The European Rohingya Council (ERC) has refuted Rakhine State Minister Maung Maung Ohn’s claims in an interview with an Indian magazine terming his words as lies and utter denial of the real situation.
Maung Maung Ohn in the interview claimed there was no persecution of minorities in his state, and the government would not use Rohingya in official documents.“European Rohingya Council (ERC) is deeply troubled with the lies and propagandas made by Rakhine state’s Chief Minister Maung Maung Ohn in his interview with The Outlook India. ERC categorically denies and refutes his lies and distortion of truths with the factual information and findings,” reports the Burma Times.
The Chief Minister said, “There is no persecution” while the ERC refuted it saying this is an utter denial and lies of the real situation on the ground, and is completely contrary to the findings by international independent researchers.
It said the daily harassment, restriction of movements, education and livelihood, and denial of primary healthcare access come to its peak in Rakhine state.
More than 140 000 Rohingya were forced to live in concentration-like camps, where they are dying every day because of malnutrition, curable and infectious diseases, and sudden attack by Rakhine Buddhist thugs plus torture by police.
“The Rohingya have been subject to stigmatization, harassment, isolation, and systematic weakening. The Rohingya are faced with only two options: stay and face annihilation, or flee. Those who remain suffer destitution; malnutrition and starvation; severe physical and mental illness; restrictions on movement, education, marriage, childbirth, livelihood, land ownership; and the ever present threat of violence and corruption,” the ERC says.
The Chief Minister said, “There’re two major ethnic groups in the state of Rakhine, those who have inhabited this land for a very long time and those who migrated from another country, the Bengalis. The term ‘Rohingya’ was not mentioned anywhere before the ’50s or ’60s.”
The ERC refuted it saying this is factually and historically wrong, and genocidal in nature. This proves how ignorant, stupid, deaf and dumb the Minister is. “A person with a sound mind can never lie to an international media in such way.”
The Chief Minister also said, “Granting such special status has other significant implications. It would entitle them to special social, political and even legal benefits. If they are given this privilege, their next step will be to demand separate statehood.”
ERC refuted it mentioning that this is a textbook example of how the government of Myanmar has no willingness whatsoever to give equal rights of citizenship to the Rohingya. The government does not want Rohingya to have equal social, political and even legal status like other citizens of the country. This again proves the genocidal intent to destroy a community.
Persecuting a community in every aspect of life due to perceived and delusional fear of demanding statehood is not only silly but also it is an idea which no longer belongs to the 21st century.
The Chief Minister also claimed that there has been communal violence in the state. Not just 2012 but in 1942 they had carried out genocide in north Rakhine and an entire village was wiped out. Over 2,000 Rakhine people, including old men and women as well as children, were killed. The people of Rakhine continue to be afraid of them. They run away from them whenever they see them.
This is empirically and historically not only wrong but also quite dangerous. This is rather a manufactured lie to further escalate inter-communal tensions between two communities,” the ERC refutes.- UNB
