YANGON: A Myanmar Buddhist monk known for scathing anti-Islam tirades has been barred from speaking at an event after the the murder of a top Muslim lawyer, a killing that has rattled a nation bristling with religious tension.
Ko Ni, a respected legal adviser to the ruling National League for Democracy, was shot in the head on Sunday afternoon as he waited outside Yangon airport while holding his grandson.
While assassinations of political figures in Yangon are rare, Buddhist-majority Myanmar has suffered bouts of sectarian violence in recent years.
The unrest has been partially blamed on anti-Muslim rhetoric spread by a radical wing of Buddhist monks.
An official from the southern city of Pathein said Thursday that local authorities canceled an event due to be held this week by the movement’s leader Wirathu, a monk once dubbed the “face of Buddhist terror” for his vitriolic anti-Muslim sermons.
“The preaching event by U Wirathu is banned because of security reasons at this moment,” a regional government official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
Director of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture Aung San Win also told AFP the government was trying to restrict “writing that could incite tension over the assassination of NLD party legal adviser U Ko Ni.”
The ministry warned of fake news circulating on social media aimed at “destroying the stability of the state using harsh words that could lead to religious conflicts.”
Ko Ni was a rare voice for religious pluralism and his killing has sent shock waves through Myanmar’s already hard-pressed Muslim community.
The 63-year-old also criticized the military’s lingering grip on power over the new civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, which has described his death as a political assassination.
His death comes amid soaring tensions between Buddhists and Muslims, which make up about five percent of Myanmar’s population, after the army launched a deadly crackdown on the Muslim Rohingya minority in northern Rakhine.
The military say they are hunting Rohingya “terrorists” who carried out raids on police border posts in October.
But escapees in Bangladesh, where almost 70,000 have fled, claim the military is raping, torturing and killing Muslims in a campaign rights groups say could amount to crimes against humanity.
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Myanmar Buddhist monk muzzled after murder of Muslim lawyer
Myanmar Buddhist monk muzzled after murder of Muslim lawyer
Emails to Chinese dancers allegedly threatened Australian PM
SYDNEY: A security scare at the Australian prime minister’s residence this week was sparked by a bomb threat against an anti-Beijing Chinese dance troupe, the act’s hosts said Friday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was forced to evacuate his official residence in Canberra, The Lodge, on Tuesday over an unspecified “alleged security incident.”
Police said at the time that they found nothing suspicious in their search and declared there was no threat to the public, without saying what sparked the incident.
“We made the report to the national security agencies, including police,” Lucy Zhao, president of the Falun Dafa Association of Australia and host to the Shen Yun dance group, told AFP.
“We have to take it seriously.”
An email threat was sent two days earlier seeking to stop a performance in Australia by the New York-based dance group which is linked to the Falun Gong spiritual movement, also known as Falun Dafa.
A copy of the Chinese-language email provided to AFP said “large quantities of nitroglycerin explosives” had been placed in the prime minister’s residence.
“If the Shen Yun performance proceeds anyway, the prime minister’s residence will be blown into bloody ruins,” the email warned.
Zhao accused China’s Communist Party of seeking to stop performances by Shen Yun internationally, including by sending threats.
China banned Falun Gong, which it calls an “evil cult,” in 1999 after 10,000 members peacefully demonstrated outside a government building in Beijing.
In Beijing, a foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters this week that it was not aware of the facts behind the security incident.
“China has always opposed various acts of violence,” the spokesperson said.
“It must be pointed out that the so-called Shen Yun performances are not any kind of normal cultural activity, but is a political tool used by the Falun Gong organization to spread cult information and accumulate wealth.”
Founded in 1992, Falun Gong claims nearly 100 million followers and has been subject to “persistent persecution” in China, according to a January 2024 European Parliament resolution.
Despite being banned in China, it has found a global audience with Shen Yun performances around the world generating revenues of $46 million in 2022 alone, according to the ProPublica investigative news site.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was forced to evacuate his official residence in Canberra, The Lodge, on Tuesday over an unspecified “alleged security incident.”
Police said at the time that they found nothing suspicious in their search and declared there was no threat to the public, without saying what sparked the incident.
“We made the report to the national security agencies, including police,” Lucy Zhao, president of the Falun Dafa Association of Australia and host to the Shen Yun dance group, told AFP.
“We have to take it seriously.”
An email threat was sent two days earlier seeking to stop a performance in Australia by the New York-based dance group which is linked to the Falun Gong spiritual movement, also known as Falun Dafa.
A copy of the Chinese-language email provided to AFP said “large quantities of nitroglycerin explosives” had been placed in the prime minister’s residence.
“If the Shen Yun performance proceeds anyway, the prime minister’s residence will be blown into bloody ruins,” the email warned.
Zhao accused China’s Communist Party of seeking to stop performances by Shen Yun internationally, including by sending threats.
China banned Falun Gong, which it calls an “evil cult,” in 1999 after 10,000 members peacefully demonstrated outside a government building in Beijing.
In Beijing, a foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters this week that it was not aware of the facts behind the security incident.
“China has always opposed various acts of violence,” the spokesperson said.
“It must be pointed out that the so-called Shen Yun performances are not any kind of normal cultural activity, but is a political tool used by the Falun Gong organization to spread cult information and accumulate wealth.”
Founded in 1992, Falun Gong claims nearly 100 million followers and has been subject to “persistent persecution” in China, according to a January 2024 European Parliament resolution.
Despite being banned in China, it has found a global audience with Shen Yun performances around the world generating revenues of $46 million in 2022 alone, according to the ProPublica investigative news site.
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