in the
[Music]
Al
alikum dear brothers sisters
alhamdulillah welcome for coming
inshallah to this very important little
uh uh talk inshallah about the situation
of the rohinga Muslims in uh Burma at
the moment now just to to begin with the
ringa many of us we've never heard of
this group of uh Muslims this is the
first time that we're familiar with the
state situation of the rohinga but since
1948 in Burma uh they have been
persecuted mass killings rapes murders
detention forced uh uh land acquisition
and the United Nations goes to the
extent to say and this is the United
Nations and all of the major human
rights organizations in the world they
go to the extent of saying that the
rohinga are one of the most persecuted
minorities in the whole
world and that they have been
systematically okay persecuted for over
60 years what we see today with the you
know the current violence against the
rohinga is just a series uh of uh you
know a long history of violence
persecution and discrimination against
the rohinga like I said has gone on for
for many many years and uh I'm going to
go through part of the history of it but
what's important here when we're talking
about the situation of the ringa is
first and foremost you know as Muslims
you know we are people who are
uncompromising in terms of justice and
giving Justice to humanity so wherever
we see people who are being oppressed
wherever we see that people who are
being abused and harmed in this way and
people who are weak and being violated
by oppressors Muslims have to stand up
for this we as Allah says
that you are firm upon
Justice Allah loves those people who are
just and fair and as we
know Justice is closest to piety so this
is the nature of the Muslim to always be
just and fair and the Heart of the
Muslim is a soft heart that when you see
some when you see suffering and
oppression and you receed that within
your own family your own Muslim brothers
and sisters and when the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam said the
blood of a Muslim is more more sacred
than the Caba itself Subhan Allah that's
how serious this matter is of protecting
the rights of Muslims and on top of that
protecting the rights of all those
people who are oppressed we call this
talk Tears of Blood and the same tears
of blood that are being shed in Bur as
Burma as we know they are being shed in
many other parts of the Muslim World
okay Syria we find again great suffering
taking place in great oppression
Palestine again the Legacy over 100
Years of abuse and discrimination of the
Palestinian people and they've been
dispossessed of their land ethnically
cleansed and and and given second class
status in their own lands and on top of
which obviously uh you know mass human
rights abuse that they suffer every
single day this is the reality
unfortunately of Muslims all over the
world and in particular with regards to
the rohinga yes they have been crying
tears of blood and they are our brothers
and sisters and they are our children
and they have been persecuted it was bad
enough that they are persecuted by the
Burmese and where you know and I'm going
to talk about the geography and and the
history in a minute by the by the Iraqi
people in the arakan state the rohinga
the majority in the arakan state which
is the Northwest uh of of Burma it's bad
enough that they're being persecuted
there by the Burmese by the indigenous
Burmese and and I just want to begin by
this is not an issue of Buddhist versus
Muslim either you know this is an
important point that people saying
obviously the RQ are predominantly
Buddhist and yes they have been
perpetrating the violence along with the
uh uh collusion and uh the security
forces have been complicit again in this
against uh the Muslims but not this is
not an issue of Buddhists against Muslim
rather again this is what we call an
abuse okay you know I'm sure within the
values of Buddhism there is nothing
about ethnic cleansing and genocide and
mass killing and rape of innocence in
that but again this is really you'll
find the whole roots of the Burma crisis
is all down to ultra nationalism and in
fact interestingly much of it has its
roots in British colonialism but we'll
come on to discuss those particular
issues at the moment but what I wanted
to start off by by asking really the
audience is that you know really this is
a matter and we have to ask ourselves
are our hearts really
connected with Muslims around the world
and suffering around the world do we
really have that connection you know
when we see this suffering how does it
and I sometimes ask myself this really
bizarre question I ask myself you know
look we are here in Bradford what is the
wisdom we are here in Bradford living in
Security in a Masjid that is not being
burnt down that is not being attacked
that we are not living in fear of Our
Lives I remember in 1992 again the whole
Burma the rohinga problem again occurred
in 1992 many of the rohinga were also
there was another uh uh Mass killing and
ethnic cleansing of of rohinga in 1992
as well and some of the stories that
were described were horrific horrific
stories of ab
in fact I'm going to talk about some of
them today that you know imagine being
in your home and your neighbors who
you've lived with and that they you've
had dealings with smash your door down
Force themselves into your home with
machetes with clubs with Nails in them
cuz most most of the killing has been
done in the most barbaric way you know
people haven't got guns arms as well and
also what's interesting is this is how
we know the security forces are in
collus uson with the aranes against the
rohinga Muslims why because many of the
deaths have been from gunshot wounds and
also many of the deaths have been people
who have just been butchered and clubbed
to death imagine living in your home so
the home that you regard as a place of
Aman security the door is smashed down
masses of men come into your home rape
and abuse your daughters in front of
you you hear their cries and their
suffering and then after them being
clubbed to death you then okay being
chased by this mob and again one imagine
a father having to jump out of his
window run for his life with his kids
and looking back seeing that his wife
and children are still left behind
Subhan Allah and then when he flees to
Bangladesh because the arakan district
many of the much of the violence has
been on the border where you Flee for
Sanctuary to
Bangladesh and then the Bangladeshi
people refuse to allow you in because
they also see you as a menace and a
problem as well and so no security
anywhere you look displace your family
you don't even know where your family
are even if they are
alive you've already witnessed your own
family members being
butchered beheaded raped and abused this
isn't the recent Spate of violence that
occurred in the beginning of June rather
this is in 1992 before that in 1972 then
before that
1948 in 1948 Burma became independent
from British rule after it became
independent from BR there was a massive
grab for power as the ultra nationalists
decided to implement a process of Biz
which is that that basically much of
this is to do much of the roots of all
of this is to do with British
colonialism the British were in control
of Burma it's called Myanmar now but the
old name is Burma most people are
familiar with this so I'll use the term
Burma okay that from 18 mid 18th Cent uh
mid uh 19th century all up to the to the
mid 20th century okay up to 1948 the
British were in charge of uh of Burma
they were administering it just as they
were administering the British Raj in
India as well and and in this period
there was mass uh migration of Indians
from India into Burma and many of these
Indian migrants were given preferential
treatment so they were administrators
they were given positions of authority
in the colonial government this caused a
great deal of resentment amongst the
indigenous Burmese so when they gained
independence in 1948 there was a purge
they got rid of many as many of those of
people that they saw as aliens that had
come into the country and one of the
groups although the ringa have existed
in Burma for centuries and have been the
residents of the arakan
uh region for centuries they are
documented that they they were seen as
aliens Interlopers they were seen as
people who had come in and were not
native and so that's why in
1982 General newin who was the military
Jun of the military ruler of Burma and
in many ways Burma is still under
military rule although they're moving
towards what you call democracy at the
moment in 1982 General newin brought out
a Immigration Act he came in as a
military ruler and when he came in again
he implemented this process of beriz
which again was this purging out of
anyone who was not indigenous bermes the
rohinga have been obviously
discriminated and persecuted as a result
of that but in addition to that there
are over another over 135 other minority
groups in Burma so they're not the only
one the only difference was in 1982
those other 135 ethnic groups were
recognized as uh as races or ethnicities
within B Burma in 1982 the rohinga who
were citizens of Burma were stripped of
their citizenship so therefore they were
not allowed they were prevented from and
now since then there have been very
extreme uh uh measures that have been
put in place in order for Burmese to
prove that they are citizens uh which
actually prevents many of them from
being formly recognized as it so they
are stateless people and so again this
is the link with the with the
Palestinians Palestinian people who
lived in that land for centuries whose
families lived in that for centuries who
have a Heritage and ownership of that
land then you find obviously now they
are stateless people and uh not
recognized across the world in the same
way the rohinga are stateless people the
Bangladesh is fail to recognize them as
Bangladeshi the burmes say that they are
not rohinga that they are Bengali native
Bal and they call them obviously more by
more derogatory terms and so therefore
they are in completely dispossessed of
any state and any rights as Citizens and
then again on top of that there is the
uh you know systematic persecution and
discrimination of them so going back to
the question I was saying that you know
look at our situation brothers and
sisters friends look at our situation
we're here living in security living in
peace in comparative luxury to Mo in
comparison to billions of people in this
world what is it the reason that we have
been given so much you say ease in our
life in comparison to people who every
are looking over their shoulder fearing
that for their lives for their
children's lives not guaranteed security
not guaranteed even the basics of
humanitarian Aid so now what we have in
arakan District at the moment the
violence has more or less subsided at
the moment there isn't violence taking
place the real uh sectarian clashes it
took place in the beginning of June and
through the month of June since then
that there has been International
pressure that has been put on the
Burmese government and they've been
named and shamed because the burmes
government now are obviously putting
themselves up that they are moving
towards a more Democratic Society and
the West is now removing the sanctions
and opening up towards them so they
don't want to be seen overse as
discriminating it's been very negative
for them even though the state media in
Burma has been clearly saying that this
is the rohinga that have caused the
problem on the
arican okay you know the international
media has seen it for what it is in
particular Brothers two of the most
prominent human rights organizations
Human Rights Watch and amnesty National
both of them have come out and
consistently based on robust research of
people who have been infected by the
violence there have come out and clearly
said that the the the ringes this is one
of the most serious humanitarian crisis
that you have at the moment and the most
uh one of the most serious examples of
uh uh is it systematic human rights
abuse of of a group of people so the
particular report I'll I'll give you a
reference to them uh two very important
reports and and and I just want a side
point the first is a report uh you know
you know inshah can you can get it way
it's Myanmar The rohinga Minority
fundamental rights denied Amnesty
International report world's least
wanted people and most discriminated in
the world so the the introduction of the
report the Muslim ethnic uh minority
generally known as the ringas who live
in northern ra rakine State Western
Burma Myanmar continue to suffer from
several forms of restriction and human
rights violations the Ria's freedom of
movement is severely restricted so
they're not allowed to move from Village
to Village even the a ringa has to get
permission has to get a travel permit
just to go from their Village to another
Village this permit also comes at a
price and so as a result of that the
ringia are also victim to arbitrary
taxes and also to uh this extortion as
well so they having to pay for that
restricted movements the vast majority
of them have effectively been denied
citizenship they are also subject to
various forms of extortion and arbitrary
taxation land confiscation forced
eviction house destruction
Financial restrictions on marriage so
ringa cannot get married without
permission and when they get married
they also have to P pay various bribes
and have permits in order to do so and
then on top of that they have to also
agree to a rule which is that they are
not permitted to have more than two
children so again this is a you know
kind of serious infringement in terms of
their human rights oring is continue to
be used as forced laborers on roads so
being forced to do military projects
forced uh bonded labor not obviously
being paid to build Buddhist temples to
build uh these things are comeon to
called Model Villages where they've had
their land taken away they've had to
build model Villages Villages of 100
houses and then those houses have been
given to indigenous arcanes and not to
ringa people uh and that's Force labor
on roads and in military camps although
the amount of force labor has decreased
uh so the report goes on these princip
practices in addition to violating other
basic rights of the ringas are
discriminat treaty towards the rohinga
population as they do not appear to be
imposed in the same manner at the same
level on other ethnic minorities and in
Rakin state or in the country as a whole
these restrictions and abuses uh and the
general discrimination against them also
amount to violations to the rights of an
uh to an to an adequate standard of
living for many ringas as a consequence
tens and thousands have fled to
neighboring blackes and other countries
just to give you an idea at the moment
there are currently
300,000 dis uh uh uh rohinga refugees at
the moment okay uh and of those only
50,000 are actually recognized with
rights of refugees so many of those
300,000 some of them are On the Border
in refugee camps with the border with
Thailand others obviously have gone into
uh the teat region of Bangladesh there
there are refugee camps at the moment
but the bangladeshis themselves El have
been reluctant to give refu formal
Refugee status to the rohinga people as
a result over 250,000 of the rohinga
refugees in Bangladesh are being denied
any access to humanitarian Aid so this
is a massive Brothers we can't you know
we're talking about a city that's just
within Bangladesh this is the rohinga
that are displaced with within uh uh the
arakan district after the the June uh
violence okay close to
80,000 ringa are currently displaced
people the official the statistics are
not completely clear but roughly 1,000
rohinga have been murdered as a result
of the recent violence and 880,000 are
displaced people so we're talking in
total of the rohinga people and the
rohinga people in themselves number no
more than 1 million in that whole area
in the whole uh Aran arakan state area
100 1 million 800,000 to 1 million uh uh
rohinga of that close to half of them
are displaced
people okay many are internally
displaced and many also have fled to
okay other uh areas as well so we're
talking about just to give you a scale
we're talking about Bradford is a city
of half a million we're talking about
nearly 2/3 of the people of Bradford
imagine you being refugees
displaced not only displaced if you're
fortunate enough to get into a refugee
camp at least least you will be
guaranteed some humanitarian
aid but most of them the vast majority
of them are even being denied now so the
crisis that we have now with the rohinga
people is really a humanitarian crisis
that's confounded by two things one you
have massive numbers of displaced people
secondly the aid first from the
Bangladesh side Bangladesh has closed
its border so many of the human rights
organizations they are saying at the
moment that they need to reopen this
border so that Aid can come in three of
the you know uh uh internationally round
uh relief organizations medicine s
Frontier Muslim Aid and I think it's
called ACF I can't remember the exact
name of them all three of them that were
operating in the refugee camps with the
rohinga now have been prevented from
giving Aid to them and the bangladeshis
are doing this because they don't want
to create obviously a massive Refugee
problem in that region of the world and
they themselves obviously don't
recognize the rights of the ringa so the
Bangladeshi government also you could
say has been complicit in this
persecution over many many years and so
one of the things we can do is put
pressure on the Bangladeshi government
one to open the Border secondly to
recognize the legitimate rights of the
rohinga people as refugees thirdly to
allow Aid to come in okay and ensure
that uh uh that uh you know uh the
people have the their humanitarian needs
met and fourth to recognize those of the
rohinga who have legitimate rights of
citizenship in Bangladesh to give them
obviously that legitimate rights of
citizenship in the in the same way
within Burma as well the Burmese have
also been reluctant to allow any Aid
refugees independent International
observers journalists or anything into
the arakan state as well because
obviously clearly that uh uh you know
they've recognized that they have been
complicit in terms of this work uh in
terms of this persecution go on uh to to
talk uh again to give some more evidence
in terms of what's happening in a bit of
History again one of the prominent
reports as I mentioned is the uh report
that's been uh done by um Amnesty
International although amnesty haven't
been as vocal and as critical as they
they should be as they have been in
other cases certainly you and again this
is part of the frustration that we have
that you know certainly where you see
that a humanitarian crisis is clearly
Falls within Western foreign policy then
you see there's a very strong uh focus
in terms of giving that media coverage
ensuring that the SEC it goes straight
to the security Council and that the
security Council then put pressure on
governments to respond to that and that
was seen in the case with darur in darur
obviously the West against the uh the
the uh uh Sudan government regarding uh
you know very much against uh the
Sudanese government uh and obviously
clearly what happened in in eastern
darur it was wrong we have to accept
this that the violence perpetrated
against the dorians was completely
unacceptable okay and we should also be
critical of the Sudanese government for
the violence that it did perpetrate or
allowed to perpetrate against the
darians however what it was what we're
critical of is the imbalance that the
Western governments have Western foreign
policy have in in terms of dealing with
it in terms of darur you found many
celebrities were ready to go there and
uh and take up the cause of darur you
found uh many of the international NOS
again viciously advocating for the
issues and one report I remember was in
report that was done by Oxfam oxfam's
work in darur how it went straight to
the security Council so it just goes to
show you obviously the security Council
responded immediately to the DAR War
crisis where it's been in relation to
obviously Gaza Syria and uh Burma where
there's clear ethnic cleansing taking
place clear systematic abuse of a
minority by those governments because
the Western governments obviously okay
have vest Ed interests with regards and
they currently do have vested interests
with regards to Burma one that obviously
the Burmese are making gestures that
they are working towards more towards
democracy so obviously now they're going
to open themselves up and their economy
to the Western economy secondly you'll
see okay when you look at the map of
Burma and this in itself is important
self you know Muslims we need to know
more about geopolitics we need to know
more about history this is a complex
crisis this is something which has gone
on for centuries and centuries that the
our Dynamics here and when we make our
opinions about it we need to have that
one that geopolitical understanding but
also the understanding of what has gone
on historically in the same way regards
to Palestine as well Palestine is a
conflict which is deeply rooted in
history in terms of the first world war
is actually critical okay what happened
in terms of of Palestine but also you
know it's important to recognize the
complexity of the geopolitical issue so
the solutions are not Simple Solutions
but the things that we can do okay are
really we can do many practical things
to address it and one of the reasons you
will find why there's been a reluctance
to really hold the burmes to account
you'll notice there is a massive border
with
China and so you could say strategically
the whole Myanmar region the whole Burma
region is a highly strategic
geopolitical region because really it's
the crossroads between South Asia and
East Asia it's the crossroads between
South Asian people India Pakistan
Bangladesh and also you'll see see Burma
has uh uh uh borders with India
Bangladesh China Laos and Thailand and
so because of that because now we have a
new Ally and uh you know that they're
going to open up their economies to us
as well but also strategically it's very
important that the Ally obviously uh uh
you know uh gives us some strategic
control gives the Western Powers
strategic control against China at the
moment so that's why again there's been
a reluctance really perhaps to really
hold the burmes to account however
alhamdulillah let me tell you the most
important thing we can do regarding the
Burma situation and even the many of the
ringan uh uh campaigning and advocacy
organizations out there are saying
exactly the same thing they say the
number one thing you can do is raise
awareness of the plight of the rans this
is number one thing raise awareness of
the systematic abuse because many people
are oblivious they have no clue in terms
of what has happened to the rohinga
people this is number one number two
they say there are many many petitions
at the moment and there is many way ways
we can Lobby okay key individuals
William he obviously our foreign
secretary the Bangladesh uh consulate
the burmes all the human rights
organizations we should also be lobbying
the Dalai Lama as well go to his website
dal.com go there and send emails to the
Dal Lama saying that you know really the
True Values of Buddhism are obviously
about peace uh about tolerance about
coexistence and so therefore the abuse
that has been perpetrated by The aranes
Who are claiming to be Buddhists
obviously should be uh uh expressly
condemned by him especially when you
look at again double standard in Tibet
obviously which is under Chinese
occupation again the West have run have
G it's gone to the security Council that
the West has been so concerned about
highlighting the situation in Tibet and
how that obviously the uh you know the
Tibetans obviously have been
systematically persecuted by the Chinese
and the Chinese are occupation of Tibet
okay however when it comes to Burma and
it comes to the uh the uh uh uh you know
the arakanese Buddhists there you know
we don't see it so again this is another
person we can do another key individual
in this whole process is an Soni uh many
of you might know her she won the Nobel
Prize in 1991 she's a prisoner of
conscience for many years she was under
house arrest she's the leader of the
Democracy movement in Burma and so she
was given and this year because she was
prevented from leaving Thailand this
year she was given permission
to leave Thailand and she went and
received the her Nobel Prize in Oslo
this year the one that she was awarded
in 1991 and also she went on a European
tour where she met all of the European
leaders including David Cameron and they
all lorded her you could see that all of
them wanted to be see with anung sui all
of them wanted to be see side by side it
was like okay this is uh the great human
you know the great pro-democracy
campaigner of our time but when it has
come to her making a statement about the
rohinga just in the same way as the
current Thailand pres uh president
Premier okay has said the current uh uh
uh uh leader of Thailand his solution to
the rohinga problem and this goes to
show you how represent how completely un
he says the best solution is for the UN
HCR to basically take all this 1 million
group of people and find them somewhere
else to live now how can you expect the
head of state this is nothing other than
fascism this is is nothing other than
state sponsored terrorism and state
sponsored ethnic cleansing can you
imagine that the head of state the head
of the of the government says that the
solution to this group of people a group
of people who have been systematically
abused and that the state uh uh uh uh
the uh what is it the Army and the State
security forces have been complicit in
that the best solution for them is to
take them and put them somewhere
else and then obviously he actually
present Ed this an sui wasn't far behind
when she was asked is she going to
highlight the concern of the rohinga
Muslims she says I don't know who they
are she says I and and then she was
pressed further he says I don't think
that they are native Burmese and that
they don't have yanii they don't have
citizenship right and then when she was
pushed even because this is unacceptable
this is a group a minority regardless of
whether they have citizenship or not no
group of people and whether it's this is
an Islam value a universal value no
group of people have the right to be
persecuted and abused in this way to be
arbitrarily killed and to live in fear
of their lives no group of people and
your humanity is judged by how you treat
minorities and you treat the weak this
is why how the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam said he said he declared
inviable the rights of the ones who are
weak women and children and orphans he
said their rights are inviable the
quality of a people is demonstrated by
how they treat the most weak and
dispossessed and oppressed in their
society so this is the pro-democracy
leader anung sui and again we can put
pressure on people and her she's a very
important significant figure she needs
to come out and she needs to make it
very clear that minorities within Burma
and again the rohinga one but many other
minorities have also been discriminated
cannot be discriminated and abused in
this way and this shows the difference
you know personal note difference
between NE n Nelson Mandela and people
like anung sui uh you know you know one
of the things Nelson Mandela spent
obviously many many years in prison he
came out he was given the Nobel PR prize
he uh was instrumental in the peace and
Reconciliation process and one of a lot
of what's been called in you know
there's a there's a strong call for
peace and Rec reconciliation in in Burma
as well at the moment so he was behind
this and truly deserving of that but one
thing I admired about Nelson Mandela is
this Nelson Mandela is consistent he
recognized that the apartheid that was
in South Africa black people who were
being
oppressed okay by a white minority
systematically oppressed and the the
massive human rights abuse he recognized
that where you know that wherever that
situation is in the world then you have
to stand up for the one who is mlum
oppressed and that's why n Mandel has
defended the Palestinian people and he
defended all many other displaced and
oppressed people around the world cuz
he's consistent and that's what makes
him deserving obviously of a Nobel Peace
Prize okay whereas others even Obama who
got the Nobel Peace Prize clearly you
can see that you know they are that
whatever suits their interest this is
you know how they're prepared to to
address the issue uh I'm trying to find
this human rights okay the other
report uh which is a very significant
import report and uh uh really is much
more substantive and I I would certainly
commend that you know again this is
something that is the uh the uh Human
Rights Watch Human Rights Watch is the
Other M Global human rights organization
again what I found with human rights
word very consistently in terms of how
it applies its approach to Human Rights
and one of the amazing things about
Human Rights Watch uh if you look at lot
of the videos on YouTube one of the
amazing things about this organization
is that before they make a statement
they do very very robust research so
what they did is they produced this
report F 56 page report it's the most
recent report and they've called the
report the government could have stopped
this and one of the key things that
they've put in this whole report is that
the government security forces have been
complicit in one creating the situation
where the sectarian violence took place
and then secondly turning a blind eye
when their local Security Forces along
with arakanese people okay perpet
perpetuated mass killings in one case
they have a testimony of a soldier who
says we went into a village and he just
described we went into a village and we
killed 300 ringa Muslims and burn and
torched they many villages have been
torched many people and another he said
we killed 200 he said in another
occasion he said we came to a stop point
where the van was stopped and then we
just shot out of the van who was so
these are soldiers giving their own
testimonies of what they have done and
they did it the way that they did it
human rights said that the Casual nature
with which they described the way that
they killed people just goes to show you
the fact that they have impunity that
they were behaving without any uh uh
control on them at all it was like that
this Behavior was acceptable behavior
and one of the things you'll see about
abuse like this where you've lived with
people for centuries and then they
suddenly turn on you is that that's a
called a dehumanization process the
rohinga and again human rights bring
this testimony of many many people okay
who say that who see the rohinga as not
even human beings and that's how you can
legitimate violence against the other
person okay and in Islam
from the the the most important
objective of thear number one is the
protection of life life is the most
important thing that we have so
therefore as a Muslim we cannot
dehumanize others and therefore
legitimate their uh unlawful killing so
Human Rights Watch uh uh like I said uh
have done extensive interviews 56
interviews and then they bring that and
I'm going to be mentioning some points
from the Human Rights Watch uh report
but before we go that okay I think it's
important to have some kind of a
historical context in relation to uh you
know what what is you know to the uh the
situation okay the whole problems are
centered around the arakan state as I
mentioned this is the Northwest uh state
of of Burma uh and the ringia and
Muslims have actually existed in that
area although again this is something
which is denied by the burmes they try
to conveniently uh just remove this this
from the Heritage and history of Burma
but many Burmese as well as uh uh you
know other independent historians have
verified that Muslims originally came to
the region in the 8th Century so in the
8th Century Arab um Traders and sailors
they came onto the coast of Myanmar okay
uh and and some were Shipwrecked there
and this is how Islam originally came in
okay they married into the local
communities and they uh you know Muslim
Islam is something which it was
established there uh also we know that
that border region with Bangladesh you
know many of the ways the the rohinga
are different from the indigenous
Burmese because the rohinga in terms of
their appearance they look like what we
call the chones people so they are
Bangladeshi in appearance they are South
Asian in appearance whereas the arakan
or the Thai people are Oriental in
appearance so there is a definite ethnic
difference between them however and
that's one of the reasons that the
burmes have said that the ringa are not
indigenous
because they are South Asian they refer
to them as B Bengali and they refer to
them by another term which is called
kala which means obviously black but
they you know it's a very derogatory
racist term that is used to refer to to
the the rohinga Muslims but uh so
originally Muslims came in the 8th and
9th century but then subsequent to that
that whole region has had like I said
people it's it's a Crossroads for
centuries different people have occupied
that whole region different Kings have
occupied it for some time the occupied
it I believe sometime the the Japanese
occupied the arakan state as well
because the arakan state is uh uh kind
of slightly separated from the rest of
Burma because of uh uh you know natural
rain forests as well so this creates a
kind of natural barrier between arakan
State and other parts uh of uh uh uh
what is it Burma and so the arakan have
always had that level of Independence
and autonomy so different people have
been uh have colonized colonized uh uh
what is it uh arakan State at different
time many many different groups have
come through that the Mongols have come
through that the Persians have come
through that batan have come through
that lots of different ethnicities have
come so there's a real mixing of
ethnicities you see the rohinga people
in that regard they are very uh you know
they have a distinct ethnicity they have
a distinct language they have a distinct
culture and obviously Islam is their
predominant religion not all of the
rohinga are Muslim about 90% of the
rohinga musl Muslim that 10% are of
Hindu backgrounds some are Buddhist as
well and also the Rakin people who are
the indigenous people okay majority are
Buddhist but also there are irin Muslims
as well and so when the violence has
been taking place you can see that this
is not just uh you know it's not just
ringa Muslims that have been targeted
but also rakine Muslims have also been
targeted as with this as well so at the
moment uh the uh arakan people the other
term is rakine people there's two terms
used synonymously here uh 2/3 of arakan
state is currently Muslim 2/3 so one
third are arakan Buddhists and this is
the what history has shown the reality
is really things only changed after 1948
there has always been sectarian violence
and what happened in June when you look
at the history because it's important to
know why this recent sectarian violence
took place there has been sporadic
sectarian violence between rahena and
rakine has been but the reality is for
centuries Muslims and Buddhists have
lived together in arakan in peaceful
coexistence this is the this is the fact
that really Muslims and Buddhists
haven't had a problem there and they've
lived together and the fact that 2/3 of
the of arakan state are Muslim anyway
and onethird are Muslim also show is a
testimony to that that you find there
hasn't been pgms there hasn't been this
level of of ghetto ization pgms okay
systematic killing and abuse and
genocide okay perpetrated by Muslims
against okay the arakan it hasn't
because let me tell you if the rohinga
were the ones perpetrating the violence
against the arakanese we we would know
about it the security Council would be
dealing with it we know this this is the
double standard which operates in the
world in relation to foreign policy so
the that that what we had for centuries
was uh this peaceful coexistence then I
said the British Empire it took over in
1824 to 1948 and what we had is really
you'll find that wherever the British
Empire was and wherever they've left it
they've left it a
mess okay name me any part of the world
which was a former British Empire I know
this is come down the British says oh we
gave you Railways oh you no they left it
a mess because their policy right from
the beginning was always the policy of
divide and conquer this is the policy of
the British Empire it was a policy in
hind it was the policy policy in Nigeria
West Africa it's the policy in festine
when it was under British mate mandate
as well it's the policy that was in
Southeast Asia and uh uh in Burma as
well it's the same policy so rather than
the British in in order to keep the
indigenous burmes down they they they uh
opened the doors for Mass immigration of
Indian people into uh Burma and many of
these people assumed the positions in
terms of business and administration so
they became the business people and the
administrators and so what you had for
centuries in Burma was it's called it's
called a symmetry where you see when you
study conflict you'll see that there's a
conflict is accentuated when there's an
asymmetry one group has lots of
privilege the other group is denied
privilege so the Indians became a very
privileged group in in in Burma and the
uh indigenous people were poor and were
suppressed similar to aparte okay in
South Africa okay similar to uh many
other places Kashmir is another place
where you know the British left a mess
okay that they that they created this
divide and conquer and that's why in
1948 when the British Empire obviously
then suceeded to uh and uh Myanmar got
its independence then what we found was
that uh you know the indigenous turned
on the Indians very similar to what
happened in Uganda in the 1970s as well
again Uganda under was under British
control the British put Indians and uh
and is nothing nothing uh I'm not saying
this as a derogatory in any way in
derogation to Indian people this was
just how the British operated Indians
were made the administrators and the
business people in Uganda idin came into
to power he saw the Indians as the
problem and he expelled all the Indians
there was just the expulsion of all of
the Indians there wasn't Mass killing
obviously some violence but it wasn't
Mass killing but what we had after 1948
Independence again was mass killing of
of not just ringia but Indians and
anyone who was seen as nonone uh then in
1960s we had a military Juna uh coming
to uh General newin and general newin
obviously brought in this whole process
General newin was an ultra nationalist
so as an ultra nationalist he used the
Buddhist religion the uh Burmese
ethnicity and he instituted this process
of beriz and what this meant basically
was that anyone who was not Burmese was
given less favorable treatment was and
burmes obviously were given much more
treat better treatment and this was a
way of obviously of uh uh trying to
rebalance you could say after the
colonial era but alongside that what you
had were mass killings in 1978 again you
had the military Hunter uh something
called The Dragon King operation that
took place where the military came in to
obviously do a kind of census to find
out what the nationality War people were
and at that time 200,000 rohinga then
fled uh and there was also mass killings
and mass rapes in 1978 then in 1982 uh
really uh this was perhaps where we find
most of the more comparative persecution
comes after 1982 because in 1982 what
took place was that the burmes under the
general newin under the military
dictatorship instituted a citizenship
law and this citizenship law stripped
the ringa Muslims of any citizenship
rights in Burma so therefore they were
not regard they were not given any
entitlement to citizenship at all so
they are seen as an internal Menace
within the country
and the and the state sees sees their
responsibility as really expelling in
the same way it's happened in Palestine
in the same way in other people that the
that those people who have been
indigenous for centuries were denied
their rights and also as a result of
that this legitimated other things such
as forc labor and forced uh uh
confiscation of property and arbitrary
taxes and things like that then in 1991
92 again uh you know there was a mass
mass exposion again 250,000 rohinga
again fled again to to uh uh Bangladesh
many of them were then forc forcibly
repatriated so over 50,000 were then
sent back because the Bangladeshi didn't
want and again we found rape Mass
killing destruction property property
damaging mosques seizure of land Force
labor mass human rights abuses and over
said
100,000 uh as this crisis has taken
place many of the rohinga have fled and
many of them fled across the uh Naf
River the Naf river is a River tributary
which is separates obviously okay uh uh
you know ring arakan from uh coxy bizar
and the Techna area which is the
southern tip of Bangladesh many have
fled and what you've probably seen on
many videos of the bangladeshis refusing
entrance of the rohinga into
Bangladesh okay uh previously they would
just turn the bo bo boats straight back
many families have had to try three or
four times under the cover of darkness
and we're talking about children we're
talking about women we're talking about
the weakest people have been trying to
get into Bangladesh and they have been
refused some get through many have been
unable to get through in other occasions
people are so desperate that they have
just boarded ships because arakan State
the southern Parts they've tried to go
into the borders with Thailand because
there is a southern border with uh you
know into the Thai B into into Thailand
Okay many uh have just been so desperate
that they have gone and come into Thai
Waters and there's been quite a number
of cases where rohinga refugees have
been let just to left just to drift the
Thai uh uh is it uh what is it border
control uh and Coast Guard have just
abandoned these boats and they have been
drifted for days and days and again many
have died as a result of that because no
one wants okay said not only are the
rohinga okay one of the most persecuted
groups but they are also the least
wanted one of the least wanted people on
the face of this Earth no one wants them
no one wants to take responsibility for
them no one wants to give them
citizenship no one wants to give them
Aid no one wants to give any have any
responsibilities for them Subhan Allah
imagine being in their state brothers
and this is where now as a Muslim this
is our our Brotherhood look at Allah say
the prophet said
okay you do not believe until you love
for your brother for others what you
love for yourself as I said we have so
much so much security Aman uh uh
Tranquility peace in comparison to this
not living in AB reject fear and let me
tell you I've been to places around the
world where I've met refugees where I've
met displaced people and you know one of
the things they say to me and I this is
why I always say you know Allah blessed
me so much one of the things they said I
if I was in this situation with my
family with my children with my
eight-month year old having to run with
my eight-month year old being pursu you
know I don't think I could take this to
see my wife and children butchered and
raped how could I have take how could I
take this and even one of the brothers I
met he says God forbid that you ever
experience this I fear that you won't be
able to take it and he was right
absolutely right we have we can't take
it we can't even take the electricity
being off for one day we can't even if
the water's off for one day we can't
even take that if our mobile phone is
off for one day we can't take that God
forbid that and I realized he's
absolutely I said how can you take it
how can you bear this seeing this
suffering seeing this heart how can
people like you bear this and this is
why Allah T chooses certain people for
certain tests and certain hardships
because they got more resilience than us
but and and and when one of the things
that I find about people who have had
suffering have difficulty they still
have a lot of dignity and one of the
things they said is that one of the
things I said the mere fact that you
brothers and sisters that Muslims and
non-muslims are just thinking about us
praying for us and are trying to raise
awareness just the mere fact that you
are doing that brings Comfort to
us really brothers this means a lot
people derogate this people get overly
emotional let's go ready get our guns
ready to go and fight no you can't do
that I'm afraid you know that's not
going to solve the problem that's going
to make the problem worse you know
really we need and all there are many
organizations the OIC has also now
started putting the organization of
Islamic countries is putting pressure
now on Burma recently The Turk a Turkish
uh foreign uh foreign minister has gone
there as well to ask those questions a
very important trading partner the wife
of the uh president erdogan of Turkey
went there on a humanitarian Mission
some of you can see that so they've done
the Turkish have done a tremendous
amount Saudi Arabia have recently uh uh
given 50 million US dollars to address
the rohinga problem likewise the UAE
government so governments are falling
into line now and putting pressure on
for a resolution or so really the most
important thing is raising the awareness
this is one of the most important things
that we can do in relation to the
situation and obviously pray for them
and uh at the moment the humanitarian
crisis is such that no a agencies
getting there but the aid agency that I
from what I can see that is doing the
most and is the best place cuz sometimes
don't just give Aid willy-nilly just to
give it all you got to look at who is
strategically placed there to distribute
the aid most effectively who understands
the logistics of delivery and have the
mechanisms and distribution networks and
the organization that seems to have that
at the moment is Muslim Aid so if you're
going to give anything for the ringa
cause give it for Muslim Aid because
they are currently there in the refugee
camps in Techna working with the rahan
people uh okay if I can just talk about
some of the human rights abuses that are
documented and then just a few more
points around some of the testimonies of
uh of those people who been affected by
the violence from the Human Rights Watch
uh report uh the government should have
stopped this again just the point i' got
to make around Human Rights Watch Human
Rights Watch is a very robust
organization it's very uh and that's why
when it produces its reports governments
listen because they do extensive
research and uh on some of might some of
you might have seen the long uh piece on
this on Al jazer there was a large where
one of the key uh Advocates of the
ringan people he's talking about that
and one of the things he said is that
social media has been very active in
promoting the cause of the rohinga
people alhamdulillah which is a good
thing using social media to raise
awareness she's been a very very good
thing but also they have been putting
out a lot of misinformation and when
misinformation and you got to realize
the burmes themselves have been putting
this misinformation out Muslims
uncritically take this without verifying
the not information that's coming to
them and then they put out
misinformation as a result they're
saying this actually discredits the
cause of the ringya people I mentioned
this in yesterday's talk princip says
in all you who believe when a person
comes to you a irreputable person comes
to you with news verify it lest you will
cause greater sin and as a result of
that regret what you have done so look
at this Allah says someone brings you
information and news don't just take it
become emotional and put it out check it
is it robust is it accurate is this
information which is and then put that
out when you know this is accurate and
reputable information otherwise you put
misinformation out and it discredits a
cause many of the photographs that are
being currently circulated around the uh
violence against the ringa are false in
there's one famous saying side of
rohinga it shows lots of Buddhist monks
many many people lined up dead upon
stretches and this if you look at them
they are not people who have been
wounded people who have been killed have
mean as a result of machetes have been
clubbed to death beheaded and you can't
see that these are the injuries which
are on those bodies immediately when I
saw this picture I saw this was a I put
which was a false picture not only that
where killings have taken place uh
eyewitness reports have stated that
their security forces have have actually
uh taken the bodies themselves so they
have prevented Muslim burial and many of
them have been crated rather than given
Muslim burial because she don't want
Mass Graves many of the mass graes some
Mass Graves have been found but you know
when someone perpetrates they want to
get rid of the evidence so you're not
going to find photos and so again this
you know uh there is eyewitness reports
that there has been Mass cremations of
bodies rather than burials and obviously
in contradiction to another human right
which is the right to prct ice your
religion your religious rights of burial
that cannot be denied to someone so that
this particular uh picture was not uh
Burma it's actually the Thailand
earthquake an earthquake which took
place in Thailand and those deceased
there are the victims of that earthquake
in other cases you've seen pictures
being shown and you can say that these
are not ethnic rohinga people they're
not ethnic rohinga people they're not
dressed like ethnic rohinga people yet
these pictures have been put out okay
you know and a lot of pictures are very
old pictures from the conflict that took
place in East Tour when the East Tores
succeeded from Indonesia okay that many
of them are pictures are from that and
they are Indonesian people they're not
ringan people so can you see the point
I'm trying to make here you know when
you put out information put it out so
that it's robust that we know what we're
talking about otherwise you'll discredit
this whole thing and people say you're
just being overly emotional just trying
to create a situation and also Brothers
the other point we have to be balanced
it's no point us talking about
persecution of Muslim minorities in
Thailand when in Pakistan we persecute
minorities our religion does it tell us
to persecute minorities just in the same
way we don't like Ultra nationalists and
fascists and extremists in uh amongst
the the aranes we don't like them in our
countries so where we have persecution
of Christians where is it allowed in
Islam to persecute Christians who are
under our Aman and and as we know in
Pakistan unfortunately some of the
extremist groups have been persecuting
Christians attacking churches and
attacking minorities this is Haram
unacceptable within Islam and so
sometimes we have to realize we can't
have a double standard ourselves we know
the West has a double standard we can't
have a double standard which is that we
pre treat people in a way uh which is
unfavorable and we discriminate against
minorities rather in a Muslim State and
whatever H you say Pakistan is a
majority Muslim State those people who
are minorities are living there under
protection un Muslims so therefore their
rights their life is protected their
rights are protected they have a right
to practice their religion we cannot uh
prevent them from doing so this is what
you find clearly the rules within an
Islamic State so Human Rights Watch
these are the human rights abuses that
they have uh uh in they report the
government could have stopped it 57
interviews they said that first no
security was provided now the original
uh skirmishes took place early June this
year and the trigger incident although
really the incidents were M like I said
this this systematic discrimination of
the ringa for decades for over 60 years
on the 8th of June a arakanese woman was
raped by three Muslim uh men we can't
really call them Muslim men rohinga
men uh they were apprehended and uh you
know one of them committed suicide in
prison subsequent to that so after this
trigger incident this woman was raped
and she was murdered a reprehensible
unacceptable reprehensible incident
following that there was a retaliatory
attack the attack took place uh in uh in
uh the in in southern arakan a large
group of arican villagers stopped a bus
and brutally killed 10 Muslims on board
so 10 Muslims were taken out the bus and
that they were killed now again this is
the imbalance the three men who
committed the rape they were identified
they were imprisoned okay and uh given
death two of them given death penalty
the third one committed suicide within
prison so they this is again a
differential in terms of the
administration of law you know there
hasn't been any uh like I said equal
administration of law whereas that those
people who perpetrated the Mas kinning
of 10 Muslim Muslims on this bus no one
has been brought okay to Justice okay no
one has been uh uh apprehended or uh you
know uh like I said um you know imp
imprisoned as a result of that so this
again uh you know created problems after
the killing of the 10 then there was an
escalation of the violence and rohinga
did attack arakan so yes rohinga have
also human rights watches said ringia
have perpetrated violence against arakan
attacked them killed aranes and attacked
their villages
but also the vast majority of the
violence however has been aranes on
rohinga because if you're a minority
okay and this is where there's State
collusion the state has been involved in
it the security forces police have taken
part directly in it or turned a blind
eye to it many report the fact that
police were there people were shot in
front and killed in front of the police
the police did nothing and that's why
human rights what St that this the state
the government has allowed this to
happen the government did not stop this
from happening because immediately they
declared a state of emergency once the
state of emergency was declared then the
security forces should have protected
the people they didn't protect the
people they looked on as people were
killed and many people report that they
went to the police and said stop this
stop this and they were saying we can't
stop this until we get orders to stop
this so this is human rights say what
document this themselves I don't think I
got time to go through all of many of
the uh the uh the statements that that
were made here but there are extensive
statements direct itwi reports where
people are talking about people in
military uniforms killing uh involved in
Mass killing involved in uh destroying
Villages uh and people overlooking etc
etc uh uh okay so to move on okay no
security provided so they allow this
situation to escalate uh what they've
also found with there has evidence of
mass Graves VI so the rights have mean
violation of property rights okay we've
had ringas uh their property and their
lands have been taken away uh what is it
uh denial of citizenship as well
restricted movements they cannot move
without applying for local travel
permits and those permits again have to
come at a cost forced labor many ring
have been forced as I said to work for
the military forced uh against the world
land confiscation they've had their land
taken away forcely evicted from their
lands and these lands have been cre made
into model Villages I.E settlements just
like the same settlements that we have
in the West Bank at the moment illegal
settlements taken from Land which has
been confiscated not only confiscated
but then they these same people were
forced to work on this land forced to
make these Villages and then these these
Villages were given to uh uh others
farmlands taken away so people therefore
don't have uh uh you know u a means of
livelihood birth registrations prevented
also death registration so if you can't
even register your birth then you cannot
acknowledge that you were born therefore
you again it reduces your right towards
citizenship as well extortion and
arbitrary taxation so uh again money
being taken of that uh was it forced
returns from B Bangladesh as well so
ringa refugees who are displaced people
have been forcely returned the
citizenship law as I've already
mentioned so the marriage permission
okay they have to have permission to
marry and again limit to two children uh
and and all of this state sponsored
terrorism uh by Ultra nationalists uh
and you know again kind of
systematically taking place okay just to
finish with so what do we do about it
you know where do we go from here
obviously we see a crisis and I don't
want it to be you know obviously it's a
very serious situation that we have here
okay as I've mentioned to you some of
the reports some of the information out
there go out there and you know increase
your understanding of what these issues
are there is the ringa uh arakan ringa
Association they have an extensive
website they have a lot of reports uh on
the a lot of information on the the
Human Rights Watch report that I've
mentioned you can get it as a PDF
amnesty inter National ones as well the
United Nations have also okay come out
with a lot of statement there's a lot of
other okay media accounts and
eyewitnesses accounts so first is become
aware of what the situation is and
increase awareness so what is our Jihad
obviously when we see aul on this way
what are we supposed to do one of the
important things is like I said brothers
and sisters wake up be active as I said
you know this is a world in which we are
living a world of increasing in uh
oppression increasing abuse of those
people who are weak as Muslims we have a
responsibility to protect the weak this
is core as I
mentioned be firm in Justice stand up
for justice that's what Allah says stand
up for
justice Allah loves those people who are
just treat Humanity with Justice so
become active Okay uh you know out there
on social media put out the right
information out there on social media
increase awareness of the situation not
just this situation but the parallels
with Syria pales SE and other places
around the world Lobby there are there's
a lot that we can do people have this
cynical view that nothing happens
inshallah as uh as a counselor in the
next Council we will be putting a motion
there of solidarity with the uh uh Raha
people and recognition not just of the
oppression of the ringa but obviously of
other minorities as well but we want to
put out something that the council makes
a statement okay of solidarity with the
ringa people so very important you might
think these things are oh do they really
have an impact yes they have an an
impact because when you name and shame
people a whole country and the leaders
of that country in the International
Community it does have an impact
sometimes we've got to realize don't
just get angry get intelligent we have
to use ways we can Lobby and influence
his control uh other things obviously uh
there are petitions out there sign the
petitions and also the uh uh r.org they
say three steps awareness get involved
in noobing uh increase your awareness be
aware of these issues in the world
thirdly thing they say make Dua for us
make Dua in this month of Ramadan Ya
Allah we make Dua you know Allah says in
the
Quran call on me I will answer your
prayers every prayer that Allah that you
make is going to be answered by Allah if
you do it with real and Y in these
nights of Ramadan in this blessed uh you
know last 10 nights of Ramadan that we
are in raise your hands and beg Allah
subh Ya Allah send your help send your
protection send security upon our
brothers and sisters and our children
those of our brothers and sisters who
have passed away have Rah have mercy
upon them forgive them of their sins
enter them into Paradise okay give them
the true death of those people who have
died Shahed because of the oppression
which is upon them Ya Allah wake up the
hearts of the Muslims and put the
softness in our hearts towards our
brothers and sisters and our concern
yeah Allah raise from us people who will
protect and help those people who are
weak and those people who are
dispossessed so make Dua Brothers in
this month really beg Allah as I said
this is a test we you know we see people
crying tears of blood where are our
tears where are is our real concern you
know we are this this nature of this
materialistic Society in one ear
sometimes out the other we have that
sadness in our heart and then we go back
to our lives and we forget and it's the
media who sometimes if it's not on the
media we forget the situation hasn't
gone away the Situation's still there
you can't make a difference next thing
is obviously support those Charities who
are actively working there as I
mentioned Muslim uh uh you know uh
Muslim Aid one of those one of the
important things Brothers I mentioned
this thing about raising awareness and
people knowing that that we are putting
out video messages through social media
the Muslims of Bradford we are have
solidarity with you and we you know our
hearts you know are have this pain
because of your pain that social message
is that that will get to them inshallah
and when they see that it does give hope
it gives hope to people and having hope
hope is a very very important thing and
that you people are working to give
their Justice I've done I've done work
uh uh what is it uh you know when I've
seen some of the work for Amnesty
International and what I've what I've
seen within amnesty is that some of
people who are vifly fighting are human
rights lawyers who are not Muslims
they're not Muslims they're fighting for
the case of the Palestinians I remember
one of the top human rights lawyers
currently working in the in Brussels at
the moment is a Danish human rights
lawyer not Muslim but again he's driven
by that strong sense of social justice
and so a lot of very good allies that we
have we need to work in partnership with
people to address these particular
issues as well raising and warness being
involved in in in that giving charity
all of these things are practical ways
we can really do don't forget about the
situation and also wake yourself up for
the next time something like this but
also finally Brothers I want to make
this also a very important Point as
Muslims in Islam we also believe that
Allah subhana tala as as we know is a
controller of all
things you know in this month of Ramadan
as we beg Allah subh Ya Allah you know
send your upon
uslim send your upon us and help but we
have to also realize as Allah says in
the
Quran
oh you who believe if you help in the
way of Allah Allah will help you and
send your upon you and make your
foothold strong so the point is this you
help in the way of Allah you work for
the dean and I haven't don't want to go
on for much longer but this aab which is
upon us fundamentally is because we
Muslims have gone away from our core
values that's what Allah says in the
Quran
let those beware who oppose the command
of Allah as they will fall into F so
those people who have left the religion
who have abandoned Islam who are doing
the Haram claim at the same time Allah
says FNA will come upon you because of
your Cur your disbelief and you will
suffer great punishment Allah has it's
not that Allah has allowed this
punishment to take place because he has
withdrawn his help from us because we
have abandoned the religion really is as
simple as that Muslim Muslims have
abandoned their
Dean and our desires are more worldly
than they are for the next World and
until we return back and as the prophet
said Allah will allow your
humiliation Allah will allow this upon
you until you return back to your
religion so let us also remember this
very important Point our Dean it tells
us why the problem occurs but it gives
us the solution and the solution is that
we become people who truly stand up and
represent the values of our de inah
brothers and sisters for your time your
patience inshallah and inshallah we make
Dua Ya Allah give us the ability to be
someone who takes these words inshallah
and and and works you know implements
them positively in terms of bringing
about a positive change for our brothers
and sisters in Burma at the moment okay
Brothers we close at
that