During a telephone conversation with Myanmar Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi called on the Myanmar government to try to prevent the killing of Muslims in the country.
Salehi expressed deep concern over a new wave of sectarian clashes between Rohingya Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar and said it is necessary that the country’s security forces to show moderation and act discreetly in dealing with the clashes and try to prevent the killing of Muslims.
He also said that the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to concentrate its efforts to help resolve disagreements between Muslims and Buddhists in the country.
The Myanmar official thanked the Iranian government for expressing its readiness to help resolve the disputes and invited Salehi to travel to Myanmar to examine the situation in the region and hold talks with him on the issue.
The United Nations said on October 28 that more than 22,000 people from mainly Muslim communities have been displaced in western Myanmar after a fresh wave of violence that has left dozens dead.
Human Rights Watch on October 27 released satellite images showing “extensive destruction of homes and other property in the predominantly Rohingya Muslim area” of Kyaukpyu.
Myanmar’s estimated 800,000 Rohingyas are officially stateless, and regarded by the government of the majority Buddhist country as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, rather than one of its 135 official ethnic groups, as a result of which it denies them citizenship.
The Rohingya have long been considered by the UN as one of the most persecuted minorities on the planet.
AM/PA
http://tehrantimes.com/politics/102936-iran-urges-myanmar-to-prevent-killing-of-muslims-