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Myanmar police arrest 5 in connection with mosque burning

Tuesday, 05 July 2016 11:35 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 05 July 2016 11:51 AM ]

The photo shows the interior of a destroyed mosque after a group of Buddhist extremists attacked it in the village of Thuye Tha Mein in Myanmar’s Bago region.

Police in Myanmar arrested five people Tuesday in connection with the recent burning down of a mosque in the northern state of Kachin.

A group of Buddhist extremists set fire to the prayer hall in the village of Lone Khin, Hpakant township, on July 1.

Police officer Moe Lwin from Lone Khin said, "We have arrested four men and a woman. They (were part of the group) who destroyed the mosque."

"It is not very easy to take legal action against all the people concerned with this case as there were many people there on that day," the police officer said.

A similar burning incident also took place on June 23, when a group of about 200 Buddhist extremists raided a Muslim area of the village of Thuye Tha Mein in Myanmar’s Bago region, destroying parts of a mosque and forcing residents to seek refuge overnight in a police station. The extremists were against the building of a Muslim school in the area.

A man stands inside the destroyed mosque in the village of Thuye Tha Mein, Bago region, Myanmar, on June 24, 2016, after a mob of Buddhist extremists rampaged the day before through the area over the building of a Muslim school. (AFP)

Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said, "We call on the government to investigate both these incidents, as well as the responses by local authorities, in a prompt and thorough manner."

"These acts of mob violence could fuel a further cycle of hostility in the country, and we urge immediate steps be taken to prevent further incidents of religious intolerance."

Muslims living across Buddhist-governed Myanmar suffer persecution, but the Rohingya minority in Rakhine state is suffering the most.

Myanmar’s government refuses to recognize the Rohingya Muslims as citizens. They have been denied citizenship since a new citizenship law was enacted in 1982.

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