MAPIM Press Release 8th December 2014 BANGLADESH MUST RELEASE GRC AID VOLUNTEERS The Malaysian Consultative Council of Islamic Organizations ( MAPIM) registers its protest over the arrests of 3 volunteers of the Global Rohingya Center by the government of Republic of Bangladesh. The detention is clearly unwarranted and unjustified . The GRC has provened itself as a legitimate organization working as a relief entity to attend to the plight of the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh . It is perplexing that Bangladesh , while obviously is unnable to handle the enormous problem of the refugees , chose to be suspicious to such organization who is extending help . It is unbecoming of a nation which is a Muslim country to base its judgement on prejudices towards efforts by organization who seeks to relief the sufferings of most persecuted minority in the world. It is a wonder , why the Bangladesh authorities , despite GRCs effort to comply all processes to communicate with the relevant agencies , took the unnecessary measure of detaining the volunteers. On what grounds are these people suspected of any violation? Why is Bangladesh reflecting a similar behaviour with the Myanmar government which is clearly oppressing the defenseless Rohingya Muslims. It is certainly unimaginable that Bangladesh is ignorant of the inhuman conditions of the Rohingya refugees who had to endure extreme hardships both in and outside of Myanmar. Bangladesh has even declared closing its border to push back thousands of Rohingya refugees including children and women seeking refuge from the attacks by Rakhine mobs at the height of the 2012 massacre . While humanitarian consideration should be the reason for at least a sign of compassion , the Bangladesh government , being a Muslim nation , should have also reflected on its obligation to protect lives of Muslims who are under threat. Having a prejudice attitude towards organizations that are rendering humanitarian help does not aurgur well for a nation that is already facing the reality of its own population finding greener turfs for economic survival throughout the world. Bangladesh cannot persist on unreliable informations to justify its clamping policy on organizations like GRC which has denied allegations of its members linking with extremist activities. GRC has shown its record of working to extend humanitarian help to the Rohingya refugees in the IDP camps in the Rakhine state . In collaboration with Bangladesh government they are pursuing to cooperate to relief the pathetic conditions of the Rohingya refugees in camps like Kutupalong ,Teknaf and Cox Bazar in the south of Bangladesh. While Bangladesh is showing its inability to handle the refugees , it should have gestured to the international agencies to seek help and not to apply unnecessary difficulty for agencies like GRC to function within its capacity . We are voicing our concern to request the government of the Republic of Bangladesh to unconditionally release the GRC volunteers immediately. As a member of the United Nation (UN) and Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) , the Bangladesh authorities should extend its cooperation to allow all agencies to assist the Rohingya. We stand in solidarity with the GRC volunteers and demand that all humanitarian aid workers be protected by the Bangladesh authorities in accordance with the international conventions on the protection of aid workers and the laws under the perview of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (UNHCR). Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid President MAPIM
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 06:06:59 +0000
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