Waqar Ad Deen, chief of the Rohingyan Arakan Union, said the organization is grateful to the Saudi Arabian government under the leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for helping the community in its hour of suffering.

He told Arab News that “the Kingdom is very supportive of us in our tragedy. Saudi Arabia was the first country to provide support at all levels, whether financial or moral, to the Burmese refugees during the reign of King Abdulaziz some 70 years ago.”

He added: “I hope Islamic countries will follow the Kingdom’s example, especially now that violence against the Muslim minority is escalating at the hands of the Buddhist Myanmar government,” he said.

“The Buddhists are now launching savage attacks against us and our properties. Many Rohingyan villages are at risk of being burned. During the past year, more than 120,000 Rohingya Muslims were forced to flee their homes. They now live outside urban areas in makeshift camps. The central government, which is represented by the army and police, is obviously supporting the Buddhist gangs and they are letting them kill thousands of Rohingyas and burn hundreds of their villages, which is attested to by reports from Human Rights Watch about human rights in the Arakan region of Burma,” he added.

“I would like to note that Thomas Quintana, the United Nations special rapporteur, came for a visit, the fifth by a UN official since the start of the tragic events that killed thousands of our people. He witnessed firsthand the tragic situation there and reported his observations, which clearly place the blame on the Buddhist gangs and expose the position of the central government. But I have a feeling that these reports were shelved and no pressure was exerted on Myanmar to stop these acts of aggression,” he said.

Meanwhile, Tahir Al-Arkani, president of the general conference of the Rohingyan organizations, called on the international community to bear witness to what his people are being subjected to and to try to help them to have a decent life.

“They live under extreme conditions. They live in camps where there is no clean water, no power and no health care. There are medical reports that show that fatality rates among the elderly and the children are alarming because they do not get the required health care and are exposed to the vagaries of nature,” he said.