Indian envoy to visit Myanmar violence site

South Block is learnt to have asked the Indian envoy in Myanmar V Seshadri to visit Sittwe, which has witnessed violence in the recent months involving the Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists.

As a follow-up, New Delhi may send relief items for the victims of the violence, in consultation with Naypyidaw. For India, calmness and peace in Sittwe is important since it is the hub of the India-Myanmar multimodal transit project. The project will facilitate movement of goods from Kolkata to Mizoram via Myanmar's Sittwe port.

Violence in Rakhine state began in late May when a Buddhist woman was raped and murdered by three Muslims. Later, a mob had killed 10 Muslims. Following the outbreak of violence, the Myanmar government declared a state of emergency, in a bid to allow the military to take administrative control over the area.

The clashes spread across the Rakhine state, with houses of both Buddhists and Muslims being burnt down.

Most Rohingya Muslims have been moved to temporary camps out of Sittwe.

The UN describes them as a persecuted religious and linguistic minority from western Burma. The Burmese government says they are relatively recent migrants from the Indian sub-continent. Bangladesh already hosts several hundred thousand refugees from Burma and says it cannot take more.

About the violence, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has said that about 80,000 people have been displaced in and around the Sittwe and Maungdaw by the violence.

ALSO READ

Railway bribery case: Nephew rose from obscurity, worked behind the scenes

For AMU students, wearing sherwani no issue

Polls today, Cong pins hope on BSY

CBI raids top armyman for graft in ration procurement