Attacks on Rohingya are ethnic cleansing, says UN
MYANMAR: Aung San Suu Kyi was under growing international pressure yesterday after the United Nation’s top human rights official accused her government of ‘‘textbook ethnic cleansing’’ and the Dalai Lama criticised Buddhist nationalist attacks on Myanmar’s Rohingya ethnic minority.
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said Myanmar seemed to be carrying out a ‘‘systematic attack’’ on civilians – designed to expel the mainly Muslim minority from the predominantly Buddhist country.
‘‘Because Myanmar has refused access to human rights investigators, the current situation cannot yet be fully assessed, but the situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing,’’ Zeid told the UN Human Rights Council.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh in the past two weeks after violence flared in neighbouring Burma, where the stateless Muslim minority has endured decades of persecution.
Zeid’s condemnation came as the Dalai Lama also spoke out for the first time about the crisis, saying Buddha would have helped Muslims fleeing violence.
‘‘Those people who are harassing some Muslims, they should remember Buddha,’’ the Dalai Lama said. ‘‘He would definitely give help to those poor Muslims.‘‘
The growing international outrage condemning the violent treatment of the Rohingya has reportedly made little impact on the Burmese military who were still threatening to burn villages, said human rights activists.
Tun Khin, president of the Myanmar Rohingya Organisation UK, said he had received multiple calls yesterday from desperate residents in Buthidaung, Rakhine state, who said soldiers had threatened to kill them and burn down their homes if they remained.
‘‘They [military] are telling villagers ‘we will kill all of you, we will burn all the villages’,’’ he said. ‘‘The villagers are asking if the international community can do anything. We are witnessing the most horrific situation in our history.’’
Burma says it is carrying out counterterrorist operations in Rakhine state against the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, a militant group that carried out a series of deadly attacks on border guard posts on August 25.
At least 313,000 Rohingya refugees have fled Burma since violence flared on August 25, the group co-ordinating the relief operation said.
The figure means at least 400,000 people, or more than a third of the estimated 1.1 million Rohingya population of Rakhine, have entered Bangladesh since an outbreak of violence last October.
– Telegraph Group