YANGON: Myanmar on Thursday said it would look into incendiary comments by the country’s most notorious hardline monk who branded a UN envoy a “whore” after strong condemnation from the United Nation’s, but indicated it was unlikely to act against the cleric.

Influential cleric Wirathu rained insults on United Nations Special Rapporteur on Myanmar Yanghee Lee in a firebrand speech to cheering supporters, calling her a “whore in our country” for criticising controversial draft bills considered discriminatory to women and minorities.

The UN’s human rights chief said the comments, which come amid rising Buddhist nationalism in diverse but conflict-prone Myanmar, were “intolerable”, in a strongly-worded statement to the former junta-run nation.

“The sexist, insulting language used against the UN’s independent human rights expert on Myanmar... is utterly unacceptable,” UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

He called on religious and political leaders in the country “to unequivocally condemn all forms of incitement to hatred, including this abhorrent public personal attack against a UN-appointed expert”.

Myanmar president’s office spokesman Zaw Htay said the religious affairs ministry had been asked to look into the “rude and harsh” comments, but he indicated the government was unlikely to take action against the monk.

“We have not received any official complaint yet. And since it is a monk issue, we can’t deal it with directly,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play