Rohingya persecution: Resolutions submitted in NA, provincial assemblies

Several resolutions were submitted in provincial assemblies across the country today against the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. 

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) submitted a resolution in Punjab Assembly condemning the brutal killings of Rohingya Muslims.

The resolution, submitted by Opposition Leader Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed, demanded that the Nobel Peace Prize be taken back from Myanmar's state councilor and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi for her involvement in state-sponsored killings of Rohingya Muslims.

It also said that the silence of Muslim countries and being mere spectators in the ongoing violence against Rohingya community is alarming.

The party submitted a similar resolution in the Sindh Assembly as well. PTI MPAs Samar Ali Khan and Khurram Sher Zaman submitted the resolution in the assembly. 

Addressing the media, Khan said Pakistan should take up the issue at the UN and pressurise the world community to help "our brothers". Zaman announced that the PTI will hold a protest over the issue outside the Karachi Press Club on Friday. 

In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the Pakistan Peoples Party submitted a resolution in the provincial assembly. The party's MPA, Fakhar Azam, submitted the resolution. 

It stated that the ongoing persecution of Rohingya is a moment of concern for the entire Islamic world. It calls for Islamic countries to rally behind Turkey's stance on the issue. 

Meanwhile, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and PPPP also filed adjournment motions in the National Assembly to discuss the Rohingya crisis.

A similar motion was submitted by the PTI in the NA Secretariat on Monday. 

'Systematic persecution' 

The systematic persecution of minority Muslims is on the rise across Myanmar and not confined to the northwestern state of Rakhine, where recent violence has sent nearly 90,000 Muslim Rohingya fleeing, a Myanmar rights group said on Tuesday.

The independent Burma Human Rights Network said that persecution was backed by the government, elements among the country’s Buddhist monks, and ultra-nationalist civilian groups.

“The transition to democracy has allowed popular prejudices to influence how the new government rules, and has amplified a dangerous narrative that casts Muslims as an alien presence in Buddhist-majority Burma,” the group said in a report.

The report draws on more than 350 interviews in more than 46 towns and villages over an eight-month period since March 2016.

Myanmar’s government made no immediate response to the report. Authorities deny discrimination and say security forces in Rakhine are fighting a legitimate campaign against “terrorists”.