Rohingya want killers punished

Source New Straits Times, Sep 17

PUTRAJAYA - THE Burmese Rohingya Association in Thailand (BRAT) wants the international court to take action against those who have persecuted, raped and killed its people in Myanmar.

Its president, Maung Kyaw Nu, will also call for the setting up of an inquiry by the international media to look into the number of victims in the latest flare up between the ethnic minority and the state, as well as a plea for the United Nations to lend a hand at the Plight of Rohingya Solution Conference to be held in Kuala Lumpur today.

The conference is organised by the Perdana Global Peace Foundation.

"We are here together to seek justice, to find the killers and haul them to the international court. This is the only solution. Punishing the wrongdoers with the law," he said at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport yesterday.

The one-day conference, to be held at the Islamic Arts Museum, will also feature speakers such as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) Thailand chairman Stuart Ward, Myanmar academic Dr Maung Zarni and Thai Representative to the Asean Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights Dr Sriprapha Petcharameree.

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will deliver the keynote address.

Maung, who said he had been a political prisoner since 1974, also hoped for protection to be given to the Rohingyas as there was none under the current regime.

Myanmar security forces are reported to have killed, raped or carried out mass arrests of Rohingya Muslims since sectarian violence erupted between Rakhine Buddhists in the northeast of Myanmar in June.

Myanmar considers the Rohingya to be illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denies them citizenship.