Zee JLF 2018 | Pak terror shadow in Rohingya crisis: Ma Thida

Ma Thida is a surgeon, writer, human rights activist and a former political prisoner during the rule of the military junta in Myanmar. She is the recipient of the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write award. Once a close aide of Aung Sang Suu Kyi, they seem to have drifted apart in recent times. Thida spoke to Pratik Ghosh on the sidelines of ZEE JLF. Edited excerpts.

You are a human rights activist. How do you view the Rohingya crisis?

The Rohingyas have been sandwiched between physical and intellectual violence. They have not only lost their homes, their farms and their livelihood, but have also been deprived of education. They have become easy prey for the politically motivated and religiously influential elite. Pakistan seems to be having a hand in this unrest. The leader of the extremist group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a Rohingya insurgent group active in northern Rakhine State, Ata Ullah is not a native of the Rakhine region. He was born in Karachi. No wonder, India is concerned about its national security. I think the Rohingya crisis is not a religious or a racial issue, but a political one. The Army also has a stake in it because by …read more