Myanmar’s local border security minister, Col. Phone Tint, has denied charges against government forces of raping women of the Muslim Rohingya minority and of sexual assault as a weapon of war against this oppressed group.
In an interview with the BBC, the colonel said in response to reports accusing his country’s army of committing rape against Rohingya women. “Where is the evidence of these allegations?” The colonel said, “Look at them, will anyone want to rape them?” .
According to a Human Rights Watch report, government forces in Myanmar committed rape and sexual violence against women and girls as young as 13 years of the Rohingya minority.
The irresponsible statements of Myanmar government officials against the Rohingya Muslims and the authorities in that country are being used as rhetoric to the level of sectarian rhetoric by some Buddhist clergy against Muslim Rohingya.
