Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the 57-member group of Muslim nations, has sought help of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Laureate and chairperson of the National League for Democracy in Burma, towards seeking an end to violence against the Rohingya Muslims in that country’s Arakan region.
The OIC secretary general, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, has in order to reach out to the popular Burmese politician written her a letter requesting to play a positive role in bringing an end to the violence that has afflicted Arakan State. “As a Nobel Peace Laureate, we are confident that the first step of your journey towards ensuring peace in the world would start from your own doorstep and that you would play a positive role in bringing an end to the violence that has afflicted Arakan State,” it said.
The official suggested she could make the government in Naypyidaw agree to an international inquiry into the recent violence, granting free access to humanitarian aid groups and international media in Arakan as well as expediting the return of the victims to their respective properties. He expressed concern over the “unabated and continuous violation of Rohingya rights in Burma where thousands of Rohingyas were killed, injured and displaced both internally and externally.”
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SC to hear plea against BSF
New Delhi, July 4: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea for probe into the alleged extra-judicial killings by the Border Security Force in the West Bengal border area.
A bench of justices B S Chauhan and Swata-nter Kumar deferred the hearing for Monday when the matter would be taken up along with a similar petition raising the issue of extra-judicial killings.
Petitioner Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha, a Kolkata NGO alleged that there are more than 200 cases where the BSF personnel indulged in extra-judicial killings, torture in the border area and those cases were never probed by the state police.
“The present case will show, the procedure followed by the West Bengal Police makes a mockery of the rule of law. This petition pertains to the cases of torture or torture followed by extra-judicial executions of more than 200 Indian nationals by the Border Security Force between 2005 and 2011,” said petitioner’s counsel Colin Gonsalves.
“In over 100 cases, there are eye witnesses to the BSF taking into custody the person concerned and there are eye witnesses to the torture in custody of the person concerned leading to his death,” he further said. — PTI