KUALA LUMPUR: Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Thursday said that the extraordinary meeting of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers should convey a message of hope for the Rohingya Muslim community and collectively, Muslims must play an active role to help the Rohingya victims in these difficult times.
“We hope that the democratically elected government of Myanmar will address this issue in a sympathetic manner,” he said this while addressing the extraordinary meeting of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers on the plight of Rohingya Muslims minority here. At the same time, he said that the OIC member states can supplement the efforts being carried out by the government of Myanmar to amicably and judiciously resolve this issue without any further loss of life or property and at the same time provide all possible support to the Rohingya Muslims.
As already emphasised, Sartaj said that the plight of Rohingya Muslims continues to pose a major challenge to the conscience of the international community. With renewed violence, the situation in Rakhine State has become dire primarily because the root causes of the problem have not been addressed since 2012 and 2014 when similar human rights violations took place in the region. “Pakistan has always supported oppressed Muslim population and consistently raised our voice against human rights violations committed in Kashmir, Palestine or any other part of the world,” he said.
In the case of Rohingya Muslims, Pakistan has repeatedly raised the issue at various international forums, the adviser said. Besides urging the government of Myanmar to take necessary measures to protect the basic human rights of the Rohingya Muslims and to allow access of humanitarian assistance to the affected areas, Pakistan has also raised the issue in the UN Human Rights Council in March and July 2015.
In June 2015, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, addressed a letter to the UN secretary general, and called for intensification of diplomatic and moral pressure on the Myanmar government to grant the requisite rights to Rohingya Muslims and to provide them relief. “In my letters addressed to the OIC secretary general in 2015, I had urged the secretary general to take necessary steps to alleviate the sufferings of Rohingya Muslims and find ways and means to channel the humanitarian aid to them.”
In addition, the prime minister has announced humanitarian assistance in the form of rice worth five million dollars, he informed the gathering. “We now hope that the government of Myanmar will respond positively to the recommendation contained in paragraph 10 of the draft resolution of this OIC extraordinary session, which I hope will be adopted later, so that regional and international organisations can deliver the much-needed humanitarian assistance to all the affected,” Sartaj said.
Myanmar has recently completed the transition towards a democratic setup. “We support the efforts being made by the government of Myanmar to strengthen democracy in the country. We appreciate the setting up of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State by the government of Myanmar in collaboration with the Kofi Annan Foundation to improve the welfare of all people in Rakhine state,” he said.
In his report presented at the 43rd CFM last year in Tashkent, the adviser said that OIC’s Special Envoy for Myanmar Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar indicated that oppression of Rohingya was still going on and that the issue transcends international boundaries. He also urged upon the OIC to adopt a constructive and balanced approach. “In the spirit of transparency related to Rohingya Muslims, we urge the government of Myanmar to allow media access and distribution of humanitarian aid in areas affected by the recent spate of violence,” Sartaj said.
“I would like to urge the Contact Group of the OIC to monitor the situation and coordinate closely with the government of Myanmar for humanitarian assistance to affected areas,” he maintained. He also expressed his gratitude towards the government of Malaysia for hosting this OIC Foreign Ministers meeting and for excellent arrangements. He also complimented Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Bin Tun Razak for his inspiring statement in the meeting. “I record my appreciation for the OIC for sustained attention to this important humanitarian issue,” he remarked.
