Call to sever ties with Myanmar, Bangladesh

We request the Government of Pakistan (GoP) to extend an ultimatum to the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh to the effect that Pakistan will sever all trade ties with them if the massacre of the Rohingya Muslims continues in Myanmar and both countries assume an apathetic stance towards the issue.

This suggestion was voiced by Mehmood Moulavi, Chairman of the Rice Exporters’ Association of Pakistan (REAP) at a press conference conducted by the organisation at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday afternoon.

“How long will the traders remain silent?” he queried.  He said Nato had bombed and killed so many people in Fata, and there had been umpteen bomb blasts, killing of tens of thousands of Pakistanis. 

“We want the trader community to come out in the open and explain to the masses that we are not detached from these humanitarian issues and are equally sensitive to humanitarian crises like these,” Moulavi said. He said, “We will ask the government of Bangladesh to let the Rohingyas in and that we, the traders of Pakistan, will foot the bill”.

He said that they, the traders of Pakistan, would request the government of Pakistan to prepare the requisite documents like CNICs so that these displaced persons could come to Pakistan and earn a living, besides giving a boost to the Pakistani economy in the process.

He wondered as to what kind of Buddhists the rulers of Myanmar were since Buddhists did not even allow its adherents to trample over an ant.  He called on the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to intervene on an urgent basis. “We have to change the mindset and change has to occur at the top,” he said.

In reply to a question, he said no fund had been instituted for the welfare of and aid to the Rohingyas thus far but said that he had soon be taking up the issue. Another rice exporter, Rahim Janoo, said that the GoP should ask the government of Bangladesh to throw open its borders to the Rohingyas and adopt a more humanitarian attitude towards its co-religionists.

While the press conference was being conducted inside the press club, there was a mammoth rally outside it featuring fiery speeches and raising of full-throated slogans by members of REAP, joined in by other political parties, notably the Pak Sarzameen Party.