Extremist Myanmar monk Wirathu, once dubbed the “face of Buddhist terror” for his anti-Muslim diatribes, toured Rakhine State on Thursday in a provocative visit soon after a bloody army crackdown on the Muslim Rohingya minority. The firebrand monk visited Maungdaw, a town near the epicentre of the violence in the north of the state, according to Phoe Thar, who is travelling in his retinue, told the reporters by phone. Wirathu’s presence in Rakhine is likely to fuel religious tensions between the Buddhist Rakhine and the maligned Rohingya, as well as with Myanmar’s wider Muslim population. Khine Pyi Soe, vice-president of the Arakan (Rakhine) National Party which reviles the Rohingya, welcomed Wirathu’s visit. Nationalist leaders said Wirathu had gone to Maungdaw to donate rice to local ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, several thousand of whom were also displaced by the recent violence.

Source: Dhaka Tribune May 04, 2017 11:00 UTC