YANGON –
The Government of Myanmar promised Monday to investigate a video that apparently shows police beaten and kicked civilians in Rohingya, a rare acknowledgment that the authorities may have been abusing Muslim minorities.
Thousands of people from persecuted ethnic groups – largely abandoned by many of the Burmese Buddhists – launched a military operation in Rakhine State after attacking the police post.
Bangladesh stated that, in the past two months, some 50,000 Rohingya fled its borders. Many have brought distressing reports of rape, murder and arson in the hands of the Burmese security forces.
Their stories added global alarm and sparked protests against Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who was accused of not doing enough to help the Rohingya people.
Her government said troops were hunting militants after a deadly attack on police border guards, denying claims of atrocities and launching a banned information campaign against abuse reports.
However, on Monday the authorities pledged to take action in a statement issued by the national media “to beat the police against the villagers allegedly during the regional clean-up operation in Kotankauk village on 5 November”.
Dozens of video appearances apparently show security forces abusing Rohingya, but this is the first time the government has said it will take action.
The video showed the police tapping a young boy near the head, and he went to dozens of villagers lined up in rows, hands behind their heads.
Three uniformed officers began to attack a man sitting, beat him with a stick, repeatedly kicked him in the face.
The video was filmed by officials “self-timer style”, by the official Zaw Myo Htike, by the state media, he said he was in Kotankauk village “cleanup action” record.
AFP contact Rohingya activists say the lens has been confirmed by refugees in the nearby Shilkhali refugee camp.
Buddhism Most Myanmar long-term discrimination against stateless Rohingya, their rights groups say they are one of the most persecuted people in the world.
More than 120,000 people were trapped in dirty IDP camps because of the violence in Rakhine State in 2012, where they were denied citizenship, access to health care and education.
More than a dozen Nobel laureates wrote to the UN Security Council last week urging action to halt the “human tragedy is equal to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity” in northern Rakhine State.
Under Myanmar’s military government constitution, Sui’s civilian government had limited power over the army, and the army continued to control the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of State and the Ministry of Border Defense.
youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvxgnJfFzXo
