An Open Letter of Journalists For International Peace to Ban Ki Moon- Genocide of Muslims in Myanmar

Mr  Ban Ki Moon

Secretary General

United Nations Organization

New York, USA

NO: HQ/Myanmar /A-2

Dated: 6 July 2012

Subject : Massacre of Muslim Community in Myanmar

Dear Secretary General ,

I hope that letter of mine will find you in the best of health and prosperity. I am pushed to write the pathetic condition of Muslims of Myanmar , with special reference to the present massacre.

Myanmar has a population 75 million with meager portion of 0.7 million of the Muslim population. The Burmese Muslims have been under this affliction after 1962 when the Army usurped the power in Burma. It all started on 3rd June 2012 when 11 innocent Muslims were killed by the Burmese Army and the Buddhist mobs after bringing them down from a bus. A vehement protest was carried out in the Muslim majority province of Arakan, but the Protestants fell victims to the tyranny of the mobs and the army.

Trying to elude capture and an imminent killing; Burmese Muslims thronged to the Bangladeshi border, but all they met was dismay. The Government of Bangladesh refused to offer them asylum. Whish is another painful story 

Over 500 Muslim villages have been incinerated hither-to. Thousands have been exterminated. The persecution of the Burmese Muslims at the hands of the Buddhist mobs is at its full swing. Yet all the human rights organizations have maintained a criminal silence up till now. Has the Muslim world become so callous that they remain undeterred by such genocide?

This is not a new thing or an unprecedented massacre. Muslims have been a subject to such hostility even before. If we go through the annals of history we come to the very tenable conclusion that Muslims were always on the suffering side. Islam is a religion of peace and harmony. It doesn’t allow its followers to lay-waste any other tenet. This leaves behind a big question mark. Why are the followers of such a peaceful religion being oppressed from time to time?

In the present circumstances, UNO has more responsibility than that of just sending aid teams in the respective areas, who are even denied access to the grief-stricken Muslims .

According to our information the local Kachin groups have maintained  that the Burmese army is preventing UN aid agencies from transporting humanitarian supplies to 30 refugee camps sheltering thousands of Kachins who are now facing severe food shortages.

“The UN convoys were only permitted to transport aid to the five camps that are in the Mae Ja Yang area. There are 30 other sites still waiting for food and other supplies,” said Samang Kada Doi Pyi Sa, the chairman of the IDPs and Refugees Relief Committee, which is based in the town of Laiza along the Sino-Burmese border.

Laiza also hosts the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), which is engaged in an ongoing conflict with Burmese government forces in Burma’s restive northernmost region. In recent days, the Burmese army has reinforced its positions around the city where some 10,000 refugees or displaced persons are currently sheltering. Deprived of UN aid, refugees depend on supplies from the KIO. However, local groups say that the Kachin army is only able to provide the most basic rations such as rice, fish paste and salt.

“There are 1,500 schoolchildren who need education, but we do not have enough teachers or space for schools or classrooms. We can only cope with part-time classes,” said La Rip, the coordinator of the Laiza-based Relief Action Network for Refugees. He said that, typically, one teacher in Laiza managed about 100 students in one class. In other KIO-controlled areas, there are not enough schools to accommodate an estimated 21,000 children nor are there funds to build more schools. “The UN has a duty to help these refugees,” said Samang Kada Doi Pyi Sa, echoing the view from other local Kachin groups that the UN must find other ways to deliver its aid to those in need.

“The UN cannot just wait until the Burmese government gives them permission to enter,” he said. “They must take the initiative now—before it is too late.” Aid workers at camps have also voiced grave concerns over sanitary conditions, especially during this rainy season when tropical diseases can easily spread. Fighting in Kachin State broke out last June, ending a 17-year-old ceasefire between the KIO and government forces. Since then, about 70,000 villagers have been forced to flee their homes. The KIO says the Burmese government is fighting to gain control of the natural sources in Kachin State. Repeated attempts at negotiations and orders by Burmese President Thein Sein to find a ceasefire have so far failed to end military operations.

Dear Secretary General, in the case of powerful groups and countries and where the vested interests of ‘ super power’ are involved Security Council convened emergency meetings. Please tell me if similar genocide of Jews takes place  in Philistine or anywhere in the world? Would the UNO authorities refuse to opt military action?? I personally think the UNO is doing a irreversible mistake in the history of human civilization, by not dealing the situation with iron hand. Unfortunately, Even Nobel Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, does not consider Muslims as citizens. She is the lady , for whom Muslim youth have a very soft corner and launched campaigns in their respective countries during her arrest/ detention period.     

 

Unfortunately, the international Media personifies a highly objectionable behavior and keeps a criminal silence, besides all ‘International Champions’ of Human Rights in the European Union and USA.  The voice of Muslim leadership is also so feeble that they cannot hear it by their own ears. In the present circumstances I personally feel that UNO is the only hope which can play a positive role is stopping the Muslim genocide which may , God forbid another cause of the emanation of ‘Terrorists’ from that area as a reaction.

The fanaticism , extremism and terrorism have, at least one unanimous route-cause , that is the denial of civic rights to a particular group ( religious or ethnic) or party  and crush them or try to eliminate them by force.

I , as a President of Journalists For International Peace and my thousands of members around the globe appeal to you to take drastic steps to stop Muslim genocide in Myanmar . It is an historical moment where we can stop the birth of “terrorists’, which may become a permanent irk in the eyes of  ‘Human Rights Champions’ of the world. If the Muslims of Myanmar may take arms or some vested groups start equipping the Muslims, militarily , as alleged for the Muslim reactionary forces of Chechnya, the world will not be considered as safe “ according to the ‘ spirit’ of  the Charter of the UNO”.

Thanking you in anticipation

Yours Truly

Iftikhar Chaudri

President

Journalists For International Peace

Islamabad Pakistan

president@j4ip.org