Arakan News Agency
The United Nations has replaced the head of the recent fact-finding mission to Myanmar, Indira Jaysingh, because of what she said were concerns about her bias toward the “Rohingya” Muslim party in Arakan state.
In late May, the United Nations appointed three independent experts to investigate widespread allegations of killings, torture and rape of the minority Muslim minority in Arakan by security forces in Myanmar, led by Indira Jaysingh, a defense lawyer in India’s Supreme Court.
The UN Security Council said in a statement issued in Geneva that Security Council President Joaquin Alexander Maza Martelli had decided to replace Gaising with Marzuki Darosman, a former Indonesian attorney general who had previously investigated human rights in North Korea.
The other members of the Committee, Sri Lankan lawyer Radhika Coomaraswamy and Australian Counselor Christopher Domenech Sidote, are still on the mission.
The statement gave no reason for Jaysingh‘s change but a UN official told Reuters he had agreed to the dismissal after the president raised concerns about her public comments, which could be seen as biased.
“The situation of the Rohingya in Myanmar is particularly deplorable because they are in danger of genocide,” one channel quoted Jaising as saying.
The official added that Jaysingh‘s remarks raised concern among UN officials in Geneva because she would not be considered neutral.
Jaysingh declined to comment when she phoned her on Thursday by Reuters.
It is noteworthy that Myanmar refused to grant visas to the commissioners on the grounds that the mission will increase the tension in Arakan.
