Look after those refugees

At this Time of the Year, the “Season of Goodwill towards men”, please spare a thought for the plight of 103 ROHINGYA Refugees including 25 children found drifting in a rickety Boat and apprehended by the Navy.

The Rohingya are an extremely persecuted minority in Burma/ Myanmar, where they are being openly murdered by the Military Government of Myanmar, For NO REASON whatsoever, except ethnicity, (they are minority Muslims), although they have lived in Myanmar for several generations.

The 12 crew members of the boat have been remanded. They can barely make themselves understood due to the language difference. They can’t speak English.

Apparently, they were apprehended by the Navy in Sri Lankan waters near Trincomalee and first reports indicate that they never intended to make Sri Lanka their destination. They were probably heading to a Muslim majority country. Of the three boats that set out, two sank, and everyone who could, clambered onto this one boat.

Reports said that many of them were suffering from acute hunger at the time of “arrest”. These people completely fit the description of REFUGEE, whom Sri Lanka is duty bound to provide safe protection under the Geneva Convention. Conventions and Legalese aside, what happened to the so-called “smiling welcome” with which we supposedly greet Foreigners? Is that fake smile dependent on the dollars that the tourist is carrying?

I appeal to the new Government of Sri Lanka to set aside the opportunistic behaviours of recent past Presidents, humanitarian attitude. Our unassuming and transparent President knows what it is to face hardship. Please sir, look at the Rohingya as fellow Humans’ in distress. Let’s recall during this Christmas Season that the Pope himself called the Rohingya “The most persecuted people on Earth! Jesus himself was a Refugee whose family fled to Bethlehem. The Muslim Community too, also have a special responsibility These people ARE NOT CRIMINALS. They need our protection.

Jayanta Kurukulasuriya