Rohingya Muslims experiencing poor conditions in Myanmar: Iran

20 January 2013
 TehranTime

TEHRAN – Iranian MP Esmaeil Haqiqatpour, who recently visited Myanmar with a number of other Iranian officials to assess the situation of ethnic Rohingya Muslims, said on Sunday that Muslims in Myanmar are experiencing poor conditions. 

 

Speaking during a press conference in Tehran, Haqiqatpour said that the Muslims they met there were in need of financial assistance. 

 

The camps allocated to Muslims lack basic amenities, he added. 

 

The Iranian delegation which recently visited Myanmar delivered Iran’s first aid cargo to Rohingya Muslims. 

 

Iran seeking to establish embassy in Myanmar  

 

MP Hossein Naqavi-Hosseini announced on Sunday that the Iranian Foreign Ministry has taken certain measures to establish an embassy in Myanmar.  

 

“The government of Myanmar is studying Iran’s proposal, and the ground for the establishment of an embassy in the country has been prepared. And of course the Thai government made great contributions in this regard,” Naqavi-Hosseini, who is the rapporteur of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, told the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency.  

 

According to Press TV, hundreds of Rohingyas are believed to have been killed and thousands displaced in recent attacks by Buddhist extremists. 

 

Buddhist extremists frequently attack Rohingyas and have set fire to their homes in several villages in Rakhine. Myanmar Army forces allegedly provided the extremist Buddhists containers of petrol for torching the houses of Muslim villagers, who are then forced to flee. 

 

Myanmar’s government has been accused of failing to protect the Muslim minority.

 

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has also come under fire for her stance on the violence. The Nobel Peace laureate has refused to censure the Myanmarese military for its persecution of the Rohingyas. 

 

Rohingyas are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origin, who migrated to Myanmar as early as the 8th century. 

 

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have issued separate statements, calling on Myanmar to take action to protect the Rohingya Muslim population against extremist Buddhists.

 

EP/PA