Monday, July 8, 2013

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Court jails two Buddhists for murders during Meikhtila riots

Posted: 08 Jul 2013 02:51 AM PDT

Burma has sentenced two Buddhist men to seven years in prison for murders during religious violence in March that left dozens of people dead, a local official said.

The defendants were convicted after separate trials at the district court in Meikhtila for their part in deadly rioting in the town, which mainly targeted Muslims and sparked waves of religious unrest across the country.

Meikhtila district chairman of Tin Maung Soe said one man, aged 24, was sentenced on 28 June, becoming the first Buddhist known to be sentenced for a serious offence over the rioting, which left at least 44 people dead.

“He was found at the scene where some people were killed during the unrest in Meikhtila. That is why he was charged with murder,” he told AFP.

He said the second suspect, aged 21, was handed sentences of seven years and one year with hard labour – to be served concurrently – on Friday for his part in the killings.

Thousands of local Muslims were driven from their homes during the violence, as Buddhist mobs torched whole neighbourhoods, destroyed shops and damaged mosques.

Human rights groups have accused the police of being slow to stop the killings, while activists have called on authorities to fully investigate and prosecute those responsible.

At least 10 Muslims have so far been handed jail terms for serious offences during the rioting.

In May, seven Muslims were sentenced to between two and 28 years for their parts in the murder of a Buddhist monk in Meikhtila during the unrest.

The violence was apparently triggered by a quarrel in a gold shop and three Muslims, including the business owner, were jailed for 14 years in April for assaulting a Buddhist customer.

State media recently said 49 people were on trial for murder, with scores more facing court for their roles in the unrest.

“The other cases are still ongoing and still under investigation,” Tin Maung Soe told AFP.

Bodhgaya blasts injure Burmese monk

Posted: 08 Jul 2013 02:51 AM PDT

A series of explosions at one of India's oldest and most prestigious Buddhist temples in eastern India has left two monks injured.

Nine blasts went off within half an hour of each other at the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya, in the early hours of Sunday morning.

One of the injured was a Buddhist monk from Burma.

Indian officials arrest suspect after temple bombings injures Burmese monk

Posted: 08 Jul 2013 02:11 AM PDT

Indian police arrested a man on Monday following the weekend attacks at the historic Bodh Gaya Buddhist temple complex and were studying CCTV footage that appeared to show two men planting explosives at the site, which injured two monks including a Burmese national.

According to Burmese monk and scholar at Magadh Univeresity in Bodh Gaya Ashin Aruna, the first explosions erupted early Sunday morning as devotees chanted near the famed tree where the first Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment.

"Burmese monk Vilsagga (Wila Thakka) said he went into shock after sustaining injuries after the explosion. And after the second and third blast went off he regained consciousness and was led to safety by other monks and then immediately sent to hospital," said Ashin Aruna.

"Apparently, he was in close proximity to the [first] blast but evidently the explosion wasn't too strong – he didn't sustain any life threatening injuries."

The injured Burmese monk Vilsagga is reportedly from Myingyan, Burma and was visiting India with the hopes of enrolling in a university after receiving a master's degree.

The Indian government condemned the “terror attack” at one of Buddhism’s holiest sites after nine small bombs exploded on Sunday morning at the world-renowned pilgrimage destination in eastern Bihar state.

“The police are doing everything to identify the two persons on the basis of the CCTV footage,” local police official Chandan Kushwaha told AFP.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but police arrested a local man who was being questioned in connection with the blasts.

“A man identified as Vinod Mistri was taken into custody in connection with the serial bomb blasts in Bodh Gaya,” state police official S.K. Bharadwaj told AFP.

Police picked up Mistri in the Barachatti area, a stronghold of Maoist insurgents 129 kilometres (80 miles) south of the state capital Patna, Bharadwaj said.

Delhi police said they had earlier warned officials that Islamic militants could target the temple complex as revenge for Buddhist violence against Muslims in neighbouring Burma.

According to a report in the Times of India, the paper reported that the blasts were linked to Indian Mujahideen, after apprehended operatives admitted that they had scouted the site during an interrogation session with Indian officials last year.

Attacks on Buddhists are rare in India, but there have been tensions in the region recently following clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in Burma, as well as in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Two more bombs were found and defused at the complex on Sunday, one of them near the temple’s celebrated 80-feet-tall (24-metre) statue of the Buddha.

Along with temples, dozens of monasteries housing monks from around the world are located near the complex, which is believed to contain the holy bodhi tree under which the Buddha reached enlightenment in 531 BC.

After his meditations beneath the tree, the Buddha is said to have devoted the rest of his life to teaching.

The Bodh Gaya complex also houses multiple shrines marking the places where the Buddha is believed to have spent time after his enlightenment. He founded an order of monks before dying aged 80.

The complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site 110 kilometres south of Patna, is one of the earliest Buddhist temples still standing in India.

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama makes frequent trips to the complex, which attracts visitors during the peak tourist season from October to March.

-Shwe Aung contributed additional reporting

Farmers in Rangoon incensed after authorities seize disputed land

Posted: 08 Jul 2013 01:28 AM PDT

Tensions are high in Rangoon's Dagon Port township after authorities cordoned off a piece of property claimed by local farmers last Friday as Thein Sein's government struggles to address the rash of ongoing land disputes across the country.

According to Hla Htay, who is one of 13 local farmers affected by the land grab in Mahtasu village, about 50 government and police officials arrived at their farm at dawn on 5 July and proceeded to seize the 100 acres of land by putting up a barbed wire fence around it.

The farmer claims that the authorities, which were working with a private company, had been pressuring locals to vacate the land that they had been working since the monsoon season commenced last month.

The government's Department of Human Settlement and Housing Development said the land was allegedly confiscated in 1995, but locals returned to cultivate the property last year.

"When we began working the land on 18 June, township authorities and the company's manager came and tried to stop us – they told us to bring down our farm hut, but we refused since the monsoon has arrived and we were working on the land we've owned for generations," said Hla Htay.

"Aroud 5 am in the morning [last Friday], around 50 authorities and police went onto the farmland and demolished the hut – they also blocked the entrance to the farm with a rock pillar."

Hla Htay said villagers have all the paperwork necessary to prove their ownership of the property and are looking to take the dispute to a court.

"The farmers said they want their land back under legal terms and that they can absolutely not accept the unlawful seizure of it by the authorities," said the National League for Democracy's local chair in the township Than Myaing.

Following more than two years of reforms, land rights have become one of the most tempestuous issues in Burma as farmers begin to challenge authorities over property that was appropriated by the military and crony-connected companies during nearly five decades of junta rule.

According to a report published by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, approximately 1.9 million acres of land have been illegally transferred to private businesses in the past two decades in Burma, "even though 70 percent of that land has never been developed and is still used for farming by the original owners".
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