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Criminal silence over genocide of Muslims

Criminal silence over genocide of Muslims

The incident sparked a widespread protest in the country among Muslim minorities.

Fazal Khaliq July 12, 2012

Nowadays, on every social media outlet, tales of the ruthless killings of Burmese Muslims at the hands of angry Buddhist mobs and the Burmese Army are visible. Along with these tales, criticism on Muslim countries and international media for observing criminal silence over this genocide is also observed.

According to some international news agencies, ten Muslims were killed when a Buddhist mob attacked a bus carrying Muslim passengers in the Rakhine (Arkan) province of Burma. They were blamed for the gang rape of a Buddhist woman, who was later murdered. The incident sparked a widespread protest in the country among Muslim minorities.

The Burmese Army is being accused of tyranny against Muslims and is also equally blamed alongside Burmese Buddhists for torching over 500 villages and killing thousands of Muslims.

Muslim organisations in various countries are raising questions on human rights organisations, the United Nations and mainstream media for observing criminal silence over the massacre of Muslim minorities in Burma. They also repeatedly ask the Muslim world why it has remained unmoved by Muslim genocide.

The ethnic unrest in Burma is not a new phenomenon. The Muslims in the Rakhine state of Burma claim that they have been there for more than a 100 years but since 1982, they have been denied recognition as citizens of Burma. Many Burmese Muslims working in foreign countries do not have a Burmese passport or citizenship papers as they are not legally entitled to them.

Apart from Muslims, Christians in Myanmar also accuse Buddhist citizens and the army of using violence against the Karen Christians. The Christians of Burma blame the militarised government of Burma for severe torture, rape of Karen women, forced labour, extortion and displacement. According to the UN charter of human rights, it is, therefore, expected that international human rights organisations, the UN and other authorities concerned take steps toward protecting the minorities of Burma.

The UN should put force on the Burmese government to grant Christian and Muslim minorities equal citizenship status as that which Buddhist citizens enjoy.

Read more by Fazal here.

WRITTEN BY:
Fazal Khaliq

The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

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COMMENTS (7)

Vikram | 12 years ago | Reply @zaryab: "plz give more insight to why all the hatred… again the silence of the news channels is a big question mark,… on one hand they’r sniffing out every teeny weeny news.. shoaib sania aisam faha veena wotever… n why is this not shown at all??? 2ndly where r the human rights organisations?? who were so anxious abt the animals of a zoo in iraq.. but not humans just bcoz they’r muslims??" It is sad to see people getting killed in Burma. This is not something new, Pakistan army killed about 3 million people in East Pakistan and no Muslim wrote any blog or news about it. Pakistani played talibans in Afghanistan that probably killed a million Afghanis. Pakistani army dropped over 12000 bombs on its own citizens starting in 2008, no one has any pictures or numbers of people killed Why can't rich arab countries let them immigrate to their countries or give them Zakat to have better lives? Muslims brag a lot about giving Zakat. All these articles and blogs may be a part of a plan to start Islamic Jihad in Burma.

realist | 12 years ago | Reply Pakistan should lead the way. How about changing your constitution and letting people of other faiths (Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Ahemdians) contest for the PM/President post of Pakistan? How about repealing the blasphemey law? How about changing your passport and taking out the column that says something about the Ahmedians?

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malik | 12 years ago | Reply Will you please write about the criminal silence over the ethnic cleansing that is going on Assam, thanks to immigrant Muslims killing native Bodos ? 1,70,000 people have fled their villages as on date. I hope you know that it is the victims who flee and not the aggressor.

zaryab | 12 years ago | Reply finally an article telling wot actually started it ... plz give more insight to why all the hatred... again the silence of the news channels is a big question mark,... on one hand they'r sniffing out every teeny weeny news.. shoaib sania aisam faha veena wotever... n why is this not shown at all??? 2ndly where r the human rights organisations?? who were so anxious abt the animals of a zoo in iraq.. but not humans just bcoz they'r muslims?? plz write more for the awareness of the masses...

J.P.Singh | 12 years ago | Reply @Zeeshan: I hope the author knows the connotation of the term "genocide" when he referred to the persecution of Muslims in Myanmar. By the same logic, there is also a criminal silence over the genocide of minorities in Pakistan Hopefully, you stone-age people will talk about that too and not just beat your empty chests over what happens elsewhere to Muslims with whom you have little or no affinity except some disjointed and distorted view of religion. It's a fact of life that Muslims and, particularly, Pakistanis are hated in many parts of Asia, notably Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, etc., not to mention Western countries where they are avoided like the pest. Indeed, I have witnessed derogatory treatment of Pakis even in Muslim countries: I have seen how disrespectful and condescending Arab employers can be when they talk to their Paki employees. In Bahrain, for example, the average Paki is viewed as an "enemy" by the vast majority of the people who are Shias.

Tahir Aziz | 12 years ago | Reply @Zeeshan Please do not twist every piece of news into a Muslim thing. Anyone who reads the serious international press knows this is racial cleansing and very little to do with Islam. I read about this oppression more than 20 years ago. If you have travelled in East Asia you will encounter racism against South Asians. Many East Asians just do not like people who do not have Mongoloid features. They do not like people with a brown skin. There was a infamous case of an Indian women who died in a hospital in Hong Kong a few years ago. Sure religion plays a part but it is relatively minor.

Zeeshan | 12 years ago | Reply This is the dual standard of UN and human rights organizations it seems as there is peace and peace everywhere in Burma that's why they are not raising voice. Muslims community of world are sleeping and they don't have any concern regarding assassinations of Muslims in Burma. Thousands of Muslims have died but no where any voice for the rest and stop killing of Muslims. It is a thinking point for Muslims for their survive. Please awake Muslims. In the reaction of such curl if Muslim will do any thing then the media of Pakistan and entire will say that is terrorism and then human rights organizations will make noise at Muslims.

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