Monday, October 8, 2018

The Irrawaddy Magazine

The Irrawaddy Magazine

Dhaka Summons Myanmar Ambassador Over Maritime Border Dispute

Posted: 08 Oct 2018 08:02 AM PDT

DHAKA—The Bangladesh Foreign Ministry on Saturday summoned Myanmar's ambassador to protest the publication of several maps showing Bangladesh's St. Martin's Island as being part of Myanmar territory.

M Khurshed Alam, the secretary of the ministry's Maritime Affairs Unit, summoned Myanmar Ambassador Lwin Oo to the ministry in the capital Dhaka and lodged a strong protest.

The Dhaka-based New Age daily reported that the ambassador was told that the Bangladesh government had identified at least three websites run by Myanmar authorities showing St. Martin's Island as part of Myanmar, and was questioned about the motives for the publication of the maps.

The ambassador was also told that including Bangladesh territory in maps of Myanmar could harm relations between the neighboring countries.

Myanmar's Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population used doctored maps showing St. Martin's Island as part of Myanmar and shared them with several international websites, according to the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry.

All international political maps—including those drawn up in 1937; those created during the 1947 partition of India; those created at the time of Myanmar's independence from British rule in 1948; and those created at the time of Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan in 1971—have shown St. Martin's Island as an integral part of Bangladesh's territory, Bangladesh officials said.

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea also showed St. Martin's Island as part of Bangladesh in its maps presented in a verdict settling a dispute on the maritime boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar in 2012, the officials said.

Myanmar accepted Bangladesh's jurisdiction over St. Martin's Island in a bilateral instrument signed between the two countries in 1974, they said.

Ambassador Oo admitted that showing St. Martin's Island as Myanmar territory was a mistake, according to Bangladesh officials.

Myanmar officials in Dhaka did not respond to The Irrawaddy's request for comment.

The Bangladesh side also handed over a diplomatic note to the Myanmar ambassador demanding immediate rectification of the forged maps and an investigation to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.

The row over faulty maps comes amid diplomatic efforts by the two countries to begin the repatriation of ethnic minority Rohingya from Bangladesh to Rakhine State.

About 720,000 Rohingya, mostly women, children and elderly people, fled "security operations" by the Myanmar military in Rakhine beginning on Aug. 25, 2017, after a series of attacks on Myanmar security outposts by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.

The United Nations denounced the security operations as "ethnic cleansing" and as having "genocidal intent".

The Rohingya influx into Bangladesh has continued and the number of undocumented Myanmar nationals and registered refugees in Bangladesh is now over 1 million.

A former Bangladesh diplomat told The Irrawaddy that Myanmar's claims to St. Martin's Island and another Bangladeshi island, Shah Parir Dwip, date back to the time Dhaka lodged a formal complaint with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea over a dispute concerning the maritime boundary between Bangladesh and Myanmar in the Bay of Bengal in January 2010.

The former diplomat said that issue was considered settled, however, after the tribunal delivered its judgment in March 2012.

"We suspect Myanmar wanted to test Bangladesh's reaction. And we reacted seriously," he said.

Mohammad Nurul Islam, a researcher on Bangladesh-Myanmar relations based in Cox's Bazar, told The Irrawaddy that Myanmar's intention is to distract attention from Rohingya repatriation by claiming the island as its territory.

Meanwhile, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of Bangladesh has asked the country's Foreign Ministry to play an active role to ensure that Myanmar Army personnel involved in atrocities against the Rohingya are brought to trial in international courts.

In a statement, NHRC chairman Kazi Reazul Hoque called for stepped up diplomatic efforts to impose international economic sanctions on Myanmar in order to increase pressure on Naypyitaw to take back the Rohingya while ensuring their citizenship and human rights are respected.

Describing the repatriation instruments signed by the Myanmar authorities so far as "eyewash", Hoque requested the Foreign Ministry arrange an international conference and concert to mobilize global support to expedite the repatriation process.

The post Dhaka Summons Myanmar Ambassador Over Maritime Border Dispute appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Action Plan for Women’s Rights and Needs to be Implemented in Mon State

Posted: 08 Oct 2018 07:30 AM PDT

MAWLAMYINE, Mon State—Women from Mon State calling for their rights and needs in peace and development will soon have their concerns developed into an action plan, Myanmar's Minister of Pa-O Ethnic Affairs Daw San Wint Khine said.

From August through October 2017, more than 1,300 women from across the state participated in local consultations organized by the Mon State government, parliament, and civil society groups with the support of UN Women Myanmar.

Through discussions held at 10 townships in Mon State, women voiced cases of inequality they have faced and their concerns and priorities they wish to have addressed regarding peace and development in their state.

Discussion participants included administrators, village heads, officers from the department of social welfare and rural development, teachers from government schools and police officers.

Minister Daw San Wint Khine said there were demands from participants at village, township and state levels for laws prohibiting gender-based violence to be passed and for perpetrators of sexual violence to be punished without impunity.

Mon State has seen an increasing number of rape cases against minors aged 16 years old and below, according to local women's rights groups. Yet, the rights activists stressed, in many incidents, the rapists aren't punished as they are not taken to court because instead the case is settled through negotiation, often involving compensation.

During the discussions late last year, women also demanded sexual and reproductive health awareness programs and training at community level, Minister Daw San Wint Khine said.

In discussing the issue of economic challenges, women voiced demands for guarantees of equal [daily] wages between men and women, as well as to enact laws guaranteeing women's safety in the workplace.

In education, women called for an end to the practice of assessing male and female students' matriculation exam scores differently for university acceptance and to open training centers for orphaned, homeless and vulnerable youth.

A 30 percent quota of women in village administration was also demanded for the women's participation in leadership.

"We will develop an action plan to implement their demands," said Daw San Wint Khine.

The needs and priorities identified by the women regarding peace and development in their state were presented to the Union government this year and they are awaiting approval to develop an action plan, she said.

"I hope to launch the action plan at the end of this year," she added.

A regional lawmaker from Thaton Township, Daw Khine Khine Lei, who chairs the Mon State Parliament's Women and Children's Rights Committee, said education for young girls in the state should be a priority in the action plan.

Many young girls have been forced to drop out school and go to neighboring countries to work to support their families, she said, adding that this can consequently be connected with trafficking cases, forced marriage and adolescent pregnancy.

Ma Cherry Soe from Mon Women's Network said that after the action plan is drafted, she hopes it will address gender-based discrimination and violence in the state which women face in their day-to-day lives.

The women's rights activist said turning the policies into actions would be most important.

"It is important for the action plan not only to be on paper but also to be implemented," she said.

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Karen Armed Group Wants Summit With State Counselor, Military Chief Delayed

Posted: 08 Oct 2018 06:12 AM PDT

Mon State — The Karen National Union (KNU) says it wants a summit with the state counselor and military chief tentatively set for Oct. 15 delayed and the intended scope of discussion expanded.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing are to sit down with leaders of the country’s armed groups outside of Mandalay to try and break down roadblocks in the peace process dealing with the military’s demands that the groups promise not to secede from the union and agree to a single national army.

On Saturday, in a statement capping a two-day central committee meeting, the KNU said the armed groups needed more time to prepare for the summit and that the groups would meet among themselves in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Wednesday and Thursday to coordinate their position.

"We believed it is important to negotiate to overcome these deadlock issues in order to create a federal system,” the statement said.

KNU General Secretary P’doh Saw Tah Doh Moo told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the summit should specifically encompass the armed groups’ long-standing calls for a federal system for Myanmar as well as their concerns with the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA), which many of them have not yet signed.

He said the NCA, for example, precludes discussion of the military’s code of conduct, which makes it difficult for the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee to perform its function of adjudicating disputes when fighting breaks out.

"We need to discuss why we cannot talk about military issues at the meeting," said P’doh Saw Tah Doh Moo.

He said the KNU also wants to ask the military why it was restricting the group’s development projects and training practices when the NCA, which it signed in 2015, allows it to play a role in the development and education, health and security sectors in the areas it controls.

"We [the military and armed groups] have different understandings, so we have not reached an agreement," he said.

In its statement, the KNU said the government should also be fostering the right conditions to allow armed groups that have not signed the NCA to take an active part in the peace process as well.

The post Karen Armed Group Wants Summit With State Counselor, Military Chief Delayed appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

State Counselor Encourages Japanese Investment in Myanmar

Posted: 08 Oct 2018 05:43 AM PDT

YANGON—Myanmar's State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has invited Japanese investors to seek investment opportunities in Myanmar as she believes that Japan has a deep understanding of the country's struggle in the Rakhine crisis and peace process.

On Monday, in her keynote speech at the Myanmar Investment Conference in Tokyo, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told Japanese business people, "Please come and visit us, and see for yourselves," saying that Myanmar has improving economic opportunities and a positive environment for businesses.

She revealed her appreciation for Japan's understanding and help during a time when tensions have been mounting between Myanmar and the rest of world, during an exclusive interview with NHK, Japan's national broadcaster, on Saturday.

Myanmar recently launched a free-visa system for tourists from Japan, South Korean and China's Hong Kong and Macau, an effort to counter the significant fall in tourist numbers to the country due to the Rakhine crisis.

The state counselor stressed that Japanese citizens no longer need to apply for Myanmar visas and she encouraged investors to come and see with their own eyes the business opportunities in the country.

The Myanmar government has been making reforms in both politics and the economic sector since the National League for Democracy took office in 2016. The government has introduced new investment laws and the Myanmar Companies Law which will give more confidence to foreign investors, she said.

She said some of the major reforms are less visible, for example, the reform to strengthen macroeconomic management which is essential for economic stability and helps to attract increased investment. Though those reforms are not visible to most people, the impact will become more obvious in the long term.

"The long-term [is] what we are thinking of all the time," she added.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is currently in Japan for the 10th Mekong-Japan Summit led by Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe. Leaders from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam will also attend the conference. The discussion aims to focus on Japan's Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy, which aims to counterbalance China's growing influence in the region via its Belt and Road Initiative. According to Japan, the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy will promote quality infrastructure development in countries along the Mekong River.

She told attendees that the Myanmar government has announced the "Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan" which includes assortments of 250 smaller plans such as state priorities for national reconciliation, economic transparency, rule of law and good governance.

The government seeks to leave the status of "least developed country" behind by making major economic reforms and reducing poverty in the country. The government has been trying to decrease inflation although it is hard to do, she added.

Economic reforms are a key goal for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's government in order to complete Myanmar's democratic transition after almost six decades of isolation under military dictatorship. However, Myanmar has been facing an economic slowdown and decline in foreign direct investment since the country's image has been badly tarnished by the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine State.

In August, the chairman of the Myanmar Investment Commission, U Thaung Tun said that foreign investments dropped by nearly $900 million during the 2017-2018 fiscal year compared to 2016-2017.

The state counselor mentioned the importance of political stability during the conference.

She said politics and economics are related and that if there is no political stability, the country will lack of economic stability.

Since Myanmar began to open its economy in 2010, Japan has been actively involved in development projects in the country ranging from financial sector development to railway, road and energy networks. The Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is the first Japan-Myanmar public-private initiative to be implemented here as a 2,342-hectare industrial area outside of Yangon.

Japanese investment in Myanmar reached $252 million in 2012, $55 million in 2013, $1 billion in 2014, $590 million in 2015 and $280 million in 2016. It peaked in 2017 at $1.48 billion. Japan is the 10th largest investor among the foreign investors in Myanmar according to the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration.

During her six-day visit, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has visited Fukushima Prefecture on Sunday to tour a farm, seeking solutions to tackle the serious labor shortage of farm workers in Myanmar. She also visited to the Cocoroya farmers market where a variety of organic vegetables are sold.

The state counselor will attend the 10th Mekong-Japan summit on Tuesday morning. She will hold a bilateral meeting with Japan's prime minister in the evening. The discussion is expected to focus on government reforms, development, Japan's infrastructure support, the promotion of people-to-people relations and development aid for Rakhine State.

The post State Counselor Encourages Japanese Investment in Myanmar appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Scores of Arakan Protesters Rally Outside Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo

Posted: 08 Oct 2018 05:36 AM PDT

YANGON—About 70 Arakanese staged a protest in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo on Monday afternoon to demand the release of two prominent Arakan figures currently detained in Myanmar on treason charges. The demonstration was timed to coincide with State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's visit to Japan.

Myanmar's de facto leader has been in the country since Friday to attend the 10th Mekong-Japan Summit.

The rally was organized by the Arakan Youth Union (AYU-Japan), which comprises university students and others residing and working in Japan. The group requested permission to stage the rally from the Japanese authorities one month in advance, in line with procedures. In Japan, protest event organizers are also required to obtain approval from residents living near a rally event.

Dozens of Arakanese protest against the Myanmar government's policies in Rakhine State in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo on Monday. / AYU

AYU chairman U Soe Naing told The Irrawaddy over the phone right after the rally on Monday that the protesters made six demands of the Myanmar government: the immediate release of Arakanese politician U Aye Maung and author and social activist Ko Wai Han Aung, who were arrested in January and charged under the High Treason Law and the Unlawful Association Act; an end to legal action against those who have completed their sentences for participating in a spontaneous demonstration in Mrauk-U which was brutally cracked suppressed by police, leaving seven civilians dead; freedom of movement for Arakanese across the country; the immediate cleanup of the contaminated Thanzit River in Rakhine State's Kyaukphyu; and the unconditional release of all Arakanese political prisoners.

Protester Ko Thaw Zin Phyo said the demonstration began at around 3:30 p.m. Tokyo time and ended at around 4.40 p.m. He said the aim of the protest was to draw attention to what he described as the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government's mishandling of the situation in Rakhine and to hold Daw Aung San Suu Kyi responsible as a representative of the government.

"We staged this protest on behalf of the Rakhine public because, as you know, there are a number of issues happening in Rakhine State… including the ban on Arakanese 11 ID holders traveling to other regions,” said Thaw Zin Phyo, referring to the numerical code that identifies the Arakan region on national ID cards.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's visit has become a source of conflict between the AYU and other Myanmar residents of Japan who support the government. The Myanmar Democratic Network (Japan) (MDN), a Tokyo-based group comprising members from various ethnic groups, released a letter on Oct. 3 regretting the AYU's decision to stage a protest. Urging the AYU to rethink its position, the MDN statement said the protest could potentially have a negative outcome and would only sow disunity among ethnic groups.

Dozens of Arakanese protest against the Myanmar government's policies in Rakhine State in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo on Monday. / AYU

It said the protest against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would only undermine the efforts of the current government to solve the current problems in northern Rakhine. MDN member U Mai Kyaw Oo said that while the elected civilian government was not perfect, it was doing what it could in the face of many constraints under the provisions of the 2008 Constitution and the group would therefore continue to support it.

U Mai Kyaw Oo claimed that MDN had learned that other groups were coordinating with foreigners, international rights groups and "Bengalis" (a contentious term used by many members of the Buddhist majority in Myanmar to refer to Rohingya) to stage protests targeting Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during her visit.

One of the State Counselor's supporters based in Japan, U Tun Wai, was quoted in a report by Voice of America (VOA)'s Burmese-language version published on Oct. 6 as saying that Arakanese youth and "Bengalis" planned to jointly protest against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during her visit to the embassy in Tokyo on Monday.

AYU members rejected the claim and accused the dominant Bamar group of defaming the AYU. Ko Thaw Zin Phyo claimed that eventually some NLD lobbyists came to observe the rally along with Muslim colleagues on Monday.

Ko Thaw Zin Phyo said that, "At first, we had great hopes for the current government, but now we expect nothing from them.”

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's current six-day trip is her third official visit to Japan, but her first as a state dignitary. She visited once in her capacity as chairperson of the NLD and once in 2016 at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Leaders attending the 10th Mekong-Japan Summit will discuss industries and infrastructure in the Mekong region.

The post Scores of Arakan Protesters Rally Outside Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo appeared first on The Irrawaddy.

Nationalist Writer Handed 2-Year Jail Term For Incitement

Posted: 08 Oct 2018 05:12 AM PDT

YANGON/MANDALAY — A court in Minkin Township, Sagaing Region, on Monday sentenced a nationalist writer to the maximum two years in prison for incitement over a speech he made there in March, according to the plaintiff’s lawyer.

Maung Thway Chuun, also known as U Myin Soe, had been on trial since June under Article 505 (c) of the Penal Code, which covers the incitement of conflict between ethnic or religious groups. He was sued by U Naing Naing Zaw, a local government administrator.

"The court said he was found guilty for making a speech that could stir up conflict between the different communities and that he was sentenced to two years,” said U Pyae Sone Aung, the official’s lawyer.

In his speech, Maung Thway Chuun said Myanmar was once again at risk of being colonized and that the country’s race, religion and identity were in danger of disappearing.

He also said that the current speakers of the Upper House and Lower House of Parliament were Christian, that Buddhists had no chance of gaining senior legislative positions, and that laws protecting race and religions in Myanmar would soon be repealed.

Maung Thway Chuun reportedly tried to form a political party, the Nationalist Union Party, with members of the outlawed Association to Protect Race and Religions, a nationalist group better known by its Myanmar acronym Ma Ba Tha. The Union Election Commission rejected its application in November.

Ashin Agga Dazza, a prominent nationalist monk from Mandalay Region who attending the court’s announcement, said the sentence was too harsh.

"The penalty is too much because it is the maximum penalty stated in Article 505 (c). We believe the government is intentionally persecuting nationalists and we are saddened by this," he said.

Translated from Burmese and additional reporting by Zarni Mann.

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Local Armed Groups Condemn Killing of Abbot in Northern Shan

Posted: 08 Oct 2018 04:09 AM PDT

MANDALAY– Ethnic armed groups in northern Shan State condemned the killing of a Buddhist abbot in Kyaukme Township, urging the government to investigate the case and identify the culprits, on Sunday.

The Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) both issued statements regarding the death of U Kalayna Wuntha, the head abbot of Shwe Kyin Monastery in Kyaukme Township, who was shot dead by unknown gunmen on Oct. 5.

"We are shocked by the act of the gunmen who fired several shots at the Shwe Kyin Sayardaw till he died and we strongly condemn it," said the statement issued on Sunday by the TNLA.

"We urge the government and the local authorities to investigate and find out the culprit as soon as possible and to take legal action against them," said the TNLA statement.

In a separate statement issued by the RCSS faction of the Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA), the group said it will join hands with locals to investigate the incident which threatens their policy of protecting race, religion, the Buddha's mission and the country.

"RCSS/SSA is strongly against any violence which is happening in Shan State and we will join hands with the local community to find out the culprit who is behind the death of the Shwe Kyin Sayardaw," said RCSS/SSA's statement released on Oct. 7.

Since Kyaukme is an area where both the TNLA and the RCSS/SSA are operating, locals believe the gunmen to be from one of the ethnic armed groups.

U Kalayana Wuntha (46), widely known as Shwe Kyin Sayardaw, was a leading Buddhist abbot who formed a charity group called Namtkhon in Kyaukme Township.

According to locals, the abbot always supported and accommodated displaced those who had to flee their homes during outbreaks of violent conflict in the area. He also stood strongly against battles in Shan State and once participated in an anti-war protest which was held in Kyaukme, as well as joining in the condemnation of the TNLA's abducting of Nang Mo Hom, a Shan woman of Namhkam Township.

A rumor spreading widely around Kyaukme is that members of the RCSS/SSA had met with the abbot, requesting him to act as a negotiator between the RCSS/SSA and the Shan State Progress Party faction of the Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA), and when the abbot refused, a fight broke out between them.

However, The Irrawaddy was unable to confirm the identity of the gunmen as of Monday afternoon.

When The Irrawaddy contacted the police station in Kyaukme Township which is dealing with the incident, an on-duty officer confirmed the shooting but did not give further information about the gunmen.

"The sayardaw was shot at least seven times on his body and died due to the injuries. We only know there were two gunmen who came on two motorcycles and one [motorcycle] was left at the monastery. We cannot provide details yet as the case is still under investigation," said the officer at Kyaukme Police Station.

The Shan State Joint Action Committee and the United Nationalities Alliance (UNA) also issued statements on Sunday condemning the shooting of the abbot, declaring the incident a breach of the rule of law and a threat to peace and stability in the region.

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Sculpture of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Auctioned for $80,000 at Charity Event

Posted: 08 Oct 2018 02:37 AM PDT

YANGON—A sculpture of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was auctioned at a charity event on Friday and went to the highest bidder for $80,000.

The clay sculpture by Norwegian artist Merete Sejersted Bødtker had a starting price of 50 million kyats ($33,800) and was one of four pieces auctioned at the black tie charity auction event "Music & Memories" held in aid of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation on Friday evening at the Sedona Hotel in Yangon.

The highest bidder for the sculpture was U Sai Myo Win, chairman of Excellent Fortune Development Group, which has projects in mineral production, construction, real estate trading and infrastructure projects, among others.

"This sculpture of Aung San Suu Kyi was created by me—on my initiative alone—in 2012, and cast in bronze in February 2013. I have donated one portrait to the non-profit Daw Khin Kyi Foundation, in trust that they live up to their goal and vision," said sculptor Merete Sejersted Bødtker by email.

Another artwork, a portrait painting of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi by local artist U Lun Gywe, had a starting price of 10 million kyats ($6,700) and was sold for $43,000 to a public company, Shin Than Thu Co. Ltd.

A portrait of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi painted by artist U Lun Gywe which was sold for $43,000 at the charity auction on October 5. / Sedona Hotel Yangon / Facebook

The Daw Khin Kyi Foundation is a charity established by State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in 2012 in honor of her late mother Daw Khin Kyi. It is involved in fundraising and charity projects in the areas of health, education and development, mostly in rural parts of Myanmar. Friday's event, attended by many of Myanmar's affluent and famous characters, raised a total of $154,000 for the foundation.

"We will use [the funds] for our three main long-term projects. We have a mobile libraries project which is working in 11 cities. The second project is our hospitality and catering vocational training school in Kawmhu, which has 130 graduates each year. The third major project is a wider humanitarian assistance project which involves things like disaster relief for flooding and earthquake victims, and infrastructure," said U Thant Thaw Kaung, executive committee member of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation.

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Interpol Chief Meng Hongwei Under Investigation, China Says

Posted: 07 Oct 2018 09:07 PM PDT

BEIJING/PARIS — China said on Sunday it was investigating Meng Hongwei for suspected wrongdoing after the head of the global law enforcement organization Interpol and Chinese vice minister for security was reported missing in France.

The statement by a Chinese anti-graft body was the first official word from China about Meng since his disappearance was reported in France on Friday. Meng had been reported missing by his wife after travelling last month from France, where Interpol is based, to China.

“Public Security Ministry Vice Minister Meng Hongwei is currently under investigation by the National Supervisory Commission for suspected violations of law,” the Chinese anti-corruption body said in a brief statement on its website.

Interpol said later that Meng had resigned as president of the organization, and that South Korean national Kim Jong Yang would become its acting president, while it would appoint a new president at a Nov 18-21 meeting of the organization in Dubai.

Interpol said earlier over the weekend that it had asked Beijing to clarify Meng’s situation.

“Today, Sunday 7 October, (at) the Interpol General Secretariat in Lyon, France received the resignation of Mr. Meng Hongwei as President of Interpol with immediate effect,” Interpol said in a statement on Sunday.

When asked about the Chinese announcement on Sunday, France’s Interior Ministry said it had no information.

The French ministry said last Friday that Meng’s family had not heard from him since Sept. 25, and French authorities said his wife was under police protection after getting threats.

Husband's Warning to Wife?

French police have been investigating what is officially termed in France a “worrying disappearance."

Local French media broadcast a video, which they said was from Meng’s wife Grace, in which she issued a brief statement from a hotel in Lyon to express her concerns. Reuters could not confirm the comments attributed to her.

“As long as I can’t see my husband in front of me, speaking to me, I can’t have any confidence,” Grace Meng was quoted as saying by French TV stations and Sunday newspapers.

The websites of French papers broadcast video clips showing Meng speaking in a trembling voice, with her back to a TV camera in order to hide her appearance.

“This is a matter for the international community. This matter belongs to my motherland,” she added in the video clips.

French media also reported that Meng’s husband had recently sent her a mobile phone message featuring a knife image, as a way of showing her that he felt he was in danger.

Meng, 64, was named to the post of Interpol president in late 2016, part of a broader Chinese effort to gain leadership positions in key international organizations.

Presidents of Interpol are seconded from their national administrations and remain in their home post while representing the international policing body.

Interpol, which groups 192 countries and is usually focused on finding people who are missing or wanted, is run on a day-to-day basis by its secretary general, German national Juergen Stock.

When Meng was named Interpol’s president, human rights groups expressed concern that Beijing might try to leverage his position to pursue dissidents abroad. Beijing has in the past pressed countries to arrest and deport to China citizens it accuses of crimes, from corruption to terrorism.

Under President Xi Jinping, China has been engaged in a crackdown on corruption.

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India’s Rohingya Refugees Struggle with Hatred, Fear as First Group is Expelled

Posted: 07 Oct 2018 09:01 PM PDT

JAMMU, India — Hours after Indian TV channels flashed that the country was deporting seven Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar, Sahidullah said he received a call from his nephew: “Uncle, please get us out of here. They will send us back too.”

Sahidullah, a Rohingya living in the far north of India after fleeing what he called persecution in Buddhist-majority Myanmar in 2010, said his relative, Sadiur Rahman, 40, was lodged in one of several detention centers for illegal immigrants in the distant northeastern state of Assam.

Rahman, he said, had been incarcerated with his brother and eight other relatives since being caught in 2012 at a railway station as they fled to India via Bangladesh. Sahidullah had taken the same route two years earlier, but like many others had escaped detection.

He said Rahman made the phone call when he was taken out for a routine medical checkup on Oct. 3, the day when India moved the seven Rohingya men out of a similar detention center and took them to the border.

They were handed to the Myanmar authorities the next day, the first ever such deportations of Rohingya here, spreading panic among an estimated 40,000 refugees who have fled to India from its neighbor.

About 16,500 of the refugees, including Sahidullah, have been issued identity cards by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that it says helps them “prevent harassment, arbitrary arrests, detention and deportation."

India says it does not recognize the cards and has rejected the UN’s stand that deporting the Rohingya violates the principle of refoulement – sending back refugees to a place where they face danger.

“Anyone who has entered the country without a valid legal permit is considered illegal,” said A. Bharat Bhushan Babu, a spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs. “As per the law, anyone illegal will have to be sent back. As per law they will be repatriated.”

In recent days, Reuters interviewed dozens of Rohingya in two settlements, one in the northern city of Jammu and a smaller one in the capital, Delhi, and found communities who feel they are being increasingly vilified.

Many now fear Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government is about to act on its stated position – that it wants to deport all Rohingya Muslims from the country. With a general election due by next May, they worry that targeting them will be a populist tactic used by Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Addressing an election rally in the central state of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday, BJP chief Amit Shah said that all illegal immigrants were “like termites eating into the nation’s security”.

“Elect us back next year and the BJP will not allow a single one of them to stay in this country,” Shah said, without specifically mentioning any group of migrants.

Hatred Growing

Sahidullah – who like many Rohingya goes by only one name – is not just worried about his detained relatives but also his family living in a mainly Hindu region of India’s only Muslim-dominated state, Jammu & Kashmir, in the country’s northern tip.

The restive Himalayan state that borders Pakistan and is home to Muslim separatists battling Indian rule, has the biggest population of Rohingya in the country with around 7,000 people scattered in various makeshift settlements, largely in the Jammu region.

“We came to India because people told us things were better here, there’s more work and one could move freely unlike back home,” said Sahidullah, who works as a cleaner at a car showroom in Jammu city to support his aging amnesiac mother, wife and four children.

“All that’s true and we are thankful to India for letting us live here. But hatred against us is growing,” he told Reuters as he sat on a colorful linen sheet laid on the floor of his self-made wood and plastic-sheet house built on a rented plot of land.

Mohammed Arfaat, a 24-year-old Rohingya youth leader in Jammu, said that locals often accuse them of having links with militants without any proof.

“They want us out of here and that has got our families worried,” said Arfaat, switching between English and Hindi as nearly a dozen community elders seated around him on the rough concrete floor of a Rohingya house started leaving for Friday prayers. “Everybody here is aware of the deportation and is afraid.”

Indian authorities said that the repatriation of the seven was a routine procedure and that it sends all illegal foreigners back home.

But the UNHCR voiced deep concern on Friday about the safety and security of those expelled, saying they had been denied access to legal counsel and a chance to have their asylum claims assessed.

“Current conditions in Myanmar’s Rakhine State are not conducive for safe, dignified and sustainable return of stateless Rohingya refugees,” said UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic.

Most Rohingya used to live in Rakhine.

In August last year, attacks by Rohingya fighters on security posts in Rakhine led to a bloody military crackdown that caused around 700,000 Rohingya to flee across the border to Bangladesh.

The United Nations has accused Myanmar of acting against the Rohingya with “genocidal intent,” a charge Myanmar refutes, saying its military did not use excessive force and was reacting to militant attacks.

Increasingly Ugly

The atmosphere facing the Rohingya in India has been getting increasingly ugly.

Jammu’s Chamber of Commerce & Industry last year threatened to launch an “identify and kill movement” against the settlers, which it said pushed the government into taking the issue of Rohingya more seriously.

The chamber’s president, Rakesh Gupta, told Reuters on Friday that there was nothing new in taking the law into one’s hands if “someone becomes a threat to our security, to the nation’s security, and the security forces don’t tackle them."

In some of the more virulent parts of India's media, the Rohingya are not only accused of being terrorists but also of trafficking in drugs and humans, and of having the money to elbow out local businesses.

The Pioneer newspaper, which supports the BJP, said in an editorial on Saturday that “the Rohingya are a problem," declaring that those that are radicalized Islamist extremists need to be dealt with ruthlessly and the rest are economic migrants that India cannot afford to help.

India, which considers itself a victim of Islamist militancy and is trying to boost economic ties with Myanmar to counter China, said late last year that it shared Myanmar’s concern about “extremist violence” by Rohingya militants.

India’s home ministry has told the Supreme Court that it had reports from security agencies and other authentic sources “indicating linkages of some of the unauthorized Rohingya immigrants with Pakistan-based terror organizations and similar organizations operating in other countries."

“It’s definitely an election issue," said Kavinder Gupta, a BJP legislator in Jammu & Kashmir and former deputy chief minister of the state.

“It’s our decision to throw them out keeping in mind the security situation of the state,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of a campaign meeting for municipal elections. “We have made the home ministry aware of the need to send them back to their country.”

Senior Jammu police officials said on condition of anonymity that they had identified all Rohingya in the area in preparation for their eventual deportation. They added they had not found any link of Rohingya with militants.

Around 600 km (370 miles) south of Jammu, residents of a makeshift refugee camp in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh also said they fear deportation.

“We don’t want to leave India. Where will we go?” said Mohammed Harun, a 47-year-old Rohingya elder in Delhi. “There are refugees from other countries in India too. Why are we being targeted? Why do they send us to jail? It is only because we are Muslims. They don’t do this to the other refugees.”

The post India's Rohingya Refugees Struggle with Hatred, Fear as First Group is Expelled appeared first on The Irrawaddy.
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