DELHI – Experiencing the fight for life in their country, Rohingya football players of Shine Star FC at refugee camps in Delhi, India, have extended their hands to help flood victims in the south Indian state of Kerala, Anadolu Agency reported on September 3.
“Though our camp is in Delhi we receive a lot of help from Kerala. The love and support Kerala people show us will always be in our memory,” the club manager, Muhammed Shihad, expressed.
“We pray for them and convey our support with whatever little help we could do,” he added.
The Rohingya Muslim players, who are mostly students and daily-wage laborers, went door-to-door in the camp and collected 40,000 Indian rupees ($563).
They handed over their relief fund to Kerala flood victims through the Human Welfare Foundation, which has been engaging with the refugee community for years.
Shine Star club, which was formed in 2015, mainly participates in tournaments with other teams of refugees held in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
On his behalf, the Human Welfare Foundation CEO, Noufal PK, said: “Whatever be the amount of contribution, the message Shine Star FC shares with the world is priceless. Therefore, this contribution is very special.”
According to the UNHCR, there were 17,500 registered Rohingya refugees and asylum-seekers in India as of July 2018.
The UN estimated that nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims were killed in Myanmar and about 170,000 of them have fled the country in 2012 alone.
Since August 25, 2017, nearly another 24,000 Rohingya have been killed in Myanmar, according to the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).
In a recent report, Forced Migration of Rohingya: The Untold Experience, the OIDA raised the estimated number of murdered Rohingya to 23,962 (± 881) from a Doctors Without Borders figure of 9,400.
Moreover, over 34,000 Rohingya were thrown into fires, while over 114,000 were beaten. In addition, 17,718 (±780) Rohingya women and girls were raped in Myanmar.
The Burmese army and Buddhist citizens have burnt more than 115,000 Rohingya houses and vandalized other 113,000 homes.
According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly children, and women, have fled their homeland in Myanmar and crossed into the neighboring Muslim country of Bangladesh.
The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world’s most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in annual communal violence since 2012.