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Muslim Structures Are Being Threatened With Demolition in Burma’s Arakan State

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A Rohingya Muslim student stands at a window of a local mosque near Sittwe
A Rohingya Muslim student stands at a window of a local mosque near Sittwe, Burma, on April 29, 2013Damir Sagolj—Reuters
By Feliz Solomon

A state official in Burma’s troubled Arakan state has threatened to demolish Muslim schools, homes and mosques — claiming that the structures were built illegally — in a move that could further inflame tensions between Buddhist and Muslim communities in the country.

The announcement appeared in a state government-affiliated online journal this week, according to a local news site, the Irrawaddy. Citing a state minister, Colonel Htein Lin, the report said thousands of buildings could be subject to removal, including a dozen mosques, 35 schools and more than 2,500 houses in the Muslim-majority townships of Maungdaw and Buthidaung.

But a spokesperson for Burma’s ruling party, Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), warned that the Arakan State government would be acting out of bounds if it tried to carry out the demolitions.

“It is against the existing rules and regulations, they don’t have the authority to demolish mosques,” NLD central-committee member Win Htein tells TIME.

Read More: Why Burma Is Trying to Stop People From Using the Name of Its Persecuted Muslim Minority

Arakan state, also known as Rakhine, was the site of deadly riots between Buddhists and Muslims that began in 2012, and tensions between the two communities have remained high in the years since. More than 100 people died in the violence, and about 140,000 others were displaced.

Most of those affected were Rohingya, a Muslim minority that is officially stateless and viewed by many in Burma, officially known as Myanmar, to be illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh. Since the violence, about 100,000 Rohingya have been confined to squalid displacement camps where they are denied movement, education and health care.

The Plight of the Rohingya by James Nachtwey

Children rest at a refugee camp in Bayeun, outside of Langsa, Indonesia, May 20. They were among the 25,000-plus Rohingya Muslim migrants who have fled reported persecution in Burma and Bangladesh this year by crossing the Indian Ocean in search of refugee status in Indonesia and Malaysia. James Nachtwey for TIME
Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees aboard boats that have been at sea for months off the coast of SE Asia. Landed in port pif Langsa in Aceh, Indonesia, where they were given shelter, food and medical care by Indonesian and international NGO's. The Rohingya have fled political oppression and violence and are escaping g from the bad conditions of concentration camps. The Bangladeshi's are fleeing poverty. by James Nachtwey
Refugees rest at a camp in Bayeun, outside of Langsa, Indonesia. They reached Indonesia after months at sea off the coast of Southeast Asia. James Nachtwey for TIME
Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees aboard boats that have been at sea for months off the coast of SE Asia. Landed in port pif Langsa in Aceh, Indonesia, where they were given shelter, food and medical care by Indonesian and international NGO's. The Rohingya have fled political oppression and violence and are escaping g from the bad conditions of concentration camps. The Bangladeshi's are fleeing poverty. by James Nachtwey
A mother holds her child at a refugee camp in Bayeun, outside of Langsa, Indonesia, where they were given shelter, food and medical care by Indonesian and international NGOs. James Nachtwey for TIME
Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees aboard boats that have been at sea for months off the coast of SE Asia. Landed in port pif Langsa in Aceh, Indonesia, where they were given shelter, food and medical care by Indonesian and international NGO's. The Rohingya have fled political oppression and violence and are escaping g from the bad conditions of concentration camps. The Bangladeshi's are fleeing poverty. by James Nachtwey
Refugees rest at a camp in Bayeun, outside of Langsa, Indonesia, where they were given shelter, food and medical care by Indonesian and international NGOs. James Nachtwey for TIME
Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees aboard boats that have been at sea for months off the coast of SE Asia. Landed in port pif Langsa in Aceh, Indonesia, where they were given shelter, food and medical care by Indonesian and international NGO's. The Rohingya have fled political oppression and violence and are escaping g from the bad conditions of concentration camps. The Bangladeshi's are fleeing poverty. by James Nachtwey
A Rohingya child is registered at a temporary shelter in Indonesia. James Nachtwey for TIME
Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees aboard boats that have been at sea for months off the coast of SE Asia. Landed in port pif Langsa in Aceh, Indonesia, where they were given shelter, food and medical care by Indonesian and international NGO's. The Rohingya have fled political oppression and violence and are escaping g from the bad conditions of concentration camps. The Bangladeshi's are fleeing poverty. by James Nachtwey
A 2-year-old boy cries as he is being registered at a temporary shelter in Indonesia. James Nachtwey for TIME
Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees aboard boats that have been at sea for months off the coast of SE Asia. Landed in port pif Langsa in Aceh, Indonesia, where they were given shelter, food and medical care by Indonesian and international NGO's. The Rohingya have fled political oppression and violence and are escaping g from the bad conditions of concentration camps. The Bangladeshi's are fleeing poverty. by James Nachtwey
A refugee receives medical care in Indonesia. James Nachtwey for TIME
Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees aboard boats that have been at sea for months off the coast of SE Asia. Landed in port pif Langsa in Aceh, Indonesia, where they were given shelter, food and medical care by Indonesian and international NGO's. The Rohingya have fled political oppression and violence and are escaping g from the bad conditions of concentration camps. The Bangladeshi's are fleeing poverty. by James Nachtwey
A refugee gets his head shaved in order to remove lice. James Nachtwey for TIME
Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees aboard boats that have been at sea for months off the coast of SE Asia. The Rohingya have fled political oppression and violence and are escaping from the bad conditions of concentration camps. The Bangladeshis are fleeing poverty. An abandoned camp allegedly for trafficked Rohingya and Bangladeshis in mountainous jungle on the Malaysian side of the Thai-Malaysian border. Human remains being disinterred from an informal cemetery near the camp.by James Nachtwey
Human remains are being disinterred from an informal cemetery near an abandoned camp for trafficked refugees in the jungle on the Malaysian side of the Thai-Malaysian border. James Nachtwey for TIME
Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees aboard boats that have been at sea for months off the coast of SE Asia. The Rohingya have fled political oppression and violence and are escaping from the bad conditions of concentration camps. The Bangladeshis are fleeing poverty. An abandoned camp allegedly for trafficked Rohingya and Bangladeshis in mountainous jungle on the Malaysian side of the Thai-Malaysian border. Human remains being disinterred from an informal cemetery near the camp.by James Nachtwey
Malaysian officials find bodies of migrants in an abandoned camp used by smugglers. James Nachtwey for TIME
Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees aboard boats that have been at sea for months off the coast of SE Asia. The Rohingya have fled political oppression and violence and are escaping from the bad conditions of concentration camps. The Bangladeshis are fleeing poverty. Aboard a Malaysian Navy ship out of Langkawi on routine patrol looking for boats with Rohingyas, in waters neighboring Thailand. None were sighted in Malaysiian waters.by James Nachtwey
Malaysian Navy officers pray on a navy ship out of Langkawi, an island in the Andaman Sea. They are on routine patrol looking for boats with Rohingya refugees in waters neighboring Thailand. James Nachtwey for TIME

Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate and now Burma’s de-facto leader, addressed the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, pledging to find a “sustainable solution” to the crisis in the western state, though she did not refer explicitly to the Rohingya. Her new government, which took power in April, has come under international pressure to ease tensions and resolve the issue of statelessness for the persecuted group.

“We do not fear international scrutiny,” Suu Kyi said. “We are committed to a sustainable solution that will lead to peace, stability and development for all communities within the state.”

Elsewhere in the country, Buddhist-majority Burma has seen a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment in recent years, sometimes boiling over into violent outbursts. Communal riots have erupted in several major towns, and Buddhist nationalist groups have grown in size and influence. Tensions between the two communities are so sensitive that a minor dispute can trigger a major disturbance.

In June, a dispute between neighbors over a Muslim school being built in central Burma led to a mob attack that left a mosque in flames and caused dozens of Muslims to flee. Barely a week later, a mob razed a Muslim prayer hall in the country’s north. Of some 500 people reportedly involved in the attack, five were arrested.

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