Alwaght- Iranian Foreign Minister called on the international community to act in order to stop the ongoing massacre of Muslim minority in Myanmar.
In a letter to the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, Iranian FM Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the world should act to stop rights violations against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
The ethnic Muslims have not only been deprived of their most basic right — i.e. the right to belong to a country and a government that would protect them — they are also being exposed to killings and violent and inhumane treatment on a daily basis, he wrote.
He also called on the his counterparts in Islamic countries to raise the issue during their upcoming meeting as conference of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 19 January and said meeting reflects the depth of concern on the part of Islamic governments about the ethnic Muslims’ conditions.
The Rohingya have been subjected to persecution in Myanmar since 2012. Extremist Buddhists have attacked the Muslims, mainly in the northern Rakhine State, recurrently, torching their houses and causing them bodily harm.
Since October last year, however, the Muslims have faced increased violence. Back then, the Myanmar’s military imposed a siege on Rakhine, and the government of Myanmar has blocked humanitarian and media access to the Muslims in the state ever since. There have been numerous reports of killings, rapes, and other forms of abuse being carried out against the besieged Muslims.
Tens of thousands of the members of the minority group have been forced to flee to neighboring regions, in Kachin State or across the border to Bangladesh.
Zarif said the “the systematic violation of the Rohingya Muslims’ basic rights and denying them citizenship… and forcing them to leave their homes” would have adverse consequences on peace and stability in Myanmar as well as in neighboring and regional countries.
The top Iranian diplomat said it is also expected of Guterres and his special envoy for Myanmar to communicate to the Myanmar’s government the demand of the international community and the Islamic world concerning immediate humanitarian access to affected areas.
