Malala calls on Pakistan to take in Rohingya refugees “fleeing violence and terror”

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yusufzai has called on her fellow Nobel Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, to condemn the ongoing violence against the Rohingya Muslim community in Suu Kyi’s native Myanmar, where they are facing ethnic persecution.

She also urged the government of her home country Pakistan to follow the example of Bangladesh, which has been the main outlet for taking in fleeing and exiled refugees from Myanmar.

Expressing the “heartbreak” she faces every time she sees the situation of the Rohnigya community, Malala laid down a basic three point agenda which included her proposed course of actions.

My statement on the #Rohingya crisis in Myanmar: pic.twitter.com/1Pj5U3VdDK

— Malala (@Malala) September 3, 2017

Malala began by demanded that the violence that has engulfed the Burmese be ended immediately on humanitarian basis, saying that the murder of young, innocent children and the burning down of their homes was unacceptable and that an immediate end be put to the hostilities. She went on to say that the “Rohingya should be given citizenship in Myanmar, the country where they were born,” asking a vital question central to the argument of the persecutors of the Rohingya, “If there home is not Myanmar, where they have lived for generations, then where is it?”

Finally, Malala called on her own home government, asking them to give protection and shelter to families escaping Myanmar in terror, and praised Bangladesh for their humanitarian efforts in securing Rohingyas on the run. “Other countries, including my own country Pakistan, should follow Bangladesh’s example and give food, shelter, and access to education to Rohingya families fleeing violence and terror” she wrote in her statement delivered over social media platform twitter.

Malala finally ended her statement by calling on Myanmar’s de facto ruler Aung Suu Kyi to join her in condemning the violence. Describing the treatment of Rohingya’s as “tragic and shameful,” the youngest Nobel recipient said that in the last few years she had repeatedly condemned the atrocities and was “still waiting for my fellow Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to do the same.” “The world is waiting, the Rohingya Muslims are waiting” she added to her statement.

It is worth noting that the twenty year old Malala is often criticized in her home country despite her wide international support, standing and global influence. One of the many accusations that her detractors try to use against her is that she does not use her name and acclaim to fight for the rights of oppressed Muslim peoples.

Despite the fact that Malala focuses on girl’s education, a problem predominantly existing in the Muslim world, they seem to forget that she has repeatedly condemned the violence against Rohingya Muslims and has done so again now, going so far as to call out the Pakistani government to take in Rohingya refugees. Moreover, she has also spoken in the past about similar issues that are often highly politicised, including the last major rise in violence between Israel and Palestine back in 2015-16.