Students in Pakistan, India protest atrocities against Rohingyas

Students in both countries are protesting the recent violent attacks on the Rohingya community in Myanmar.

According to an article in The Express Tribune this Wednesday, the Muslim Student Organisation gathered outside the Rawalpindi Press Club in Pakistan to urge the United Nations to step in and stop the brutalities in Myanmar. Muslim countries were criticised by the students for their silence over the issue.

At Aung San Suu Kyi’s alma mater, the Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) in Delhi, one political science student Riya Agarwal told News18 she expects the de facto leader of Myanmar to handle the crisis with more compassion.

“She has studied in India, which is a land of compassion, we can refer to what Jawaharlal Nehru did with the Tibetans, and try to replicate in our own challenging circumstances.”

Whereas Simran Bains, another student at LSR, asks:

“What is stopping Suu Kyi from taking a stand? We expect she should voice her opinion on what’s happening in her country.”

A police officer tries to stop a demonstrator of Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO). Source: Reuters/Rupak De Chowdhuri

According to Reuters, the Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) on Thursday also participated in a protest rally against what they say are killings of the Rohingyas in Myanmar, near the Myanmar consulate in Kolkata, India.

Thousands of Rohingyas have fled their homes in Burma’s Rakhine State after an attack by a few Rohingya insurgents late August prompted the country’s military to retaliate by burning their homes and opening fire.

Many are wounded and in dire conditions, as they set on an exodus to neighbouring Bangladesh – a situation the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warn is a risk of ‘ethnic cleansing’ and that Western critics have been bearing down on Suu Kyi to act.

Reuters reported that Suu Kyi said on Thursday that the Burmese government would try its best to “take care of everybody” in the country, whether or not they are citizens.

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