Daily Times

Sir: Three bombs have exploded in areas surrounding Myanmar’s Rakhine state. Rakhine is the homeland of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority, that has been subject to a genocide in recent years.

Terrorism is raising its ugly head in Myanmar as well. And this is a direct consequence of the Myanmar junta’s sins against the Rohingya people. There were reports in 2017 about how transnational Islamist terror networks like Al Qaeda and ISIS were taking note of the war crimes being committed against the Rohingya, and planning to take advantage of the resulting anguish to create a strong footprint in Myanmar.

This is how these groups operate. Wherever they see Muslims being subject to injustice and cruelty at the hands of non Muslims, they see a fertile recruitment ground. Let us hope that the authority in Myanmar will see sense. Meanwhile, the international community should be wary of terror networks making inroads into Myanmar.

NAZAR MALIK

Lahore

Published in Daily Times, February 26^th 2018.