Political Quotes

“the Rohingya are one of many ethnic groups, largely Muslim, who have been living for centuries in Burma and now in Myanmar, with the majority of them in the western coastal Rakhine State. Deep-seated misconceptions about their roots and faith have led to decades of discrimination, about which many of us are aware because of press reports. They have been denied citizenship, had their movement restricted, and have been deprived of basic healthcare. It is no wonder that the Rohingya people are considered to be one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Today, as a result of a military crackdown against them in the Rakhine State--an overzealous, disproportionate response to attacks on security outposts by some militants last October and then again this August--countless Rohingya have been brutally killed, and more than 600,000 have fled to overwhelmed and desperate camps in neighboring Bangladesh. The scorched-earth tactic by the Burmese military has left hundreds of villages literally burned to the ground, and the reports of rape, starvation, mass killing--even reports of security forces burning people, babies, alive--have been horrifying. Satellite images and maps indicate that the destruction by the Burmese military is not episodic, it is systematic. In Bangladesh, aid groups have been unable to keep up with the influx of refugees.…”