But, they sure would like one.
It is my view that it would serve no purpose other than to create a political agitation foothold in the largely Buddhist country. If the rich countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation want to send humanitarian aid (food and supplies) to their fellow Muslims, let them do it through established international channels!
My alerts this morning are filled with Ihsanoglu crying stories, but here is a surprisingly (slightly) more balanced story written by Nizam Ahmed at The Financial Express (emphasis is mine):
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) urged Myanmar to allow opening a country office in Naypyitaw so that the organisation could cooperate and contribute to socio-economic development programmes in the Buddhist-majority country, diplomatic sources said in Dhaka Saturday.
The call was made during official level talks between an OIC delegation and Myanmar officials in the capital of the Southeast Asian country Thursday, the second day of a four-day visit.
The delegation led by OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu concluded the visit Saturday after assessing the level of human rights abuse against minority Muslim Rohingyas, the sources said.
However the delegation while visiting camps of homeless people, mostly Rohingya Muslims, displaced during the communal riots in western Rakhine state over the past one year, met noisy protests of ethnic Buddhists in Sittwe, the capital of the state Thursday.
About 3,000 Buddhists led by monks staged the protest when the OIC delegation visited different camps of displaced Rohingyas and met local officials in the Rakhine state (formerly Arakan), bordering Bangladesh.
However Rohinygas welcomed the delegation comprising senior officials of the respective foreign ministries of seven member countries namely Bangladesh, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, who visited the camps, said a senior official at the ministry of foreign affairs in Dhaka.
The ethnic Buddhists staged the protest as they feel that the international aid groups are biased for Muslims in Myanmar, he said. [yes they are!—ed]
Now this is unbelievable! For the first time in a very long time someone actually mentions that the latest upheaval resulted from the rapes and murders of Buddhist girls by Muslims!
Rakhine state was the scene of communal clashes between Muslims and ethnic Buddhists last year that left some 200 mostly Rohingya Muslims dead and 140,000 others displaced. [Rarely does anyone mention that Buddhists died in the clashes too! Some Muslims were killers as well, but you would never know it from western media reports!—-ed]
The riot that erupted last year over alleged rape of two women by Muslims, opened up an old wound of sectarian animosity and hatred between the two communities.
Here is one more point of fact rarely mentioned these days. Buddhists claim the Rohingya are largely illegal migrants who have come over from Bangladesh in modern times.
Myanmar Buddhists consider Rohingya Muslims illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh, brought over by the British when they ruled over colonial India and Myanmar, also known as Burma. The Rohingyas say, in response, that they have lived in the country for generations.
The protest photo is from this story. I loved the banner telling the OIC to take the ‘Bengalis’ (Rohingya) to their countries. That is exactly what I’ve been saying!
As I said yesterday:
Editors note: Pay attention! This is not some faraway problem—it will be yours in the West when they start pushing in a big way for the resettlement of Rohingya to your towns!
This past May the US Conference of Catholic Bishops implored the US State Department to bring MORE Rohingya to America.
Anyone want to write a book? See our previous 160 posts in our Rohingya Reports category. LOL! We have your research done!
