Right-wing Buddhist Leading the Campaign to Force Muslims Out of Burma Says He Wants His Group 'To Be Like the English Defence League'

MAIL ONLINE: Venerable Wirathu is leader of Burma's '969' campaign to boycott Muslims / He was jailed for nine years in 2003 for inciting anti-Muslim violence / Says he wants to be like EDL who 'protect the public without violence'

The English Defence League might be the last place you would expect a devout Buddhist monk to turn for inspiration.

But a right-wing spiritual leader in Burma has revealed how he wants to copy the EDL in his bid to rid his country of its Muslim minority.

The Venerable Ashin Wirathu, who was jailed for nine years in 2003 for inciting anti-Muslim violence, says the hardline nationalist party should be applauded for 'not carrying out violence, but protecting the public'.

His comments come a week after more than 1,000 EDL members marched on Downing Street in a protest over the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in nearby Woolwich, swilling beer, chanting anti-Muslim slogans and clashing with anti-fascist activists. Thirteen people were arrested.

Now, orange-robed Wirathu, who leads Burma's so-called '969' campaign to boycott Islamic businesses and bring an end to inter-marriage with Buddhists, says he wants his gang members to be more like the EDL.

According to The Times, Wirathu said: 'People give me various names: The Burmese bin Laden, the bald neo-Nazi. '[But] do you know the English Defence League? We would like to be like the EDL. Not carrying out violence, but protecting the public.' » | Matt Blake | Friday, May 31, 2013

Muslims and Buddhists Clash in Northern Myanmar
REUTERS.COM: (Reuters) - Muslims and Buddhists clashed in Myanmar's northern city of Lashio on Tuesday, witnesses said, as a wave of sectarian violence reached a mountainous region near China's border.

Phone lines were down in the city of about 131,000 people and the extent of the violence was unclear. Witnesses reported several large fires and said a mosque and Buddhist monastery appear to have been torched.

The violence followed unrest between Muslims and Buddhists in other parts of Myanmar over the past year, including fighting in the central city of Meikhtila in March that killed at least 44 people, mostly Muslims, and razed several Muslim neighborhoods. About 12,000 people lost their homes.

Lashio, capital of Shan State, had been spared from the religious unrest. Known for its strong Chinese influence, it is about 190 km (120 miles) from Muse, a city on China's border. » | Reporting by Aung Hla Tun and Jared Ferrie; Writing by Jason Szep; Editing by Pravin Char | Yangon | Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Myanmar Muslims Live in Constant Fear
Muslim villagers in Myanmar say they are living in constant fear of more attacks by Buddhists. Last week Muslim areas in the town of Okkan, to the north of the largest city, Yangon, became the latest target.

Buddhist Temple Destroyed in Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, government leaders are blaming opposition parties and what they call "Islamic radicals" for attacks on Buddhists. Temples have been set on fire in the country, apparently after photos appeared on Facebook showing the Quran being desecrated. But there might have been other more complex causes for the violence, and some think the attacks were premeditated. Al Jazeera's Nicholas Haque reports from Ramu in southern Bangladesh.

State of Emergency in Myanmar Following Riots
Curfew imposed in Rakhine following clashes between Buddhists and Muslims that left seven dead and many houses razed.

It's Time to Stop Using the Word 'Asians'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: In the wake of the Rochdale grooming convictions, it's time to stop lumping Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus together as 'Asians', argues Hardeep Singh.

Is it time to stop using the word "Asian"? In recent weeks Britain's Sikh and Hindu communities have complained angrily about the use of the misleading term in reporting of the Rochdale grooming convictions of men of Muslim Pakistani descent. Headlines like “Asian grooming – why we need to talk about sex crime”, “Child sex grooming: the Asian question”, and “Grooming offences committed mostly by Asian men, says ex-Barnardo's chief” show the problem.

Obviously Sikhs and Hindus and other "Asian" non-Muslims, including Jains, Zoroastrians, Christians and Buddhists, don’t want to be associated with sexual grooming of vulnerable white girls. The vast majority of Muslims don’t want to either. The girls targeted in Rochdale, Derby and now in Luton are all non-Muslim. This is nothing new for British Hindus and Sikhs, who have complained about targeting of their girls for decades; Indians refer to the practice as "love-jihad". » | Hardeep Singh | Friday, June 08, 2012

Thailand Monks on Edge in Muslim South
In parts of Thailand, the act of collecting donations can be a dangerous one for Buddhist monks.

Armed groups in the mainly Muslim southern provinces have been fighting for an independent state, and many carry out regular attacks on Buddhist symbols in the region.

As Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay reports from Pattani, Thailand, the almost daily acts of violence touch everyone in the area, including those in the Muslim community.

Insurgency Takes Toll on Both Buddhists, Muslims
ASSOCIATED PRESS: KO TO, Thailand — The young Muslim man says he watched helplessly as soldiers broke his father's bones and punctured his lungs with vicious kicks. After seven hours of relentless torture, the Muslim religious leader died cradled in his lap.

In a nearby village, a 7-year-old Buddhist girl still dials her father's mobile telephone number every evening. Then she readies his bed. But her father is never coming home. He and his brother were riddled with bullets and their bodies set afire as they motorcycled to a computer class.

A vicious Muslim insurgency in Thailand's deep south has spared few. On the roll call of 3,400 dead are monks and teachers, shopkeepers and rubber tappers, officials and innocents from every background.

Islamic radicals are fighting for a separate state in Buddhist-majority Thailand. And a rift is widening between Buddhists and Muslims — communities that had lived harmoniously for generations and now share equally in the suffering. >>> By Denis D. Gray | Saturday, May 23, 2009