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BANGKOK (AFP) - Myanmar Wednesday said it had been unfairly maligned by the United States, which claims in a new report that Myanmar's junta shows no sign of diverting from a long trend of discriminating against religious minorities.
"Myanmar is one of the few countries in the world where major religions of the world flourish side by side in complete harmony and understanding," said a spokesman for the Yangon junta. "The same country [the U.S.] accusing Myanmar of religious discrimination is in fact experiencing religious conflicts, reminding us of a popular Western expression - 'people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones'," he said. "This so-called religious discrimination claim is purely routine fabrication designed to discredit the Myanmar government." "Very soon this same source will come up with a report claiming it has credible evidence of the government of Myanmar secretly building a weapon of mass destruction," he said. The U.S. report on International Religious Freedom accuses junta troops of destroying holy sites in areas populated by some of the country's myriad ethnic minorities. "Security forces have destroyed or looted Buddhist temples, churches and mosques in ethnic minority areas," said the report. "Government security forces continued efforts to induce members of the Chin ethnic minority to convert to Buddhism and prevent Christian Chin from proselytizing by highly coercive means." The report also says there is "credible evidence" that officials and security forces compelled people to donate labor, or money, to build, renovate or maintain Buddhist monuments. "The government calls these contributions voluntary donations" and imposes them on Buddhists and non-Buddhists, the report said. Evidence also existed of severe legal, social and economic discrimination against the Muslim Rohingya minority in the western state of Arakan, the report said. The United States is a strong critic of Myanmar's military government and a staunch supporter of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Myanmar was one of five countries, which were slapped with symbolic U.S. sanctions for alleged religious intolerance late last year. |
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