E/CN.4/1993/62 page 76 and churches with funds from the royal treasury. Royal edicts were issued, allowing the subjects to profess any religion of their choice. The Myanmar king, King Mindon Mingyi, donated and arranged to build a rest-house at Mecca for the benefit of the Myanmar Muslims who went on Haj pilgrimages. Side by side with Buddhist temples, there are mosques and churches all over the country. There are 66 mosques in Yangon alone and some 1,300 in the whole country. This deep-seated tradition of religious tolerance is well-maintained right up to this day. People of Islamic faith are given facilities to make their Haj pilgrimage to Mecca. Facilities are also extended to the Christians to attend religious conferences of various denominations. With regard to the allegation that the people of Islamic faith in Myanmar are being persecuted, I should like to refer to the statement made by the General Secretary of All Myanmar Moulvis Headquarters made on 24 July 1992 at the Zafar Shah Mosque in Yangon to the people of the Muslim faith. He categorically stated that the allegations were fabricated by some big countries and certain foreign news agencies. Again, on 25 July 1992, at a ceremony welcoming back the Haj pilgrims, the Myanmar Muslims National Affairs Committee Chairman also stated that there is freedom of religion in Myanmar since the period of the Myanmar kings and called on those who crossed over to Bangladesh to come back to Myanmar with trust in the government. I should like to stress here that because of the fact a large majority of the Myanmar nationals are Buddhists, the Government is prudent and careful in taking measures so that there is no discrimination against the other religious faiths in Myanmar. For this reason, a separate Ministry for Religious Affairs headed by a Minister of Cabinet rank was established in March 1992. This Ministry is to facilitate the promotion and propagation of the various religious faiths, including Islam, in Myanmar. Now, I should like to refer to the matter of people who crossed over to Bangladesh. Since the first Anglo-Myanmar war in 1824, Muslims of Bengali stock had entered Rakhine (Arakan) State illegally from across the border. After annexation of Myanmar, the British administration adopted a policy of liberalizing immigration regulations in order to import labour from India to work on the agricultural lands largely devoted to growing paddy. During the course of the years, the number of such immigrants increased culminating in illegal settlement creating problems for the local populace. Recently, the Immigration officials conducted routine checking of the National Registration Cards in the area. Those who did not want to submit themselves to examination of their registration cards fled to the other side of the country. Among those who fled were mostly poor people who were lured by stories that relief food and goods were being distributed on the other side. Some left because they were threatened by terrorist insurgents to burn down their houses. The flow of these people to Bangladesh was essentially an illegal immigration problem. This problem was the cause of the people going over to that country. The same problem was the cause of the outflow of people of Bengali stock back in 1978. Now about the so-called ’Rohingya people’. The so-called ’Rohingyas’ never belonged to the national races or national racial groups of Myanmar.