Pakistani Taliban on Monday asked Myanmar’s beleaguered Rohingya Muslim minority to wage a jihad against military-backed junta and offered them resources and training facilities to help them “take up the sword”.
Ehsanullah Ehsan, spokesman for the hardline Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), said they “shared the grief” of the persecuted Rohingya Muslims fleeing Myanmar. “I address Burma’s youth: take up the sword and kill in the path of God. No doubt, God is with us,” Ehsan said in a message sent to media. He also offered to help Rohingya Muslims through the resources and training. “Our (training) centres, our resources, training, people, everything is available to provide comfort to you,” he said.
Myanmar refuses to recognise the majority of its 1.3 million Rohingya as citizens and places a raft of restrictions on them, such as family size, movements and access to jobs.