IRGC Says Ready to Help Myanmar Muslims
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) voiced readiness to provide whatever support is necessary to the persecuted Muslims of Myanmar, and condemned the ongoing violence against Rohingya as part of an “organized anti-Islamic plot” that could mark a genocide in the history.
In a statement released on Thursday, the IRGC strongly condemned the heinous crimes against Muslim people in Myanmar, saying the Islamic world and the international organizations are duty bound to address such persecution of Rohingya Muslims.
"The gruesome crimes of extremist Buddhist groups and the Myanmarese army against Rohingya Muslims... spell an organized anti-Islamic plot that, if not stopped, would result in another major genocide in the history of humanity," the statement added.
It also deplored the double standard attitudes adopted by the self-proclaimed advocates of human rights in dealing with the painful developments in different parts of the world, and decried the muted response by the international community to the genocide of Muslims in Myanmar.
The IRGC then called on the Muslim people in Iran and the other Islamic countries to launch an “effective international campaign” against the crimes in Myanmar.
Describing supports for the oppressed Myanmar Muslims and bringing the world attention to their plight as “the historic and inevitable responsibility of all nations and communities,” the statement said the IRGC is prepared to take part and have a role in any plan to help the Muslims affected and displaced in Myanmar.
It also called on the Iranian administration to “activate the revolutionary diplomatic means and use the capacities and will of the international community and other Muslim countries… to rescue the Rohingya Muslims who are mostly Sunnis.”
The Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar have long faced severe discrimination and were the targets of violence in 2012 that killed hundreds and drove about 140,000 people from their homes to camps for the internally displaced.
Nearly 150,000 Muslims have fled Myanmar for Bangladesh in less than two weeks, officials said.
In a rare letter to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern that the violence in Rakhine could spiral into a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
The Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) said on Tuesday that the persecution is backed by the government, elements among the country's Buddhist monks and ultra-nationalist civilian groups.