New Delhi: On a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his official visit to Myanmar, human rights organisation Amnesty International urged him to push the country’s leadership to provide assistance to Rohingyas in the violence-hit Rakhine state.
The rights body also said the Modi government should “reaffirm” its commitment to protect Rohingya refugees and asylum-seekers in India instead of “threatening” them with deportation. “Prime Minister Modi must also use his visit to push the Myanmar authorities to allow full and unfettered humanitarian assistance to people in need. Nothing can justify denying life-saving aid to desperate people,” Aakar Patel, executive director at Amnesty International India, said.
The number of Rohingya refugees that have fled to Bangladesh to escape violence in Myanmar, which flared up late last month, has touched 1,23,000, according to the UN refugee agency.
