Times of Oman

Suu Kyi under pressure as Rohingya flee Myanmar

The treatment of Myanmar’s roughly 1.1 million Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing Suu Kyi, who has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the minority that has long complained of persecutio­n

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SHAMLAPUR/DHAKA (Bangladesh): Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has come under pressure from countries with large Muslim population­s including Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan to halt violence against Rohingya Muslims after nearly 125,000 of them fled to Bangladesh.

Reuters reporters saw hundreds of exhausted Rohingyas arriving on boats near the village of Shamlapur in Bangladesh near the Myanmar border.

The village, facing the Bay of Bengal, appears to have become the newest receiving point for the refugees after authoritie­s cracked down on human trafficker­s in a different part of the Teknaf peninsula.

Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi was due in the Bangladesh­i capital, Dhaka, on Tuesday after meeting the Nobel peace laureate and army chief Min Aung Hlaing to urge that Myanmar halt the bloodshed.

“The security authoritie­s need to immediatel­y stop all forms of violence there and provide humanitari­an assistance and developmen­t aid for the short and long term,” Retno said after her meetings in the Myanmar capital.

The latest violence in Myanmar’s northweste­rn Rakhine state began on August 25, when Rohingya insurgents attacked dozens of police posts and an army base.

Counter-offensive

The ensuing clashes and a military counter-offensive have killed at least 400 people and triggered the exodus of villagers to Bangladesh. The treatment of Buddhistma­jority Myanmar’s roughly 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya is the biggest challenge facing Suu Kyi, who has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out for the minority that has long complained of persecutio­n.

Myanmar says its security forces are fighting a legitimate campaign against “terrorists” responsibl­e for a string of attacks on police posts and the army since last October.

Myanmar officials blamed Rohingya militants for the burning of homes and civilian deaths but rights monitors and Rohingya fleeing to neighbouri­ng Bangladesh say the Myanmar army is trying to force them out with a campaign of arson and killings.

“Indonesia is taking the lead, and ultimately there is a possibilit­y of ASEAN countries joining in,” H.T. Imam, a political adviser to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, told Reuters.

He was referring to the 10-member Associatio­n of South East Asian Nations that groups both Myanmar and Indonesia.

“If we can keep the pressure on Myanmar from ASEAN, from India as well, that will be good.”

Turkey called the violence against the Rohingya “genocide” and offered Bangladesh help with the refugee influx.

Pakistan, home to a large Rohingya community, has expressed “deep anguish” and urged the world body, the Organisati­on of Islamic Countries, to act.

New arrivals and residents in Shamlapur said hundreds of boats had arrived on Monday and Tuesday with several thousand people, after a crackdown on trafficker­s at an island about 50 km south.

Reuters reporters saw men, women, children and their belongings, even live chickens, disembark from one boat.

“We fled to a hill when the shooting started. The army set fire to houses,” said Salim Ullah, 28, a farmer from Myanmar’s village of Kyauk Pan Du, gripping a sack containing his few remaining belongings, as he gazed exhausted at the beach.

“We got on the boat at daybreak. I came with my mother, wife and two children. There were 40 people on a boat, including 25 women.”

The latest estimate of the numbers who have crossed the border into Bangladesh since August 25, based on calculatio­ns by U.N. workers in the south Asian country, is 123,600.

 ?? - Reuters ?? HUMANITARI­AN CRISIS: Rohingya refugees stretch their hands for food near Balukhali in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on September 4, 2017.
- Reuters HUMANITARI­AN CRISIS: Rohingya refugees stretch their hands for food near Balukhali in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, on September 4, 2017.

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