Strangers by sea: A tale of Canada’s boat people

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Myanmar nationals arrested in Tripura

India Blooms News Service
Agartala, Aug 1 (IBNS): Police arrested two Myanmar nationals- Rohingya Muslims- Sunday from a hotel in Agartala in Tripura.

Both Rohingya Muslims from Mongolo area of Myanmar had entered through Teknaf of Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh and then crossed into Tripura by the Sonamura border.

The arrested identified as Mohammad Tayub (29) and Saho Alam (20) informed police that they had crossed the border from Bangladesh and intended to go to Delhi before reaching to Jammu in search of work.

“From here we were to go to Jammu. But first we would have gone to Delhi and from there to Jammu for working there with a cousin of mine.

We cross through Teknaf (Mayanmar-Bangladesh border) and from there we have two roads, one through Manipur but it is long and difficult. So we prefer this (through Tripura) as it is easier this way,” said Mohammed Tayub, one of the arrested.

He said the minority Muslim Rohingya’s are fleeing to avoid the atrocities by the majority Buddhist in army controlled Myanmar.

The Rohingya's are denied even the most basic rights and are not considered citizens of that nation. They are not allowed to travelfrom one village to another within the state without permission. They are denied government every after having required qualifications and even they are not allowed to marry without the permission of the authority.

Both were produced before the court in the afternoon.

There are an estimated 2 million Rohingya; slightly less than half still live in northern Rakhine state. Several hundred thousand more were driven out by the military in two separate purges — one in the late 1970s and another in the early 1990s.

Some now work in the Middle East while others remain in camps in neighbouring Bangladesh. Many have even crossed into India.

At present more than one lakh exiled Myanmar’s population have taken refuge in India, fighting for the restoration of democracy in their country.

Myanmar's government which consists of mainly the Buddhist community says that the Rohingya people belong to Bangladesh.

Many Rohingya were brought to Myanmar from South Asia by the British while the entire region was part of colonial India. Rohingya's claim that have been living in Myanmar for almost 200 years.

Source: http://www.indiablooms.com/NewsDetailsPage/newsDetails010810j.php