SIT KWIN — The Muslims of Sit Kwin were always a small group who numbered no more than 100 of the village's 2,000 people. But as sectarian violence led by Buddhist mobs spreads across central Myanmar, they and many other Muslims are disappearing. Their homes, shops and mosques destroyed, some end up in refugee camps or hide in the homes of friends or relatives. Dozens have been killed. “We don't know where they are,” says Aung Ko Myint, 24, a taxi-driver in Sit Kwin, where on Friday, Buddhists ransacked a store owned by one of the town's last remaining Muslims. “He escaped this morning just before the mob got here.” Since 42 people were killed in violence that erupted in Meikhtila town on March 20, unrest led by hardline Buddhists has spread to at least 10 other towns and villages in central Myanmar, with the latest incidents only a two-hour drive from the commercial capital, Yangon. The crowds are fired up by anti-Muslim rhetoric, spread by telephone and social media networks such as Facebook, from monks preaching about a so-called “969 movement”. The unrest poses the biggest challenge to a reformist government that took office in 2011 after nearly half a century of military rule. In a nationally televised speech on Thursday, President Thein Sein warned “political opportunists and religious extremists” against instigating further violence. “I will not hesitate to use force as a last resort to protect the lives and safeguard the property of the general public,” he said. Dusk-to-dawn curfews are in effect in many areas of Bago, the region where Sit Kwin lies, while four townships in central Myanmar are under a state of emergency imposed last week. But the security forces are still battling against pockets of unrest, while state-run media reports 68 people have been arrested for unrest which made almost 13,000 people homeless. The trouble in Sit Kwin began four days ago, when people riding 30 motorbikes drove through town urging villagers to expel Muslim residents, said witnesses. They then trashed a mosque and a row of Muslim shops and houses. “They came with anger that was born from rumors,” said one man who declined to be identified. Further south, police in Letpadan have stepped up patrols in the farming village of 22,000 people about 160 km (100 miles) from Yangon. Three monks led a 30-strong group towards a mosque on Friday. Police dispersed the crowd, many of whom carried knives and staffs, and briefly detained two people. They were later released at the request of township officials, police said. “I won't let it happen again,” said police commander Phone Myint. “The president yesterday gave the police authority to control the situation.” The abbot who led the protest, Khamainda, said he took to the streets after hearing rumors passed by other monks by telephone, about violence between Buddhists and Muslims in other towns. “There is no problem with the way they live. But they are the minority and we are the majority. And when the minority insults our religion we get concerned,” he told Reuters. “We will come out again if we get a chance.” Letpadan villagers fear the tension will explode. “I'm sure they will come back and destroy the mosque,” says Aung San Kyaw, 35, a Muslim. “We've never experienced anything like this.” Across the street, Hla Tan, a 67-year-old Buddhist, shares the fear. “We have lived peacefully for years. Nothing can happen between us unless outsiders come. But if they come, I know we can't stop them,” he said. North of Sit Kwin is the farming town of Minhla, which endured about three hours of violence on both Wednesday and Thursday. About 300 people, most from the nearby village of Ye Kyaw, gathered in the early afternoon on Wednesday. The crowd swelled to about 800 as townsfolk joined, a Minhla policeman told Reuters. They then destroyed three mosques and 17 shops and houses, he said. No Buddhist monks were involved, said witnesses. President Thein Sein's ambitious reform program has won praise, but his government has also been criticized for failing to stem violence last year in Rakhine State in western Myanmar. The UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar said on Thursday he had received reports of “state involvement” in the recent violence at Meikhtila. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims living in squalid, flood-prone camps in western Myanmar after fleeing communal unrest face “imminent danger” from looming monsoon rains, the UN warned on Friday. An estimated 125,000 Rohingya and other Muslims have languished in insanitary camps since violence flared last year with ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, leaving scores dead and whole neighbourhoods in ruins. They “are now in imminent danger of yet another tragedy when the monsoon rains hit.... We must act immediately to prevent a predictable tragedy,” said John Ging of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. — Reuters
