Skip to main content

Myanmar Muslim refugees facing extreme hardship in India

By Munawar Zaman
Press TV
May 5, 2014

The Rohingya refugees who have fled Myanmar over increasing violence against them are facing a humanitarian crisis at camps in India, Press TV reports.

Hundreds of Rohingya refugees are camping out on the outskirts of the Indian capital, New Delhi.

A Press TV correspondent who visited one of the camps in New Delhi says the refugees suffer from lack of food and medicine.

The hardship faced by the Rohingya refugees seems to be so severe that even the aid program by the United Nations refugee agency cannot alleviate it.

“We are facing extreme hardship especially when someone gets sick. In recent weeks, we lost one of our brothers due to lack of medical help,” Mohamad Haroon, a refugee, told Press TV.

Sakuara Begum, a woman refugee, also said, “We don’t get help from anyone. We are facing extreme hardship. My father died recently as he was sick and we couldn’t afford medicine for him. We are in desperate need of food and medicine for our children. If the condition like this continues for a long time, our family will die of hunger.” 

The refugees have been forced to leave their homeland Myanmar over ongoing violence against them there.

Many see the violence as an ethnic cleansing backed by the Myanmar government.

Reports say hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar are suffering from a severe shortage of food and drinking water. Humanitarian aid deliveries have slowed down in Rakhine State as a result of an escalation in sectarian violence.

Hundreds of people – most of them Rohingyas – have been killed in Myanmar since the outbreak of the sectarian violence back in 2012.

According to the UN, the Rohingya Muslims are one of the world’s most persecuted communities.

The Myanmar government has been repeatedly criticized by human rights groups for failing to protect the Rohingyas.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Amnesty International's T. Kumar to Speak at the Islamic Society of North America's Convention

Amnesty International's T. Kumar to Speak at the Islamic Society of North America's Convention  Advocacy Director T. Kumar to Speak on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (Burma)  Contact: Carolyn Lang, clang@aiusa.org, 202-675-8759  /EINPresswire.com/ (Washington, D.C.) -- Amnesty International Advocacy Director T. Kumar will address the Islamic Society of North America's 49th Annual Convention "One Nation Under God: Striving for the Common Good," in regards to the minority community of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (Burma) on Saturday, September 1, at 11:30 am at the Washington DC Convention Center. 

American Buddhists Promote 969 Movement With Website

Irrawaddy News: July 9, 2013 A group of American Buddhists has launched an English-language website promoting the 969 movement, in response to negative media surrounding the ultra-nationalist Buddhist campaign in Burma. The website aims to dispel “myths” about the movement, with a letter from nationalist monk Wirathu to a Time magazine reporter whose article about 969 was banned in Burma.  “We’re not officially endorsed by Ven Wirathu at this time but will send a delegation to his monastery soon,” a spokesperson for the site said via email, adding that the group would create a nonprofit to coordinate “969 activities worldwide in response to religious oppression.”

Rohingya Activist Nominated for Human Rights Award

PHR congratulates Zaw Min Htut, a Burmese Rohingya activist, on his nomination for the 2011  US State Department Human Rights Defenders Award . Zaw Min Htut has been working for Rohingyas’ rights through the Burmese Rohingya Association of Japan since he fled Burma in 1998. Prior to that he was a student activist in Burma, and was detained for his participation in protests in 1996. In Japan, Zaw Min Htut has organized protests at the Burmese embassy and has written books on the history of Rohingya.