Sectarian Violence Myanmar

Tensions

Between

By THE IRRAWADDY

YANGON — Ko Aung Thu used to run a small electrical shop in Okpho, a town in Bago Region where he has lived since he was born there 43 years ago.

But like thousands of other Muslims, his life was turned upside down in late March after a wave of sectarian violence between majority Buddhists and minority Muslims rocked 13 towns in central Myanmar.

The violence hit Okpho on March 25. Dozens of unknown men suddenly showed up in the town’s center at around 7 pm that day, Ko Aung Thu said.

“They were holding knives, slingshots and sticks, and were shouting: ‘Kill all the Muslims!’ Local people then began gathering on the streets as well,” he said, adding that he closed his shop and quickly went home to his family.

“The crowd destroyed and looted my electrical shop at 8 pm,” said Ko Aung Thu (who prefers not to have his real name published). After ransacking the shops the frenzied mob, numbering a few hundred people, headed towards the Muslim residential area.

“I took my two children and wife to my Buddhist neighbor, but they could not guarantee our safety,” he said. So, after a few hours, his family sneaked through the streets at night to reach the police station, where they stayed for two nights before escaping to Yangon.

“I felt so scared that the crowd would stop us when we walked to the station. If they found us, they would have tried to kill us,” he said. “This is the first time I’ve had such a terrible experience.”

The mob also destroyed his sister’s teashop and his parents’ home, he said, along with Okpho’s mosque and about 60 other Muslim-owned buildings.