No community more discriminated against than Rohingya: UN chief
New Delhi, Oct 2 : There is no community in the world more discriminated against than the Rohingya people of Myanmar, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday.
Delivering a public lecture on "Global Challenges, Global Solutions" here, Guterres said that the people of the Rohingya community cannot get married without permission and their children don't get access to basic education.
"In Myanmar, there is a very deep-rooted sense of racism (against the Rohingya)," he said.
"The Myanmar President asked me to resettle them (Rohingya) in another country, but I said I can't do that."
Guterres said that even if some members of the Rohingya community made some provocative acts, the response from the Myanmar army was "absolutely brutal".
He said the Myanmar government and the military should be convinced about the plight of the Rohingya people and India should play a role in this.
A new crisis erupted in August last year following an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group that led to a violent response by the Myanmar Army in Rakhine state.
This resulted in an exodus of Rohingya refugees from the Rakhine State in Myanmar to Bangladesh.
New Delhi has sent relief material for the refugees in both Rakhine and Bangladesh.
The Rohingya people do not enjoy citizenship status in Myanmar and are sparingly given refugee status in Bangladesh.
On Monday, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that Indian states have been told to identify the Rohingya people living in the country and send their biometric details to the Centre.
"The states are directed to identify the Rohingyas and collect their biometric details. The states need to send the reports to the Central government," Singh said while chairing the 23rd meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council in Kolkata.
There are around 40,000 Rohingya refugees in India, but the government has sent a clear message that it was not willing to accept them because of security concerns.
In December last year, India and Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop Rakhine State.
It was the first government-to-government agreement signed between New Delhi and its eastern neighbour focussed on socio-economic development and livelihood initiatives in Rakhine State.
It is intended to help the Myanmar government achieve its objective of restoration of normalcy in Rakhine State and enable the return of displaced persons.
In his speech, Guterres said that "massive physical investmenta needs to be made in Myanmar for relief for the Rohingya people.
He also lamented the fact that fundamentalism has crept into a peaceful religion like Buddhism in that Southeast Asian nation.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
