SHAFAQNA – In a statement released on Monday, Hakim called on the world’s people and international human rights organizations to stand up to defend the rights of the persecuted minority in Myanmar.
He regretted that Muslims in the Southeast Asian country are facing genocide and mass killing.
“We strongly condemn the mass killing of Muslims in Myanmar by government forces and extremist groups,” he underlined.
Myanmar’s military intensified attacks on Rohingya Muslims on August 25, after dozens of police and border outposts in the western state of Rakhine came under attack by an armed group, which is said to be defending the rights of the Rohingya.
The Muslim community had already been under a military siege in Rakhine since October 2016. The government used a militant attack on border guards back then as the pretext to enforce the lockdown. The Rohingya had already been subject to communal violence by extremist Buddhists for years.
Myanmar’s military is accused of committing atrocities and crimes against Rohingya people, who are considered by the UN as the “most persecuted minority group in the world.”
According to a United Nations report published on Monday, a total of 87,000 mostly Rohingya Muslims—including women and children, many with bullet wounds— have arrived in Bangladesh since last month.