ISLAMABAD: A petition has been filed in Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking directions to the federal government to highlight the `genocide` of Rohingya people of Myanmar at the international level.

Advocate Tariq Asad in his petition also requested the court to direct the government to sever diplomatic ties with Myanmar and withdraw the democracy award Islamabad gave to Aung Sang Suu Kyi in 2012.

He said Pope Francis had issued a strong statement in defence of the right of Rohingya Muslims to `live their faith` and criticised the Myanmar government for the persecution of the Rohingyas. The Pope said Rohingyas had been tortured and killed `simply because they want to live their culture and their Muslim faith,` he said.

The Rohingyas are `good people, they are not Christians, they are peaceful people, and they are our brothers and sisters,` the petitioner quoted the Pope as saying.

The petitioner said the UN previously dubbed the Rohingyas, who are also denied access to university education and were in 2013 hit with a two-child policy, as `the most oppressed people on Earth.` He said Pope Francis` comments should serve as a wake-up call for the international community in general and the Muslim countries, especially Pakistan, in particular.

According to the UN refugee agency, an estimated 73,000 people have crossed the border into Bangladesh since violence flared on Aug 25, 2017, leaving the refugee camps near full capacity.

Over a million (1.2) Muslim Rohingya people in Myanmar have faced years of mistreatment at the hands of the government which does not recognise them as its citizens, the petition said.

They are facing widespread discrimination from the Buddhist majority population and often referred to as Bengalis, alluding to a common myth that they are illegal immigrants.

According to the Human Rights Watch, the Myanmar government has denied citizenship to any Rohingya persons who cannot prove their ancestors settled in the country before 1823, the beginning of the British occupation of what is now Rakhine State (also known as Arakan).