As MPs clamoured in the House of Commons for words and action from Myanmar state counsellor Aung Saan Suu Kyi on the Rohingya issue, Britain said she needed support to stabilise the country\u2019s situation as her removal would result in a \u201ccalamity\u201d.<\/p>\n
Many lawmakers expressed dismay and frustration over Suu Kyi\u2019s inaction and silence on the issue, but minister for Asia Mark Field said underlying reasons also needed to be addressed.<\/p>\n
London continues to use the name \u201cBurma\u201d for the country instead of the official \u201cMyanmar\u201d, as reflected in its use by the minister in the debate which was initiated by Yasmin Qureshi (Labour) on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Field said: \u201cImagine the situation if there were another coup d\u2019\u00e9tat and Aung San Suu Kyi was removed from the scene and we went back to fully fledged military rule. That would be a calamitous outcome for the Burmese people.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to do all that we can to support the moves, slow as they are, towards some sort of democracy as we would understand it in Burma\u2026We must work towards getting Burma on the road to democracy as much as possible rather than trading one off against the other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour) raised the issue of what he called \u201csustained discrimination against, and killing of, Rohingya Muslims\u201d over the years. As the de facto leader of Myanmar, he said Suu Kyi should respect the rights of all, especially minorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cExtraordinary respect and honour were accorded to her by our Parliament for her own long struggle for democracy. Has the minister reminded her of this, and of the urgent need to stop the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya in her country?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
Liz McInnes (Labour) added: \u201cI am sure the minister will share the deep disappointment of many members of this House at the failure of Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Myanmar\u2019s civilian government, to speak out more forcefully against human rights abuses in Rakhine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liberal Democrats MP Jo Swinson said it was \u201cincongruous and incomprehensible\u201d that Suu Kyi \u2014 for so long a beacon for human rights \u2014 had not stepped in to intervene in the face of a military crackdown that reportedly led to the burning of 17 villages and left 250,000 people without access to food.<\/p>\n
Acknowledging the sense of dismay over Suu Kyi, Field said \u201csectarian complexities of the Burmese society\u201d along with the lack of democracy for over five decades played an important role in the concerns.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cAs far as this matter is concerned, we have made it very clear that we feel that Aung San Suu Kyi and her government need to step up to the plate. We are not in any way forgiving or understanding of the terrible violence and its impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is worth pointing out that the entrenched security forces, including the army, police and border guard force, are responsible for the security operations that are currently under way in Rakhine state. We have made that absolutely clear.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will support Burma\u2019s ongoing transition from military dictatorship to a civilian-led democracy. This is very much an ongoing process, led by the democratically elected Aung San Suu Kyi.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As MPs clamoured in the House of Commons for words and action from Myanmar state counsellor Aung Saan Suu Kyi on the Rohingya issue, Britain said she needed support to stabilise the country\u2019s situation as her removal would result in a \u201ccalamity\u201d. Many lawmakers expressed dismay and frustration over Suu Kyi\u2019s inaction and silence on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4099,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4100,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4098\/revisions\/4100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}