26th,June,2016
M-Media
Reported by Phyu Lay
The local authorities have decreed to have the Muslim prayer hall in Le-pyin village, Lone Khin, Hpakant Township, Kachin State demolished by June 30 2016.
Quite recently, the prayer room has been made way for the sake of Lone Khin – Lae Pyin bridge construction, losing some part of its land and yet not receiving compensation from the authorities. During the construction, two warehouses for storage were built, one in the Prayer Hall compound and one in the monastery, and there were left after the construction.
“As the Mosque (prayer Hall) is close to the bridge now, it becomes much valuable. People say there are illegal constructions here, indeed the new buildings here were built during the bridge construction _ for storage and for the construction workers’ use and they were just left behind afterwards. The authorities are much aware of it. We’re told to demolish these, and we did as we didn’t want any problem. Then we’re told to demolish the Imam’s (Muslim community leader’s) house. Indeed that house has been here for more than 20 years, but we agreed to do so as we are trying to avoid tensions. Now we’re told to also demolish the prayer hall, this is too much and we can’t. We are not going to destroy our prayer hall on our own, even if it has to be done inevitably”, said by a Muslim local there.
It’s been reported that, on June 20, the locals had to confront with some people coming there to demolish the prayer hall. One of the witnesses reported that those people were not the locals from the area and there were also some Buddhist monks in the mob.
The trustee members of the prayer hall contacted the local authorities and pleaded them, but they were forced to have it demolished as soon as possible, latest by June 30. The land was donated by a Muslim local U Ye Maung before 1990, and the hall was officially constructed then.
Since the elected government lead by the ruling party NLD administered by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi taken over the government, the revered monk from Karen State Myaing Gyi Ngu Sayardaw has built pagodas by force in the Christian Church compound and on the street next to Muslim’s mosque, no action has been taken by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee Yet, the officially built more-than-twenty-year-old prayer room from Lone Khin village is about to be destroyed, and the local authorities and the Ministry of Religious Affairs have not intervened in this matter.
