Assailants kill Muslims with impunity across Myanmar: Rights activists

Several human rights groups and activists have strongly criticized the Myanmar government for its silence over growing violence against the Rohingya Muslims across the Southeast Asian country.

Several international rights groups and activists warned in a joint statement on Monday that impunity for the Buddhist assailants will further embolden them to commit more crimes against the Muslim minority, and will turn Myanmar into a breeding ground for extremism.

The statement comes more than three months after authorities failed to charge any suspect in connection with an attack on an Islamic school that claimed dozens of lives in central Myanmar.

The school on the outskirts of Meiktila town was razed during the bloodshed in March that triggered an outbreak of violence against the Muslim across the southeast Asian country. Hundreds of thugs used steel chains, sticks and knives to attack the students and teachers.

According to official figures, nearly 50 people were killed and thousands were left homeless across the troubled region.

The rights group, Physicians for Human Rights, has put together information and eyewitness testimonies to show the scale of violence and horrors at the massacre site.

Last year western Myanmar’s Rakhine State saw a wave of violence against the Muslim community that left more than 200 people dead.

Scores of Rohingya Muslims have been killed and thousands of others displaced as a result of attacks by Buddhist extremists in Myanmar in recent months.

International bodies accuse the government of turning a blind eye to the attacks.

Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar account for about five percent of the country’s population of nearly 60 million. They have been persecuted and faced torture, neglect, and repression since the country’s independence in 1948.

Myanmar’s government has been repeatedly criticized for failing to protect the Rohingya Muslims.