ASEAN urged to exert pressure on Myanmar

Kuala Lumpur Foundation To Criminalise War (KLFCW) has called on ASEAN to exert presure on the Myanmar government and address reported atrocities against the Muslim community in Rakhine state.

Its secretary-general, Yaacob Hussain Merican said the foundation condemned the alleged systematic persecution and brutal repression of the Rohingya community over the past months, resulting in the loss of innocent lives and displacement of people.

"We call upon ASEAN to immediately put the pressure on the government of Myanmar to stop all human rights violations and lift restrictions on humanitarian aid," he told Bernama, here.

KLFCW also hoped United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would meet Myanmar's democracy icon and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, and the country's military leader to seek an end to the persecution.

As of 2014, some 140,000 of the estimated 1.1 million Rohingya in Myanmar were already living in deplorable conditions in more than 80 internal displacement camps after fleeing their homes to escape attacks incited by the radical Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu and his extremist group 969.

Yaacob Hussain said KLFCW was also demanding for the UN to establish an independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate the most recent human rights violations and the current situation in Rakhine State. --Bernama