Two child limit imposed on Myanmar's Rohingya
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New
measure, which applies to Muslim Rohingya families in western Rakhine state,
does not affect Buddhists in the area.
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Sectarian violence first flared
nearly a year ago between the region's Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya
[EPA]
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Authorities in
Myanmar's western Rakhine state have imposed a two-child limit for Muslim
Rohingya families, a policy that does not apply to Buddhists in the area, and
comes amid accusations of ethnic cleansing in the aftermath of sectarian violence.
Local officials said
on Saturday that the new measure would be applied to two Rakhine townships
that border Bangladesh and have the highest Muslim populations in the state.
The townships,
Buthidaung and Maundaw, are about 95 percent Muslim.
The unusual order
makes Myanmar perhaps the only country in the world to impose such a
restriction on a religious group, and is likely to fuel further criticism
that Muslims are being discriminated against in the Buddhist-majority
country.
China has a one-child
policy, but it is not based on religion and exceptions apply to minority
ethnic groups.
India briefly
practised forced sterilisation of men in a bid to control the population in
the mid-1970s when civil liberties were suspended during a period of
emergency rule, but a nationwide outcry quickly shut down the programme.
'Overpopulation
causes tension'
Rakhine state
spokesman Win Myaing said the new programme was meant to stem rapid
population growth in the Muslim community, which a government-appointed
commission identified as one of the causes of the sectarian violence.
Although Muslims are
the majority in the two townships in which the new policy applies, they
account for only about 4 percent of Myanmar's roughly 60 million people.
The measure was
enacted a week ago after the commission recommended family planning programs
to stem population growth among Muslims, Win Myaing said.
The commission also
recommended doubling the number of security forces in the volatile region.
"The population
growth of Rohingya Muslims is 10 times higher than that of the Rakhine
(Buddhists)," Win Myaing said. "Overpopulation is one of the causes
of tension."
Sectarian violence in
Myanmar first flared nearly a year ago in
Rakhine state between the region's Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya.
Mobs of Buddhists
armed with machetes razed thousands of Muslim homes, leaving hundreds of
people dead and forcing 125,000 to flee, mostly Muslims.
Witnesses and human
rights groups said riot police stood by as crowds attacked Muslims and burned
their villages.
New York-based Human
Rights Watch has accused authorities in Rakhine of fomenting an organised
campaign of "ethnic cleansing" against the Rohingya.
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ரோஹிங்யா முஸ்லிம்களுக்கு இரு குழந்தைகளுக்கு மேல் பெற மியன்மார் அரசு தடை உத்தரவு!
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