Hate narratives from abroad divide communities: Suu Kyi

Agencies
June 21, 2018

Yangon, Jun 21: "Hate narratives" from abroad have driven communities in Myanmar further apart, the Southeast Asian nation's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, said in a social media statement on Thursday.

Patience and time are required to restore trust between the communities, Suu Kyi told Christine Schraner Burgener, the United Nations special envoy on Myanmar on Wednesday, according to the statement on the Nobel Peace laureate's Facebook page.

Since August, nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims from mainly Buddhist Myanmar's northern Rakhine state have fled to Bangladesh following a military response to Rohingya insurgent attacks, the United Nations and aid agencies have said.

Many reported killings, rape and arson on a large scale.

The United Nations has called the campaign a textbook example of "ethnic cleansing", a charge Myanmar denies.

"The state counsellor also pointed out that the hate narratives from outside the country have driven the two communities further apart," the Facebook statement paraphrased Suu Kyi as saying, without identifying the communities.

Suu Kyi also stressed the need for a forward-looking approach to resolve the issue, it added.

Zaw Htay, a spokesman for the government, did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests to clarify what narratives Suu Kyi was referring to.

In Facebook and Twitter posts since August, Suu Kyi's government has shown support for non-Muslims displaced by the violence and blamed the international community for distributing "fake news" about alleged rights abuses.

Rohingya in Myanmar are denied citizenship, freedom of movement and access to services such as health care and education.

This month, Myanmar and U.N. agencies signed an outline deal on the return of Rohingya refugees, a warming of ties after a low point hit last year when the government suggested some agencies provided food to Rohingya militants.

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News Network
October 27,2024

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The Israeli regime’s forces have carried out intense bombing raids against six buildings in the city of Beit Lahia in northern Gaza Strip, killing at least 45 people.

Dozens more were also wounded after the raids targeted the structures, including a house belonging to a Palestinian family named as Abu Shidiq, on Saturday.

The attacks came as the severity of the regime’s aggression has forced the Palestinian Civil Defense to cease its activities in the northern side of the coastal sliver, leaving civilians there to their own devices.

Commenting on the situation, Director-General of the Gaza Health Ministry, Medhat Abbas said more than 900 Palestinians had been killed over the past weeks during the Israeli campaign that has targeted the northern areas.

Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last functioning hospital in the north, has been a special focus of the campaign that has either killed all of the facility’s doctors or forced them to flee, with the exception of three physicians, who remain there, he added.

“The occupation is committing genocide by destroying the health system in Gaza,” Abbas noted.

The regime embarked on implementing a so-called “Generals’ Plan” in northern Gaza earlier in the month, deploying hundreds of military vehicles and thousands of forces with immense firepower towards its realization.

The plan seeks to tighten the regime’s siege against the areas, cut off humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians inside, and label those who remain there as combatants so it could target and kill them after declaring the areas "closed military zones.”

The plan is part of a genocidal war that the regime launched against the Gaza Strip last October, during which it has killed more than 42,924 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded another 100,833.

Also on Saturday, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights group, called on the United States, the regime’s biggest supporter, to stop the “systematic extermination of an entire population” in Gaza.

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News Network
October 25,2024

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A recent survey has exposed a troubling rise in anti-Muslim racism across Europe, fueled by heightened conflicts in West Asia and Europe’s increasingly hostile climate for Muslims. The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) revealed on Thursday that nearly half of European Muslims faced discrimination in the past five years, with the situation worsening notably over the last year as violence flared in Gaza.

Nicole Romain, a spokeswoman for FRA, confirmed reports of intensified anti-Muslim hate across several EU countries. "Even before the current escalation, it was already becoming increasingly challenging to live as a Muslim in the EU," she said, pointing to dehumanizing rhetoric and profiling practices that target Muslims based on religion, ethnicity, and even physical appearance.

The survey, conducted prior to Israel’s large-scale assault on Gaza, included data from over 9,600 Muslims across more than a dozen EU nations between October 2021 and October 2022. The results highlighted Austria as having the highest rate of discrimination against Muslims at 71 percent, followed closely by Germany (68 percent) and Finland (63 percent). France, home to Europe’s second-largest Muslim population, reported a rate of 39 percent.

Women and children are disproportionately affected, particularly those wearing religious attire such as the hijab. FRA's report sheds light on the pervasive racial profiling Muslims face, from random police checks to discrimination in employment despite high qualifications. Director Sirpa Rautio warned that as conflicts continue to escalate, the impact on Muslims in Europe is likely to worsen, compounding challenges for the EU’s 26 million-strong Muslim population, which makes up more than 5 percent of the bloc's residents.

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News Network
October 21,2024

Mangaluru: The MLC by-election for the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Local Authorities Constituency commenced at 8 AM on Monday, with voting set to continue until 4 PM. A total of 392 polling booths have been established across the two districts, which form the constituency.

The constituency has 6,032 eligible voters, including 3,127 women. Early reports indicated brisk voting at the Mangaluru City Corporation polling booth, where corporators were seen patiently standing in line in the morning.

In a unique moment, Sharath, a gram panchayat member from Kokkada, cast his vote at Kokkada Gram Panchayat before heading to his wedding ceremony.

The constituency features 53 sensitive polling booths. Eligible voters include members of gram panchayats, corporators from Mangaluru City Corporation, city and town municipal councils, town panchayats, MLAs, MLCs, and Lok Sabha members representing the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.

Notably, Byndoor MLA Gururaj Gantihole and MLC Prathap Simha Nayak, who do not represent local bodies, were left out of the voters' list. According to electoral rules, only those MLAs, MLCs, and MPs who represent city corporations, municipalities, town panchayats, taluk panchayats, or zilla panchayats are granted voting rights in the MLC elections for the Local Authorities’ Constituency.

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