1 November 2017, Kathmandu
We concerned citizens of Kathmandu express our outrage that the Rohingya people of Burma have once again been subjected to depopulation in Rakhine State, with more than 600,000 fleeing across the border into Bangladesh in the last two months alone. Another 150,000 are in internment camps in Rakhine State. Including 250,000 who have been in the Bangladesh refugee camps from earlier episodes of depopulation, the total number of displaced Rohingya is at a staggering million.
The ongoing scorched earth policy of the Burmese military and the deliberate state policy rendering the community stateless has extracted enormous physical and psychological toll of the Rohingya. We question the formalistic position of State Councillor Aung San Suu-Kyi on the colossal humanitarian crisis. While recognising the political challenges she faces internally on the Rohingya issue, we believe the State Councillor has failed to live up to the trust reposed on her by the people of the world as a democrat and humanitarian.
We demand accountability for the crimes against humanity being perpetrated against the Rohingya people. The consideration of the crisis should not be clouded by national political or geopolitical calculations. Nor should the faith and belief of the Rohingya people have any bearing on the matter.
We the undersigned citizens of Kathmandu call for urgent international effort to protect the Rohingya community within Burma from further assault, and to provide humanitarian assistance to the refugees in Bangladesh. Above all, we ask for a campaign to ensure dignified return of the Rohingya to their homes and fields in Rakhine State. The Burmese state must remove the Rohingya’s condition of statelessness and recognise their right of return.
Signatories:
- Jyoti Bania
- Pratik KC
- Sneh Sayami
- Nirajan Thapaliya
- Rakshya Basyal
- Upendra Pandey
- Rashana Dhakal
- Bikas Rauniar
- Laxman Upreti
- Sanjeevani Yonzon
- Sunil Dhungana
- Mahabir Paudyal
- Jagannath Lamichhane
- Padam Lall Maharjan
- Bijay Prakash Upadhyaya
- Roshan Koirala
- Arun Karki
- Indra P. Aryal
- Rajesh KC
- Mahamuni Acharya
- Som Niroula
- Subodh Raj Pyakurel
- Rajendra Khatri
- Uttam Uprety
- Shubhecha Tewari
- Sharad Paudel
- Binod Sijapati
- Dinesh Tripathi
- Shiva Bisangkhe
- Sujan Simkhada
- Sushil Pyakurel
- Arjun Dhakal
- Esha Thapa
- Ganesh Khaniya
- Kanak Mani Dixit