Malala condemns suffering of Rohingya Muslims

'I am still waiting for my fellow Nobel Laureate Aang San Suu Kyi to condemn this tragic treatment'

As violence against Rohingya Muslims continues in Myanmar, international organisations and countries have condemned Nobel Laureate and Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi for letting the atrocities continue.

Pakistan's Nobel Laureate and female education activist Malala Yousufzai has also come out in support of the Rohingya Muslim community saying her "heart breaks" at their suffering.



Calling for a stop to the violence, Malala said she has seen "pictures of small children killed by Myanmar's security forces." Even though these children attacked no one, their houses were burnt to the ground, she added.

Malala also called upon Myanmar to give citizenship to Rohingya Muslims because it is the country they were born in. "If their home is not Myanmar, where they have lived for generations, then where is it?"

She also called upon other countries to aid Rohingya Muslims by giving those fleeing the violence access to food, shelter and education. "Other countries, including my own country Pakistan, should follow Bangladesh's example", she said.

"Over the last several years, I have repeatedly condemned this tragic and shameful treatment. I am still waiting for my fellow Nobel Laureate Aang San Suu Kyi to do the same. The world is waiting and the Rohingya Muslims are waiting," she concluded.

My statement on the #Rohingya crisis in Myanmar: pic.twitter.com/1Pj5U3VdDK

— Malala Yousafzai (@Malala) September 3, 2017

On September 3, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also expressed its concerns over reports of the increasing number of deaths and forced displacement of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and urged its government to take action to ensure their safety.

Violence erupted in Myanmar’s Rakhine state on August 25 when the country’s security forces launched an operation against the Rohingya Muslim community. It triggered a fresh influx of refugees towards the neighbouring Bangladesh, though the country sealed off its border to refugees.



More than 2,600 houses have been burned down in Rohingya-majority areas of Myanmar’s northwest in the last week and about 58,600 Rohingya have fled into neighbouring Bangladesh from Myanmar, according to UN refugee agency UNHCR.

According to media reports, Myanmar security forces used disproportionate force, displacing thousands of Rohingya villagers and destroying their homes with mortars and machine guns. The region has seen simmering tension between its Buddhist and Muslim populations since communal violence broke out in 2012.