e_Paper, Tuesday, August 29, 2017

4
TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2017
DT
News
Myanmar army conducts clearance operations in Rakhine
• Tribune Desk
WORLD
Myanmar security forces intensified
operations against Rohingya
insurgents on Monday, police and
other sources said, following three
days of clashes with militants in
the worst violence involving Myanmar’s
Muslim minority in five
years.
The fighting - triggered by coordinated
attacks on Friday by insurgents
wielding sticks, knives and
crude bombs on 30 police posts and
an army base - has killed 104 people
and led to the flight of large numbers
of Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist
civilians from the northern
part of Rakhine state.
The violence marks a dramatic
escalation of a conflict that has
simmered since October, when a
similar but much smaller series
of Rohingya attacks on security
posts prompted a brutal military
response dogged by allegations of
rights abuses.
The treatment of about 1.1 million
Muslim Rohingya in mainly
Buddhist Myanmar has emerged as
the biggest challenge for national
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has
condemned the attacks and commended
the security forces.
The Nobel peace laureate has
been widely accused by critics of
not speaking out on behalf of the
long-persecuted minority, and of
defending the army’s sweep after
the October attacks.
The Rohingya are denied citizenship
in Myanmar and classified as
illegal immigrants, despite claiming
roots there that go back centuries,
with communities marginalised
and subjected to communal violence.
“Now the situation is not good.
Everything depends on them - if
they’re active, the situation will be
tense,” said police officer Tun Hlaing
from Buthidaung township, referring
to the Rohingya insurgents.
Rohingya villagers make up the
majority in the area.
A Buthidaung-based reporter, citing
police sources directly involved
in events, said three police posts in
northern Buthidaung had been surrounded
by Rohingya insurgents.
Many houses had been burning
since Sunday in parts of neighbouring
Maungdaw town, another
journalist and a military source in
Maungdaw told reporter.
A Rohingya villager in the area
said the army attacked three hamlets
in the Kyee Kan Pyin village
group with shotguns and other
weapons, before torching houses.
“Everything is on fire,” he said by
phone. “Now I’m in the fields with
the people, we’re running away.”
A military source in Rakhine
state confirmed that houses were
burned in the area but blamed the
insurgents, who he said opened fire
when soldiers came to find them
and clear landmines.
The Myanmar military reported
clashes over the weekend involving
hundreds of insurgents, taking the
death toll to at least 104, the majority
militants, plus 12 members of the
security forces and several civilians.
There were no official updates
from the army or the government
on Monday. •
Vatican announces
Pope Francis visit to
Dhaka in November
• Tribune Desk
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Pope Francis will make an official
visit to Bangladesh on a
three-day visit on November
30.
The visit, at the invitation
of Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina and Catholic Archbishop
of Dhaka Cardinal Patrick
D’Rozario, was officially
announced in Dhaka and Vatican
simultaneously.
President Abdul Hamid
will receive the pope at the
airport.
Pope Francis will meet
President Abdul Hamid,
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
among other engagements.
An advanced team from
the Vatican recently visited
Bangladesh to coordinate the
preparation of the visit with
the protocol wing of the Foreign
Ministry.
Pope Francis has previously
appointed His Eminence
Patrick D’Rozario, the Archbishop
of Bangladesh, as the
first ever cardinal from Bangladesh
on November 19, 2016.
Dean of Diplomatic Corps
Ambassador of Vatican to
Bangladesh Archbishop
George Kocherry confirmed
the visit yesterday at a press
conference. He said: “Detailed
programme for the visit
will be published shortly.”
The pope will also make
an apostolic visit to Myanmar
from November 27 to 30 before
coming to Dhaka. In Myanmar,
he will visit the cities
of Yangon and Nay Pyi Taw,
reports UNB.
Ambassador Kocherry
said: “The Vatican Embassy
in Dhaka, the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and the SSF are
working together to finalise
his programme in Dhaka. The
ministry and SSF are cooperating
very well with us. I appreciate
their readiness and
supports.”
Cardinal Patrick D’Rozario
said: “Pope Francis is a voice
of conscience for all political,
economic, social and environmental
issues in the world. He
leads a very simple life. His
love towards marginalized
people, those who are suffering,
who are weak, who are affected
by disasters, migrants.”
On November 26, 1970, the
sixth Pope was the first person
who visited Bangladesh
(then East Pakistan) during an
hour-long stopover here on
his way to Manila. Pope John
Paul II visited Bangladesh in
1986.
As per the draft programme,
Pope Francis will
place wreaths at the National
Martyrs Memorial in Savar
and will pay respect to Father
of the Nation Bangabandhu
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. •