MEIKTILA, MYANMAR – 2013/06/14: Khaing Thinzar Oos, aged 23, holds a photograph of her younger brother who was murdered in the violence that struck the city of Meiktila in March 2013 where Muslims were attacked by Buddhist extremists.
The waves of anti-muslim violence paralyzes Myanmar and threatens the democratisation of the country. Whilst the historic reforms of president Thein Sein are being praised by the outside world many people are in shock. How is it that Buddhists who are well known for their humanism and pacifism, bear responsibility for the most brutal massacres and persecutions?
In this extensive story we meet Burmese Muslims who struggle for their lives in Bangkok, the
Rohingya IDP-camps of Myanmar’s Rakhine state and in the cities of Meiktila and Mandalay. They all bear the same questions – why are they being attacked and killed? What has triggered this primitive hate and violence towards the Muslim community in Myanmar? In our search for answers we also meet the notorious monk Wirathu in Mandalay; founder of the widely criticized anti-Muslim movement Campaign 969.. (Photo by Jonas Gratzer/LightRocket via Getty Images)
