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Category: South Asia

China demolishes prominent Xinjiang building owned by Uyghur activist in US

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A symbolically important building in Xinjiang’s capital that was instrumental in the emergence of Uyghur entrepreneurs and businesspeople in the 1990s has been demolished, Radio Free Asia has learned. Authorities destroyed the Rebiya Kadeer Trade Center in Urumqi on Nov. 29, said Zumret Dawut, a Uyghur internment camp survivor now in the United States, citing sources from inside China’s far-western region of Xinjiang. The building had been shuttered for 15 years. Other sources in Xinjiang, including police officers and a tourism worker, confirmed the demolition, and satellite photos show debris where the building once stood on a corner of downtown Urumqi, near the Grand Bazaar. Built in 1990, the seven-story Rebiya Kadeer Trade Center, including the adjacent Akida Trade Center, was a 30,000-square-meter (323,000-square-foot) space with over 600 shops, conference rooms, wedding halls, classrooms and hotel rooms. Besides promoting the development of Uyghur entrepreneurs, the center became a meeting place for intellectuals, a training ground for young researchers and a starting point for philanthropists. The red arrow points to the Rebiya Kadeer Trade Center in Urumqi, capital of northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Sept. 9, 2009. Dawut’s sources told her that the building was imploded. She also said she closely monitored Chinese state media and social media platforms, including Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, for more information or videos, but found nothing. Strict security measures were implemented the day the building was torn down, Dawut learned from her sources, and the road where the trade center was located and surrounding streets were placed under surveillance. Before authorities destroyed the trade center, they distributed notices about closing nearby shops and buildings and restricted access to tourist sites. “I was told that the store owners were instructed to keep their shops closed on the day of the demolition, and no one was allowed in the area,” she said. When RFA contacted police and other officials in Urumqi about the building’s fate, most warned that the topic was sensitive and declined to answer questions when Kadeer’s name was mentioned. ‘Sensitive topic’ A police officer at the Urumqi Ghalibiyat Police Station said the situation was normal and that foreign tourists could visit the area around the Grand Bazaar, but he did not deny the building’s demolition. RELATED STORIES Sister of Uyghur Rights Advocate Rebiya Kadeer Confirmed to Have Died After Release From Detention ‘More Than 30’ Relatives of Uyghur Exile Leader Rebiya Kadeer Detained in Xinjiang Uyghur Leader’s Family Evicted World Cannot Turn a Blind Eye: Rebiya Kadeer China Frees Rebiya Kadeer “The Grand Bazaar can still be toured, and the museums are open for visits,” the officer said. “However, there is no longer a Rebiya Trade Center. You can’t refer to it by that name at this moment. It’s a sensitive topic.” When asked why the building was demolished, the officer said she and others at the police station had heard something about it but could not provide details because of the topic’s sensitivity. A duty officer at the city police’s external affairs department said the Kadeer building was demolished on Nov. 29 by municipal construction workers. But she said she did not have further information. A staff member from a tourism agency in Urumqi also confirmed the center’s destruction. “The Rebiya Kadeer Trade Center has already been demolished,” she said. “I haven’t been there since it’s in ruins, and everything is a mess.” A government worker in Urumqi who declined to give his name said authorities tried to carry out the demolition as quietly as possible, but the sound of the building imploding and police presence on surrounding streets created more fear in the already uneasy city. A view of the facade of the Rebiya Kadeer Trade Center in Urumqi, capital of northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Sept. 9, 2009. An officer from the Nanhu Police Station near the Kadeer building who was on duty around the Grand Bazaar on Nov. 29 suggested that others’ accounts were exaggerated and noted that few policemen were needed during the demolition because Urumqi’s streets are filled with surveillance cameras. “The demolition was carried out without causing any panic,” she said. 1999 arrest When Kadeer lived in Xinjiang, she was politically active and held positions in China’s National People’s Congress in Beijing and in other political bodies prior to her arrest in Urumqi in 1999 while en route to a meeting with a U.S. Congressional staff delegation. Chinese authorities accused her of sending confidential internal reports to her husband, who at the time worked as a broadcaster for Radio Free Asia and Voice of America in the U.S. Kadeer was released on medical parole in 2005 and fled to the United States, where she took on leadership positions in overseas Uyghur organizations, including the World Uyghur Congress. After deadly unrest between Muslim Uyghurs and Han Chinese in Urumqi in July 2009, Chinese authorities accused Kadeer, who was not present at the time, of being an instigator of the turmoil, and permanently shuttered her trade center. Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Arakan Army takes fight to Myanmar’s western command in bid to control Rakhine state

Editor06 mins

Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese. Arakan rebels are fighting within the borders of the junta’s Western Military Command headquarters in Myanmar’s Rakhine state after having taken control of nearby Ann township last week, residents said Tuesday. The Arakan Army, or AA, is fighting for self-determination in Myanmar’s western-most state and has made unprecedented progress over the past year, pushing forces loyal to the junta that seized power in 2021 into a few pockets of territory. On Nov. 30, the AA seized the junta’s last military posts in Ann’s Myo Thit, Lay Yin Kwin, Aut Ywar and Ah Hta Ka neighborhoods, taking complete control of the town, which lies 220 kilometers (135 miles) west of Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw. By Tuesday, AA fighters had penetrated the headquarters of the junta in Rakhine state and the military has responded with aerial strikes and troop reinforcements, a resident of Ann told RFA Burmese. “The AA is now able to break into the western command headquarters and is calling on the remaining troops in the junta’s western command to surrender,” said the resident who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. RELATED STORIES Myanmar’s Arakan Army captures Ann town, focus now on army HQ EXPLAINED: What is Myanmar’s Arakan Army? A year after offensive, rebels control most of Myanmar’s Rakhine state Another resident, who is familiar with the ongoing conflict and also declined to be named, told RFA that junta troops were advancing to the headquarters along the 150-kilometer (93-mile) road connecting Ann northeast to Minbu township “in large numbers,” and had taken up defensive positions along Chinese infrastructure projects. On Nov. 20, the AA captured the town of Toungup in the center of the state, which is on a road hub including a link to the the Kyaukpyu economic zone on the coast, where China is funding a deep-sea port, and has energy facilities including natural gas and oil pipelines running to southern China. Beijing threw its support behind the junta shortly after the 2021 coup and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing’s regime has vowed to protect Chinese interests in Myanmar amid the country’s nearly four-year civil war. Reinforcements en route Meanwhile, residents said that a junta column of about 200 troops is advancing west towards Ann along the road that links it to neighboring Magway region’s Padan township. All the while, the military has been resupplying its troops in the Western Command headquarters with weapons and other supplies by air, they said. Last week, when the AA took control of Ann, sources told RFA that only a few residents had remained in the township and the AA had taken them to safety, leaving the town empty. Attempts by RFA to contact Hla Thein, the junta’s attorney general for Rakhine state, about the fighting in Ann township went unanswered Tuesday, as did efforts to reach AA spokesperson Khaing Thu Kha. The AA, which largely draws its support from Rakhine’s Buddhist majority, has made steady advances over the past year, from the state’s far north on the border with Bangladesh, through central areas to its far south, and it now controls about 80% of it. On Dec. 6, the AA announced that it had taken control of all of the junta’s more than 30 camps in Rakhine, except for the Western Military Command headquarters. Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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What’s Wrong with the Reports? An investigation into the world's leading ranking reports

What’s Wrong with the Reports? (Part 1)

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Explore Investigative Journalism Reportika’s comprehensive analysis of global indices and reports, including the World Press Freedom Index, Corruption Perceptions Index, Global Hunger Index, and more. Delve into critical sections such as methodological flaws, unexpected discrepancies, cultural biases, data limitations, and controversies. Our reports challenge assumptions, reveal hidden inaccuracies, and offer insights to foster informed debate.

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Myanmar to organize election in fewer than half of townships, parties say

Editor06 mins

Myanmar is expected to organize an election next year in fewer than half of its 330 townships in the first phase of a staggered vote, a political party official said on Tuesday, with an insurgency by anti-junta forces likely to prevent the polls from opening in large parts of the country. The generals who seized power in 2021 are hoping that an election will legitimize their rule and please neighbors, including China. The junta’s opponents say a vote under the military, with the most popular politicians locked up and their parties banned, will be a sham. More than 6,000 people have been killed in Myanmar’s war since the coup and some 21,000 have been jailed, U.N. experts said last week, calling on governments around the world to reject the junta’s election plan. No date has been set for the vote but it is expected this year. The chairman of the Election Commission, Ko Ko, met representatives of political parties in the capital, Naypyidaw, on the weekend to outline arrangements, said Myo Set Thway, general secretary of the People’s Pioneer Party. “He’s saying elections will just be held in places that are already safe and trusted,” Myo Set Thway, who attended the meeting, told Us. He cited the commission chairman as saying voting would be held in 161 of the 330 townships. Myo Set Thway did not say which townships would vote first but large parts of the country, including some central areas, have been rocked by fighting over the past year. Insurgents controlled at least 86 towns as of November, said the Burma News International’s Myanmar Peace Monitor. “He’ll hold the next elections in places that can be made secure, that was the connotation,” Myo Set Thway said, referring to the chairman. A spokesperson for the Election Commission could not immediately be reached for comment. China, with energy pipelines and other economic interests in Myanmar, supports the election and has been pressing ethnic minority insurgents to talk peace with the junta. Votes for the displaced In Myanmar’s last election in 2020, voting was held in 315 out of the 330 townships. The party led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi swept that vote, as it did in 2015. The army complained of cheating in 2020 and overthrew Suu Kyi’s government on Feb. 1, 2021. She has been jailed for 27 years. Authorities have effectively barred many parties from the vote, including Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, but 53 have registered, said Ko Ko. Voting will likely take place in Mon state and the Thanintharyi region in the south, Yangon and the Mandalay and Ayeyarwaddy regions, where the military retains strongholds, analysts say. A party leader from war-torn Rakhine state said people displaced by fighting had to be able to vote. “The Election Commission must protect the rights of internally displaced people fleeing from the military and sheltering in areas outside their scope,” said Aye Maung, chairman of the Arakan Front party. The U.N. says more than 3 million people have been displaced by the fighting and by flooding this year. Neighbors will be hoping an election can help to bring stability to resource-rich Myanmar. Thailand, China and India have discussed support for a census now underway and the vote. Edited by Kiana Duncan. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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What's Wrong with the Global Hunger Index

What’s Wrong with the Global Hunger Index

Editor021 mins

“The Global Hunger Index serves as a critical benchmark for global food security, but this investigative report by IJ-Reportika uncovers its methodological flaws. From outdated data to inconsistent scoring, these issues misrepresent nations’ progress and obscure systemic challenges, calling for urgent reforms to ensure accuracy and accountability.”

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Myanmar Bangladesh Post Capture

Myanmar rebels capture last military post on Bangladesh border

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Ethnic minority insurgents have captured the last Myanmar military position on the border with Bangladesh after its defenders, including pro-junta militiamen from the mostly Muslim Rohingya community, abandoned the post and fled, the rebel group and residents said. The Arakan Army, or AA, which is fighting for self-determination in Rakhine state, seized the military stronghold known as Border Guard Post No. 5 near the town of Maungdaw on Sunday, the group said. “The Arakan army successfully captured and neutralized the last remaining outpost … in the Maungdaw region,” it said in a statement. Junta forces and members of Rohingya militia raised by the junta to battle the AA were trying to flee across the Naf River, which forms the border with Bangladesh, “using motorboats and canoes” and launching attacks as they did so, the AA said. “Clashes are still occurring … Therefore, due to military necessities and public security concerns, all river transportation in the Naf River will be indefinitely suspended,” the group said. Residents of Maungdaw said they were worried about the possibility of a navy boat operating offshore opening fire in retaliation for the AA’s capture of the position. “The AA has captured the entire border with Bangladesh,” said one resident who declined to be identified for safety reasons. “There’s still one junta navy ship … we need to keep that in mind, they can still shoot pretty far with their cannon.” The junta that seized power with the ouster of an elected government in February 2021 has been pushed back by insurgents in several parts of the country over the past year, raising questions about the sustainability of military rule. The capture of the entire border with Bangladesh by one of Myanmar’s most powerful insurgents armies comes days after ethnic minority Kachin insurgents in northern Myanmar, seized control of all of the border with China where its forces operate. ‘Commander captured’ A source close to the AA said the commander of military operations in the area, Brig. Thurein Tun, was among junta forces captured as they were trying to flee after the fall of the base. “He was arrested last night on the road that goes down to the river along with his personal staff, majors, captains and senior police officers,” said the source, who also declined to be identified. RFA tried to telephone the AA spokesperson, Khaing Thu Kha, and the junta spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, to ask them about the situation but neither answered calls. Rohingya militia men from groups such as the Rohingya Solidarity Organization, Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and Arakan Rohingya Army, were among the pro-jutna forces that fled, the AA said. AA fighters were on Monday searching for fleeing junta forces along the Ah Leh Than Kyaw Beach and in various waterways, residents said. The AA draws its support from the state’s Buddhist majority and has a fraught relationship with members of the Muslim minority, particularly since the junta started recruiting Rohingya this year into militias to battle the AA. Human rights investigators said the AA was responsible for killing scores of Rohingya civilians trying to flee from Maungdaw to Bangladesh on Aug. 5, when they were attacked with drones and artillery as the AA intensified its campaign to capture the town. The AA denied responsibility. The AA controls about 80% of Rakhine state – 10 of its 17 townships and one in neighboring Chin state. In townships it does not control, it has pinned junta forces into pockets of territory, such as the state capital, Sittwe, a military headquarters in the town of Ann and the Kyaukpyu economic zone on the coast where China has energy facilities and wants to build a deep-sea port. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Investigative Journalism Reportika © March 2022 by Ij-Reportika is licensed under CC BY 4.0