Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi made an anti-Muslim remark about a BBC presenter who grilled her about violence-hit Rohingya Muslims.
Telegraph reported: “No one told me I was going to be interviewed by a Muslim,” Suu Kyi was heard muttering after the interview with BBC Today presenter Mishal Husain, according to a new book.
Suu Kyi made the off-air comment about Husain after losing her temper during an interview where Husain asked her to condemn anti-Islamic sentiment, British newspaper The Telegraph reported.
Pakistani-origin Mishal Husain, 43, is the first Muslim presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. The comments were revealed in Peter Popham’s new book ‘The Lady And The Generals: Aung San Suu Kyi And Burma’s Struggle For Freedom’.
70-year-old Suu Kyi refused to condemn anti-Islamic violence of Rohingya Muslims despite being repeatedly asked to do so by the BBC Today presenter.
“I think there are many, many Buddhists who have also left the country for various reasons… This is a result of our sufferings under a dictatorial regime,” she responded.
Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims of Rakhine state have fled persecution in western part of the country after religious violence erupted there in 2012.
Some analysts have termed the persecution as “strong evidence” of genocide.
Earlier, Suu Kyi has faced criticism for not speaking out in defence of the persecuted Muslim minority.
Buddhist nationalist activists and monks had whipped up anti-Muslim sentiments during a charged election campaign.