Islamabad, Sept 3: The Awami Workers Party (AWP) has expressed concerned at the humanitarian disaster brewing in Myanmar’s Rakhine region.
The AWP President Fanoos Gujjar in a statement on Monday condemned the killings of Rohingya ethnic Muslim minority by Myanmar security forces and torching their villages.
He called upon the international human rights organizations, and the UN to put pressure on the Myanmar government to take measures for the protection of Rohingyas, initiate relief and rescue operation in the border areas of Myanmar and Bangladesh.
According to media reports over 400 Rohingyas have been killed and 17 of their villages torched by security forces.
The massacre of Rohingyas by the Myanmar security forces and allied Buddhist mobs started after militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacked police posts and an army base on August 25, killing more than a dozen.
Thousands have been displaced and trying to flee to Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries. The recent exodus of civilians according to the UN has reached nearly 80,000.
The AWP President criticized the regional governments for remaining silent on the crisis. He warned that if the crisis was left unnoticed, it will have security and economic implications for the neighbouring countries.
The AWP president, who is currently on a two-week visit to Malaysia, criticized the Myanmar government for stripping the Rohingyas of their citizenship and persecuting them.
The Rohingyas have no legal standing despite the fact that they have been living in Myanmar for decades and are seen as illegal settlers from Bangladesh.
“We condemn repression on religious, ethnic minorities, and nations and violence against refugees especially women and children from state and non-state elements and demand an end to it forthwith,” the AWP leader concluded.