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.

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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