06 September 2017•Update: 07 September 2017
By Kyaw Ye Lynn
YANGON, Myanmar
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday met Myanmar’s State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and voiced concern over ongoing violence in western Rakhine state.
“We shared your concerns about the extremist violence in Rakhine state,” said Modi after meeting Suu Kyi in Myanmar’s capital Nay Pyi .
The Indian prime minister’s visit to the country comes amid a spike in violence in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state that forced more than 120,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee their homes.
“We hope that all the stakeholders together can find a way out in which the unity and territorial integrity of Myanmar respected,” he said.
Modi and Suu Kyi also discussed matters pertaining to bilateral cooperation, trade, transportation, border security and counter-terrorism.
For her part, Suu Kyi thanked India for supporting Myanmar. “Together we can ensure that terrorism is not allowed to take root on our soil or on the soil of neighboring countries,” she said in a press briefing.
According to the UN, 123,600 Rohingya have crossed into Bangladesh as tens of thousands more were internally displaced by the latest violence.
Rakhine state has seen simmering tension between its Buddhist and Muslim populations since communal violence broke out in 2012.
In a security crackdown launched last October in the state’s northern Maungdaw district, the UN has documented mass gang rapes, killings -- including infants and young children -- brutal beatings, and disappearances.
The report found evidence of human rights violations by security forces that indicated crimes against humanity.
Rohingya representatives have said that around 400 people were killed in the crackdown.
In recent weeks, the government has boosted its military numbers in Maungdaw, and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) claimed responsibility for attacks in which the government said dozens were killed.
The ARSA said the attacks were in response to raids, killings, and looting by soldiers.
