Al Jazeera Net correspondents
Colombo- The Sri Lanka Navy announced that its forces rescued a boat carrying about 100 people, including children and women, near the northeastern Sri Lanka Sea.
Sri Lankan Navy spokesman, Jayan Wickramasuriya, explained in a special statement to Al Jazeera Net that the Sri Lankan Navy suspects that the passengers are coming from Myanmar.
When asked whether they were from the Rohingya minority, he indicated that there were difficulties in communicating with passengers in a language that was understood by both parties, which prevented them from verifying their ethnic background.
The spokesman added that there were reports received from the sea indicating that the passengers were suffering from dehydration and poor health, stressing that the Sri Lankan Navy provided them with the necessary food, water and medicines. He also stated that the boat was still in good condition.
The Sri Lankan Navy spokesman indicated that the Sri Lankan Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense will follow up on the case and take appropriate measures.
For decades, the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (Burma) have been subjected to grave violations of their rights, which included depriving them of the right to citizenship, subjecting them to ethnic cleansing, killing, rape, and mass displacement.
Since 1982, the government in Myanmar has classified hundreds of thousands of Rohingya as stateless Bengali Muslims who came from neighboring Bangladesh, making them vulnerable to persecution, racial discrimination and abuse.
The Rohingya warn that the government is creating one problem after another to push them away from their homeland or force them to accept living as slaves in their country.