Saudi ambassador to Turkey: KSA has stood by Rohingyas for 70 years
ARAB NEWS | Published — Saturday 9 September 2017
RIYADH: Saudi Ambassador to Turkey Waleed Al-Khereiji said that the Kingdom has been standing by the side of the Rohingya Muslims for 70 years at the international level, and by providing assistance and donations.
The ambassador’s statement, released by the Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah, said that King Salman’s government has given a lot of attention to the protection of human rights, at both the international and regional levels. The Saudi leadership has taken the initiative to join various international human rights organizations and conventions that call for ending discrimination and mistreatment since 1997.
Concerning the Rohingya crisis, the ambassador said: “The Kingdom has exerted all possible efforts to help Myanmar’s Muslims in this human tragedy. The Kingdom is all about action, and not words. Nobody can claim that they have exerted more efforts for the Rohingya people than the Kingdom has during the past 70 years, as history stands witness that the Kingdom was one of the first states that supported their case at the international level and in the UN Human Rights Council.”
“The Kingdom has also condemned Myanmar’s government for denying the Rohingya people citizenship since 1982, considering them illegal immigrants. Thus, the Rohingya people have been restricted from freedom of movement and the simplest human rights, including food and health care services. The Kingdom has also made a donation of $50 million for the Muslim minority, through health rehabilitation and educational programs, and started receiving refugees in 1948. Today, there are 300,000 Rohingya people in the Kingdom.”
He added: “The Kingdom has released many statements condemning the violence against the Rohingyas, including rape, murder, forced eviction, persecution and ethnic cleansing campaigns. The Kingdom has also contacted the UN secretary-general and the Rohingya crisis has become an international issue and thus, Myanmar is facing international condemnation over the Rohingya crisis. As the leader of the Islamic world, the Kingdom will continue its efforts and contacts in order to find solutions.”
The history of the Rohingya Muslims living in Riyadh
The tragedy of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine State once again highlights the story of Rohingya groups which emigrated to Makkah.
Many years ago, Rohingya Muslims, fleeing the persecution of their own government, emigrated to Makkah from Rakhine State in western Myanmar on a journey which lasted about two years. The UN classified the Rohingya as the most persecuted people in the world.
In this context, the director of the Rohingya Media Center, Saleh Abdul Shakur, stated that the Rohingya Muslims form a minority of about 1 million people who live in the west of Myanmar (formerly Burma). They have been stripped of Burmese nationality by the government and subjected oppression for the past 70 years for one reason only — being Muslim.
Abdul Shakur told Alarabiya.net that continuous persecution pushed some Rohingya Muslims to flee to Saudi Arabia. Upon their arrival, the late King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz offered them special residency status, and since then, “the Burmese community has found in the Kingdom the care and mercy they lacked in their home country.”
Abdul Shakur added that four years ago, a special program was launched to revise the situation of the Burmese community, and they were offered free residency permits for four years which entitled them to free education, health care and employment. The program, which was implemented by the governorate of Makkah and offered settlement for more than 250,000 Burmese, was classified by the UN Commissioner for Refugees as the biggest humanitarian program.
Abdul Shakur maintained that the Kingdom is the biggest supporter of the Rohingya case in the world.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1158161/saudi-arabia
Malaysia PM says Rohingya face systematic atrocities
AFP | Published — Saturday 9 September 2017
SUBANG, Malaysia: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Saturday said Rohingya Muslims face systematic violence including torture, rape and murder in Myanmar.
Predominantly Muslim Malaysia has spoken out strongly against mostly Buddhist Myanmar over its treatment of its Rohingya minority since violence erupted last October.
In the past 15 days, nearly 300,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighboring Bangladesh after raids by Rohingya militants triggered a Myanamr security forces crackdown in Rakhine state.
“Based on the reports we have received, (the Rohingya) are discriminated and no mercy is accorded to them,” he told reporters at the Subang Airforce base on the outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur.
“Actually, it is done in a planned manner so that they are tortured, discriminated, killed and raped,” he added.
Earlier Najib witnessed the deployment of two airforce cargo planes with food and medical supplies to the port city of Chittagong in Bangladesh.
“We are sending two planes with biscuits, rice and soap. Malaysia will do whatever it can to help since this is a huge disaster,” he said.
Najib also said a reconnaissance team would arrive in Dhaka on Monday consisting of diplomats and military officers to identify further assistance needed by the Rohingya.
Malaysia’s armed forces chief said Saturday that Kuala Lumpur would provide a 200-bed military field hospital in Bangladesh if the government there granted permission.
Describing Myanmar’s inaction to halt the violence against innocent civilians as “rather disappointing,” Najib said he will raise the Rohingya humanitarian tragedy with President Donald Trump on September 12 during an official visit to the White House.
“We have to help because the Rohingya tragedy has reached terrible proportions,” he said.
On Friday, the powerful youth wing of Najib’s dominant Malaysia’s ruling party led a noisy street protest urging Kuala Lumpur to sever diplomatic ties with Yangon.
Malaysia on Tuesday summoned the Myanmar ambassador to voice its “deep concern” over the situation in Rakhine state, where witnesses said entire villages have been burned.
Over 1,000 people — more than twice the government’s total estimate — may already have been killed in Rakhine, mostly Rohingya, said Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar.
As of June this year, there are 59,100 Rohingya refugees registered with the UN Refugee Agency in Malaysia.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1158326/world
ARAB NEWS | Published — Saturday 9 September 2017
RIYADH: Saudi Ambassador to Turkey Waleed Al-Khereiji said that the Kingdom has been standing by the side of the Rohingya Muslims for 70 years at the international level, and by providing assistance and donations.
The ambassador’s statement, released by the Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah, said that King Salman’s government has given a lot of attention to the protection of human rights, at both the international and regional levels. The Saudi leadership has taken the initiative to join various international human rights organizations and conventions that call for ending discrimination and mistreatment since 1997.
Concerning the Rohingya crisis, the ambassador said: “The Kingdom has exerted all possible efforts to help Myanmar’s Muslims in this human tragedy. The Kingdom is all about action, and not words. Nobody can claim that they have exerted more efforts for the Rohingya people than the Kingdom has during the past 70 years, as history stands witness that the Kingdom was one of the first states that supported their case at the international level and in the UN Human Rights Council.”
“The Kingdom has also condemned Myanmar’s government for denying the Rohingya people citizenship since 1982, considering them illegal immigrants. Thus, the Rohingya people have been restricted from freedom of movement and the simplest human rights, including food and health care services. The Kingdom has also made a donation of $50 million for the Muslim minority, through health rehabilitation and educational programs, and started receiving refugees in 1948. Today, there are 300,000 Rohingya people in the Kingdom.”
He added: “The Kingdom has released many statements condemning the violence against the Rohingyas, including rape, murder, forced eviction, persecution and ethnic cleansing campaigns. The Kingdom has also contacted the UN secretary-general and the Rohingya crisis has become an international issue and thus, Myanmar is facing international condemnation over the Rohingya crisis. As the leader of the Islamic world, the Kingdom will continue its efforts and contacts in order to find solutions.”
The history of the Rohingya Muslims living in Riyadh
The tragedy of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine State once again highlights the story of Rohingya groups which emigrated to Makkah.
Many years ago, Rohingya Muslims, fleeing the persecution of their own government, emigrated to Makkah from Rakhine State in western Myanmar on a journey which lasted about two years. The UN classified the Rohingya as the most persecuted people in the world.
In this context, the director of the Rohingya Media Center, Saleh Abdul Shakur, stated that the Rohingya Muslims form a minority of about 1 million people who live in the west of Myanmar (formerly Burma). They have been stripped of Burmese nationality by the government and subjected oppression for the past 70 years for one reason only — being Muslim.
Abdul Shakur told Alarabiya.net that continuous persecution pushed some Rohingya Muslims to flee to Saudi Arabia. Upon their arrival, the late King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz offered them special residency status, and since then, “the Burmese community has found in the Kingdom the care and mercy they lacked in their home country.”
Abdul Shakur added that four years ago, a special program was launched to revise the situation of the Burmese community, and they were offered free residency permits for four years which entitled them to free education, health care and employment. The program, which was implemented by the governorate of Makkah and offered settlement for more than 250,000 Burmese, was classified by the UN Commissioner for Refugees as the biggest humanitarian program.
Abdul Shakur maintained that the Kingdom is the biggest supporter of the Rohingya case in the world.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1158161/saudi-arabia
Malaysia PM says Rohingya face systematic atrocities
AFP | Published — Saturday 9 September 2017
SUBANG, Malaysia: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Saturday said Rohingya Muslims face systematic violence including torture, rape and murder in Myanmar.
Predominantly Muslim Malaysia has spoken out strongly against mostly Buddhist Myanmar over its treatment of its Rohingya minority since violence erupted last October.
In the past 15 days, nearly 300,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighboring Bangladesh after raids by Rohingya militants triggered a Myanamr security forces crackdown in Rakhine state.
“Based on the reports we have received, (the Rohingya) are discriminated and no mercy is accorded to them,” he told reporters at the Subang Airforce base on the outskirts of the capital Kuala Lumpur.
“Actually, it is done in a planned manner so that they are tortured, discriminated, killed and raped,” he added.
Earlier Najib witnessed the deployment of two airforce cargo planes with food and medical supplies to the port city of Chittagong in Bangladesh.
“We are sending two planes with biscuits, rice and soap. Malaysia will do whatever it can to help since this is a huge disaster,” he said.
Najib also said a reconnaissance team would arrive in Dhaka on Monday consisting of diplomats and military officers to identify further assistance needed by the Rohingya.
Malaysia’s armed forces chief said Saturday that Kuala Lumpur would provide a 200-bed military field hospital in Bangladesh if the government there granted permission.
Describing Myanmar’s inaction to halt the violence against innocent civilians as “rather disappointing,” Najib said he will raise the Rohingya humanitarian tragedy with President Donald Trump on September 12 during an official visit to the White House.
“We have to help because the Rohingya tragedy has reached terrible proportions,” he said.
On Friday, the powerful youth wing of Najib’s dominant Malaysia’s ruling party led a noisy street protest urging Kuala Lumpur to sever diplomatic ties with Yangon.
Malaysia on Tuesday summoned the Myanmar ambassador to voice its “deep concern” over the situation in Rakhine state, where witnesses said entire villages have been burned.
Over 1,000 people — more than twice the government’s total estimate — may already have been killed in Rakhine, mostly Rohingya, said Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar.
As of June this year, there are 59,100 Rohingya refugees registered with the UN Refugee Agency in Malaysia.
http://www.arabnews.com/node/1158326/world
Last edited by a moderator:
1737098126-0/sidra--(4)1737098126-0.png)
