Conference flays stand of various govts on Rohingya crisis

Rohingya refugees walk on the muddy path after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border in Teknaf, Bangladesh, September 3, 2017. (Reuters Photo)

A conference of the Left parties of the South Asian countries flayed the stand taken by various governments, including the BJP-led dispensation in India, on the Rohingya refugee crisis here on Saturday. The two-day conference, being attended by senior communist leaders from South Asian countries, including Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, discussed the Rohingya refugee crisis, CPI(M) politburo member M A Baby said.

It also decided to adopt a resolution, seeking a “pro-active” intervention by the United Nations (UN) on the issue, he added. It was also decided at the conference to urge the governments to treat the Rohingya people, who fled the Rakhine state in Myanmar facing an onslaught from the military, as refugees and take immediate steps to protect them by providing them humanitarian assistance, Baby told reporters at the end of today’s session at the conference.

The UN must “pro-actively” intervene in the issue, he said, adding that a resolution in this regard would be adopted by the participants at the conference tomorrow. Baby criticised the NDA government’s stand on the Rohingya crisis and sought to know whether it had decided to deport the Rohingya refugees “under the influence of the RSS”.

The conference — The South Asian Regional Seminar on Imperialism, National Sovereignty, Communalism and Religious Sectarianism in South Asia — was inaugurated by CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury. The conference, organised by the CPI(M) to mark the 100th anniversary of the Great October Revolution, is also being attended by senior communist leaders of the country, including Prakash Karat, Sudhakar Reddy, S Ramachandran Pillai and D Raja.

In his inaugural address, Yechury said it was the considered opinion of the communist parties of the South Asian countries that the struggles against imperialism, national sovereignty, communalism and religious sectarianism were interlinked in this part of the world.

“The battles on each of these fronts — anti-imperialism, defence of national sovereignty, defeating communalism and religious sectarianism — have to be won in order to eventually win the war against exploitation and for the liberation and emancipation of our people in our respective countries,” he added.