Justice for #Duchiradan, Maungdaw. Review #Genocide on #Rohingya

Maungdaw investigation to overlook allegations of Rohingya massacre
By COLIN HINSHELWOOD #DVB

Burmese President Thein Sein has appointed a 10-person investigation commission to determine the “real cause” of violent incidents in the village of Duchira Dan in Maungdaw Township last month.

Although the commission is instructed to investigate the death of Police Sergeant Aung Kyaw Thein on 13 January and the cause of a fire which razed about 20 homes on 28 January, no instructions were issued for an investigation into allegations that an Arakanese mob massacred up to 48 Rohingyas in the town.

According to a report on Friday in state-run The New Light of Myanmar, the investigation commission is to submit a report directly to the president by 28 February after investigating the following incidents:

“(a) To investigate the root cause of the death of Police Sergeant Aung Kyaw Thein from Khayay Myaing Police Outpost at Ducheertan [Duchira Dan] village on 13 January 2014 and whether there is evidence of foul play in his death.

“(b) To probe the root cause of the fire outbreak at Ducheertan west village on 28 January 2014 and to identify who had set fire the village.

“(c) To probe false and groundless reports of Ducheertan west village fire and who made the reporting.

“(d) Deaths and injuries and loss of property in the incidents.

“(e) Suggested measures to be taken to prevent such incidents from recurrence.”

No mention is made of the alleged rapes, lynchings and murders of Rohingya villagers that have been reported. The UN has said it has “credible evidence” that 48 Rohingyas in Duchira Dan were massacred last month – eight men on 9 January in an attack by a Buddhist mob, then another 40 men, women and children in a retaliatory attack following the disappearance of Police Sergeant Aung Kyaw Thein on 13 January.

The Burmese government has vehemently denied that such a massacre took place. “We have had no information about killings,” Presidential spokesman Ye Htut told reporters on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Nations Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Bagan, and he suggested that the “reports might be a cover-up, because of the policeman going missing.”