Over the past three weeks, the Rohingya people of Myanmar have been exposed to a litany of horrors as 270,000 have been forced from their homes. Indeed, the United Nations believes that the treatment of the Rohingya has been a textbook case of ethnic cleansing. Among the despicable and horrific incidents, there are reports emerging that Myanmarese troops deliberately and wilfully laid landmines in the paths of these desperate refugees as they left everything behind to seek refuge in Bangladesh.
Simply put, the treatment and abuses inflicted upon the Rohingya, a Muslim minority who have been shunned and treated as pariahs for years, has been nothing short of a crime against humanity. From Aung Sang Suu Kyi down to every single official or soldier who has played a part in this massacre of unarmed men, women and children, every legal sanction and penalty that can be applied by the international community must now be brought to bear in the name of justice and humanity.
The UAE has always been ready and able to assist those people who suffer such abuses, and in the darkest hour, the UAE is there. His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has already ordered one Boeing 747 to deliver food and essential supplies to Rohingya who are now in the Kutupalong Camp in Bangladesh. Other shipments will follow, and the UAE will look after its Muslim brothers.
Suu Kyi has proven herself to be nothing but a hypocrite, one who gladly accepted international help, praise and the Nobel Peace Prize to forward the case of civil rights and democracy against the generals that ruled Myanmar. But her blatant inaction, disregard for human rights, failure to intervene and complete compliance now for the abuse and treatment of the Rohingya render her unworthy of that 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. Indeed, the Nobel committee should be looking to rescind that honour. If it is interested in the ideals of peace, let it look in the faces of mothers who lost children, fathers who lost everything, and the children left now as orphans by the ethnic cleansing inflicted on the Rohingya community by the Myanmar government and its agents and troops.
This is a sad and sickening chapter in the history of Myanmar. Just when it seemed that a corner had been turned by the election of a civilian government under Suu Kyi, we are suddenly faced with the grim reality where Muslims can be killed at will.
