Iran Calls for Immediate Solution to Myanmar Crisis

Source farnews, 18 May

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mohammad Khazayee called on the international community and the regional countries to take immediate action to resolve the current crisis in the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar.

The Iranian envoy to the UN made the remarks in a meeting with the ambassadors of the member states of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in New York on Friday. "At a time when Muslim countries are concerned about the situation in Myanmar, the political whim of certain Western states to establish better relations with Myanmar's government has weakened the process of looking into the situation of Muslims in the country, and Muslim countries, unfortunately, are not using all their means (to push for an end to the violence)," Khazayee said. The Iranian envoy also voiced Iran's deep concern over the escalating violence and cases of human rights violations against Muslims in Myanmar. Meantime, Khazayee called on the OIC member states to prepare a resolution against the barbaric acts currently underway against Muslims in Myanmar. Earlier this month, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast renewed Tehran's call for an immediate halt to extreme violence in Myanmar. Mehman-Parast strongly criticized extreme ethnic violence in Myanmar that has also destroyed holy places buildings in Muslim residential areas. He said conflicts in Myanmar hurts the feelings of the whole Islamic world, stressing that such acts will also put the Myanmar political and economic situation in danger. Mehman-Parast further stressed the need to take serious action against the agents of such violence in Myanmar. He then urged the Myanmar government to cooperate root and branch with the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and contact group as well to prevent occurrence of such extremist actions and systematic conflicts in that country. Earlier in April, a leading rights watchdog, citing evidence of mass graves and forced displacement, said Myanmar has waged "a campaign of ethnic cleansing" against Rohingya Muslims. The Rohingya, who are denied citizenship by the country also known as Burma, have faced crimes against humanity including murder, persecution, deportation and forced transfer, New York-based Human Rights Watch said. Myanmar officials, community leaders and Buddhist monks organized and encouraged mobs backed by state security forces to conduct coordinated attacks on Muslim villages in October in the Western state of Rakhine, HRW said. "The Burmese government engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya that continues today through the denial of aid and restrictions on movement," said HRW deputy Asia director Phil Robertson. HRW noted that while ethnic cleansing was not a formal legal term, it was generally defined as a policy by one ethnic or religious group to remove another such group from certain areas by violent and terror-inspiring means. In Rakhine, more than 125,000 Rohingya and other Muslims have been forcibly displaced, denied access to humanitarian aid and are unable to return home, the group said. At least 180 people died in two outbreaks of Buddhist violence against Muslim in Rakhine since June 2012, according to the official toll, but rights groups believe the real figure is much higher. In a report based on more than 100 interviews, HRW said that it had uncovered evidence of four mass-grave sites in Rakhine, accusing the security forces of trying to destroy evidence of crimes.