Locals raise awareness about atrocities faced by Rohingya

Group wants government to take ‘an active role to right the wrong’

A small group of Hamiltonians is heading to Ottawa Wednesday to raise awareness of the atrocities plaguing the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

Members of the Support Group for Rohingya People in Hamilton are attending a special meeting convened by the House of Commons at the group’s request on the treatment of the Muslim minority population in Myanmar.

“We feel that Canada should take an active role in trying to right the wrong,” said Ali Ghouse, a member of the group and the chair of the Muslim Council of Greater Hamilton.

The local group first assembled at the end of September after the violence faced by the Rohingya people came to a head, said group member Noor Nizam.

The accounts of horror include the burning of entire Rohingya villages, killing, torturing, beheading and slaughtering men, women and children; mass rapes of young girls and women; and torturing and killing infants.

Since its formation, the group has raised around $15,000, collected medical kits to take to Bangladesh, and held a rally at city hall in October, which was attended by a couple hundred people.

At this rally, they passed a resolution leading to the scheduling of Wednesday’s meeting to discuss the crisis with parliamentarians along with Bob Rae, Canada’s special envoy for the Rohingya crisis, who will also speak at the gathering.

“We are trying to be the voice of the Rohingya in Hamilton,” Nizam said.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the group will ask the Canadian government step up to the plate and provide additional support to the Rohingya people beyond matching private donations, which they committed to doing until the end of November.

For Ghouse, those requests include providing humanitarian assistance for the Rohingya refugees outside Myanmar; for Canada to accept some Rohingya people as government-sponsored refugees; for the federal government to work with the United Nations to create “safe zones” and clear landmines in Myanmar’s Rakhine State; and for the government to call on Aung San Suu Kyi, who holds honorary Canadian citizenship, to end her silence on the violent attacks.

In addition, Nizam would like to see the Canadian Armed Forces Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) deployed to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh; more medical assistance provided to Rohingya refugees and those stranded in Rakhine State; and a research and development group created of house builders in the timber industry to come up with proposals for low-cost shelter for Rakhine State to replace the villages burned down.

This is only the start of the local group’s efforts.

Early in the new year, representatives from Hamilton plan to travel to Bangladesh, bringing medication with them to hand over to medical camps where they can later be dispersed to sick people, Ghouse said.

“If we don’t do it, then who will?” he said. “If Canada doesn’t do it, then who will?”