WHAT CAUSED THE VIOLENCE TO ERUPT IN LASHIO, BURMA Buddhist Woman Set on Fire by Muslim Man

At about 4:15 pm on May 28, 2013, in Lashio, the capital of Northern Shan State, a heated argument broke out between a 24 year old Shan-Buddhist woman, Aye Aye Win - a petrol seller - and a Muslim man, 48 year old Ne Win - who comes from Kyaingtong (Kengtung) another large Shan State town about 200 miles away from Lashio. The Muslim man argued over the price of the black market petrol, then poured her petrol over her and tried to ignite her, but the woman managed to run away from him and into nearby streets. However, the Muslim man chased her and eventually caught her, poured more petrol over her, and set her on fire. Local Buddhists then caught the man, roughed him up, and surrendered him into the hands of policemen who took him to the nearby Lashio No-1 Police Station. Aye Aye Win was horrifically burned over her whole body, and she is still alive - for now.

At about 5 pm nearly 200 local Buddhists led by about ten Buddhist monks surrounded the police station and asked for the Muslim man to be given to them. Police refused and immediately transferred the Muslim man to the safer and more secure Lashio Prison. At about 7 pm the enraged local Buddhists began to attack Islamic properties in the town. The large mosque near Myoma Bazzar and the Arabic Madrassa School were prime targets. About 15 shops nearby the mosque and the madrassa were also burned down. The day before this horrible incident, a young Shan/Burmese boy was savagely beaten nearly to death in this same town by a group of Muslim men who demanded that he let them into the locked and closed billiard hall that the boy worked in. He told them he cant open it to them because it was already closed and nobody was there to run the place. They forced him to open it and then severely beat him inside.
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The next day, May 29, 2013, at about 1:30 pm, more than 40 Muslim men armed with two swords each came out of Ward-7 the Muslim quarter in Lashio and marched towards the Seit-ta-thu-kha Buddhist Monastery. On their way towards the Buddhist monastery they torched motorbikes on the streets, destroyed some Buddhist shops, and burned a number of Buddhist houses. Local Buddhists stood in front of the monastery to defend it. It looked like the Muslims intended to break into the monastery, kill all the monks, and burn and destroy it. As the Muslims attacked the defending Buddhists, police quickly arrived and separated the two crowds, firing their guns into the air. The Burmese stopped responding to the Muslim mob. But, in the chaos of the situation the Muslims kept on attacking the Buddhists, when there was an opening through the police line, and soon a 20 year-old Buddhist man, Aung Aung, was severely wounded and fell. Another 20 year-old Buddhist man, Wanna, was cut severely with a sword. The first strike was on the back of his head and the second nearly chopped his right ear off. Two local Shan Buddhist women bravely pulled him away from the Muslims, before the Muslims could kill him. Police told both the Buddhists and the Muslims to drop their weapons. The Buddhists did drop their weapons, but the Muslims refused to surrender their weapons and, and turned around and marched back into the town, attacking the Buddhists whenever they could. They attacked Buddhists walking on the streets and Buddhists who were driving by, and burned and destroyed their vehicles and motorbikes. One Buddhist motorcyclist lost his arm to the Muslim mob as they ambushed him on one of the side streets and sliced his arm off with a sword. In the evening, after dark, about 200 armed Muslim men had gathered on top of the hill at Ward-5 and the local Buddhists were terrified with what they were planning to do. And that is the latest news, up to now.

As in many parts of Burma, the Buddhists have reached a boiling point with the abuses and violence from the Muslims - and they cant take it any more. They cant tolerate the intolerant anymore. And, in southern Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh there is also so much abuse, contempt, intolerance and violence from the Muslims to the Buddhists and Hindus and Christians. HOWEVER, Much of the Media seems to ignore the causes of these incidents and reports on the actions that the Burmese or Shan or Rakhine Buddhists take. Recently, on April 30, 2013, violence broke out in Oak-kan in Central Burma and it was instigated by the abuse and assault on an 11 year old monk by a Muslim woman. And, once again, it was a breaking point after much abuse from the Muslims. ----------------------------------------------------------------------Now, let me remark here: if you know the Burmese people and culture, and the history, you will know that it takes quite a lot to make Burmese people rise up and destroy things or fight. There is contempt, violence and intolerance from the Muslims that has been rising to the boiling point. Example, in Meiktila, central Burma: There were hardly any Muslims in the Meiktila area before the 1970s. Within less than 40 years the Muslim population has increased very quickly - now about 30 percent of the town is Muslim. Many of the Muslims are from Rakhine State, western part of Burma, where there is a similar situation, but in a much larger conflict. The Muslim population of Meiktila has dangerously swelled to alarming level recently as Muslim refugees fleeing from the recent violence and unrest in Rakhine State came to this junction town in middle Burma, which already had a large Muslim population due to previous waves of Muslim migration. The earlier Muslim people in Meiktila were mostly not Bengali/ Rohingya Muslims, and were generally called 'Kaman' Muslims, and were largely accepted equally as part of the fabric of the nation. The Burmese Buddhists express that the Bengali-Muslims (also known as Rohingya) are particularly intolerant, and show only contempt for the Buddhist culture and Buddhism. The Bengali Muslims often taunt the Buddhists, denigrate the Buddhist religion, and the Buddhists say their property or crops are often stolen, their women are raped, and Buddhist monks are mocked and insulted. Many of the Bengali-Muslims in Meiktila are wealthier, merchant class Muslims from Rakhine State (or from Bangladesh, but posing as fake 'Rohingya' from Burma) who arrived a number of years ago, and with massive financial support from Saudi Arabia they have become the commercially dominant group in Meiktila, with their gold and jewelry shops, and new mosques (with their very loud prayers broadcast night and day, irritating the Buddhists) and more and more Islamic madrassa schools being built (in which the children are easily indoctrinated into a mentality of supremacy and intolerance of others) and the schools are most often established with money and agenda from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
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PLEASE READ THESE FOLLOWING PAPERS TO UNDERSTAND MORE CORRECTLY: Rick Heizman San Francisco May 29, 2013 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more information please read:

HISTORY, ISSUES, and TRUTH in ARAKAN/RAKHINE STATE, WESTERN BURMA h8p://www.scribd.com/doc/135701267/History-Issues-and-Truth-in-Arakan-Rakhine-State-Burma KIDNAPPED, RAPED, CONVERTED h8p://www.scribd.com/doc/140137562/Kidnapped-Raped-Converted HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Report on Arakan SituaWon Totally Wrong h8p://www.scribd.com/doc/141096370/HUMAN-RIGHTS-WATCH-report-on-Arakan-situaWon-totally-wrong MEIKTILA - WHAT HAPPENED and WHY h8p://www.scribd.com/doc/135701271/MeikWla-What-happened-and-why Militant, Extremist, NaWonalist, Neo-Nazi Hate Speech - Correct Usage h8p://www.scribd.com/doc/143542607/Extremist-Neo-Nazi-Militant-NaWonalist-Hate-Speech-969-Correct- Usage HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH - UNHCR - Spreading Massive MisinformaWon h8p://www.scribd.com/doc/137695956/Human-Rights-Watch-UNHCR-spreading-massive-misinformaWon- outright-lies KYAUK-PHYU - Truth is Not Obvious h8p://www.scribd.com/doc/141056891/KYAUK-PHYU-Truth-is-Not-Obvious SPECIAL MUSLIM PRAYERS h8p://www.scribd.com/doc/135736692/Special-Muslim-Prayers MANIPULATIVE, DECEPTIVE, FRAUDULENT MEDIA h8p://www.scribd.com/doc/138218972/ManipulaWve-DecepWve-Fraudulent-Media
INTERVIEWS WITH RAKHINE BUDDHISTS AFTER THE VIOLENCE OF 2012:

h8p://www.scribd.com/doc/135701275/Interviews-Violence h8p://www.scribd.com/doc/135701266/Interviews-Fear h8p://www.scribd.com/doc/135701268/Interviews-Monks-Tell-of-Horrors h8p://www.scribd.com/doc/135701272/Interviews-Rakhine-Views-of-Bengalis h8p://www.scribd.com/doc/135701269/Interviews-What-People-Want-to-Tell-Government