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Dalai Lama, Buddhist leaders in Rohingya compassion call | World | bdnews24.com
Seventeen highly-respected Buddhist leaders , including Tibet's spiritual guru ,the Dalai Lama, have called upon fellow Buddhists in Myanmar to treat Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine state with "respect and compassion".
The signatories include top Buddhist monks from Japan to Sri Lanka, Mongolia to Thailand and Vietnam as well as some based in the US.
This comes at a time when Myanmar's Buddhist clergy, specially those based in the Rakhine state, are up in arms against the Rohingyas, advocating their en masse expulsion.
They have even supported President Thein Sein who has described the Rohingyas as "Bengali migrants" who should be taken away from Myanmar to " some other country".
The one million-odd Rohingyas in the Rakhine (former Arakan) state are one of the most persecuted minority groups in the world, who were deprived of their Myanmar citizenship by a 1982 law .
Global NGOs have done detailed documentation of the persecution that the Rohingyas have faced since Myanmar's military junta launched "Operation King Dragon" in the Rakhine in 1978.
The operation aimed at expelling Rohingyas by foul means. A quarter of a million of them fled to Bangladesh in the late seventies quite as many in the early 1990s.
"We are concerned about the growing ethnic violence and the targeting of Muslims in Rakhine State and the violence against Muslims and others across the country," the statement by the 17 Buddhist leaders said. "The Burmese are a noble people, and Burmese Buddhists carry a long and profound history of upholding the Dharma."
"We wish to reaffirm to the world and to support you in practicing the most fundamental Buddhist principles of non-harming, mutual respect and compassion," it continued.
The Dalai Lama could not sign the letter in person, but his office in India's Dharamsala town said the Tibetan spiritual guru "fully supported" it.
"His Highness the Dalai Lama is concerned about the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. He urges all communities in Myanmar to practice non-violence and uphold the religious harmony that is central to our ancient and revered culture," said a spokesperson of the Tibetan government in exile.
The Rohingyas have been at the receiving end of considerable violence this year, suffering attacks by Buddhist Rakhines and sustained persecution by the military after President Thein Sein's administration declared an emergency in the Rakhine state in June and deployed the army there.
Between 80,000 to 100,000 of them have been rendered homeless, pushed into crowded makeshift camps or forced to flee to neighbouring countries like Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has been under increasing pressure to shelter them for humanitarian considerations and Dhaka's appeal to build international pressure on Myanmar to protect the Rohingyas instead of pushing them out have largely fallen on deaf ears.
Only some ASEAN countries like Malaysia have sought to pressure the Myanmar government to stop expulsion of the Rohingyas by granting them citizenship.
Malaysia is among the preferred destinations of illegal Rohingya migrants who seek to flee the misery of their homeland and an uncertain future in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Many have also migrated to as far as Australia or the Middle East.
Seventeen highly-respected Buddhist leaders , including Tibet's spiritual guru ,the Dalai Lama, have called upon fellow Buddhists in Myanmar to treat Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine state with "respect and compassion".
The signatories include top Buddhist monks from Japan to Sri Lanka, Mongolia to Thailand and Vietnam as well as some based in the US.
This comes at a time when Myanmar's Buddhist clergy, specially those based in the Rakhine state, are up in arms against the Rohingyas, advocating their en masse expulsion.
They have even supported President Thein Sein who has described the Rohingyas as "Bengali migrants" who should be taken away from Myanmar to " some other country".
The one million-odd Rohingyas in the Rakhine (former Arakan) state are one of the most persecuted minority groups in the world, who were deprived of their Myanmar citizenship by a 1982 law .
Global NGOs have done detailed documentation of the persecution that the Rohingyas have faced since Myanmar's military junta launched "Operation King Dragon" in the Rakhine in 1978.
The operation aimed at expelling Rohingyas by foul means. A quarter of a million of them fled to Bangladesh in the late seventies quite as many in the early 1990s.
"We are concerned about the growing ethnic violence and the targeting of Muslims in Rakhine State and the violence against Muslims and others across the country," the statement by the 17 Buddhist leaders said. "The Burmese are a noble people, and Burmese Buddhists carry a long and profound history of upholding the Dharma."
"We wish to reaffirm to the world and to support you in practicing the most fundamental Buddhist principles of non-harming, mutual respect and compassion," it continued.
The Dalai Lama could not sign the letter in person, but his office in India's Dharamsala town said the Tibetan spiritual guru "fully supported" it.
"His Highness the Dalai Lama is concerned about the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. He urges all communities in Myanmar to practice non-violence and uphold the religious harmony that is central to our ancient and revered culture," said a spokesperson of the Tibetan government in exile.
The Rohingyas have been at the receiving end of considerable violence this year, suffering attacks by Buddhist Rakhines and sustained persecution by the military after President Thein Sein's administration declared an emergency in the Rakhine state in June and deployed the army there.
Between 80,000 to 100,000 of them have been rendered homeless, pushed into crowded makeshift camps or forced to flee to neighbouring countries like Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has been under increasing pressure to shelter them for humanitarian considerations and Dhaka's appeal to build international pressure on Myanmar to protect the Rohingyas instead of pushing them out have largely fallen on deaf ears.
Only some ASEAN countries like Malaysia have sought to pressure the Myanmar government to stop expulsion of the Rohingyas by granting them citizenship.
Malaysia is among the preferred destinations of illegal Rohingya migrants who seek to flee the misery of their homeland and an uncertain future in refugee camps in Bangladesh. Many have also migrated to as far as Australia or the Middle East.
