They emphasize setting up a safe zone in the Rakhine
state for the Rohingya
American interfaith leaders have praised Bangladesh and
its people for standing by the forcibly displaced Rohingya minority, as part of
a delegation of interfaith leaders currently in Dhaka. They dubbed the Myanmar
army’s massacre of Rohingyas genocide and emphasized setting up a safe zone for
them in Rakhine state.
The delegation thanked Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for
her personal attention to the plight of the Rohingyas, mentioning that they are
a community that has been the target of state-sanctioned discrimination for
decades.
“It is a textbook case of genocide,” Beth Lilach, senior
director at the Holocaust Memorial Center on Long Island, told the media in
Dhaka. “The persecution of Muslim Rohingya evolved in stages similar to the
progression of Nazism suffered first by German Jews and then by all of European
Jewry.”
International Interfaith Peace Corps Chairman Imam
Mohamed Magid said the Rohingya had repeatedly been forced to flee to
Bangladesh. “It makes the need for a safe zone in the Rakhine state very
clear,” he added.
“With a safe zone, protected by international
peacekeepers, we are more likely to be able to keep the peace and allow safe
and just repatriation,” added Magid, also executive Imam of All Dulles Area
Muslim Society in Sterling, Virginia.
Read also here: Abrose visits to Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh http://www.thedailystar.net/city/stand-them-1554913
Read also here: Abrose visits to Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh http://www.thedailystar.net/city/stand-them-1554913
Rabbi David Saperstein, former US ambassador at large for
International Religious Freedom, said that since the 2012 riots in Rakhine
state, mosques had been attacked, Quran and other religious books burned,
schools offering religious education closed and Muslim scholars assaulted.
“These occurrences were part of the reason that for a
number of years, the US government has designated Myanmar as a ‘country of
particular concern’, that is, a country that engages in egregious systemic
violations of religious freedom,” he added.
‘Only solution’
Nearly 700,000 Rohingya men, women and children fled to
Bangladesh since late last August after the Myanmar security forces launched a
brutal offensive targeting the predominantly-Muslim minority following militant
attacks on 30 police posts and an army base.
Bangladesh was already hosting several hundred thousand
Rohingya who had crossed the border at various times in the past to escape
persecution in Myanmar.
The ‘Interfaith coalition to stop genocide in Burma’
organized the 14-member delegation that includes two Buddhist leaders, two
Jewish leaders, two Imams and several Christian leaders.
Interfaith Coalition’s spokesperson Nicolee Ambrose said
the delegation was comprised of leaders and adherents of the world’s major
religions, “who are united in our efforts to address the suffering of the
Rohingya people.”
The delegation visited Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar on
March 26 and 27. They returned to the US on Wednesday.
Ambrose said the purpose of their visit was to personally
observe and witness the atrocities the Rohingya are experiencing, and to meet
those who were most affected by the crisis.
“The US House of Representatives is the first elected
body in the world to pass legislation in support of Rohingya security and
citizenship. The Congress is considering additional measures,” she said.
Ambrose said the president, secretary of state, and UN
ambassador had made powerful statements recognizing the plight of the Rohingya.
“We are asking the US Congress to pass a bill to support
the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina’s position to create a safe zone
for Rohingyas in Burma protected by peace-keeping troop,” she said. “It is the
only solution to the Rohingya crisis.”