An open letter to Aung San Suu Kyi- a State Counsellor of Myanmar by Dal Khalsa

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We write to express our deep concern over the killings of Rohingya Muslims in the restive Rakhine state of Myanmar. 

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Your failure to exert influence and stop brutal violence against the Muslim minority community has shocked us. It is appalling because the lady we knew believed cooperation and dialogue (non-violent tools) as the effective methods of conflict resolution.

 

Regrettably, the killings have battered the reputation of the Nobel Peace Prize winner. We are raising our concern over the persecution of the Rohingyas purely on humanitarian grounds as we did when you and your party members faced repression and rights violations at the hands of the military junta.   

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 As an organization struggling for Sikh rights, the Dal Khalsa has always considered you as ‘a source of moral courage and steadfastness' and supported your commitment to continue to fight for human rights and rule of law in the military controlled nation. 

You faced house arrest for 15 long years and even refused to leave Myanmar when your husband died in 1999. In the first public appearance after your release on 14 November 2010 you said "I believe in human rights and I believe in the rule of law. I will always fight for these things". Your words have failed to translate into ground reality. The violence and exodus of Rohingyas in thousands tell the sorry state of affairs in your country.   

The people, the groups who admired you, supported you and voiced your cause are disappointed and disheartened the way Rohingya Muslims are being treated in an inhuman way.   When your party National League for Democracy won a majority in parliament in 2015, ending half a century of dominance by the military, you said the results were the possible start of a "new era" in Myanmar politics. 

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However, your words sound hollow today. May be in the capacity of State Counsellor- de facto head of the Myanmar government- you had started believing that the minority community doesn’t have human rights! Like Indian leadership, you too believe that all rights are reserved for majority community.   

India that has allowed minority-community refugees from Pakistan and Bangladesh to stay on in India, has threatened to expel Rohingya refugees- courtesy they being Muslims.     

The Indian state has remained extensively engaged with Burmese military leadership in those times when fundamental rights of pro-democracy supporters including yours were brutally crushed by men in uniform. 

During your five day visit to India in Nov 2012, I remember while delivering the Nehru Memorial Lecture in New Delhi, you took a jibe at ‘India’ on latter’s double standards and said "our people felt abandoned by India during her hard days”.   

Unfortunately, today you have abandoned the Rohingya Muslims in their hard days. The situation cries for your urgent attention. You ought to resolve the humanitarian crisis engulfing the Muslim Rohingya minority and affecting the geo-politics of South Asia.