Persecution of Muslims in Burma - Essay Example

She remained under house arrest for almost 21 years. However, she was released in 2010 and everybody shifted their focus from Burmese politics to other matters. Burma again caught the attention of humanists all over the world recently because of the ongoing ethnic violence against the minority Muslims by the government and the Buddhists. Majority of the people in Burma are Buddhists even though Muslims constitute a substantial portion of Burmese population. “The Muslim minority in Myanmar mostly consists of the Rohingya people and the descendants of Muslim immigrants from India and China, as well as descendants of earlier Arab settlers” (Persecution of Muslims in Burma, 2012).

It should be noted that financial abilities of majority of the Muslims in Burma are better than the majority Buddhists. This is because of their prominence in business and trades. Buddhists are not at all interested in watching the minority Muslims gaining progress in Burmese politics and business. As a result of that they started violence against Rohingya people to expel them from Burmese territories. “Credible reports available online suggest that “It began on 3rd June 2012 when 11 Muslims were killed by the Burmese Army and the Buddhist mobs after bringing them down from a bus” (Hyderi, 2012).

Since then hundreds of Muslims forced to sacrifice their lives in front of the fury generated by the Buddhists. One of the most surprising fact about this violence is the stand taken by the humanist and Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Even though neutral observers all over the world expected Aung to condemn this incidents, to their utmost surprise, she justified these massacres. “Myanmar Noble Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi says she will not back the minority of Rohingya Muslims that have been persecuted and killed by the majority Buddhists” (Myanmar's Suu Kyi says she can not back Rohingya Muslims, 2012).

This paper analyses the details of the prosecutions of Muslims in Burma. Why prosecutions of Muslims in Burma are happening? “The Myanmar government and its majority population refuse to recognize Rohingya Muslims as citizens and label the minority of about 800,000 as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, an impoverished state that has shown no willingness to help the Rohingyas” (Myanmar's Suu Kyi says she cannot back Rohingya Muslims, 2012). It is a fact that there are plenty of Muslim states in the proximity of Burma.

Pakistan and Bangladesh are Muslim dominated countries whereas India’s northern state Kashmir is also a Muslim dominated state. People from these Muslim states are crossing the borders of Burma and settling in Burma. This process started in the past and continued until recent times. As in the case of other countries, the internal resources are getting reduced in Burma also because of the over exploitation and population growth. Burmese people or the Buddhists do believe that the illegal immigrants or the Muslims are looting their resources.

That is why they started violence against the Muslims recently. They argue that Burma is for Burmese people or for Buddhists; not for illegal immigrants or Muslims. Majority of the Burmese people and the administration believe that all the Muslim population in Burma are illegal immigrant