August 4, 2012 News: (Adopted from IHH report).On 3 June 2012, when 10 Muslims travelling from Akyab, the capital of Arakan state, to the town of Maungdaw were attacked and killed by Buddhist fanatics, hundreds of Muslims gathered at the central mosque in Maungdaw to protest the attack.

Hardline Buddhists and the Burmese police, who viewed the protest as a threat to their existence, attacked the local Muslims and killed and wounded many. The Burmese police branded the protest as an uprising against the state and ordered the punishment of the Muslims involved in the incidents. Together with Buddhist fanatics the police began raiding Muslim villages and towns.

As this developed, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has reiterated its appeal to the Muslim world and all conscience-guided states and organizations to come to the rescue of the Burmese Muslims, whose collective security is at serious risk.

Muhammad Ameen, head of the MILF secretariat, made the appeal in behalf of the MILF Central Committee.

Since the clashes broke out in June, 1000 Arakanese Muslims have been killed and more than 90,000 have been made homeless. About 4 million Arakanese are facing the risk of deportation and violence acts such as their houses being raided and burned. Scores of people fleeing Arakan have been seeking refuge in camps in neighboring Bangladesh since 1940s. However, faced with unimaginably inhumane conditions at these camps Arakanese Muslims are losing hopes for a better future. Kala, a 75-year-old Arakanese refugee who has been in these camps for long years, describes refugees’ despair: “We are waiting for death that will relieve us of our suffering.” To make the matters more tragic, Bangladesh not only has been denying refugees that have been coming since June entry into the country but also returning those who arrived in the camps in the past years.