Two Muslim youths were barred from participating in discussion at the All Myanmar Youths conference held in Panglong Town in Southern Shan State. They were allowed to join only as observers. The conference was attended by hundreds of delegates including about 30 representing Bamar. The two Muslim youths were initially registered as Bama delegates. The youth gathering was held at the site in Panglong Town where the landmark 1947 Union treaty signed. One of the rejected participants, Ko Lwan Moe Aung, 34, said he and other Muslim Ma Thet Su Yi, 30 were initially allowed to join as Burama representatives, but when they showed their citizenship identification cards for their entry pass they were told not to participate in the discussion after it was found out from the IDs that they were Muslims. “They (the conference organisers) told us they only allow people belong to pure Bama race to participate in discussion. But my citizenship IDs mention my religion as Islam while Ma Thet Su Yee card mention her race as Indian/Burma. That is why we were barred from joining in the discussion but to attend only as observers,” Ko Lwan Moe Aung said. He said it was regrettable that the people with the mix ethnicity were barred from speaking at the civil society conference, which was promised to be an all-inclusive event. The human rights activists has criticised barring of the two youths based on their race and religion. They said it was violation of the rights of the Muslims, which represent 4 per cent of Myanmar’s total population. The five-day conference was attended by more than 6000 participants. Speaking to Frontier, Ma Thet Su Yi said, “I went to Panglong to attend the conference but I declined to join it after I was told that I would be allowed only as an observer due to my ethnicity and religion. We were told to show our citizenship ID only after arriving at the conference venue”. An organiser of the conference confirmed that the two Muslims were barred from speaking at the conference, but he said there was no pressure on the two to leave the conference. He said the two had walked out voluntarily. Reference: Frontier Myanmar