MP Sadiq Khan MP highlights suffering of Burmese Muslims

Asian Image, 6th August 2012

 

Sadiq Khan MP has raised concerns with the Foreign Secretary over the safety and security of Burma’s Muslim Rohingyas community.

A report from Human Rights Watch was published on 1st August, and highlights the lack of action by the Burma government to stop escalating sectarian violence between two Burmese minority populations, the Arakan Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims, in June 2012.

The sectarian clashes began when an incendiary pamphlet was circulated, claiming that an Arakan woman was raped and killed by three Muslim men.

iolent reprisals by both communities continued, and escalated, until the military junta, which governs Burma, declared a state of emergency in Rakhine State on 10th June.

The state of emergency resulted in a concerted period of violence being used against Rohingya communities by state security forces. The Human Rights Watch report claims that 78 people reported to have been killed is a conservative figure, and that 100,000 persons have been displaced.

Sadiq Khan MP said: “The violence towards the Muslim Rohingya is extremely serious and causing unnecessary bloodshed and suffering.
"It is crucial that the violence ends immediately. Especially in this holy month of Ramadhan, I have been inundated with British citizens expressing concern about the plight of these innocent Burmese Muslims.