Rohingyas grateful to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for putting humanity first

DHAKA, Sept. 12 (NsNewsWire) — The Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) expresses its deepest gratitude to the honourable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government for standing by our beleaguered community in one of the darkest hours in the history of our people. The Bangladesh government led by the honourable Prime Minister has put humanity first before any other concerns and without their support, the ongoing ethnic cleansing operations would certainly have led to the complete annihilation of the Rohingya people in Northern Arakan/Rakhine State.

One can only think of a time when an infant Bangladeshi nation, led by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman through his fearless diplomacy forced the Burmese military to stop a potential ethnic cleansing operation in 1974. It was a time when a great leader of Bangladesh considered the Rohingya Muslim community as their brethren rather than pawns in a political chessboard. It was also a time when Bangladesh stood for justice rather than any other interests despite her very limited resources.

Sadly, a sustained campaign of misinformation against our defenceless community had resulted in a situation where the policy adopted by the then infant Bangladeshi nation changed and allowed the Burmese military to unleash campaigns of carnage against Muslims. We are relieved that the Prime Minister has shown unprecedented courage and political vision in aiding the Rohingya people and it has given us a ray of hope in a time when the Rohingya people are simply being eliminated.

We welcome the Prime Minister’s visits to the refugee camps that is about to take place today and hope her government will continue to aid our defenceless community. We urge more world leaders to stand beside the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and ensure that an UN safe zone is created to protect the Muslims of Myanmar. Already many world leaders have expressed their solid support and in the midst of an unbearable situation, there might be some last hopes left.

Bangladesh’s demand for an UN safe zone in Myanmar is something that ARNO has long before suggested but it is only because of the Bangladesh government’s proposal that the world is now taking this seriously. press release