Karachi
Civil society organisations, peace activists and journalists on Friday expressed concern over mass murder and increasing violations of human rights in Myanmar.In a joint statement, they demanded of the people and government of Myanmar to abide by international law and respect the basic rights of all communities.
Recent weeks have witnessed horrific events in in the restive Rakhine state of the southeast Asian country, where mobs have targeted the Rohingya population, resulting in the brutal murder of many and the displacement of tens of thousands of children, women, and men.
Appallingly, the statement said, the Myanmar military leadership had labelled the Rohingyas as an ethnic and religious minority not deserving full protection as citizens.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan Peace Coalition, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research Executive Director Karamat Ali, B M Kutty, Aly Ercelan, Adam Malik, Qamrul Hasan, Lala Hasan Pathan, Iqbal Alvi, Mahnaz Rahman of the Aurat Foundation and Women Action Forum, Latif Mughal, Ziaur Rahman, Syed Moazzam Ali, Muneer Memon, former chief secretary Jawaid Ashraf Hussain, Shaheen Salahuddin and Qazi Javed deplored the situation in Myanmar, calling it intolerable for those committed to the acceptance of universal human rights.
They urged Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Ski, also a winner of the Noble Peace Prize, to assume leadership of moves to put an end to the ongoing violence, and to create conditions for the safe return of refugees to their homes.
Her voice was heard around the globe, they said, calling on her to take bold steps to ensure state and social protection for the Rohingya community.
“We urge the Buddhist community around the world to remind the people of Myanmar of the priority given to peace and respect in the exemplary teachings of Buddha.”
The neighbouring Bangladesh behaved most callously, forcing thousands to live in hiding or squalid refugee settlements along the border, said the civil society organisations.
Having suffered under oppressive, military rule for decades, these people were well aware of the terror afflicted by the absence of democracy, they said.
Only through full and sincere protection of all residents as equal citizens would Myanmar commit adherence to the desperately sought democracy, they added.
They also demanded of Pakistan and other Saarc and Asean governments to forcefully remind the government of Myanmar that the inhuman treatment sharply retarded the progress towards democracy and was therefore unacceptable.
“We demand of the people and government of Bangladesh to provide full refugee status to those compelled to flee Myanmar. Security of adequate food and human shelter must be the first priority in the sincere protection of refugees. Saarc and Asean countries must consider their obligation to assist Bangladesh in supporting the same.”
The UN human rights chief warned on Friday that an initial move by Myanmar security forces to quash violence in the restive Rakhine state hd turned into a crackdown against Muslim minorities.
“We have been receiving a stream of reports from independent sources alleging discriminatory and arbitrary responses by security forces, and even their instigation of and involvement in clashes,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a statement.
Clashes between Buddhist ethnic Rakhine and Muslim Rohingya communities which erupted early June in the western Myanmar state has left at least 78 people dead and 70,000 homeless, Pillay’s office said, according to official figures.
MWM holds demo
The Majlis-e-Wahdat-e Muslimeen (MWM) held a demonstration in Kharadar against the massacre of Muslims in Myanmar, which started over a month back.
MWM leaders appealed to the UN peacekeeping force to protect the Muslims falling victim to violence on religious grounds.
They were addressing the participants of the demonstration held at the Khoja Mosque. They appealed to the international community, especially the Muslim countries, to exert diplomatic pressure on the Myanmar government to stop its atrocities on Muslims and protect their basic human rights.
The speakers strongly condemned how the Muslim countries had become silent spectators. They pleaded with the government of Pakistan to stop paying lip service to the brutality and instead mount pressure on the Myanmar government to stop the mass killings committed at the hands of Buddhists.
These Muslims were in a desperate situation as thousands have been killed and scores of houses, villages and mosques had been burned, he added.
The Rohingyas of Myanmar have suffered persecution and discrimination for decades. Quoting the Refugees International, he said what began as an inter-communal violence had evolved into large-scale state-sponsored violence against the Rohingya.
The leaders said it was regrettable that the UN Security Council and Human Rights Watch were silent.
American organisations, they stressed, in Muslim countries rightly showed concern for Palestine, Kashmir and other issues but were totally oblivious to this tragedy.
KBA condemns killings
Members of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) organised a rally on MA Jinnah Road, which strongly condemned the killing of Muslims in Myanmar and demanded of the government to take up the issue at government level.
The lawyers led by KBA President Mehmoodul Hasan and Secretary Khalid Mumtaz also rejected the foreign policy of the government, saying the government as busy in developing good ties with countries which were killing Muslims.
The government should take up the issue at government level, convey the feelings of the people in Pakistan to the Burmese government and use its good offices to get the killings stopped.
ST calls for UN action
Sunni Tehreek chief Mohammad Sarwat Ejaz Qadri has said the Organisation of Islamic Conference and the UN should take notice of the massacre in Myanmar.
In a statement issued, he said these poor Muslims needed immediate relief and the government of Pakistan should officially raise a voice against the mass murder.
If any attempts to bring the judiciary and the Constitution in confrontation was made then it would negate the spirit of democracy as supremacy of the judiciary was utmost, he stressed.
Qadri also met MQM Coordination Committee Deputy Convener Dr Farooq Sattar at the ST head office. Sattar gave a message of the MQM founder, Altaf Hussain, for holding of an all parties’ conference or a roundtable to discuss the present crisis.
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