Burma Muslims Left Homeless; Again

SAGAING – Once Again, Burma Muslims were forced to stay out in the air after Buddhist mobs attacked and torched their homes and shops.

"It is going to be very difficult to rebuild our houses again," 40-year-old Muslim U Aung San, who was displaced by the unrest, told Agence France Presse (AFP) on Sunday, September 1.

"Some people are taking refuge in nearby homes or with relatives."

Like hundreds of people, Aung San was made homeless after about 1000 anti-Muslim rioters rampaged through villages in Sagaing Region's Kanbalu township

The attack, which occurred last August 24, resulted on the torching of scores of Muslim shops and houses.

The Buddhist mob attack resulted in torching some 38 houses, nine businesses and a rice mill, all believed to belong to Muslims.

U Myint Naing, a local MP for the National League for Democracy warned from the increasing scale of anti-Muslim attacks.

He added that about 220 people who had lost their homes had taken shelter in a school.

"They had been living peacefully for many years and this is the first time they saw violence," said, adding that the situation was now calm.

Legislators from ASEAN has warned in a recent statement that Burma was "on the precipice of widespread inter-communal conflict" and is not doing enough to stop hate speech.

"The deep underlying tensions are clear for all to see and we feel that the authorities are not reacting sufficiently to what is developing into a perilous situation in Burma," said Indonesian MP Eva Kusuma Sundari of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights.

Sentiments against Muslims in Burma have been high last year's attacks that forced thousands of Muslims to flee their homes in western Burma.

Many of the incidents have featured widespread retaliatory violence against Muslim communities in response to accusations of seemingly isolated criminal acts.

In the latest clash, the official said the suspect allegedly approached a 25-year-old woman, "grabbed her hand and attempted to rape her".

Last May, one man was killed and 10 others injured late Tuesday after Buddhist mobs attacks Muslim shops and mosques in Oakkan and nearby villages, just 60 miles north of the commercial capital Yangon

Earlier in April, more than 43 people were killed in a new bout of anti-Muslim violence in central Burma.

Buddhist monks were blamed for spreading anti-Muslim sentiments in the Asian country.

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