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Analysts believe that the current military regime has inherited this tactic from the Ne Win government. In Burma, Muslims constitute just four percent of the population while Buddhists form eighty-nine percent. However, the Sept 11 terror attacks in America have had a strong impact on Muslims in Burma. "In Burmese people’s eyes, every Muslim is assumed to be a terrorist and evil because their original anti-Muslim sentiment has been fueled by these attacks," commented a Muslim man in Rangoon. "According to the Koran, all Muslims around the world are brothers and exist in the same body of Islam. So if anywhere in the world a Muslim is injured, it will hurt us the same as him and we are responsible for protecting him," he added. The hair on his forehead was still wet from washing before afternoon prayers. "I pray to Allah for our brothers in Afghanistan to be free from American bombing. That’s all I can do here because this is Burma, where Muslims live under the critical eyes of not only the government but also the Burmese people," he added. Currently, the military government has banned the holding of mass prayers by Muslim associations for Afghan people on security grounds. Since terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the Burmese military government has stepped up restrictions on Muslims in a country where they are already not allowed to travel without the authorities’ permission and religious gatherings are temporarily banned. Plainclothes officers and police are also stationed near every mosque in cities. Burmese officials claim that these are precautionary measure resulting from religious clashes. The government has sealed off the road with barbed wire where the American Embassy is located, and two police trucks loaded with police have been on stand-by. The areas around diplomats’ residences are also packed with security police. Despite the fact that the Burmese government denied the recent report by Jane’s Intelligence Review about the existence in Burma of Islamic fundamentalist groups trained in camps in Afghanistan by Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network, they cannot deny the existence of Muslim separatist groups in western and southern Burma, such as the Arakan Rohingya Islamic Front (ARIF), based on the western border with Bangladesh. Yet these groups seem to be moderate when compared to other Muslim separatist groups in the region, as there has never been a suicide attack in Burma’s history. Also there is no concrete evidence showing they have any connection with bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda. "If they were active like this, all Rohingya groups would have been strong along the western border for a long time," said Thet Lwin Oo, a spokesperson for the Muslim Information Committee of Burma (MICB). In the western region of Burma, most ethnic Arakanese Buddhist associations consistently and intensely oppose the recognition of Rohingya Muslims as one of the national races of Burma. Meanwhile, the allegation that some Rohingyas (Muslims inhabiting the western border of Burma) are serving in the Taliban army has appeared in the country, according to reports in foreign-based radio stations’ Burmese-language programs. "We have to understand that there may be some Rohingyas serving in the Taliban army, but they do not represent all Rohingya," said Thet Lwin Oo. Nevertheless, since the information was released about the possible infiltration of Muslim extremists from neighboring countries to carry out terrorist acts inside the country, the Burmese authorities have conducted late-night searches of homes throughout Muslim areas of Arakan State, the western border state with Bangladesh, and Tenasserim Division, which borders southern Thailand’s predominantly Muslim far south. "Some Burmese assume after seeing the government’s security measure around embassies that the country is now facing a threat by Muslim extremists," said a businessman in Rangoon, who declined to give his name. "We Muslims in Burma support only Afghan civilians, not the Taliban government," Thet Lwin Oo insists. However, for some Burmese Buddhists, Muslims are evil, not just because of the recent demolition of the World Trade Center, but also because of the destruction of Buddha statues and other remnants of Buddhism in Afghanistan by the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime. Many Buddhists in Burma believe that the American bombing in Afghanistan is the karmic result of Taliban’s destruction of the precious Buddha statues. But analysts point out that the Burmese military regime is also guilty of destroying mosques and Muslim religious schools and villages throughout Burma. The continuing presence of thousands of ethnic Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh highlights the Burmese regime’s repression of Muslims. "We are discriminated against by the government. You see, most high-ranking government officers are non-Muslims. Showing that we are Islmaic on our ID is a big deterrent to achieving a higher position in a governing body," expressed a Muslim with a perceivable scar on his forehead, which is the mark of longtime prayer.