Dharamshala — The spiritual leader of Tibet, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has written to Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in Myanmar.
Dharamshala — The spiritual leader of Tibet, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has written to Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in Myanmar.
The Nobel peace prize winner urges his fellow laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in Myanmar and expressed concerns about violence that has led around 300,000 Muslim to flee the country.
"I appeal to you and your fellow leaders to reach out to all sections of society to try to restore friendly relations throughout the population in a spirit of peace and reconciliation," His Holiness the Dalai Lama said in his letter to Suu Kyi.
Speaking to a group of reporters, His Holiness said Sunday he felt very sad. "Those people..you see..sort of harassing some Muslims..Then they should remember, Buddha, in such circumstances, would have definitely helped those poor Muslims," His Holiness said, adding: sort of harassing some Muslims "So I still feel very sad" about the violence.
Another Nobel Peace laureate, retired South African cleric and anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, urged Ms Suu Kyi to intervene to help the Rohingya. In an open letter to her he said: "My dear sister: If the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep ... We pray for you to speak out for justice, human rights and the unity of your people. We pray for you to intervene."
UN human rights chief said the situation in Myanmar is "textbook example of ethnic cleansing" even as several thousand Rohingyas continued to flee Myanmar's Rakhine state.
Adding to the misery, UN spokesman said an estimated 313,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh since August 25.
Zeid bin Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said: "Because Myanmar has refused access to human rights investigators the current situation cannot yet be fully assessed, but the situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing".
"We have received multiple reports and satellite imagery of security forces and local militia burning Rohingya villages, and consistent accounts of extrajudicial killings, including shooting fleeing civilians," Zeid al-Hussein added. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called the Myanmar government to "end its current cruel military operation, with accountability for all violations that have occurred and to reverse the pattern of severe and widespread discrimination against the Rohingya population".
He said he was particularly "appalled" by reports that Myanmar authorities had begun laying landmines along the border with Bangladesh to prevent those who fled from returning.
Zeid criticised the Myanmar government and asked them to "stop pretending that the Rohingyas are setting fire to their own homes and laying waste to their own villages."
"This complete denial of reality is doing great damage to the international standing of a government which, until recently, benefited from immense goodwill," he declared.
Meanwhile, former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd says now is not the time to walk away from Myanmar's fragile democracy. "But in recent news I also see many in the international community placing blame for the treatment of the Rohingya and this spate of violence solely on Myanmar's de facto leader, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi — a Nobel Peace Prize winner for her work on human rights and democracy for which she suffered for decades. This is misguided, misinformed — or at the very least, premature.
Aung San Suu Kyi is the country's civilian head, but she in not Commander-in-Chief of the military — a military that still has significant grips on the country's institutions, and complete control of all facets of defense, border control, and home affairs. This includes the General Administration Department, which is responsible for the administration of the entire country."
"Critically, and many commentators seem to have forgotten this, the generals still have the constitutional authority to take control of the government — a legal coup — should they feel that order needs to be restored," Kevin Rudd and Janelle Saffin wrote to the BuzzFeed.
The atrocities inflicted on the Rohingya are horrific. They must cease immediately. There is no question surrounding that. The Rohingya are seen as illegal immigrants in places they've lived for centuries. Their plight is harrowing and the conditions in which they are forced to live are sub-human. Actions must be taken by Myanmar and its regional neighbors to help build a comprehensive and inclusive solution for the Rohingya."
