OIC SPECIAL ENVOY FOR MYANMAR IN US TO MOBILISE SUPPORT FOR ROHINGYA ISSUE

Washington, 23 Jumadil Awwal 1436/14 March 2015 (MINA) – The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Special Envoy to Myanmar, Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar, is in the United States (US) to meet up with officials in efforts to mobilise support for the OIC initiatives to resolve the Rohingya issue.

Apart from meeting United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, Syed Hamid, who is Malaysia’s former foreign minister, is also expected to have bilateral meetings with the UN Secretary-General Special Adviser on Myanmar Vijay Nambiar as well as with representatives of the Non-Violent Peace force, the OIC said in a statement, Barnama quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting..

Syed Hamid will also meet Prof Mohammed Abu-Nimer, senior adviser of the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID), at the OIC’s office in New York to discuss the Buddhist-Muslim dialogue event which Syed Hamid will host in Kuala Lumpur in April.

Syed Hamid together with the OIC Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ufuk Gokcen will also have a meeting with US Congressman Chris Smith who is chairman of the subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organisation.

He is also scheduled to meet officials of Amnesty International, the UN OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), Arakan Rohingya Union Director General Dr Wakar Uddin, an activist with the New Burma Task Force USA Adem Carroll and Religions for Peace Secretary General Dr William F. Vendley.

In September last year, the OIC Contact Group held a meeting on Rohingya in New York and adopted an action plan recommended by Syed Hamid, which called on the Myanmar government to take action against people promoting hate speech and instigating violence.

The plan also calls for holding inter-community and interfaith dialogue, allowing internally displaced people to return to their homes, investing in the socio-economic development of the Rakhine region and to open up for international humanitarian assistance to reach the community affected by the ethnic violence that broke out in 2012.

The Jeddah-based OIC said that it would continue to urge the Myanmar government to restore the citizenships of the Rohingya Muslims, which were revoked in the Citizenship Act of 1982, and to have an inclusive transparent policy towards ethnic and religious communities including the Rohingya Muslims. (T/P004/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)