• Burmese
Friday, May 23, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
26 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Burma

Buddhist Protests Continue as OIC Prepares for Arakan Visit

Lawi Weng by Lawi Weng
November 14, 2013
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0 0
A A
Buddhist Protests Continue as OIC Prepares for Arakan Visit

OIC Secretary-general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu

7k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

RANGOON — Protests against the visit of an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) delegation continued on Thursday as about 200 Buddhists took to the streets in Meikthila, Mandalay Division, while Buddhists in Sittwe and Rangoon said they were planning further demonstrations.

On the second day of the visit, the OIC travelled to the capital Naypyidaw and on Friday the delegation will pay what is expected to be a tense visit to Sittwe, the capital of strife-torn Arakan State.

The delegation of the OIC, a grouping of 57 Islamic countries, comprises OIC Secretary-general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and senior officials from Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Djibouti and Bangladesh.

RelatedPosts

AA’s Political Wing Imposes Rakhine Travel Ban

AA’s Political Wing Imposes Rakhine Travel Ban

May 23, 2025
91
Dead or Alive: Min Aung Hlaing’s Final Gamble

Dead or Alive: Min Aung Hlaing’s Final Gamble

May 23, 2025
97
Global Civil Society Groups Urge ASEAN to Stop Engaging Myanmar Junta

Global Civil Society Groups Urge ASEAN to Stop Engaging Myanmar Junta

May 23, 2025
91

The delegation reportedly met with top Burmese officials on Thursday, but President Office spokesman Ye Htut told VOA that the delegation would not meet with President Thein Sein. National League for Democracy officials reportedly said the OIC would neither meet with Aung San Suu Kyi.

Minutes from an OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission meeting on Oct. 31 indicate that the organization wanted to conduct “a fact-finding mission to Myanmar to assess the situation of Rohingya Muslims,” a stateless minority living in northern Arakan State.

The government has released few details about the OIC visit, but officials have said the trip would help the organization gain an understanding of the real situation on the ground in Burma.

An UN employee based in Sittwe said the OIC delegation was expected to arrive in the Arakan capital on Friday afternoon. The aid worker, who declined to be named, said the delegation would be accompanied by central government officials and US Ambassador Derrick Mitchell, adding that the delegation was expected to stay one night in Sittwe.

“They will visit the IDP camps, but I don’t know which camps they will go to,” the UN staffer said, adding that only senior UN officials had been informed about the details of the OIC visit. “This is all being arranged by the central government—they arranged the helicopters already,” the aid worker added.

During two waves of violence between Arakanese Buddhists and the Rohingya Muslim minority last year 192 people were killed and 140,000 people were displaced, mostly Muslims. The displaced Rohingyas continue to languish in dirty, crowded camps, where they receive little support from the government, which refuses to recognize the persecuted group as Burmese citizens.

The international community has repeatedly criticized the government’s response to the Arakan crisis. Human rights groups have alleged that the Burmese government—which is dominated by Buddhist officials—gave tacit support to Buddhist mob attacks on Rohingya villages.

Indonesian delegation member Ark Hananto told the Associated Press on Wednesday that the OIC had received security guarantees of the government for their Arakan State visit. International aid workers and journalists have reportedly been temporarily barred from travelling to Sittwe during the visit.

In Meikthila, on Thursday, some 200 people protested against the OIC visit, after they heard rumors that the delegation would inspect the situation in the city, which was hit by deadly anti-Muslim violence in late March.

“We held a protest of about 200 people, half of them Buddhist monks. Because we heard that they [the OIC] were going to visit today, but we didn’t see them yet,” said a protest organizer, who declined to be named.

“We got government permission to protest this morning,” she added.

Arakanese Buddhists in Sittwe told The Irrawaddy that they would hold large protests against the OIC visit on Friday.

“We have government permit to protest already, so we’ll be at the airport to protest tomorrow morning,” said Tun Hlaing, an organizer of the protest. “We will all meet at airport at 9 am. We will protest at the airport. They [the OIC] will come with a Myanmar Airline flight, that’s what we heard,” he added.

Aung Win, a Rohingya activist from Sittwe Township, said the local Muslim community hoped they would have an opportunity to meet with OIC delegation to express their concerns about their dire situation in Arakan State.

“If I have a chance to talk to them [the OIC], I will speak about our problems because there are still problems, even though one year has passed” since violence broke out, he added.

Aung Win said, however, that Rohingya leaders had received no information from the Arakan State authorities about the delegation’s plan to meet with their community. “I am worried that the state government will not give them much freedom … and just give them little time to meet with the displaced,” he added.

Some 1,000 people took the streets in Burma’s biggest city Rangoon on Tuesday to protest against the visit, after they obtained a government permit for the demonstration.

Protests against the OIC are also being planned in Rangoon on Friday and Saturday, Wai Lin Aung, a Buddhist organizer, said. “We will have protest at Shwedagon Pagoda tomorrow. Then, we will have another one at the [Rangoon] airport the next day,” he said.

Local Muslim leaders in Rangoon said they did not yet have an opportunity to meet with the OIC. Asked about the anti-OIC protests, Haji Aye Lwin, a leader of the Yangon Islamic Center, said, “They have the right to protest, but it is important to understand the reasons of the OIC visit to the country.”

Last year, a plan to open an OIC office in Burma led to nationwide protests. The plan was cancelled and earlier this year, the Burmese government rebuffed calls from the OIC to allow a delegation to visit and discuss the Rohingya issue.

Your Thoughts …
Lawi Weng

Lawi Weng

The Irrawaddy

Similar Picks:

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang
Burma

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang

by Hein Htoo Zan
November 28, 2023
98k

Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army troops are opening roads and pathways through forests for people to flee Kokang’s capital as...

Read moreDetails
Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public
Burma

Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public

by The Irrawaddy
February 7, 2024
88.7k

People’s Defense Force says junta troops told every household in the village to send one member to witness the double...

Read moreDetails
Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State
War Against the Junta

Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State

by The Irrawaddy
November 29, 2023
86.9k

Brotherhood Alliance member says it now has complete control of Kokang’s northernmost section after the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 125...

Read moreDetails
Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks
Burma

Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks

by The Irrawaddy
December 4, 2023
58.8k

The junta said deserters would not be punished for minor crimes, highlighting the military’s shortage of troops as resistance offensives...

Read moreDetails
As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue
Burma

As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue

by The Irrawaddy
April 19, 2024
46.7k

The junta’s No. 2 has not been seen in public since April 3, sparking rumors that he was either gravely...

Read moreDetails
Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow
Burma

Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow

by The Irrawaddy
February 12, 2024
44.4k

Ethnic armed grouping says it will continue Operation 1027 offensive until goal of ousting the junta is achieved. 

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Philippine Typhoon Death Toll Jumps; US Helicopters Boost Aid Effort

Philippine Typhoon Death Toll Jumps; US Helicopters Boost Aid Effort

Friction Over Sri Lanka Shows at Commonwealth Meet

Friction Over Sri Lanka Shows at Commonwealth Meet

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Three Japanese Firms Ditch Myanmar Port Project

Three Japanese Firms Ditch Myanmar Port Project

1 week ago
4.5k
‘Indian Troops Killed Myanmar Resistance Fighters to Send a Message’

‘Indian Troops Killed Myanmar Resistance Fighters to Send a Message’

1 day ago
1.7k

Most Read

  • Adidas Shoe Factory Agrees to Striking Workers’ Demands

    Adidas Shoe Factory Agrees to Striking Workers’ Demands

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Indian Troops Killed Myanmar Resistance Fighters to Send a Message’

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • What Are the Possible Scenarios for the Junta’s Election Plan?

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Drone Strike Destroys Myanmar Junta’s Crash-Landed Aircraft

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • As Grid Fails, Myanmar Junta Eyes Shelved China-Backed Myitsone Dam

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.