West Rewarding Myanmar For Massacring Muslims - Iran Ambassador

Vienna, Aug 6, IRNA – Iran’s Ambassador to Switzerland Alireza Salari criticized the silence of West towards massacre of Muslims in Myanmar and said western countries are rewarding the Myanmar regime for indiscriminate killing of the Muslim minority. Talking to IRNA, he condemned the West’s supports for terrorism and internal war in Syria as well as its inaction towards the massacre of Muslims in Myanmar. Referring to Islamophobia as a major project pursued by the West in the past century, he said killing of Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq and massacring Palestinian Muslims by the Zionist regime serve the same purpose. The ambassador also said following the visit to Myanmar of the US foreign secretary the Islamophobia trends are seemingly growing because the West is rewarding the regime there for massacring Muslims instead of confronting it. During the past month hundreds of Muslims in Myanmar were killed, thousands were disappeared and hundreds of thousands displaced. The government of Myanmar refuses to recognize Rohingyas, who it claims are not natives and classifies as illegal migrants, although the Rohingya are said to be Muslim descendants of Persian, Turkish, Bengali, and Pathan origins, who migrated to Myanmar as early as the 8th century. The UN says decades of discrimination have left the Rohingyas stateless, with Myanmar implementing restrictions on their movement and withholding land rights, education and public services. According to reports, 650 Rohingya Muslims were killed as of June 28 alone during clashes in the western region of Rakhine. This is while 1,200 others are missing and 80,000 more have been displaced./end