INDIA SUMMARIZED

A senior government official in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine State has pledged to tear down all illegally constructed buildings including mosques and Muslim religious schools, according to a report Wednesday. More than 3,000 structures including 12 mosques and 35 madrasas (religious schools) built without permission from local authorities in the majority Muslim townships of Maungdaw and Buthidaung in Rakine’s north are facing demolition, the local Voice Daily newspaper reported. Rakhine’s security and border affairs minister, Col. Htein Linn, was quoted as saying, “we are working to bring down the mosques and other buildings constructed without permission in accordance with the law.” The plan to demolish religious buildings has led to concern among residents, with Muslim leaders indicating that such moves could create unnecessary tensions between the Buddhist and Muslim communities in the western state, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reported. “This plan could result in relig...