Take back Suu Kyi's Nobel prize: Online petition

International concern is growing about the latest exodus of Rohingya.

An online petition, targeting Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto leader of Myanmar, has urged the Norwegian Nobel committee to strip her of her Nobel Peace Prize.
The petitioners want the chairperson of the awards body to "confiscate" or "take back" the prize the Myanmar leader won in 1991.
Suu Kyi has been targeted by the petitioners for her silence over increasing violence against the ethnic Rohingyas.
The petition has taken social media, especially Twitter, by storm as around over 362,831 people have signed the petition in protest against silence of Suu Kyi on persecution of Muslims in her country.
Link for the petition is largely being shared on Facebook and WhatsApp as well.
The petition has demanded that "the Chair of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee confiscate or take back the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Aung San Suu Kyi."
People are also demanding to take back the six million Swedish krona prize money that she won along the Nobel Prize in 1991.
Myanmar has come under international pressure after some 125,000 Rohingya Muslims fled from a surge of violence in Rakhine state, beginning with an Aug. 25 attack by Rohingya insurgents on dozens of police posts and an army base.
International concern, in particular from Muslim countries, is growing about the latest exodus of Rohingya.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has pressed world leaders to do more to help the population of roughly 1.1 million, saying they are facing genocide.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday of the risk of ethnic cleansing and regional destabilisation. Guterres warned of the risk of ethnic cleansing and regional destabilization. He urged the U.N. Security Council to press for restraint and calm in a rare letter to express concern that the violence could spiral into a "humanitarian catastrophe."
The International Organization for Migration said humanitarian assistance needed to increase urgently and that it and partner agencies had an immediate funding gap of $18 million over the next three months to boost lifesaving services for the new arrivals.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said after meeting Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka that Jakarta was ready to help Bangladesh in dealing with the crisis.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that India shared Myanmar's concern about "extremist violence" in its Rakhine state.  Modi spoke after talks with Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi during a visit aimed at expanding commercial ties as part of an "Act East" policy, and pushing back against Chinese influence.

Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai and Muslim countries in Asia led a growing chorus of criticism aimed at Myanmar and its civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi over the plight of its Rohingya Muslim minority.

"Every time I see the news, my heart breaks at the suffering of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar," Pakistani activist Yousafzai, who famously survived being shot in the head by the Taliban, said in a statement on Twitter.

My statement on the #Rohingya crisis in Myanmar: pic.twitter.com/1Pj5U3VdDK
- Malala (@Malala) September 3, 2017

"Over the last several years I have repeatedly condemned this tragic and shameful treatment. I am still waiting for my fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to do the same," she added.

Pakistani politician and former cricketer Imran Khan added: "Shameful acceptance of Rohingyas genocide by Aung San Suu Kyi."

Shameful acceptance of Rohingyas genocide by Aung San Suu Kyi https://t.co/XuBVSoWLwS
- Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) September 3, 2017

The growing crisis threatens Myanmar's diplomatic relations, particularly with Muslim-majority countries in Southeast Asia where there is profound public anger over the treatment of the Rohingya.

Pakistan's foreign ministry released a statement saying it was "deeply concerned over reports of growing number of deaths and forced displacement of Rohingya Muslims" and urged Myanmar to investigate reports of atrocities against the community.
Muslim-majority Malaysia has also seen public protests since the latest round of Rakhine violence began.
"We urge for calm and restraint," Prime Minister Najib Razak tweeted. "The dire situation facing our Rohingya brothers and sisters must be alleviated for good of Myanmar and region."

We echo the @UN 's Sec-Gen's call for Myanmar's security forces to seek holistic approaches towards addressing the crisis in Rakhine state
- Mohd Najib Tun Razak (@NajibRazak) September 3, 2017

The Rohingya are also widely loathed by a huge section of Myanmar's population, dismissed as Bangladeshi interlopers despite many tracing their lineage back generations.
But detractors say Suu Kyi is one of the few people in Myanmar with the mass appeal and moral authority to swim against the tide on the issue.

(With inputs from Reuters)