly being done to the Rohingya, and to put a stop to the violence and the crisis. "Peace and stability was something we had to achieve after nearly 70 yrs of internal conflict," Suu Kyi said on Tuesday. "We condemn all human rights violations, we are committed to peace and rule of law," she added. "Myanmar does not fear international scrutiny, (we are) committed to (a) sustainable solution in Rakhine state," she said. We would like to find out why this exodus is happening, would like to talk to the people who have fled: Aung San Suu Kyi pic.twitter.com/ZSVSR4CTPX — ANI (@ANI) September 19, 2017 × We condemn all human rights violations, we are committed to peace and rule of law: Aung San Suu Kyi — ANI (@ANI) September 19, 2017 × We would like you(world) to think of our country as a whole, not just as little afflicted areas: Aung San Suu Kyi — ANI (@ANI) September 19, 2017 × "We would like to find out why this exodus is happening, would like to talk to the people who have fled," said Suu Kyi. "(The) government has been making every effort to restore peace and stability and to bring harmony in Rakhine communities," she added. But Suu Kyi also added a dodge. She added that: "Myanmar feels deeply for (the) suffering of all groups in Rakhine." Suu Kyi has so far maintained a studied silence on the Rohingya crisis, even as world leaders have poured opprobrium on her. She added that she is "concerned to hear about Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh." Suu Kyi said that "many Muslim villagers have remained", that "not all have fled". She added that Myanmar "invite(s) members of the international community to visit." "There have been allegations and counter-allegations, will listen to all, culprits will be punished irrespective of race or religion." "We had made a central committee for implementing rule of law and development in Rakhine," Suu Kyi said. She added that Myanmar had invited former UN secretary general Dr Kofi Annan to lead a commission to help resolve long-standing problems in Rakhine state. "Throughout the last year, we continued with our program of development and establishment of peace," she added. And that "Myanmar (was) prepared to start a refugee verification process for those who wish to return." "We don't want Myanmar to be a nation divided by religious beliefs or ethnicities. Hate and fear are (the) main scourges," Suu Kyi said on Tuesday. "We would like you (the world) to think of our country as a whole, not just as little afflicted areas," she added. And she said that since August 25, Myanmar has declared the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army - the organisation Myanmar says carried out the attacks on the police posts in Rakhine -- a terrorist group. India's high commissioner to Myanmar Vikram Misri, reacting to Suu Kyi's address, said "it was an encouraging address and had many positives". "Aid, assistance, and development must reach all those who are affected," he added. It was an encouraging address and had many positives: Vikram Misri,Indian Envoy to #Myanmar on #AungSanSuuKyi pic.twitter.com/fQ3rwp7DcJ — ANI (@ANI) September 19, 2017 × Aid,assistance and development must reach all those who are affected: Vikram Misri,Indian Envoy to #Myanmar on #AungSanSuuKyi speech pic.twitter.com/Xo1wowC8En — ANI (@ANI) September 19, 2017 × India had, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Myanmar, offered development assistance to Myanmar's Rakhine state.

WATCH: Want to find out why Rohingya have fled Myanmar, Suu Kyi says in state of union address

<p>The Centre filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court on Monday on the Rohingya matter.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Centre told the Supreme Court that the total number of &quot;such illegal immigrants into our country&quot; was more than 40,000, approximately.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Centre added that the &quot;continuance of the Rohingyas&rsquo; illegal immigration into India and their continued stay has serious national security ramifications and threats&quot;.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Centre added that it has &quot;contemporaneous inputs from security agencies indicating links of some unauthorised Rohingyas with Pakistan terror organisations&quot;.&nbsp;</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Centre has contemporaneous from security agencies inputs indicating links of some unauthorized <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rohingyas?src=hash">#Rohingyas</a> with Pak terror orgs:Centre in SC</p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/909677729104068608">September 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Some Rohingyas are indulging in illegal /anti national activities i.e. mobilization of funds through hundi/hawala channels: Centre in SC 1/2</p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/909678218252132352">September 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Procuring fake Indian identities for other <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rohingyas?src=hash">#Rohingyas</a> and also indulging in human trafficking: Centre in SC 2/2</p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/909678338737704960">September 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p>The Centre added that some Rohingyas are indulging in illegal/ anti-national activities ie mobilisation of funds through hundi/ hawala channels.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Centre added that these Rohingyas are procuring fake Indian identities for other Rohingyas and that they are also indulging in human trafficking.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Centre added that the &quot;court may decline interference, leaving to Centre to exercise essential executive function by way of policy decision&quot;.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Supreme Court will now hear the matter on October 3.&nbsp;</p>


The Centre added that these Rohingyas are indulging in illegal/ anti-national activities, ie the mobilisation of funds through hawala channels

The Centre filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court on Monday on the Rohingya matter. The Centre told the Supreme Court that the total number of "such illegal immigrants into our country" was more than 40,000, approximately. The Centre added that the "continuance of the Rohingyas’ illegal immigration into India and their continued stay has serious national security ramifications and threats". The Centre added that it has "contemporaneous inputs from security agencies indicating links of some unauthorised Rohingyas with Pakistan terror organisations". Centre has contemporaneous from security agencies inputs indicating links of some unauthorized #Rohingyas with Pak terror orgs:Centre in SC — ANI (@ANI) September 18, 2017 × Some Rohingyas are indulging in illegal /anti national activities i.e. mobilization of funds through hundi/hawala channels: Centre in SC 1/2 — ANI (@ANI) September 18, 2017 × Procuring fake Indian identities for other #Rohingyas and also indulging in human trafficking: Centre in SC 2/2 — ANI (@ANI) September 18, 2017 × The Centre added that some Rohingyas are indulging in illegal/ anti-national activities ie mobilisation of funds through hundi/ hawala channels. The Centre added that these Rohingyas are procuring fake Indian identities for other Rohingyas and that they are also indulging in human trafficking. The Centre added that the "court may decline interference, leaving to Centre to exercise essential executive function by way of policy decision". The Supreme Court will now hear the matter on October 3.

Some Rohingya have links with Pakistan terror groups, Centre tells Supreme Court

<p>Myanmar said on Friday a visiting US official would not be allowed to go to a region where violence has triggered an exodus of nearly 400,000 Rohingya Muslims that the United Nations has branded a &quot;textbook example of ethnic cleansing&quot;.</p>

<p>The Rohingya have fled from western Rakhine state to neighbouring Bangladesh to escape a military offensive that has raised questions about Myanmar&#39;s transition to civilian rule under the leadership of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.</p>

<p>US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Murphy will voice Washington&#39;s concerns about the Rohingya and press for greater access to the conflict area for humanitarian workers, the State Department said.</p>

<p>Myanmar officials said he would meet government leaders in the capital, Naypyitaw, and attend an address to the nation by Suu Kyi on Tuesday.</p>

<p>He would also visit Sittwe, the state capital, and meet the governor of Rakhine, the state government secretary, Tin Maung Swe, told Reuters, but the north of the state, where the conflict erupted on August 25 would be off limits.</p>

<p>&quot;Not allowed,&quot; Tin Maung Swe said, when asked if Murphy would be going to Maungdaw district, at the heart of the strife that began when Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts and an army camp, killing a dozen people.</p>

<p>While nearly 400,000 refugees have poured across the border into Bangladesh, fears have also been growing of a humanitarian crisis on the Myanmar side, but access for aid workers and reporters has been severely restricted.</p>

<p>Myanmar insisted on Friday it was not barring aid workers but a government spokesman said authorities on the ground might have concerns over security.</p>

<p>Rights monitors and fleeing Rohingya say the army and Rakhine Buddhist vigilantes have mounted a campaign of arson aimed at driving out the Muslim population.</p>

<p>A Reuters photographer on the Bangladesh side of the border said he could see huge banks of dark smoke billowing up over Myanmar territory on Friday, while international aid organisations said the refugees kept coming.</p>

<p>&quot;There&rsquo;s really no sign that this flow of people is going to dry up,&quot; Chris Lom of the International Organisation for Migration, said from the Bangladeshi border district of Cox&rsquo;s Bazar.</p>

<p>&quot;There are still, we believe, thousands of people waiting to take boats across to Cox&#39;s Bazar.&rdquo;</p>

<p><strong>&#39;Scorched Earth&#39;&nbsp;</strong></p>

<p>UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council have urged Myanmar to end the violence, which he said was best described as ethnic cleansing.</p>

<p>Myanmar rejects the accusations, saying its security forces are carrying out clearance operations to defend against the insurgents of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which claimed responsibility for the Aug. 25 attacks and similar, though smaller, attacks in October.</p>

<p>Russia&#39;s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said on Friday that while Moscow was concerned &quot;we cannot discard the fact that it was triggered by terrorist activities.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;We&#39;re talking to the Myanmar government, of course,&quot; he told reporters. &quot;We are concerned with what is happening. ... We are looking forward to an early cessation of the violence and to elevating the humanitarian situation of the population.&quot;</p>

<p>The government has declared Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army a terrorist organisation and accused it of setting the fires and attacking civilians.</p>

<p>Ethnic cleansing is not recognised as a separate crime under international law but allegations of ethnic cleansing as part of wider, systematic human rights violations have been heard in international courts.</p>

<p>Rights group Amnesty International said evidence pointed to a &quot;mass-scale scorched-earth campaign&quot; across the north of Rakhine that was unmistakably ethnic cleansing.</p>

<p>&quot;The evidence is irrefutable &ndash; the Myanmar security forces are setting northern Rakhine state ablaze in a targeted campaign to push the Rohingya people out of Myanmar,&quot; said Tirana Hassan, the group&#39;s crisis response director.</p>

<p>The group said it had detected 80 big fires in Rohingya areas since Aug. 25. While the extent of damage could not be verified, due to access restrictions by the government, &quot;they are likely to have burned down whole villages&quot;.</p>

<p>It said it also had credible reports of Rohingya militants burning the homes of ethnic Rakhine and other minorities. About 30,000 non-Muslims have also been displaced.</p>

<p>US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday he had spoken with Suu Kyi and that she said she was working to get aid to areas in Myanmar affected by violence.</p>

<p>The generals still control national security policy but nevertheless, Suu Kyi has been widely criticised abroad for not stopping or condemning the violence. The campaign against the Muslim insurgents is popular at home.</p>

<p>The UN refugee agency said the Rohingya arriving in Bangladesh were suffering &quot;real hardship, and some of the most difficult conditions seen in any current refugee situation&quot;.</p>

<p>&quot;With the influx increasing daily, UNHCR is appealing for an initial amount of $30 million for the emergency humanitarian response in Bangladesh until the end of year,&quot; an agency spokesman said in Geneva.</p>

<p>Bangladesh says all refugees must go home and has called for safe areas in Myanmar. Myanmar has ruled that out and says it will accept anyone who can verify their citizenship. Most Rohingya are stateless.</p>

<p>Thousands of people demonstrated after Friday prayers in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, to denounce the treatment of the Rohingya.</p>

<p>One protest leader said they were demanding a UN peacekeeping force and that Myanmar face charges in an international court.</p>


US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Murphy will voice Washington's concerns about the Rohingya and press for greater access to the conflict area for humanitarian workers

Myanmar said on Friday a visiting US official would not be allowed to go to a region where violence has triggered an exodus of nearly 400,000 Rohingya Muslims that the United Nations has branded a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing". The Rohingya have fled from western Rakhine state to neighbouring Bangladesh to escape a military offensive that has raised questions about Myanmar's transition to civilian rule under the leadership of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Patrick Murphy will voice Washington's concerns about the Rohingya and press for greater access to the conflict area for humanitarian workers, the State Department said. Myanmar officials said he would meet government leaders in the capital, Naypyitaw, and attend an address to the nation by Suu Kyi on Tuesday. He would also visit Sittwe, the state capital, and meet the governor of Rakhine, the state government secretary, Tin Maung Swe, told Reuters, but the north of the state, where the conflict erupted on August 25 would be off limits. "Not allowed," Tin Maung Swe said, when asked if Murphy would be going to Maungdaw district, at the heart of the strife that began when Rohingya insurgents attacked police posts and an army camp, killing a dozen people. While nearly 400,000 refugees have poured across the border into Bangladesh, fears have also been growing of a humanitarian crisis on the Myanmar side, but access for aid workers and reporters has been severely restricted. Myanmar insisted on Friday it was not barring aid workers but a government spokesman said authorities on the ground might have concerns over security. Rights monitors and fleeing Rohingya say the army and Rakhine Buddhist vigilantes have mounted a campaign of arson aimed at driving out the Muslim population. A Reuters photographer on the Bangladesh side of the border said he could see huge banks of dark smoke billowing up over Myanmar territory on Friday, while international aid organisations said the refugees kept coming. "There’s really no sign that this flow of people is going to dry up," Chris Lom of the International Organisation for Migration, said from the Bangladeshi border district of Cox’s Bazar. "There are still, we believe, thousands of people waiting to take boats across to Cox's Bazar.” 'Scorched Earth' UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council have urged Myanmar to end the violence, which he said was best described as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar rejects the accusations, saying its security forces are carrying out clearance operations to defend against the insurgents of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which claimed responsibility for the Aug. 25 attacks and similar, though smaller, attacks in October. Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said on Friday that while Moscow was concerned "we cannot discard the fact that it was triggered by terrorist activities." "We're talking to the Myanmar government, of course," he told reporters. "We are concerned with what is happening. ... We are looking forward to an early cessation of the violence and to elevating the humanitarian situation of the population." The government has declared Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army a terrorist organisation and accused it of setting the fires and attacking civilians. Ethnic cleansing is not recognised as a separate crime under international law but allegations of ethnic cleansing as part of wider, systematic human rights violations have been heard in international courts. Rights group Amnesty International said evidence pointed to a "mass-scale scorched-earth campaign" across the north of Rakhine that was unmistakably ethnic cleansing. "The evidence is irrefutable – the Myanmar security forces are setting northern Rakhine state ablaze in a targeted campaign to push the Rohingya people out of Myanmar," said Tirana Hassan, the group's crisis response director. The group said it had detected 80 big fires in Rohingya areas since Aug. 25. While the extent of damage could not be verified, due to access restrictions by the government, "they are likely to have burned down whole villages". It said it also had credible reports of Rohingya militants burning the homes of ethnic Rakhine and other minorities. About 30,000 non-Muslims have also been displaced. US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday he had spoken with Suu Kyi and that she said she was working to get aid to areas in Myanmar affected by violence. The generals still control national security policy but nevertheless, Suu Kyi has been widely criticised abroad for not stopping or condemning the violence. The campaign against the Muslim insurgents is popular at home. The UN refugee agency said the Rohingya arriving in Bangladesh were suffering "real hardship, and some of the most difficult conditions seen in any current refugee situation". "With the influx increasing daily, UNHCR is appealing for an initial amount of $30 million for the emergency humanitarian response in Bangladesh until the end of year," an agency spokesman said in Geneva. Bangladesh says all refugees must go home and has called for safe areas in Myanmar. Myanmar has ruled that out and says it will accept anyone who can verify their citizenship. Most Rohingya are stateless. Thousands of people demonstrated after Friday prayers in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, to denounce the treatment of the Rohingya. One protest leader said they were demanding a UN peacekeeping force and that Myanmar face charges in an international court.

Myanmar says US official barred from Rohingya conflict zone

<p>Bangladesh confirmed on Friday that India is building pressure on Myanmar to stop the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/empty-villages-rohingya-on-the-run-who-is-left-in-myanmars-rakhine-20239">persecution of Rohingya Muslims</a>.</p>

<p>India&#39;s external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj spoke to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina over the phone and conveyed that the Indian government fully backed Bangladesh&#39;s stance on the Rohingyas, Sheikh Hasina&#39;s deputy press secretary Nazrul Islam was quoted by a media outlet as saying.</p>

<p>In her phone call, Sushma Swaraj emphasised that India was trying to build bilateral and multilateral pressure on Myanmar to stop the persecution of Rohingya Muslims and as to take back the refugees sheltered in Bangladesh.</p>

<p>&quot;The Rohingya problem is not an issue for Bangladesh alone; rather, it has turned into a global matter from a regional one,&quot; Sushma Swaraj apparently told Sheikh Hasina.</p>

<p>Fleeing the barbarous persecution in Myanmar&#39;s Rakhine State, the Rohingya Muslims have taken refuge in Bangladesh&#39;s border areas of Cox&#39;s Bazar and Teknaf.&nbsp;</p>

<p>They are suffering from an absence of food, shelters, medicines, sanitation facilities and clean water.</p>

<p>In response to the humanitarian crisis, India on Thursday sent a consignment of humanitarian assistance to the country.</p>

<p>The assistance comes days after Bangladesh briefed India about the problems it was facing because of the influx of refugees from Myanmar following the ethnic violence in the Buddhist-dominated nation.</p>

<p>Sheikh Hasina has called upon Myanmar to take its citizens back, pointing out that the entire world is raising its voice against the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in the country.</p>

<p>The Bangladesh PM will also make a formal proposal at the upcoming UN General Assembly session for an early implementation of recommendations by the Kofi Annan Commission which recommended a number of measures that the Myanmar Government should take to avoid the persecution of the Rohingya Muslims.</p>

<p>The Kofi Annan commission asked the government to take concrete steps to end the enforced segregation of Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, ensure full and unfettered humanitarian access throughout the state, tackle Rohingya statelessness and revisit the 1982 Citizenship Law, hold perpetrators of human rights violations accountable, and end restrictions on freedom of movement.</p>

<p>Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said that Prime Minister Hasina would highlight the root cause behind the long-standing humanitarian crisis and place specific proposals for early solution during her address at the general debate on September 21.</p>

<p>Prime Minister Hasina will also urge the world leaders to play an effective role in stopping the genocide of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.&nbsp;</p>


Sheikh Hasina's Deputy Press Secretary Nazrul Islam said that Sushma spoke to the Bangladesh Prime Minister over the phone and conveyed the message to her

Bangladesh confirmed on Friday that India is building pressure on Myanmar to stop the persecution of Rohingya Muslims. India's external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj spoke to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina over the phone and conveyed that the Indian government fully backed Bangladesh's stance on the Rohingyas, Sheikh Hasina's deputy press secretary Nazrul Islam was quoted by a media outlet as saying. In her phone call, Sushma Swaraj emphasised that India was trying to build bilateral and multilateral pressure on Myanmar to stop the persecution of Rohingya Muslims and as to take back the refugees sheltered in Bangladesh. "The Rohingya problem is not an issue for Bangladesh alone; rather, it has turned into a global matter from a regional one," Sushma Swaraj apparently told Sheikh Hasina. Fleeing the barbarous persecution in Myanmar's Rakhine State, the Rohingya Muslims have taken refuge in Bangladesh's border areas of Cox's Bazar and Teknaf. They are suffering from an absence of food, shelters, medicines, sanitation facilities and clean water. In response to the humanitarian crisis, India on Thursday sent a consignment of humanitarian assistance to the country. The assistance comes days after Bangladesh briefed India about the problems it was facing because of the influx of refugees from Myanmar following the ethnic violence in the Buddhist-dominated nation. Sheikh Hasina has called upon Myanmar to take its citizens back, pointing out that the entire world is raising its voice against the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in the country. The Bangladesh PM will also make a formal proposal at the upcoming UN General Assembly session for an early implementation of recommendations by the Kofi Annan Commission which recommended a number of measures that the Myanmar Government should take to avoid the persecution of the Rohingya Muslims. The Kofi Annan commission asked the government to take concrete steps to end the enforced segregation of Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, ensure full and unfettered humanitarian access throughout the state, tackle Rohingya statelessness and revisit the 1982 Citizenship Law, hold perpetrators of human rights violations accountable, and end restrictions on freedom of movement. Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali said that Prime Minister Hasina would highlight the root cause behind the long-standing humanitarian crisis and place specific proposals for early solution during her address at the general debate on September 21. Prime Minister Hasina will also urge the world leaders to play an effective role in stopping the genocide of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

India building pressure on Myanmar to stop persecution of Rohingyas, confirms Bangladesh

<p>Thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled violence in Myanmar in search of refuge could be forced to make their new homes on a barren Bangladeshi island that floods every year.</p>

<p>The Bangladesh government has appealed for international support to move the Rohingya to the island as the impoverished country confronts a growing crisis over where to house an influx that has mounted following a military crackdown in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar&#39;s Rakhine state.</p>

<p>More than 300,000 Rohingya have poured into Bangladesh since the latest flare-up in violence on August 25, adding to around 300,000 refugees already living in overflowing UN-run camps in Cox&#39;s Bazar district, close to the border with Myanmar.</p>

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<h5>The authorities first proposed settling Rohingya refugees on Bhasan Char island in 2015 but the plan was apparently shelved last year amid reports that the silt island, which only emerged from the sea in 2006, was unhabitable due to regular tidal flooding</h5>
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<p>The surge has overwhelmed the Bangladesh authorities, who are scrambling to find land to build more camps, including on the inhospitable and uninhabited Thengar Char island -- recently renamed Bhasan Char -- despite reluctance on the part of Rohingya leaders and UN officials.</p>

<p>Bhasan Char, located in the estuary of the Meghna river, is a one-hour boat ride from Sandwip, the nearest inhabited island, and two hours from Hatiya, one of Bangladesh&#39;s largest islands.</p>

<p>The authorities first proposed settling Rohingya refugees there in 2015, as the camps in Cox&#39;s Bazar became overstretched with new arrivals.</p>

<p>But the plan was apparently shelved last year amid reports that the silt island, which only emerged from the sea in 2006, was unhabitable due to regular tidal flooding.</p>

<p>The government is trying to find new room for the Rohingya, including establishing a new 2,000-acre (800-hectare) camp near Cox&#39;s Bazar, close to the Myanmar border, which will house around 250,000 Rohingya.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was to visit the construction site on Tuesday.</p>

<p>As the exodus swells, however, there are fears that may not be enough to accommodate all those in need of shelter.</p>

<p>As a result, the Bangladesh government is speeding up work at Bhasan Char with a view to building a 10,000-acre facility that can house hundreds of thousands of Rohingya.</p>

<p>But they face huge challenges.</p>

<p><strong>&nbsp;&#39;Complex and controversial&#39;</strong>&nbsp;</p>

<p>A police official in the region told <em>AFP</em> that the island, which is used sporadically by fishermen and farmers seeking to graze their animals, was susceptible to tidal flooding once or twice a year.</p>

<p>&quot;I think the island needs&nbsp;massive infrastructure before it gets habitable,&quot; the official said.</p>

<p>The presence of the Bangladesh Navy, which is involved in developing the island, has deterred pirates who used to operate in the seas around Bhasan Char.</p>

<p>&quot;The Navy has already set up two helipads and are now building roads and a shed for their use&quot;, said Mahbub Alam Talkukder, a government administrator based in the region.</p>

<p>Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.H Mahmood Ali on Sunday appealed for international assistance to help transport the Rohingya to Bhashan Char during a meeting with diplomats and UN officials.</p>

<p>But Rohingya leaders remain opposed to the move, while a UN agency official warned that any attempt at a forced relocation would be &quot;very complex and controversial&quot;.</p>

<p>The Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority, have faced decades of persecution in Myanmar where they are regarded as illegal immigrants, despite having lived there for generations.</p>

<p>Exhausted refugees in Cox&#39;s Bazar told AFP<em> </em>they did not want to move yet again.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;I fled my village in Rakhine to escape murder at the hands of the Burmese,&quot; said Ayubur Rahman, a 26-year-old who fled Rakhine before the latest violence erupted.</p>

<p>&quot;I don&#39;t want to go to the island,&quot; he told<em> </em>AFP.</p>

<p>&quot;I would rather stay here.&quot;</p>


More than 300,000 Rohingya have poured into Bangladesh, adding to around 300,000 refugees already living in overflowing UN-run camps

Thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled violence in Myanmar in search of refuge could be forced to make their new homes on a barren Bangladeshi island that floods every year. The Bangladesh government has appealed for international support to move the Rohingya to the island as the impoverished country confronts a growing crisis over where to house an influx that has mounted following a military crackdown in Buddhist-dominated Myanmar's Rakhine state. More than 300,000 Rohingya have poured into Bangladesh since the latest flare-up in violence on August 25, adding to around 300,000 refugees already living in overflowing UN-run camps in Cox's Bazar district, close to the border with Myanmar. The authorities first proposed settling Rohingya refugees on Bhasan Char island in 2015 but the plan was apparently shelved last year amid reports that the silt island, which only emerged from the sea in 2006, was unhabitable due to regular tidal flooding × The surge has overwhelmed the Bangladesh authorities, who are scrambling to find land to build more camps, including on the inhospitable and uninhabited Thengar Char island -- recently renamed Bhasan Char -- despite reluctance on the part of Rohingya leaders and UN officials. Bhasan Char, located in the estuary of the Meghna river, is a one-hour boat ride from Sandwip, the nearest inhabited island, and two hours from Hatiya, one of Bangladesh's largest islands. The authorities first proposed settling Rohingya refugees there in 2015, as the camps in Cox's Bazar became overstretched with new arrivals. But the plan was apparently shelved last year amid reports that the silt island, which only emerged from the sea in 2006, was unhabitable due to regular tidal flooding. The government is trying to find new room for the Rohingya, including establishing a new 2,000-acre (800-hectare) camp near Cox's Bazar, close to the Myanmar border, which will house around 250,000 Rohingya. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was to visit the construction site on Tuesday. As the exodus swells, however, there are fears that may not be enough to accommodate all those in need of shelter. As a result, the Bangladesh government is speeding up work at Bhasan Char with a view to building a 10,000-acre facility that can house hundreds of thousands of Rohingya. But they face huge challenges. 'Complex and controversial' A police official in the region told AFP that the island, which is used sporadically by fishermen and farmers seeking to graze their animals, was susceptible to tidal flooding once or twice a year. "I think the island needs massive infrastructure before it gets habitable," the official said. The presence of the Bangladesh Navy, which is involved in developing the island, has deterred pirates who used to operate in the seas around Bhasan Char. "The Navy has already set up two helipads and are now building roads and a shed for their use", said Mahbub Alam Talkukder, a government administrator based in the region. Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.H Mahmood Ali on Sunday appealed for international assistance to help transport the Rohingya to Bhashan Char during a meeting with diplomats and UN officials. But Rohingya leaders remain opposed to the move, while a UN agency official warned that any attempt at a forced relocation would be "very complex and controversial". The Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority, have faced decades of persecution in Myanmar where they are regarded as illegal immigrants, despite having lived there for generations. Exhausted refugees in Cox's Bazar told AFP they did not want to move yet again. "I fled my village in Rakhine to escape murder at the hands of the Burmese," said Ayubur Rahman, a 26-year-old who fled Rakhine before the latest violence erupted. "I don't want to go to the island," he told AFP. "I would rather stay here."

Bangladesh plans to move Rohingya to uninhabited island

<p>As the Rohingya crisis burns through Rakhine state, it&#39;s interesting to note that in September 2014, the government granted citizenship to 209 Muslims, who included members of the Kaman minority (Muslims saw as native to the country) and the Rohingya. The process of giving them citizenship marked the culmination of a project aimed at determining the identity of a little over one million Rohingya whose claims to nationality had been rejected in the past.&nbsp;</p>

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<p>Even more interesting, this was done when Myanmar was under Thein Sein, an ex-general who ran a nominally civilian government. In fact, the very next year, &quot;green cards&quot; were issued to Rohingya Muslims in 13 townships in Rakhine state. Immigration officials said the cards were intended to help those who wanted to apply for citizenship. Each of the green cards bore an identification number, the name of the holder, gender, date of birth, marital status and other details in Burmese and English. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</p>

<p>Around 700,000 of these cards were distributed to those who held &quot;white cards&quot;, which were temporary identification cards. The white cards had been issued by the former military junta for the 2010 elections (which saw Thein Sein&#39;s nominally civilian government come to power). &nbsp;An army-backed party won seats in areas where a sizeable number of white card holders were living.&nbsp;</p>

<p>So, despite the past history of violence, there was a sense within the government that Myanmar needed to be fair to the Rohingya (although they still referred to them as Bengali Muslims, meaning they were illegal Bangladeshi immigrants).&nbsp;</p>

<p>While the tensions between the majority Buddhists in Rakhine state and the minority Rohingya are of long-standing, the question is whether the spike in violence against the Rohingya and their massive exodus to Bangladesh can be traced to the new climate of freedom. &nbsp;</p>

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<p>A former Indian ambassador to Myanmar suspects there could be elements of the military involved in stoking violence against the Rohingya to destabilise the civilian government and smear Aung San Suu Kyi personally. There&#39;s no doubt her government has moved slowly to address the status of the Rohingya, who were not allowed to vote in the 2016 election. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;</p>

<p>A peace conference in August last year to which all the ethnic groups were invited, saw no Rohingya presence. To her credit, Suu Kyi did set up the Kofi Annan panel to review tensions in Rakhine state and offer recommendations. Word <strong>is</strong> she told them to &quot;be bold&quot;. The panel has made its recommendations, the doubts are about implementation.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Is the Rohingya a high priority for the government as it figures out how to keep the military in good humour and tackle multiple insurgencies. A ceasefire agreement signed in October 2015 had only some of the ethnic insurgents on board, the United Wa State Army and the Kachin Independence Army remain on the warpath. Add to that the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army which is reported to have joined hands with the two groups already mentioned to attack the army. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

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<p>Any move by Suu Kyi to give justice to the Rohingya will also need to take into account the fact that there is little sympathy for that community among the public. Suu Kyi&#39;s intentions may be good but she is a prisoner of the compromises she has to make as a politician if she is to survive.&nbsp;</p>


Suu Kyi is a prisoner of the compromises she has to make as a politician if she is to survive.?

As the Rohingya crisis burns through Rakhine state, it's interesting to note that in September 2014, the government granted citizenship to 209 Muslims, who included members of the Kaman minority (Muslims saw as native to the country) and the Rohingya. The process of giving them citizenship marked the culmination of a project aimed at determining the identity of a little over one million Rohingya whose claims to nationality had been rejected in the past. Each of the green cards bore an identification number, the name of the holder, gender, date of birth, marital status and other details in Burmese and English. × Even more interesting, this was done when Myanmar was under Thein Sein, an ex-general who ran a nominally civilian government. In fact, the very next year, "green cards" were issued to Rohingya Muslims in 13 townships in Rakhine state. Immigration officials said the cards were intended to help those who wanted to apply for citizenship. Each of the green cards bore an identification number, the name of the holder, gender, date of birth, marital status and other details in Burmese and English. Around 700,000 of these cards were distributed to those who held "white cards", which were temporary identification cards. The white cards had been issued by the former military junta for the 2010 elections (which saw Thein Sein's nominally civilian government come to power). An army-backed party won seats in areas where a sizeable number of white card holders were living. So, despite the past history of violence, there was a sense within the government that Myanmar needed to be fair to the Rohingya (although they still referred to them as Bengali Muslims, meaning they were illegal Bangladeshi immigrants). While the tensions between the majority Buddhists in Rakhine state and the minority Rohingya are of long-standing, the question is whether the spike in violence against the Rohingya and their massive exodus to Bangladesh can be traced to the new climate of freedom. A former Indian ambassador to Myanmar suspects there could be elements of the military involved in stoking violence against the Rohingya to destabilise the civilian government and smear Aung San Suu Kyi personally. × A former Indian ambassador to Myanmar suspects there could be elements of the military involved in stoking violence against the Rohingya to destabilise the civilian government and smear Aung San Suu Kyi personally. There's no doubt her government has moved slowly to address the status of the Rohingya, who were not allowed to vote in the 2016 election. A peace conference in August last year to which all the ethnic groups were invited, saw no Rohingya presence. To her credit, Suu Kyi did set up the Kofi Annan panel to review tensions in Rakhine state and offer recommendations. Word is she told them to "be bold". The panel has made its recommendations, the doubts are about implementation. Is the Rohingya a high priority for the government as it figures out how to keep the military in good humour and tackle multiple insurgencies. A ceasefire agreement signed in October 2015 had only some of the ethnic insurgents on board, the United Wa State Army and the Kachin Independence Army remain on the warpath. Add to that the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army which is reported to have joined hands with the two groups already mentioned to attack the army. Suu Kyi's intentions may be good but she is a prisoner of the compromises she has to make as a politician if she is to survive. × Any move by Suu Kyi to give justice to the Rohingya will also need to take into account the fact that there is little sympathy for that community among the public. Suu Kyi's intentions may be good but she is a prisoner of the compromises she has to make as a politician if she is to survive.

Why Aung San Suu Kyi is silent on the Rohingyas

<p>About <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/myanmars-suu-kyi-under-pressure-as-almost-125000-rohingya-flee-violence-19909">270,000 Muslim Rohingya fleeing violence in&nbsp;Myanmar&nbsp;</a>have sought refuge in Bangladesh in the past two weeks, a spokeswoman for the UN&nbsp;High Commissioner for Refugees said on Friday.</p>

<p>This has brought to 357,000 the number of Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh since October 2016.</p>

<p>The exodus has put pressure on aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands of refugees from previous violence in&nbsp;Myanmar.</p>

<p>Following are some details on the crisis gathered from UN&nbsp;sources working in the Cox&#39;s Bazar district of Bangladesh, on the&nbsp;Myanmar&nbsp;border.</p>

<p>- The number of new arrivals has increased considerably in part because of a survey carried out on September&nbsp;6 and 7, when inter-agency teams visited host communities previously left out of calculations. About 75,000 people were identified in previously unvisited communities at nine locations.</p>

<p>- There is immediate need for food for the majority of the new arrivals, who do not have, or have finished, their own supplies, and are getting food from host communities or refugees who came across the border last year.</p>

<p>- Most of the food being distributed is high-energy biscuits with 47,522 new arrivals getting them. Supplies of rice are scheduled to go out from September&nbsp;9.</p>

<p>- Water is scarce while sanitation and hygiene facilities in all makeshift settlements and refugee camps, especially at Shamlapur and Leda, where the number of fresh arrivals is increasing rapidly, are stretched. Limited space to build new facilities is a chronic problem.</p>

<p>- There are serious concerns about malnutrition, especially among children under five and pregnant or lactating women, some of whom are being enrolled in targeted feeding programmes.</p>

<p>- Many pregnant women are very hungry, some having not eaten for several days. Seven babies have been born.</p>

<p>- There is also a need for safe spaces for women with eight reported cases of gender-based violence, including 2 cases of sexual violence.</p>

<p>- As of September&nbsp;7, a total of 299 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have been identified and registered since August&nbsp;25.</p>

<p>- An estimated 51,100 children need schooling.</p>


They have sought refuge in Bangladesh, the United Nations said

About 270,000 Muslim Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar have sought refuge in Bangladesh in the past two weeks, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on Friday. This has brought to 357,000 the number of Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh since October 2016. The exodus has put pressure on aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands of refugees from previous violence in Myanmar. Following are some details on the crisis gathered from UN sources working in the Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh, on the Myanmar border. - The number of new arrivals has increased considerably in part because of a survey carried out on September 6 and 7, when inter-agency teams visited host communities previously left out of calculations. About 75,000 people were identified in previously unvisited communities at nine locations. - There is immediate need for food for the majority of the new arrivals, who do not have, or have finished, their own supplies, and are getting food from host communities or refugees who came across the border last year. - Most of the food being distributed is high-energy biscuits with 47,522 new arrivals getting them. Supplies of rice are scheduled to go out from September 9. - Water is scarce while sanitation and hygiene facilities in all makeshift settlements and refugee camps, especially at Shamlapur and Leda, where the number of fresh arrivals is increasing rapidly, are stretched. Limited space to build new facilities is a chronic problem. - There are serious concerns about malnutrition, especially among children under five and pregnant or lactating women, some of whom are being enrolled in targeted feeding programmes. - Many pregnant women are very hungry, some having not eaten for several days. Seven babies have been born. - There is also a need for safe spaces for women with eight reported cases of gender-based violence, including 2 cases of sexual violence. - As of September 7, a total of 299 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have been identified and registered since August 25. - An estimated 51,100 children need schooling.

270,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar in two weeks: UN

<p>Turkey&#39;s foreign minister will travel to Bangladesh to hold meetings about the fighting in northwestern Myanmar, sources from the ministry said on Tuesday.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/ahead-of-modis-visit-to-myanmar-aung-san-suu-kyi-under-pressure-to-end-rohingya-crisis-19884">Myanmar has come under pressure from countries with large Muslim populations</a> to stop violence against Rohingya Muslims after at least 400 people were killed and nearly 125,000 fled to Bangladesh in the deadliest bout of violence targeting the minority group in decades.</p>

<p>Mevlut Cavusoglu will travel to Bangladesh from Baku on Wednesday evening, the sources said. President Tayyip Erdogan has said the death of Rohingya Muslims constituted a genocide.</p>


Myanmar has come under pressure from countries with large Muslim populations

Turkey's foreign minister will travel to Bangladesh to hold meetings about the fighting in northwestern Myanmar, sources from the ministry said on Tuesday. Myanmar has come under pressure from countries with large Muslim populations to stop violence against Rohingya Muslims after at least 400 people were killed and nearly 125,000 fled to Bangladesh in the deadliest bout of violence targeting the minority group in decades. Mevlut Cavusoglu will travel to Bangladesh from Baku on Wednesday evening, the sources said. President Tayyip Erdogan has said the death of Rohingya Muslims constituted a genocide.

Turkish foreign minister to visit Bangladesh to discuss Myanmar issue: Sources

<p>Thousands of people have signed an online petition calling for the Nobel committee to revoke Aung San Suu Kyi&#39;s peace prize over the Myanmar government&#39;s treatment of its Rohingya Muslims.</p>

<p>But the Norwegian Nobel committee has ruled out any such move, saying only that the work which led to the awarding of the prize was taken into account.</p>

<p>The Change.Org petition has gathered over 365,000 signatures as of today, reflecting growing outrage over a massive security sweep in Rakhine state by Myanmar forces after a series of deadly ambushes by Rohingya militants.</p>

<p>&quot;The de facto ruler of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi has done virtually nothing to stop this crime against humanity in her country,&quot; the petition says.</p>

<p>Suu Kyi was awarded the prize in 1991, while under house arrest at the hands of Myanmar&#39;s military junta, from which she was released in 2010. She then went on to lead her party through the country&#39;s first credible elections since independence.</p>

<p>But her government has faced international condemnation for the army&#39;s response to the crisis as refugees arrive in Bangladesh with stories of murder, rape and burned villages at the hands of soldiers.</p>

<p>The United Nations said today that about 164,000 mostly Rohingya refugees have escaped to Bangladesh in the past two weeks, meaning more than a quarter of a million have fled since fighting broke out in October.</p>

<p>Suu Kyi lashed out this week at what she called &quot;a huge iceberg of misinformation&quot; over the crisis, &quot;with the aim of promoting the interest of the terrorists&quot;.</p>

<p>In Oslo, Olav Njolstad, head of the Nobel Institute, said it was impossible to strip a Nobel laureate of an award once it has been bestowed.</p>

<p>&quot;Neither Alfred Nobel&#39;s will nor the statutes of the Nobel Foundation provide for the possibility that a Nobel Prize -- whether for physics, chemistry, medicine, literature or peace -- can be revoked,&quot; he told AFP.</p>

<p>&quot;Only the efforts made by a laureate before the attribution of a prize are evaluated by the Nobel committee,&quot; he said, and not any subsequent actions.&nbsp;</p>


The Norwegian Nobel committee has ruled out any such move, saying only that the work which led to the awarding of the prize was taken into account

Thousands of people have signed an online petition calling for the Nobel committee to revoke Aung San Suu Kyi's peace prize over the Myanmar government's treatment of its Rohingya Muslims. But the Norwegian Nobel committee has ruled out any such move, saying only that the work which led to the awarding of the prize was taken into account. The Change.Org petition has gathered over 365,000 signatures as of today, reflecting growing outrage over a massive security sweep in Rakhine state by Myanmar forces after a series of deadly ambushes by Rohingya militants. "The de facto ruler of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi has done virtually nothing to stop this crime against humanity in her country," the petition says. Suu Kyi was awarded the prize in 1991, while under house arrest at the hands of Myanmar's military junta, from which she was released in 2010. She then went on to lead her party through the country's first credible elections since independence. But her government has faced international condemnation for the army's response to the crisis as refugees arrive in Bangladesh with stories of murder, rape and burned villages at the hands of soldiers. The United Nations said today that about 164,000 mostly Rohingya refugees have escaped to Bangladesh in the past two weeks, meaning more than a quarter of a million have fled since fighting broke out in October. Suu Kyi lashed out this week at what she called "a huge iceberg of misinformation" over the crisis, "with the aim of promoting the interest of the terrorists". In Oslo, Olav Njolstad, head of the Nobel Institute, said it was impossible to strip a Nobel laureate of an award once it has been bestowed. "Neither Alfred Nobel's will nor the statutes of the Nobel Foundation provide for the possibility that a Nobel Prize -- whether for physics, chemistry, medicine, literature or peace -- can be revoked," he told AFP. "Only the efforts made by a laureate before the attribution of a prize are evaluated by the Nobel committee," he said, and not any subsequent actions.

Petition seeks to revoke Suu Kyi's Nobel over Rohingya crisis

<p><a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/indonesian-minister-to-meet-suu-kyi-amid-protests-over-rohingya-19834">Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi</a> has come under pressure from countries with large Muslim populations including Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan to stop violence against Rohingya Muslims after nearly 125,000 of them fled to Bangladesh.</p>

<p>Indonesian foreign minister met the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Myanmar army chief Min Aung Hlaing on Monday to call on Myanmar to halt the bloodshed. The minister, Retno Marsudi, was due in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, on Tuesday.</p>

<p>&quot;The security authorities need to immediately stop all forms of violence there and provide humanitarian assistance and development aid for the short and long term,&quot; Retno said after her meetings in the Myanmar capital.</p>

<p>The latest violence in Myanmar&#39;s northwestern Rakhine state began on Aug. 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base. The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people and triggered the exodus of villagers to Bangladesh.</p>

<p>The treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar&#39;s roughly 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing Suu Kyi, who has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the minority that has long complained of persecution.</p>

<p>Myanmar says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against &quot;terrorists&quot; responsible for a string of attacks on police posts and the army since last October.</p>

<p>Myanmar officials blamed Rohingya militants for the burning of homes and civilian deaths but rights monitors and Rohingya fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh say the Myanmar army is trying to force Rohingya out with a campaign of arson and killings.</p>

<p>&quot;Indonesia is taking the lead on this and ultimately there is a possibility of ASEAN countries joining in,&quot; H.T. Imam, political adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, told <em>Reuters</em>, referring to the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations, of which both Myanmar and Indonesia are members.</p>

<p>&quot;If we can keep the pressure on Myanmar from ASEAN, from India as well, that will be good.&quot;</p>

<p>CONSCIENCE AWAKENED?</p>

<p>Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins a visit to Myanmar later on Tuesday, during which he is due to meet top officials, including Suu Kyi.</p>

<p>&quot;PM Modi is going there and our foreign secretary has already briefed the foreign secretary of India on this. If international conscience is awakened then that would put pressure on Myanmar,&quot; said H.T. Imam.</p>

<p>The latest estimate of the number of people who have crossed the border into Bangladesh since Aug. 25, based on calculations by U.N. workers on the Bangladeshi side, is 123,600.</p>

<p>That takes to about 210,000 the number of Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh since October, when Rohingya insurgents staged much smaller attacks on security posts, triggering a major Myanmar army counteroffensive and sending about 87,000 people fleeing into Bangladesh.</p>

<p>The new arrivals - many sick or wounded with burns or bullet wounds - have strained aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands of refugees from previous spasms of violence in Myanmar.</p>

<p>Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif expressed &quot;deep anguish at the ongoing violence against the Rohingya Muslims&quot; and urged the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to take &quot;immediate and effective action to bring an end to all human-rights violations against innocent and unarmed Rohingya Muslim population&quot;.</p>

<p>Pakistan is home to a large Rohingya community.</p>

<p>Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, on Monday called on Suu Kyi to condemn the &quot;shameful&quot; treatment of the Rohingya, saying &quot;the world is waiting&quot; for her to speak out.</p>


Indonesian foreign minister met the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Myanmar army chief Min Aung Hlaing on Monday to call on Myanmar to halt the bloodshed. The minister, Retno Marsudi, was due in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, on Tuesday.

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has come under pressure from countries with large Muslim populations including Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan to stop violence against Rohingya Muslims after nearly 125,000 of them fled to Bangladesh. Indonesian foreign minister met the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Myanmar army chief Min Aung Hlaing on Monday to call on Myanmar to halt the bloodshed. The minister, Retno Marsudi, was due in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, on Tuesday. "The security authorities need to immediately stop all forms of violence there and provide humanitarian assistance and development aid for the short and long term," Retno said after her meetings in the Myanmar capital. The latest violence in Myanmar's northwestern Rakhine state began on Aug. 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base. The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people and triggered the exodus of villagers to Bangladesh. The treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar's roughly 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing Suu Kyi, who has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the minority that has long complained of persecution. Myanmar says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against "terrorists" responsible for a string of attacks on police posts and the army since last October. Myanmar officials blamed Rohingya militants for the burning of homes and civilian deaths but rights monitors and Rohingya fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh say the Myanmar army is trying to force Rohingya out with a campaign of arson and killings. "Indonesia is taking the lead on this and ultimately there is a possibility of ASEAN countries joining in," H.T. Imam, political adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, told Reuters, referring to the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations, of which both Myanmar and Indonesia are members. "If we can keep the pressure on Myanmar from ASEAN, from India as well, that will be good." CONSCIENCE AWAKENED? Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins a visit to Myanmar later on Tuesday, during which he is due to meet top officials, including Suu Kyi. "PM Modi is going there and our foreign secretary has already briefed the foreign secretary of India on this. If international conscience is awakened then that would put pressure on Myanmar," said H.T. Imam. The latest estimate of the number of people who have crossed the border into Bangladesh since Aug. 25, based on calculations by U.N. workers on the Bangladeshi side, is 123,600. That takes to about 210,000 the number of Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh since October, when Rohingya insurgents staged much smaller attacks on security posts, triggering a major Myanmar army counteroffensive and sending about 87,000 people fleeing into Bangladesh. The new arrivals - many sick or wounded with burns or bullet wounds - have strained aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands of refugees from previous spasms of violence in Myanmar. Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif expressed "deep anguish at the ongoing violence against the Rohingya Muslims" and urged the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to take "immediate and effective action to bring an end to all human-rights violations against innocent and unarmed Rohingya Muslim population". Pakistan is home to a large Rohingya community. Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, on Monday called on Suu Kyi to condemn the "shameful" treatment of the Rohingya, saying "the world is waiting" for her to speak out.

Myanmar's Suu Kyi under pressure as almost 125,000 Rohingya flee violence

<p>Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi came under more pressure on Tuesday from countries with Muslim populations to halt violence against Rohingya&nbsp;Muslims that has sent nearly 125,000 of them fleeing over the border to Bangladesh in just over 10 days.</p>

<p>Reuters reporters saw hundreds more exhausted&nbsp;Rohingya&nbsp;arriving on boats near the Bangladeshi border village of Shamlapur on Tuesday, suggesting the exodus was far from over.</p>

<p>Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi said on Tuesday the country is ready to ease the burden of Bangladesh in dealing with the&nbsp;Rohingya&nbsp;Muslims fleeing from Myanmar, but the help is likely to be only humanitarian, not financial.</p>

<p>&quot;We will continue to discuss what sort of support Indonesia could make to ease the burden of the Bangladesh government,&quot; Marsudi told a news conference after she met Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali in Dhaka.</p>

<p>&quot;This humanitarian crisis shall be ended. I want to repeat, this humanitarian crisis shall be ended&quot;, she told reporters in Dhaka, a day after meetings in the Myanmar capital.</p>

<p>On Wednesday, Indonesia&#39;s ambassador to Bangladesh will meet the foreign minister to discuss relief assistance, which she said will be more on the humanitarian side than monetary, she told Reuters on the sidelines of the brief press meeting.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/myanmar-12-dead-in-violence-by-rohingya-militants-in-rakhine-19477">The latest violence in Myanmar&#39;s northwestern Rakhine state began on Aug. 25, when&nbsp;Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base. The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people and triggered the exodus of villagers to Bangladesh.</a></p>

<p>The treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar&#39;s roughly 1.1 million Muslim&nbsp;Rohingya&nbsp;is the biggest challenge facing Suu Kyi, who has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the minority that has long complained of persecution.</p>

<p>Myanmar says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against &quot;terrorists&quot; responsible for a string of attacks on police posts and the army since last October.</p>

<p>Myanmar officials blamed&nbsp;Rohingya&nbsp;militants for the burning of homes and civilian deaths but rights monitors and&nbsp;Rohingya&nbsp;fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh say the Myanmar army is trying to force them out with a campaign of arson and killings.</p>

<p>&quot;Indonesia is taking the lead, and ultimately there is a possibility of ASEAN countries joining in,&quot; H T&nbsp;Imam, a political adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, told Reuters.</p>

<p>He was referring to the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations that includes both Myanmar and Indonesia.</p>

<p>&quot;If we can keep the pressure on Myanmar from ASEAN, from India as well, that will be good ... If the international conscience is awakened, that would put pressure on Myanmar.&quot;</p>

<p>Malaysia, another ASEAN member, summoned Myanmar&#39;s ambassador to express displeasure over the violence and scolded Myanmar for making &quot;little, if any&quot; progress on the problem.</p>

<p>&quot;Malaysia believes that the matter of sustained violence and discrimination against the&nbsp;Rohingyas should be elevated to a higher international forum,&quot; Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said in a statement.</p>

<p>Turkey&#39;s President Tayyip Erdogan, who has said the violence against&nbsp;Rohingya&nbsp;Muslims constituted genocide, told Suu Kyi the violence was of deep concern to the Muslim world, and he was sending his foreign minister to Bangladesh.</p>

<p>Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins a visit to Myanmar on Tuesday, during which he will meet top officials, including Suu Kyi.</p>

<p>Pakistan, home to a large&nbsp;Rohingya&nbsp;community, has expressed &quot;deep anguish&quot;.</p>

<p><strong>Full camp</strong></p>

<p>The latest estimate of the numbers who have crossed into Bangladesh since Aug. 25, based on calculations byUN workers, is 123,600.</p>

<p>That takes to about 210,000 the number of&nbsp;Rohingya&nbsp;who have sought refuge in Bangladesh since October, when&nbsp;Rohingya&nbsp;insurgents staged smaller attacks on security posts, triggering a major Myanmar army counteroffensive and sending about 87,000 people fleeing into Bangladesh.</p>

<p>Refugees arriving in Shamlapur, and residents of the village, said hundreds of boats had arrived on Monday and Tuesday with several thousand people.</p>

<p>Reuters reporters saw men, women, children and a few possessions, including chickens, disembark from one boat.</p>

<p>&quot;The army set fire to houses,&quot; said Salim Ullah, 28, a farmer from Myanmar&#39;s village of Kyauk Pan Du, gripping a sack of belongings.</p>

<p>&quot;We got on the boat at daybreak. I came with my mother, wife and two children. There were 40 people on the boat, including 25 women.&quot;</p>

<p>The new arrivals - many sick or wounded - have strained the resources of aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands of refugees from previous spasms of violence in Myanmar.</p>

<p>Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the UN&nbsp;refugee agency, UNHCR, said one camp in Bangladesh, Kutupalong, had reached &quot;full capacity&quot; and resources at others were being stretched.</p>

<p>&quot;We are doing what we can, but will need to seek more resources,&quot; Tan said.</p>

<p>Bangladesh is concerned about Myanmar army activity on the border and would lodge a complaint if Bangladeshi territory was violated, an interior ministry official said.</p>

<p>A Bangladesh border guard officer said two blasts were heard on Tuesday on the Myanmar side, after two on Monday fuelled speculation Myanmar forces had laid land mines.</p>

<p>One boy had his left leg blown off near a border crossing before being brought to Bangladesh for treatment, while another boy suffered minor injuries, the officer, Manzurul Hassan Khan, said, adding the blast could have been a mine explosion.</p>

<p>The Myanmar army has not commented on the blasts near the border but said in a statement on Tuesday&nbsp;Rohingya&nbsp;insurgents were planning bomb attacks in Myanmar cities including the capital, Naypyitaw, Yangon and Mandalay to &quot;attract more attention from the world&quot;.</p>


Hundreds more exhausted?Rohingya?arrived on boats near the Bangladeshi border village of Shamlapur on Tuesday, suggesting the exodus was far from over

Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi came under more pressure on Tuesday from countries with Muslim populations to halt violence against Rohingya Muslims that has sent nearly 125,000 of them fleeing over the border to Bangladesh in just over 10 days. Reuters reporters saw hundreds more exhausted Rohingya arriving on boats near the Bangladeshi border village of Shamlapur on Tuesday, suggesting the exodus was far from over. Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi said on Tuesday the country is ready to ease the burden of Bangladesh in dealing with the Rohingya Muslims fleeing from Myanmar, but the help is likely to be only humanitarian, not financial. "We will continue to discuss what sort of support Indonesia could make to ease the burden of the Bangladesh government," Marsudi told a news conference after she met Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali in Dhaka. "This humanitarian crisis shall be ended. I want to repeat, this humanitarian crisis shall be ended", she told reporters in Dhaka, a day after meetings in the Myanmar capital. On Wednesday, Indonesia's ambassador to Bangladesh will meet the foreign minister to discuss relief assistance, which she said will be more on the humanitarian side than monetary, she told Reuters on the sidelines of the brief press meeting. The latest violence in Myanmar's northwestern Rakhine state began on Aug. 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base. The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people and triggered the exodus of villagers to Bangladesh. The treatment of Buddhist-majority Myanmar's roughly 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing Suu Kyi, who has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the minority that has long complained of persecution. Myanmar says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against "terrorists" responsible for a string of attacks on police posts and the army since last October. Myanmar officials blamed Rohingya militants for the burning of homes and civilian deaths but rights monitors and Rohingya fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh say the Myanmar army is trying to force them out with a campaign of arson and killings. "Indonesia is taking the lead, and ultimately there is a possibility of ASEAN countries joining in," H T Imam, a political adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, told Reuters. He was referring to the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations that includes both Myanmar and Indonesia. "If we can keep the pressure on Myanmar from ASEAN, from India as well, that will be good ... If the international conscience is awakened, that would put pressure on Myanmar." Malaysia, another ASEAN member, summoned Myanmar's ambassador to express displeasure over the violence and scolded Myanmar for making "little, if any" progress on the problem. "Malaysia believes that the matter of sustained violence and discrimination against the Rohingyas should be elevated to a higher international forum," Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said in a statement. Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan, who has said the violence against Rohingya Muslims constituted genocide, told Suu Kyi the violence was of deep concern to the Muslim world, and he was sending his foreign minister to Bangladesh. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins a visit to Myanmar on Tuesday, during which he will meet top officials, including Suu Kyi. Pakistan, home to a large Rohingya community, has expressed "deep anguish". Full camp The latest estimate of the numbers who have crossed into Bangladesh since Aug. 25, based on calculations byUN workers, is 123,600. That takes to about 210,000 the number of Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh since October, when Rohingya insurgents staged smaller attacks on security posts, triggering a major Myanmar army counteroffensive and sending about 87,000 people fleeing into Bangladesh. Refugees arriving in Shamlapur, and residents of the village, said hundreds of boats had arrived on Monday and Tuesday with several thousand people. Reuters reporters saw men, women, children and a few possessions, including chickens, disembark from one boat. "The army set fire to houses," said Salim Ullah, 28, a farmer from Myanmar's village of Kyauk Pan Du, gripping a sack of belongings. "We got on the boat at daybreak. I came with my mother, wife and two children. There were 40 people on the boat, including 25 women." The new arrivals - many sick or wounded - have strained the resources of aid agencies and communities already helping hundreds of thousands of refugees from previous spasms of violence in Myanmar. Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said one camp in Bangladesh, Kutupalong, had reached "full capacity" and resources at others were being stretched. "We are doing what we can, but will need to seek more resources," Tan said. Bangladesh is concerned about Myanmar army activity on the border and would lodge a complaint if Bangladeshi territory was violated, an interior ministry official said. A Bangladesh border guard officer said two blasts were heard on Tuesday on the Myanmar side, after two on Monday fuelled speculation Myanmar forces had laid land mines. One boy had his left leg blown off near a border crossing before being brought to Bangladesh for treatment, while another boy suffered minor injuries, the officer, Manzurul Hassan Khan, said, adding the blast could have been a mine explosion. The Myanmar army has not commented on the blasts near the border but said in a statement on Tuesday Rohingya insurgents were planning bomb attacks in Myanmar cities including the capital, Naypyitaw, Yangon and Mandalay to "attract more attention from the world".

<p>Invoking history in the everyday politics of a post-colonial state is an insane thing to do. On almost every occasion it is done, the objective is to create or expand fissures among communities for mean gains. Manipulators interpret history partially or irrationally.&nbsp;It&rsquo;s an absurd thing to live in the past, ignoring the realities and the established universal values of today. Unfortunately, all these negatives are being manifested in present day&rsquo;s Myanmar and especially in its western Rakhine State, which is also known as Arakan, in the form of an utterly irrational citizenship rule created by 1960s military dictator.</p>

<p>The Myanmar citizenship rule is in complete contrast with all international norms and conventions of the citizenship. And this citizenship rule makes an unprecedented cut off line that needs to date back to the 19th century as the criterion for citizenship, turning most Rohingya ethnic people of Rakhine State illegal immigrant.&nbsp;</p>

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<h5>The Myanmar citizenship rule is in complete contrast with all international norms and conventions of the citizenship.</h5>
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<p>Now, Rohingyas are fleeing Arakan again like the seventies. Already about half of their close to 3 million population are refugees in Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, India and Indonesia from the past exodus. The poor civilians of this highly persecuted and discriminated community are again on the run following the crack down on them by the Myanmar army. Accused of indulging in acts of political militancy by some elements of this desperate community, the usual Myanmar over reaction is brutal and cruel.</p>

<p>However, to understand the context of the crisis, it is imperative to revisit a bit of history and geography. Arakan rather has more geographical contiguity with Chittagong of Bangladesh in the north than the Bamar (the dominant ethnic group in Myanmar who constitute about 66 per cent&nbsp;of the country&rsquo;s population)&nbsp;hinterland in southern and central Myanmar. Rakhine State is a coastal province, elongated like a tail from north to south. The state is separated from rest of Myanmar by Arakan Mountains located on the east of the state. The mountains also run parallel from north to south to the coastal plains of the state.</p>

<p>There are two major ethnic groups living in Arakan. One is the Rakhine, after whom the state is named, and the other is the Rohingya. The Rakhine are culturally and linguistically close to the Bamar and Rohingya to the Bengali. Racially also, these two ethnicities are different. Rakhines are Mongoloid, Rohingyas are Caucasoid &ndash; Austro Asiatic mixed like most people of the eastern part of Indian sub- continent.</p>

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<h5>Separatist armed movements were waged by the Rohingyas in northern Arakan in the 1950s and 1960s which Burmese army quelled with brute force.</h5>
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<p>Historically, both the people lived and&nbsp;moved freely around this Chittagong-Arakan coastal plains and adjacent hills. There are about 200000 Rakhines too in the Chittagong Hill District of Bandarban and some in the southern Bangladeshi district of Patuakhali. Rakhines are also known as Mogh or Marma in Bangladesh. For the most part of the history, there were independent Mogh/ Rakhine kingdoms in Arakan which sometimes expanded up to Chittagong. There were early Bengali/ Rohingya courtiers and royal poets in Arakan courts. In the 18th century, forces of Bamar kingdoms crossed Arakan mountains, invaded and annexed Arakan. But it didn&rsquo;t last long as within a few decades the British gained Arakan and later the entire Burma and kept Arakan annexed to its Burmese dominion.</p>

<p>During British period there was a wave of Bengalis moving into Arakan for work, and under British patronage, they merged with old Rohingyas.&nbsp;In the World War II, the Rohingyas sided with the British whereas the Rakhines generally sided with the Japanese. Around the time of independence of Burma, there were communal tensions and riots between Rohingyas and Rakhines. Rohingyas wanted the Muslim majority of northern Arakan which had the border with Chittagong to merge with East Pakistan. Separatist armed movements were waged by the Rohingyas in northern Arakan in the 1950s and 1960s which Burmese army quelled with brute force. The same happened in the 1970s which met the same fate. The armed movement found resurgence since the 1990s and some elements are still continuing that.</p>

<p>Interestingly, there were separatist movements&nbsp;from the Rakhine side also against the Burmese. At least two groups operated in the 1960s and 1970s and some remnants still exist although at the marginal level. Burma or the present Myanmar is ethnically quite diverse a country. There are several dozens of ethnic groups other than the dominant Bamars. Some of these ethnicities are sizable and they form a majority in their own areas e.g. Kachin, Karen Shan etc. A long military rule, hegemony of the Bamar community and lack of channels for political expressions have led to the&nbsp;number of armed separatist movements in Myanmar many of which still persists. &nbsp;</p>

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<h5>A long military rule, hegemony of the Bamar community and lack of channels for political expressions have led to the&nbsp;number of armed separatist movements in Myanmar.</h5>
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<p>For the most part of its post-colonial history, Myanmar leadership has been self-secluded, secretive and regressive. Like the Pakistani army, Myanmar army captured the polity of the country right after its independence and continued to be at the helm till date. They haven&rsquo;t allowed much modern liberals thoughts of rights, democracy or institutions to enter their domain of imposed nominal socialism. Inside, they kept the Burmese society orthodox,&nbsp;stagnant and economically under developed.</p>

<p>The Buddhist monks of Myanmar, like their Sri Lankan counter parts, espouse a kind of religious nationalism. They are quite aggressive and violence-inciting and receives patronage from Myanmar army and political forces. It&rsquo;s a huge irony in light of fundamental non-violent tenets of Buddhism. The difference between Myanmar and other nations of south Asia is quite stark. Myanmar expelled its sizable Indian population right after its independence. It also had anti-Muslim turned anti-South Asian riots in the central part of it in recent past.</p>

<p>Aung San Suu Kyi, after decades of struggle, has only attained a limited political power. And despite the criticism of her in the Rohingya episode for remaining silent, it has to be understood that Suu Kyi&#39;s hands are actually tied. The Myanmar army has clearly taken the side of the Rakhine, who are ethnically and communally close to the Bamars, and they won&rsquo;t allow Suu Kyi much leeway in this. However, Suu Khi should at least have taken a middle stand and put some indirect pressure on the military. Then the international community could have done more.</p>

<p>The Rohingyas are politically quite disorganised and the high degree of persecution has suppressed their natural political expressions. Due to this oppression, some Islamist militants have found their way into this community. And that, in turn, has become more of a reason for the Myanmar army to conduct heavy handed crack down at the cost of high civilian causality.</p>

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<p>Geopolitically, it seems no country is interested to do much for the Rohingyas as yet. Bangladesh doesn&#39;t have enough strength to do much on its own- be it diplomatic or military.&nbsp;Bangladesh has close relations with China, but China has even closer relations with Myanmar. Despite the overt bonhomie with Hasina government, the BJP government&nbsp;in India has hardly any empathy towards Muslim sufferings anywhere in the world. Nehruvian principle based foreign policy is a thing of past for India.</p>

<p>The foreign policy is now narrow nationalistic interest based and the current Indian government&nbsp;will easily sacrifice Rohingyas for a little strategic leverage with Myanmar. The Indian government has already declared that it will deport the 40 thousand Rohingyas from neighbouring Myanmar, about 0.33 or one-thirtieths of the entire Rohingya refugee and that too against its own home ministry policy of giving shelter to persecuted communities and defying UNHCR measures.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Apart from Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have taken in sizable numbers of Rohingya refugees and Turkey is quite vocal against Myanmar atrocities against Rohingyas. But the Islamic world itself is in chaos and Islamic solidarity is in decline.&nbsp;Trump&rsquo;s US is no more reliable for anything good and many will probably count only on the EU and UK in the west on this matter. UN has been the lone consistent international voice for these distressed people. ASEAN countries certainly have some influence on Myanmar although not as much as China.</p>

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<h5>Bengalis are culturally close to the Rohingyas, and there is internal pressure on Bangladesh government to do something, but the government&nbsp;as of now has been careful not to antagonise Myanmar despite the atrocities and tried to solve the matter bilaterally with very limited success.&nbsp;</h5>
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<p>Bangladesh is in a difficult dilemma at this point. Bengalis are culturally close to the Rohingyas, and there is internal pressure on Bangladesh government to do something, but the government&nbsp;as of now has been careful not to antagonise Myanmar despite the atrocities and tried to solve the matter bilaterally with very limited success.&nbsp;It seems now that only a Bangladesh, Turkey, Saudi Arabia led diplomatic drive including measures like sanctions on Myanmar, if necessary, and with help from ASEAN countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia and perhaps the EU and UN is the only way forward. Bangladesh has to be careful while taking the help of the Islamic world in not giving in to any demand of Islamic radicals to operate in Arakan from its soil. That can have serious ramifications for Bangladesh, Arakan and even the entire sub-region.</p>

<p>But the big question is to what extent these countries will be ready to coordinate with each other and invest in this crisis? Can China be pressurised substantially to put pressure on Myanmar in turn? As of now, it appears that there isn&rsquo;t&nbsp;much hope for the destitute and internationally abandoned Rohingyas - the most persecuted community in the world as declared by the UN. Humanity continues to be humiliated in that wretched land.</p>


There isn?t?much hope for the destitute and internationally abandoned Rohingyas - the most persecuted community in the world as declared by the UN.

Invoking history in the everyday politics of a post-colonial state is an insane thing to do. On almost every occasion it is done, the objective is to create or expand fissures among communities for mean gains. Manipulators interpret history partially or irrationally. It’s an absurd thing to live in the past, ignoring the realities and the established universal values of today. Unfortunately, all these negatives are being manifested in present day’s Myanmar and especially in its western Rakhine State, which is also known as Arakan, in the form of an utterly irrational citizenship rule created by 1960s military dictator. The Myanmar citizenship rule is in complete contrast with all international norms and conventions of the citizenship. And this citizenship rule makes an unprecedented cut off line that needs to date back to the 19th century as the criterion for citizenship, turning most Rohingya ethnic people of Rakhine State illegal immigrant. The Myanmar citizenship rule is in complete contrast with all international norms and conventions of the citizenship. × Now, Rohingyas are fleeing Arakan again like the seventies. Already about half of their close to 3 million population are refugees in Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, India and Indonesia from the past exodus. The poor civilians of this highly persecuted and discriminated community are again on the run following the crack down on them by the Myanmar army. Accused of indulging in acts of political militancy by some elements of this desperate community, the usual Myanmar over reaction is brutal and cruel. However, to understand the context of the crisis, it is imperative to revisit a bit of history and geography. Arakan rather has more geographical contiguity with Chittagong of Bangladesh in the north than the Bamar (the dominant ethnic group in Myanmar who constitute about 66 per cent of the country’s population) hinterland in southern and central Myanmar. Rakhine State is a coastal province, elongated like a tail from north to south. The state is separated from rest of Myanmar by Arakan Mountains located on the east of the state. The mountains also run parallel from north to south to the coastal plains of the state. There are two major ethnic groups living in Arakan. One is the Rakhine, after whom the state is named, and the other is the Rohingya. The Rakhine are culturally and linguistically close to the Bamar and Rohingya to the Bengali. Racially also, these two ethnicities are different. Rakhines are Mongoloid, Rohingyas are Caucasoid – Austro Asiatic mixed like most people of the eastern part of Indian sub- continent. Separatist armed movements were waged by the Rohingyas in northern Arakan in the 1950s and 1960s which Burmese army quelled with brute force. × Historically, both the people lived and moved freely around this Chittagong-Arakan coastal plains and adjacent hills. There are about 200000 Rakhines too in the Chittagong Hill District of Bandarban and some in the southern Bangladeshi district of Patuakhali. Rakhines are also known as Mogh or Marma in Bangladesh. For the most part of the history, there were independent Mogh/ Rakhine kingdoms in Arakan which sometimes expanded up to Chittagong. There were early Bengali/ Rohingya courtiers and royal poets in Arakan courts. In the 18th century, forces of Bamar kingdoms crossed Arakan mountains, invaded and annexed Arakan. But it didn’t last long as within a few decades the British gained Arakan and later the entire Burma and kept Arakan annexed to its Burmese dominion. During British period there was a wave of Bengalis moving into Arakan for work, and under British patronage, they merged with old Rohingyas. In the World War II, the Rohingyas sided with the British whereas the Rakhines generally sided with the Japanese. Around the time of independence of Burma, there were communal tensions and riots between Rohingyas and Rakhines. Rohingyas wanted the Muslim majority of northern Arakan which had the border with Chittagong to merge with East Pakistan. Separatist armed movements were waged by the Rohingyas in northern Arakan in the 1950s and 1960s which Burmese army quelled with brute force. The same happened in the 1970s which met the same fate. The armed movement found resurgence since the 1990s and some elements are still continuing that. Interestingly, there were separatist movements from the Rakhine side also against the Burmese. At least two groups operated in the 1960s and 1970s and some remnants still exist although at the marginal level. Burma or the present Myanmar is ethnically quite diverse a country. There are several dozens of ethnic groups other than the dominant Bamars. Some of these ethnicities are sizable and they form a majority in their own areas e.g. Kachin, Karen Shan etc. A long military rule, hegemony of the Bamar community and lack of channels for political expressions have led to the number of armed separatist movements in Myanmar many of which still persists. A long military rule, hegemony of the Bamar community and lack of channels for political expressions have led to the number of armed separatist movements in Myanmar. × For the most part of its post-colonial history, Myanmar leadership has been self-secluded, secretive and regressive. Like the Pakistani army, Myanmar army captured the polity of the country right after its independence and continued to be at the helm till date. They haven’t allowed much modern liberals thoughts of rights, democracy or institutions to enter their domain of imposed nominal socialism. Inside, they kept the Burmese society orthodox, stagnant and economically under developed. The Buddhist monks of Myanmar, like their Sri Lankan counter parts, espouse a kind of religious nationalism. They are quite aggressive and violence-inciting and receives patronage from Myanmar army and political forces. It’s a huge irony in light of fundamental non-violent tenets of Buddhism. The difference between Myanmar and other nations of south Asia is quite stark. Myanmar expelled its sizable Indian population right after its independence. It also had anti-Muslim turned anti-South Asian riots in the central part of it in recent past. Aung San Suu Kyi, after decades of struggle, has only attained a limited political power. And despite the criticism of her in the Rohingya episode for remaining silent, it has to be understood that Suu Kyi's hands are actually tied. The Myanmar army has clearly taken the side of the Rakhine, who are ethnically and communally close to the Bamars, and they won’t allow Suu Kyi much leeway in this. However, Suu Khi should at least have taken a middle stand and put some indirect pressure on the military. Then the international community could have done more. The Rohingyas are politically quite disorganised and the high degree of persecution has suppressed their natural political expressions. Due to this oppression, some Islamist militants have found their way into this community. And that, in turn, has become more of a reason for the Myanmar army to conduct heavy handed crack down at the cost of high civilian causality. Despite the criticism of her in the Rohingya episode for remaining silent, it has to be understood that Suu Kyi's hands are actually tied. × Geopolitically, it seems no country is interested to do much for the Rohingyas as yet. Bangladesh doesn't have enough strength to do much on its own- be it diplomatic or military. Bangladesh has close relations with China, but China has even closer relations with Myanmar. Despite the overt bonhomie with Hasina government, the BJP government in India has hardly any empathy towards Muslim sufferings anywhere in the world. Nehruvian principle based foreign policy is a thing of past for India. The foreign policy is now narrow nationalistic interest based and the current Indian government will easily sacrifice Rohingyas for a little strategic leverage with Myanmar. The Indian government has already declared that it will deport the 40 thousand Rohingyas from neighbouring Myanmar, about 0.33 or one-thirtieths of the entire Rohingya refugee and that too against its own home ministry policy of giving shelter to persecuted communities and defying UNHCR measures. Apart from Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have taken in sizable numbers of Rohingya refugees and Turkey is quite vocal against Myanmar atrocities against Rohingyas. But the Islamic world itself is in chaos and Islamic solidarity is in decline. Trump’s US is no more reliable for anything good and many will probably count only on the EU and UK in the west on this matter. UN has been the lone consistent international voice for these distressed people. ASEAN countries certainly have some influence on Myanmar although not as much as China. Bengalis are culturally close to the Rohingyas, and there is internal pressure on Bangladesh government to do something, but the government as of now has been careful not to antagonise Myanmar despite the atrocities and tried to solve the matter bilaterally with very limited success. × Bangladesh is in a difficult dilemma at this point. Bengalis are culturally close to the Rohingyas, and there is internal pressure on Bangladesh government to do something, but the government as of now has been careful not to antagonise Myanmar despite the atrocities and tried to solve the matter bilaterally with very limited success. It seems now that only a Bangladesh, Turkey, Saudi Arabia led diplomatic drive including measures like sanctions on Myanmar, if necessary, and with help from ASEAN countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia and perhaps the EU and UN is the only way forward. Bangladesh has to be careful while taking the help of the Islamic world in not giving in to any demand of Islamic radicals to operate in Arakan from its soil. That can have serious ramifications for Bangladesh, Arakan and even the entire sub-region. But the big question is to what extent these countries will be ready to coordinate with each other and invest in this crisis? Can China be pressurised substantially to put pressure on Myanmar in turn? As of now, it appears that there isn’t much hope for the destitute and internationally abandoned Rohingyas - the most persecuted community in the world as declared by the UN. Humanity continues to be humiliated in that wretched land.

No country for a Rohingya

<p>Bangladesh were dismissed for 305 in their first innings in the second and final Test against Australia on Tuesday.</p>

<p><br />
Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim top scored with 68, while Sabbir Rahman contributed 66 for the hosts, who lead the series 1-0.</p>

<p><br />
Australia offspinner Nathan Lyon finished with 7-94.</p>


Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim top scored with 68, while Sabbir Rahman contributed 66 for the hosts, who lead the series 1-0.

Bangladesh were dismissed for 305 in their first innings in the second and final Test against Australia on Tuesday. Skipper Mushfiqur Rahim top scored with 68, while Sabbir Rahman contributed 66 for the hosts, who lead the series 1-0. Australia offspinner Nathan Lyon finished with 7-94.

2nd Test: Bangladesh 305 all out against Australia

<p>South Asian countries- India, Nepal and Bangladesh which have recently been the victim of the <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/infographic-the-19677">deadly&nbsp;flood</a>, will be getting aid from the American multinational technology company- Google.</p>

<p>Google has diverted $1 million relief fund to the flood affected areas of <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/uttar-pradesh-flood-death-toll-rises-to-103-19695">India</a>,<a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/16-million-people-in-south-asia-affected-by-floods-red-cross-19205"> Nepal</a> and <a href="http://www.wionews.com/india-news/at-least-221-dead-in-india-bangladesh-nepal-floods-19016">Bangladesh</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The funds that are generated from Google.org and Google employees will be provided to organisations working in favour of the relief work.</p>

<p>&quot;We are committing $1 million from Google.org and Google employees to Goonj and Save the Children for their relief efforts,&quot; Rajan Anandan, Vice-President, South East Asia and India, wrote in a blog post.</p>

<p>Save the Children organisation is providing food, water, temporary shelter and hygiene items to the victims. Besides the basic amenities, the organisation will also provide educational materials to the flood affected children by setting child-friendly spaces.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The organisation is providing livelihood support to flood victims from three countries and aims to expand to around 1,60,000 people.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The other organisation working with Google, Goonj, is an NGO that plans to provide a helping hand to over 75,000 flood affected families from rural India. In addition to the basic amenities- food, mats, blankets and hygiene items they will also be rebuilding the destroyed roads, bridges and schools.</p>

<p>Google&#39;s Crises Response team has also activated an &quot;SOS Alert&quot; for the floods in India, Nepal, Bangladesh.</p>

<p>The <a href="http://www.wionews.com/photos/mumbai-revives-back-430">flood</a> in these countries has claimed over 1200 lives and uprooted million of people from their homes.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


The funds that are generated from Google.org and Google employees will be provided to organisations working in favour of the relief work

South Asian countries- India, Nepal and Bangladesh which have recently been the victim of the deadly flood, will be getting aid from the American multinational technology company- Google. Google has diverted $1 million relief fund to the flood affected areas of India, Nepal and Bangladesh. The funds that are generated from Google.org and Google employees will be provided to organisations working in favour of the relief work. "We are committing $1 million from Google.org and Google employees to Goonj and Save the Children for their relief efforts," Rajan Anandan, Vice-President, South East Asia and India, wrote in a blog post. Save the Children organisation is providing food, water, temporary shelter and hygiene items to the victims. Besides the basic amenities, the organisation will also provide educational materials to the flood affected children by setting child-friendly spaces. The organisation is providing livelihood support to flood victims from three countries and aims to expand to around 1,60,000 people. The other organisation working with Google, Goonj, is an NGO that plans to provide a helping hand to over 75,000 flood affected families from rural India. In addition to the basic amenities- food, mats, blankets and hygiene items they will also be rebuilding the destroyed roads, bridges and schools. Google's Crises Response team has also activated an "SOS Alert" for the floods in India, Nepal, Bangladesh. The flood in these countries has claimed over 1200 lives and uprooted million of people from their homes.

Google to give $1 million flood relief fund to India, Nepal, Bangladesh

<p>In order to tackle the huge <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/myanmar-violence-thousands-of-rohingyas-enter-bangladesh-more-stranded-in-no-mans-land-19554">refugee influx of Rohingyas from Myanmar, the Bangladesh </a>government has proposed to fight jointly with Myanmar against the insurgents in Myanmar&#39;s Rakhine state.</p>

<p>Thousands of <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/bangladesh-witnesses-fresh-influx-of-rohingya-muslims-from-myanmar-19108">Rohingyas, who fled their homes in the violence-hit state</a>, are waiting on the borders to seek shelter in Bangladesh.</p>

<p>The influx was triggered by a dramatic escalation in violence between the security forces and the insurgents.</p>

<p>More than 100 people have been killed in the violence so far.</p>

<p>Around 27,400 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar during the past week and a further 20,000 are marooned in no man&#39;s land between the two countries, three UN&nbsp;sources said on Thursday.</p>

<p>Rohingyas face discrimination in Myanmar as the government does not consider them citizens.</p>


Thousands of Rohingyas are waiting to cross over to Bangladesh fleeing violence in their home state

In order to tackle the huge refugee influx of Rohingyas from Myanmar, the Bangladesh government has proposed to fight jointly with Myanmar against the insurgents in Myanmar's Rakhine state. Thousands of Rohingyas, who fled their homes in the violence-hit state, are waiting on the borders to seek shelter in Bangladesh. The influx was triggered by a dramatic escalation in violence between the security forces and the insurgents. More than 100 people have been killed in the violence so far. Around 27,400 Rohingya Muslims have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar during the past week and a further 20,000 are marooned in no man's land between the two countries, three UN sources said on Thursday. Rohingyas face discrimination in Myanmar as the government does not consider them citizens.

WATCH: Bangladesh proposes to fight alongside Myanmar to fight insurgents

<p>Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh from fighting in Myanmar face the growing danger of sickness and attempts by the Bangladesh authorities to send them home despite a UN appeal that they be allowed to stay.</p>

<p>A series of coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on Myanmar security forces on Friday, in the north of <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/myanmar-unrest-villagers-aid-workers-escape-violence-19579">Myanmar&#39;s Rakhine State</a>, has triggered a crackdown by Myanmar forces that has sent a stream of Rohingya villagers fleeing to Bangladesh.</p>

<p>It also sparked a mass evacuation of thousands of Buddhist residents of the area.</p>

<p>At least 109 people have been killed in the clashes in Myanmar, most of them militants but including members of the security forces and civilians.</p>

<p>Bangladesh which already hosts&nbsp;more than 400,000 Rohingya who have fled persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar since the early 1990s, has said it will not accept any more.</p>

<p>Bangladesh&#39;s border guards are trying to block the Rohingyas from crossing in, and aim to round up and send back those who do.</p>

<p>Border guard officials told <em>Reuters</em> they had sent back about 550 Rohingya since Monday, via the Naf river that separates the two countries, despite an appeal by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for Dhaka to allow Rohingya to seek safety.</p>

<p>An estimated 5,000 Rohingya have been able to cross into Bangladesh over the past few days, most slipping in at night over the land border near the Bangladeshi village of Gumdhum.</p>

<p>Many are sick and at least six have died after crossing in, an aid worker said, adding that fear of being caught and sent back meant some refused to seek help.</p>

<p>&quot;What we&#39;re seeing is that many Rohingya people are sick,&quot; said the worker with an international agency in Bangladesh who declined to be identified or have his agency identified.</p>

<p>&quot;This is because they got stuck at the border before they could enter. It&#39;s mostly women and children.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;We&#39;re making all out efforts but a rapid response is needed,&quot; the aid worker said. &quot;Some are refraining from getting treatment to avoid arrest.&quot;</p>

<p>Thousands of Rohingya are stranded in the no man&#39;s land between the two countries, trying to get into Bangladesh, aid workers and fellow Rohingya say.</p>

<p><strong>Ambush</strong></p>

<p>The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar and classified as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots there that go back centuries. They are marginalised and their communities occasionally subjected to communal violence.</p>

<p>A Rohingya militant group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which Myanmar has declared a terrorist organisation, claimed responsibility for the Friday attacks. It was also behind a similar though smaller series of attacks in October, which also triggered a tough Myanmar army response.</p>

<p>In a video posted online on Monday, ARSA leader Ata Ullah warned Myanmar against &quot;oppressing&quot; Rohingya and vowed to keep fighting to protect the community.</p>

<p>The treatment of about 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar has become the biggest challenge for national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out on behalf of the long-persecuted minority.</p>

<p>Myanmar said late on Monday that a total of 45 insurgent bombs went off on Sunday and Monday. It also blamed the insurgents for torching seven villages, one outpost, and two parts of Maungdaw town.</p>

<p>Attackers ambushed security forces with small arms and machetes on Monday, and one policeman and one civilian were wounded, the government said in a statement.</p>

<p>Satellite imagery analysed by New York-based Human Rights Watch showed widespread burnings in at least 10 areas in northern Rakhine State since the Aug. 25 militant raids, the group said in a statement.</p>

<p>&quot;This new satellite data should cause concern and prompt action by donors and UN agencies to urge the Burmese government to reveal the extent of ongoing destruction in Rakhine State,&quot; said Phil Robertson, the group&#39;s deputy Asia director.</p>

<p>&quot;Shuffling all the blame on insurgents doesn&#39;t spare the Burmese government from its international obligations to stop abuses and investigate alleged violations.&quot;</p>


A series of coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on Myanmar security forces on Friday, in the north of Myanmar's Rakhine State, has triggered a crackdown by Myanmar forces that has sent a stream of Rohingya villagers fleeing to Bangladesh

Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh from fighting in Myanmar face the growing danger of sickness and attempts by the Bangladesh authorities to send them home despite a UN appeal that they be allowed to stay. A series of coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on Myanmar security forces on Friday, in the north of Myanmar's Rakhine State, has triggered a crackdown by Myanmar forces that has sent a stream of Rohingya villagers fleeing to Bangladesh. It also sparked a mass evacuation of thousands of Buddhist residents of the area. At least 109 people have been killed in the clashes in Myanmar, most of them militants but including members of the security forces and civilians. Bangladesh which already hosts more than 400,000 Rohingya who have fled persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar since the early 1990s, has said it will not accept any more. Bangladesh's border guards are trying to block the Rohingyas from crossing in, and aim to round up and send back those who do. Border guard officials told Reuters they had sent back about 550 Rohingya since Monday, via the Naf river that separates the two countries, despite an appeal by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for Dhaka to allow Rohingya to seek safety. An estimated 5,000 Rohingya have been able to cross into Bangladesh over the past few days, most slipping in at night over the land border near the Bangladeshi village of Gumdhum. Many are sick and at least six have died after crossing in, an aid worker said, adding that fear of being caught and sent back meant some refused to seek help. "What we're seeing is that many Rohingya people are sick," said the worker with an international agency in Bangladesh who declined to be identified or have his agency identified. "This is because they got stuck at the border before they could enter. It's mostly women and children." "We're making all out efforts but a rapid response is needed," the aid worker said. "Some are refraining from getting treatment to avoid arrest." Thousands of Rohingya are stranded in the no man's land between the two countries, trying to get into Bangladesh, aid workers and fellow Rohingya say. Ambush The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar and classified as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots there that go back centuries. They are marginalised and their communities occasionally subjected to communal violence. A Rohingya militant group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which Myanmar has declared a terrorist organisation, claimed responsibility for the Friday attacks. It was also behind a similar though smaller series of attacks in October, which also triggered a tough Myanmar army response. In a video posted online on Monday, ARSA leader Ata Ullah warned Myanmar against "oppressing" Rohingya and vowed to keep fighting to protect the community. The treatment of about 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar has become the biggest challenge for national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out on behalf of the long-persecuted minority. Myanmar said late on Monday that a total of 45 insurgent bombs went off on Sunday and Monday. It also blamed the insurgents for torching seven villages, one outpost, and two parts of Maungdaw town. Attackers ambushed security forces with small arms and machetes on Monday, and one policeman and one civilian were wounded, the government said in a statement. Satellite imagery analysed by New York-based Human Rights Watch showed widespread burnings in at least 10 areas in northern Rakhine State since the Aug. 25 militant raids, the group said in a statement. "This new satellite data should cause concern and prompt action by donors and UN agencies to urge the Burmese government to reveal the extent of ongoing destruction in Rakhine State," said Phil Robertson, the group's deputy Asia director. "Shuffling all the blame on insurgents doesn't spare the Burmese government from its international obligations to stop abuses and investigate alleged violations."

Despite UN appeal Bangladesh restricts entry of Rohingya Muslims

<p>The United States has warned its citizens of &#39;continuing threats&#39; from terrorist groups in Bangladesh and the risk of travelling to the&nbsp;country&nbsp;even as it said the security forces have carried counter terrorism operations here.</p>

<p>In the latest travel advisory, the Department of State warned US citizens of continuing threats from terrorist groups in Bangladesh and to consider the risks of travel to and&nbsp;throughout the country.</p>

<p>However, the Department updated its travel warning to reflect the change in the US Embassy in Dhaka&#39;s status to &quot;partially accompanied,&quot; effective August 24.</p>

<p>This allows all adult family members of US government personnel to remain in or return to Dhaka.</p>

<p>Previously, only adult family members employed by the US government were permitted to remain or return to Dhaka.</p>

<p>Minor dependents are still prohibited from residing in Dhaka.</p>

<p>The US Embassy remains open and will provide all consular services, it said.</p>

<p>&quot;While Bangladeshi security forces continue to identify and counter terrorist elements, the Islamic State of Iraq and ash Sham (ISIS) and al-Qaeda in the Indian&nbsp;Subcontinent (AQIS) persist in their efforts to plot and/or carry out terrorist attacks throughout the country,&quot; the travel advisory said.</p>

<p>In March, two suicide bombing attempts occurred at Dhaka&#39;s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and an explosion in the city of Sylhet killed seven people.</p>

<p>These incidents were the first notable attacks since July 1, 2016, when terrorists killed more than 20 people, including one US citizen, in a restaurant frequented by&nbsp;foreigners in Dhaka&#39;s diplomatic enclave.</p>

<p>Similarly, in October 2016, ISIS threatened to target &quot;expats, tourists, diplomats, garment buyers, missionaries, and sports teams&quot; in the most &quot;secured zones&quot; in&nbsp;Bangladesh.</p>

<p>Recurring threats and periodic terrorist activities have prompted the Embassy to require US government personnel in Bangladesh to live, work, and travel under strict&nbsp;security guidelines, the travel advisory said.</p>

<p>US government officials and their adult family members are not permitted to travel on foot, motorcycle, bicycle, rickshaw, or other uncovered means on public thoroughfares and sidewalks in Bangladesh.</p>

<p>In addition, US government officials and their family members remain severely restricted in their ability to visit public establishments and places, or to attend large&nbsp;gatherings in Bangladesh.</p>


In the latest travel advisory, the Department of State warned US citizens of continuing threats from terrorist groups in Bangladesh and to consider the risks of travel to and?throughout the country

The United States has warned its citizens of 'continuing threats' from terrorist groups in Bangladesh and the risk of travelling to the country even as it said the security forces have carried counter terrorism operations here. In the latest travel advisory, the Department of State warned US citizens of continuing threats from terrorist groups in Bangladesh and to consider the risks of travel to and throughout the country. However, the Department updated its travel warning to reflect the change in the US Embassy in Dhaka's status to "partially accompanied," effective August 24. This allows all adult family members of US government personnel to remain in or return to Dhaka. Previously, only adult family members employed by the US government were permitted to remain or return to Dhaka. Minor dependents are still prohibited from residing in Dhaka. The US Embassy remains open and will provide all consular services, it said. "While Bangladeshi security forces continue to identify and counter terrorist elements, the Islamic State of Iraq and ash Sham (ISIS) and al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) persist in their efforts to plot and/or carry out terrorist attacks throughout the country," the travel advisory said. In March, two suicide bombing attempts occurred at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and an explosion in the city of Sylhet killed seven people. These incidents were the first notable attacks since July 1, 2016, when terrorists killed more than 20 people, including one US citizen, in a restaurant frequented by foreigners in Dhaka's diplomatic enclave. Similarly, in October 2016, ISIS threatened to target "expats, tourists, diplomats, garment buyers, missionaries, and sports teams" in the most "secured zones" in Bangladesh. Recurring threats and periodic terrorist activities have prompted the Embassy to require US government personnel in Bangladesh to live, work, and travel under strict security guidelines, the travel advisory said. US government officials and their adult family members are not permitted to travel on foot, motorcycle, bicycle, rickshaw, or other uncovered means on public thoroughfares and sidewalks in Bangladesh. In addition, US government officials and their family members remain severely restricted in their ability to visit public establishments and places, or to attend large gatherings in Bangladesh.

US warns its citizens of 'continuing threats' in Bangladesh

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No country for a Rohingya