Two Pakistanis fined over mosque sermons in Myanmar

A Myanmar court has fined two Pakistani nationals and ordered them to leave the country after finding them guilty of breaching their visa conditions by preaching at mosques.

Amed Zulfiqar, 63 and his 29-year-old son were arrested and charged for giving sermons at three mosques in the commercial capital Yangon. They were fined 100,000 kyat (85 dollars) each.

"They paid the fine and we escorted them to the airport to leave the country," local police officer Tin Win said.

The duo arrived in Yangon on July 26 on tourist visas and gave the sermons without obtaining official permission, police said.

Anti-Muslim sentiment has risen in Myanmar in recent years, notably since communal violence broke out in western Rakhine state in mid-2012 and spread to other parts of the country. Myanmar is 80 percent Buddhist, but includes a well-established Muslim minority of an estimated 4 per cent of the population.    (dpa)

Visit Qantara.de's dossier on Myanmar