Video Related To: Burmese icon now faces the Rohingya question

Muslims in Burma: Stateless, Homeless and Helpless As Burma's 'Pro-Democracy icon' initiated her seventeen day tour of the world, the country where she departed from continued to simmer with an unremitting level of ethnic and religious tensions -- most of which occurs in the west of the Country. The West of Burma is home to the Rohingya people; Muslims who are ethnically Bengali. Although the majority of Historical data proves that these people have resided there from as early as the 7th century, the Burmese government is insistent on denying so. The view held is that all of the Muslims that reside in the West of Burma migrated in the 19th century as a result of wars with the British Colonialists. This view is not only historically inaccurate, but also a gross misrepresentation of who these people are. As a result of these Historical fallacies, the Military Government has branded these people as illegal entrants, who in terms of policy deserve maltreatment. This attitude has undoubtedly trickled down to the grassroots of the predominantly Buddhist population of Arakan in the late 20th Century, subsequently being the root cause of the majority of tensions within this part of the country. In a document published by Amnesty International in 2004, a whole host of oppressive measures that these Muslims are subjected to is detailed. Amnesty International mentions the following: "The Muslim ethnic minority, who live in northern Rakhine State (Arakan) , western Myanmar, continue <b>...</b>