FROM MAULANA’S DESK

The Rohingya Muslims should know that, in this world, friendship and enmity are both relative terms. If you offer friendship to another person, he too will definitely accept you as a friend. own unrealistic actions carried out under the influence of misguided leaders. Moreover, I would like to say that such a separatist movement would be unacceptable to any country, even if it were given the euphemistic name of ‘self-determinism’. For example, the Muhajir leaders of Karachi once tried to make it an independent state, but the Pakistan government strongly objected to this and took very stern measures against these leaders, who had to flee the country and now live in exile. The solution to the problem of the Rohingya Muslims is only one— that is, acceptance of reality. The Rohingya Muslims must disavow their insurgency and militant activities. They should make it known that they are a larger part of the Myanmar nation. They should rid their hearts of separatist tendencies. I am sure that the Myanmar government would then accept them, and the whole issue would be peacefully resolved. The separatist movement has only caused a deterioration of the condition of the Rohingyas to the point of ruination, although prior to this they were living prosperously in Myanmar. Indeed, the best interests of the Rohingya Muslims lie not in wanting a separate land, but rather in living as part of the state of Myanmar. This is true both in the religious and secular sense. In 1934 I took admission in the Madrasah alIslah, an Arabic seminary in Azamgarh, for my religious education. I had only one friend in this seminary, one Abdul Rashid Rangooni (i.e. he was from Burma). He was a very decent person and had a very good opinion about Burma of his time. Judging by the impressions I received from him about the Burmese people, I would say that the blame for the later actions which were taken against the Rohingya Muslims lies not with the Burmese administration, but with the unwise Rohingya leaders who fuelled violent activities in the region. In the course of this militancy, outside leaders also participated, further worsening the situation. But I personally know that the Burmese are very good people and will certainly re-accept the Rohingya Muslims wholeheartedly, provided the Rohingyas acknowledge their previous wrong actions and remain faithful citizens of Burma.