[Myanmar] Burma Has No Rohingya Group: Minister

[News_Editor]

Deputy Minister of Immigration and Population Kyaw Kyaw Win told the Lower House on Wednesday that Burma knows “no Rohingya†ethnic group, state-run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reports. The minister said the name for the Muslim community in Arakan State was “a newly coined word.†He responded to questions from Arakanese parliamentarians, who said they were satisfied with his answers. Scores have been killed and about 110,000 people, mostly Rohingyas, were displaced after inter-communal violence broke out between Arakanese Buddhist and Muslim Rohingya communities in July 2012. State security forces have been accused of being complicit in the violence. The government refuses to recognize the Rohingyas and claims they are immigrants from Bangladesh.

Source: Irrawaddy.org