The United Nations issued a warning on Friday, saying that more than 45,000 Rohingya minorities have fled the intensifying conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, where reports of killings and property burnings have emerged.
Elizabeth Throssell, spokesperson for the U.N. rights office in Geneva, informed reporters that tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced recently due to the clashes in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships. She noted that an estimated 45,000 Rohingya have sought refuge along the Naf River near the Bangladesh border.
This new exodus adds to the ongoing crisis that began in 2017 when hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled Rakhine during a military crackdown, which is now under scrutiny in a United Nations genocide court case.
Meanwhile, the Rohingya community in Pakistan lamented the lack of attention from global and Pakistani media towards the ongoing genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine.
Saima Tasmeer, a Rohingya Muslim scholar and social activist residing in Malaysia but originally from Pakistan, has been closely monitoring the situation. She has urged the Muslim world to take notice of the plight of Rohingya Muslims, fearing that the focus on other global issues like Palestine might allow Myanmar’s military to continue its atrocities unchecked.
Ms Tasmeer has shared accounts of her relatives’ suffering, detailing how they were targeted by the Burmese Army, with their homes destroyed in rocket attacks.
