Why were Kaman Muslim deaths ignored?
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My error was that, like everyone else who wrote about this, I misidentified the people who died when a boat making one such journey from the Sin Tet Maw camp in Pauktaw township sank on April 19. I said they were Rohingya: the stateless group of people denied citizenship by Myanmar authorities who have sanctioned serious rights abuses against them.
This week I visited Sin Tet Maw. Community leaders there and relatives of the dead told me that the majority of those on board, including the estimated 21 who died, were in fact Kaman Muslims originally from Kyaukphyu. They are one of the country’s 135 recognised ethnic groups and most are legally entitled to citizenship rights of some sort. [/su_column] [/su_row]
This tragedy highlights the fact that thousands of Kaman people remain trapped in IDP camps and villages facing the same restrictions as the Rohingya. It points to the lie behind the message consistently cited by many of those with power in Myanmar that what is happening in Rakhine is principally about illegal immigration.
The truth that is too often skirted round by international organisations and governments is that people are being kept in camps and denied rights not because they are illegal immigrants, but because they are Muslim. Continue Reading …