Arakan News Agency
The Burmese authorities stormed a Rohingya mosque named Alhaji Ismail mosque in Rathidaung while performing dawn prayers, chased, assault and the arrest of a number of worshippers on charges of disobeying orders issued by the government not to prayer in mosques before the authorities closed the mosque with a large chain on the door to prevent from trying to open it in the future. The Burm…ese authorities issued an injunction prohibiting the Rohingya Muslims to prayer and perform prayers in mosques and mosques or even inside their homes following the events of sectarian violence committed by Buddhists against Rohingya in mid-2012.
In this context, Rohingya activist told ANA Ayyub al-Saidi, that the Government of Burma’s plans to close and disable all the historical mosques scattered in many cities such as Buthidaung, Rathidaung, Akyab, Maungdaw and other city after its reluctance to be demolished and removed altogether for fear of provoking public opinion against it, Saidi said that the Muslims of Rohingya in Arakan lost a lot of old and ancient historic mosques during setbacks those were built since the fifties of the last century, pointing out that the reason why Buddhism campaigns against Rohingya mosques because it represents a historic and civilized evidence of the value of the depth of Rohingya presence on the land of Arakan .
It is noteworthy that al-Haji Ismail mosque in Rathidaung is one of the ancient mosques built with the old Ottoman-style architecture and was created in the year 1686 AD, according to a local source.
