Muslim scholars urge solidarity with Myanmar’s Rohingya
Union criticizes silence of Islamic world
and international community regarding Myanmar's campaign of extermination
By Ahmed al-Masri
DOHA, Qatar
The Qatar-based International
Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) has called on Muslims worldwide to stage a
"Friday of rage" Dec. 9 to show solidarity with Myanmar’s persecuted
Rohingya Muslim minority.
In a statement released late
Thursday, the IUMS said it was "following the unfortunate circumstances
faced by the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar".
The union went on to criticize
the "silence of the Islamic world and the international community
regarding the campaign of extermination being waged against them
[Rohingya]".
It also urged Arab and Muslim
governments to adopt harder diplomatic stances with Myanmar regarding the
persecution, and called on Islamic, Arab and international relief organizations
to provide immediate assistance to Rohingya.
Rohingya advocacy groups claim
some 400 Rohingya have been killed in military operations in Myanmar’s western
Rakhine State since Oct. 9.
The Myanmar government, for its
part, says 74 alleged "attackers" (including four who reportedly died
during interrogation) have been killed over the same period.
A law passed in Myanmar in 1982
denies Rohingya -- many of whom have lived in Myanmar for generations -- citizenship,
making them stateless.
The law denies Rohingya the
right to carry Myanmar nationality; curtails their freedom of movement, access
to education and public services; and allows for the arbitrary confiscation of
their property.
Myanmar nationalists have since
taken to referring to the Rohingya -- which the UN calls one of the most
persecuted people in the world -- as Bengali, suggesting they are not Myanmar
nationals but interlopers from neighboring Bangladesh.
Rohingya have fled Myanmar in
droves for decades, with a fresh wave of migration beginning in mid-2012
following an episode of communal violence in Rakhine between ethnic Rakhine
Buddhists and Rohingya.
Reporting by Ahmed al-Masri;
Writing by Mahmoud Barakat