By Mir Ahmed Siddiquee
20-03-2017
Thousands of Myanmar’s Rakhine Buddhists were protested on 19/03/2017 Sunday against the government’s plan of citizenship to some persecuted Rohingyas by the name of Bengali as 2nd & 3rd class citizenship.
The protests were leading by Arakan National Party (ANP)
in Sittwe and 4 other towns. The ANP is the main opposition party of state
government of Rakhine, and also the main violence creator, based on
dissimilarity of faith and race. Sittwe is the capital city of Rakhine State where
many Rohingyas are living in Ghettos since government back mass killing started
on June of 2012.
According eye-witnesses, about ten thousand hardline
Buddhist in five towns including the capital city, most of the protesters were
as usual Buddhist monks, government servants and their families.
Aung Htay, a protest organizer said, “We are protesting
to warn government to follow the 1982 citizenship law and we cannot allow the
government giving citizenship cards to these illegal intruders.”
The Rohingyas are ever facing discrimination in Buddhist-majority
Myanmar, especially in Rakhine State considering as illegal intruders from
neighboring Bangladesh, even though Rohingya have been in Myanmar for
generations. Read here about Rohingya’s existence: https://twitter.com/mir_sidiquee/status/731793514581901312
Hundreds of Rohingyas were killed in 2012 violence and
driven out about 140,000 people – predominantly Rohingya – from their homes to
camps for the internally displaced, where most remain. Rakhine state is one of
the poorest states in Myanmar, is home of more than 1 million Rohingyas.
Moreover, since 9 October 2016, the government of Myanmar
has created a new operation called “Clearance Operation” in northern Rakhine
state along the border towns. About 1000 Rohingyas killed, hundreds of raped,
burned alive, more than three thousand Rohingya houses have been burned to ash,
drove out more than 70000 Rohingyas into neighboring Bangladesh.
According to the Rohingya’s politicians and world scholar’s
analysis, all masses and inhumanity are based on hatred and citizenship rights.
The recent protest took place just after three days of
the Rakhine Advisory Commission, led by former UN Boss Kofi Annan, urged to
the government of Myanmar to reconsider a failed program to verify Rohingya for
Myanmar citizenship and to remove restrictions on freedom of movement. https://mirsdq.blogspot.com/2017/03/statement-by-kofi-annan-chairman-of.html
“We also look at the question of citizenship, and we also call for all those who have been recognized as citizens to have all the rights attached to that citizenship,” Ghassan Salame, a member of the commission, said last week.
Myanmar’s new civilian government, led by Aung San Suu
Kyi, welcomed the commission’s proposal. Suu Kyi’s office said that most of the
commission’s recommendations would be “implemented promptly.”
The government withdrew the Rohingya’s so-called white
cards two years ago as part of a plan to expel them from the country and cancel
their citizenship under the 1982 law.