An official of the National Unity Government of Myanmar, a group of elected lawmakers and members of parliament ousted in the 2021, called for religious freedom in the country in a statement released this week.
“The people of Myanmar want to have full religious freedom, the freedom to believe or not to believe and the freedom to choose their own future,” said Salai Maung Taing San, or Dr. Sasa, minister of International Cooperation of the NUG.
Dr. Sasa said the freedom to believe is a “fundamental freedom granted to all human beings by Almighty God.”
“It must be supported, respected and protected. This is exactly what the people of Myanmar want,” he added in a statement quoted by the Catholic News site AsiaNews.
“When we talk about freedom, we are talking about the freedom to choose, the freedom to believe, the freedom to hope, love and live in peace,” he said.
“Freedom of education, including religious education. The freedom to thrive and thrive. These are the reasons for this historic revolution of the people of Myanmar, whose courageous people fight for freedom and federal democracy,” added the official.
The opposition official said that in May alone, more than 7,000 civilian homes, churches, and other places of worship were burned and destroyed by the military.
He said that as as result of the atrocities, “more than 1.2 million people have been displaced and left homeless.”
“Many of these atrocities are taking place in the places where religious minorities live,” he said.
Dr. Sasa said the generals in the ruling junta “are using religion and race as weapons” by supporting ultra-extremist groups.
He said the military is also “using hunger and poverty as weapons to intimidate and destroy religious freedom” by attacking the faithful in states with a Christian majority.
