266 Southwick Before and after the incidents, a local order of Buddhist monks and a Rakhine nationalist party issued numerous statements calling for the removal of Rohingya and isolation of Muslims more generally.18 In March 2013, violence among Muslim and Buddhist communities in the central town of Meiktila resulted in 40 deaths and 12,000 internally displaced. According to Human Rights Watch, local police and NaSaKa did little to prevent violence against Muslim communities and subsequently participated in atrocities.19 In August 2012, the national government formed the Rakhine Investigation Commission, whose purpose was to ‘discover the root causes of communal violence and provide recommendations for the prevention of recurrence of violence in the future and promotion of peaceful coexistence.’20 The Commission was criticised for lacking a Rohingya representative and for referring to the Rohingya community as ‘Bengalis,’ decisions that reflected the depth of ethnic tensions.21 Notably, the report found that ‘only 4 percent of Rakhine interviewed stated that Bengalis inside the country should not be given citizenship.’22 Moreover: Although the citizenship status of some Bengalis living in Rakhine State is still unclear, the government and various organizations should not violate human rights principles in dealing with them, and should ensure that their human security concerns and basic social needs are addressed.’23 18 19 20 21 22 23 Human Rights Watch, All You Can Do Is Pray: Crimes against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State (22 April 2013) 3. See also Hanna Hinstrom, ‘The Freedom to Hate,’ Foreign Policy (Washington DC, 14 June 2012) <www .foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/06/14/the_freedom_to_hate?print=yes&hidecomments =yes&page=full#> accessed 24 September 2013 (discussing how a freer media environment has enabled the proliferation of anti-Rohingya views). Human Rights Watch, All You Can Do Is Pray (n 18) 3. President Thein Shein abolished NaSaKa in July 2013. Alisa Tang, ‘Myanmar Abolishes Notorious Border Guard Force,’ Thomson Reuters Foundation (London, 15 July 2013) <www.trust.org/item/20130715135951 -b3jw2/?source=hptop> accessed 24 September 2013. Rakhine Inquiry Commission, Final Report of Inquiry Commission on Sectarian Violence in Rakhine State (8 July 2013) 2. International Crisis Group, The Dark Side of Transition: Violence against Muslims in Myanmar, International (1 October 2013) 8 n 45 (citing potential concern that including a Rohingya leader on the commission ‘would have been counterproductive by making any such decision the main focus of discussion, and likely making it impossible to get any Rakhine representatives to join the commission’). Rakhine Inquiry Commission (n 20) 63. Ibid 64. tilburg law review 19 (2014) 261-275