The world needs to come together to devise a permanent solution for the Rohingya community
HYDERABAD: It is quite heart-rending to witness mutilated corpses and severed body parts of humans who have suffered due to the religion they identify with. Faith is a very personal matter but it has become quite public for Myanmar, whose Rohingya community has been suffering for a very long time. The community has been persecuted, denied recognition, land rights and subjected to forced labour for generations. The current displacement of a large number of Muslims, who are adrift on boats in the Indian Ocean, without access to food and drinking water, is a deplorable scenario for every sensitive soul living on planet Earth. The man-made tragedy that has been unfolding in the Andaman Sea is unthinkable. In this entire human crisis, where is the United Nations and the other peace organisations? They are most likely hiding their heads in the sand, like ostriches; there is emotional emptiness on their parts, as only Malaysia and Indonesia finally capitulated and offered shelter to 7,000 of these people. Yet, both countries made clear that the assistance was temporary and that they would take no more refugees. The world needs to come together to devise a permanent solution for the Rohingya community.
Nasiruddin Soomro
Published in The Express Tribune, June 12th, 2015.
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