Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice President Iftikhar Ali Malik Wednesday vehemently called on the international community to act sharply against the recent high grade atrocities perpetrated against the Rohingya innocent and unarmed Muslim community in Myanmar as the fatalities in the last 10 days swelled to thousands.
Talking to media here on Wednesday, Iftikhar Ali Malik strongly condemned the series of crimes, assaults and massacres committed against the Muslim Rohingya minority in the Rakhine region of Myanmar, which resulted in the killing and displacement of thousands of innocent Muslims in the region. He said those crimes against the Rohingya Muslims were brutal and were acts of terrorism aimed at depriving of their lives for no reason.
He said Myanmar government must take full responsibility for these "heinous crimes" and the international community must shoulder its humanitarian and moral responsibilities in safeguarding the rights of minorities and freedom of religion and belief worldwide. He called for joining international efforts to put an end to the sufferings and plight of Rohingya minority and to work for maintaining peace and security in the region through the immediate cessation of all violence and bloodshed.
He urged the Muslim leadership especially Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Gulf states to raise the issue at the United Nations General Assembly in New York later this month. He also suggested that all Muslim countries to stop all trade ties until the government of Myanmar takes measures to prevent the atrocities being committed against Rohingya Muslims.
He also urged Bangladesh to open its borders for people fleeing the ongoing violence in Myanmar's Rakhine State. "It was predicted and could have been prevented," Malik said. "Decades of persistent and systematic human rights violations, including the very violent security responses to the attacks since October 2016, have almost certainly contributed to the nurturing of violent extremism, with everyone ultimately losing," he added.
Urging Myanmar to facilitate humanitarian access to Rakhine, he said, "The State has a duty to protect those within its territory - without discrimination." He also said "Aung San Suu Kyi, who as Myanmar's state counsellor is the country's de facto leader, is rightly regarded as one of the most inspiring figures of our age but the treatment of the Rohingya is alas besmirching the reputation of Burma. "She faces huge challenges in modernising her country. I hope she can now use all her remarkable qualities to unite her country, to stop the violence and to end the prejudice that afflicts both Muslims and other communities in Rakhine.
Yet Suu Kyi has remained conspicuously silent about the reported atrocities, even as world leaders and the representatives of international organizations have issued a flurry of statements. Burmese officials blame Rohingya militants for the burning of homes and civilian deaths, but rights monitors and Rohingya say the Burmese Army is trying to force them out through a campaign of arson and killings," he added.
At least 87,000 refugees from Burma's western Rakhine state have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh since violence escalated in late August, according to the United Nations, overwhelming existing camps for the displaced, he maintained.