Such is the magic of the Qur’an. It is a text which speaks about the past the same way it does of the future. Who would have thought that a new “Makkah” would emerge in the 21st century? Who could have imagined a situation where Muslims would be subject of systematic and government backed pogrom and extermination in the so-called modern world. This is happening right now, right there in Burma. Burma has become a new “Makkah” right there in Asia and one which is similar to the Makkah of the 7th century. Welcome to Burma of 2017; welcome to torture-land of Muslims.

Burma is located near China and India. It is home to a Muslim nation called Rohingya. The Muslim population in Burma is said to be about ten percent. As you read this piece, Muslims in that part of the world are going through systematic extermination and displacement. This story is not new. This crime is said to have started a long time ago.
In 1784, a Buddhist king called “Bodawpaya” feared the spread of Islam in the region. From then on he began to persecute the Muslims. Their only sin is that they are Muslims, nothing more!! When they tried to escape, no Muslim country was willing to accept them. The only option they had was to die at sea or from hunger, fear, and intimidation.
The Muslim minority in Myanmar are the descendants of Muslim immigrants from India (including what is now Bangladesh) and China (the ancestors of Chinese Muslims in Myanmar came from the Yunnan province), as well as descendants of earlier Arab settlers and the recognized Kamein minority. Some of them inter-married with local races of Myanmar. According to Human Rights Watch the Burmese government has a policy of denying citizenship to any Rohingya person who cannot prove that his ancestors settled in the country before 1823, the beginning of British occupation of what is now Rakhine State (also known as Arakan).
Thus, to be Muslim in that part of the world is to keep a date with death. Rohingya Muslims are amongst the most persecuted minority group in the world. According to Amnesty International, those Muslims have continued to suffer from human rights violations under the Burmese junta since 1978, and many have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh as a result. Cases of rape, torture, arbitrary detention, and violence against Rohingya are commonplace, with many incidents going unreported as enforcement officers turn a blind eye. The perpetrators of this evil cuts across all levels of the Burmese society. Currently there are over a million Rohingya people living in Myanmar, however, systemic oppression has led to an increase in migrations. In early 2015 alone, around 25,000 asylum-seekers, consisting of Rohingyas and Bangladeshis, sailed out of the Rakhine State to seek refuge in neighbouring countries.
Aside from Bangladesh, majority of asylum-seekers also set out to other South-east Asian countries such as Thailand, but also to Malaysia and Indonesia, which are predominantly Muslim countries. Mass exoduses due to persecution and mass violence, such as the one in 2012, has happened before in 1978 and 1992, with many of the fleeing Rohingya people being marginalized and excluded in host States. They are often not recognized and not protected as refugees, and as a result, they live in extreme poverty, have to resort to illegal employment and are vulnerable to exploitation.
It may interest you to note that the Burmese leader, Auug San Suu Kyi is an acclaimed human right leader. She is recognized even by the United Nations as a person in whose conduct and carriage there is a merger between humanity and dignity. Ironically, the current genocide against Muslims in that country is being carried out under her watch. “Ms Suu Kyi’s failure to speak out in support of the Rohingya is baffling to an international audience that persists in casting her as a human rights icon”, said David Mathieson of Human Rights Watch. “One version to explain her silence is callous indifference, another is calculated limited messaging … but the most likely is she simply has no control over the Burmese army,” he added.
Brethren, it is our duty to call attention to the injustice and evil currently going on in Burma not simply because it affects Muslims but more importantly because it runs against all that is good and just. As at the last time I checked, and given correct textual reading and interpretation, I know that all religions preach equality and justice; that heinous and iniquitous treatment of others based on religious or racial difference has no justification in divine texts.
As you are reading this, Muslims in Burma are being thrown into hell and pits of fire. Remember them in your prayers, organize lectures and discussions in their memory, and embark on awareness campaigns in their name. Remember, an injustice to one is an injustice to all.

Source: DailyTrust