*Dr.HK Ibn Fayaz
Self-defense , a word that literarily denotes ‘the
defense of one’s person, interest, especially through the use of physical force
which is permitted in certain cases as an answer to a charge of violent crime’.
The right of self-defense is the right for persons to use reasonable force or
defensive force (as compared with oppressor’s) for the purpose of defending
one’s life, rights or beliefs. It has been an inborn fundamental right for the
human being as recognized at the preamble Charter of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights (UDHR) of United Nations (UN). It is the legitimate right of
oppressed people when non-violence’s philosophical appeals are in vain to the
tyrannical forces.
As per the reports of different sources availed, as many
as 500 to 600 people reportedly led
three separate attacks on Kyi Kan Pyin (Khawar bil) , headquarter of BGP of
southern Maungdaw and NgaKhuya (Nakfura) outpost in Maungdaw and Rathedaung
township from 1.30am to 4.30am at early hours of Sunday, the 9th October 2016.
The attackers equipped with bamboo sticks, kitchen knives, slingshots and a
small collection of locally made arms. Nine police officers were killed and
five others injured whereas 8 attackers were demanded to have killed with 2
others captured alive. At least 50 weapons and 10000 rounds of ammunition were
looted by the assailants during the
attack. There has been credible reports of several deadly clashes which
continued every now and again where significant numbers of combatants of Tatmadaw infantry units (Burmese armed
forces) were killed.
According to the press release from the presidential
Office, the attacks in BGP posts were systematically planned in advance over a
long period of time and were carried out by about 400 youths led by a local
youth who got some training from outside Arakan. These attacks were assisted by
significant financial support provided not by particular organizations, but was
provided secretly through individuals originally from Maungdaw .
The Burmese armed forces under Tatmadaw Infantry Units
together with Burmese Police Force have been carrying out relentless
post-attack operations using it as a pretext for a crash down to the ethnic
Rohingyas. They have been launching ‘Clearance Operations’ to uproot the
Rohingyas from the land of their fore-fathers in the name of joint combat
operations against attackers. These armed forces have been staging
mass-killings of the innocent Rohingya civilians in Maungdaw and Rathedaung
townships since the raid to the BGP posts. The authority has been on a Rohingya
killing spree. It started raiding Rohingya villages, indiscriminately firing
on, committing extra-judicial killings of unconcerned innocent Rohingya
civilians en-mass. These innocent civilians have been shooting down out of
control. The death toll has reportedly risen to more than 100 in a week
following attack. At least three mass graves of Rohingya victims have been
discovered. The additionally burned over 600 homes the ground displacing over
8000 Rohingya people. Thousands of Rohingya families were compelled to take
shelter in nearby villages and in forest areas. Looting homes and shops of
Muslims along with confiscation of properties by Buddhist Rakhine were
reportedly rampant during the raid. Arbitrary arrest and atrocities in the name
of searching the assailants by the Burmese forces have been reported. Random
rape cases of Rohingya women and young girls have also been reported. As a
result of chaotic situation, there has been acute shortages of food, water,
fuel, medicines and proper health care facilities — a humanitarian crisis to be
focused and met urgently. The post attack persecution has entered a new and
more devastating phase.
The systematic extermination of ethnic Rohingyas by the
tyrannical forces is not a new one. The world has been witnessing a
multi-dimensional annihilation process subjected to the Rohingya prior to the
independence of Burma. The harrowing tales of persecution meted out upon the
Rohingya knew no bound. They had been persecuted-religiously,
liquidated-politically, crippled- economically and degraded-socially since
1937, the year of granting ‘Home-Rule’ to the Burmans from British. The whole
community is cornered and marginalized gradually facing them to escape in the
worst possible conditions to the open sea. They have been the victims of
widespread violations during different regimes in power till to-date. The
International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) of Queen Mary University of London
in research reports published in 2015 depicted the gradually decimated picture
of Rohingya people which is summarized here-under chronologically:
A vivid picture of the atrocities of Burmese regime in a
sequential manner
Yearly Action and Reactions
1938: A
year after the granting ‘Home-Rule’ to the Burmans,
the Rohingyas were made target to the dehumanization alleging them as pro-British
supporters.
Aung San, (Father of Suu Kyi) leader of Thakin Party (an
organization founded by young university students to free Burma from British)
paid a secret visit to Arakan and propagated the policy of Muslim hatred in the
minds of Rakhine with the ulterior motive of dividing the two sister
communities.
1942: The Muslim massacre of 1942: The
barbaric Muslim massacre was started on 28th March 1942 where the plunder,
slaughter and rape of the Maghs and their Thankin masters were so great that
more than 100,000 of innocent Muslim men, women and children were murdered.
Thousands of villages were destroyed. The water of Lemro River turned red with
the blood of innocent victims. Muslim majority areas had turned in a Muslim
minority area.
1978: The King Dragon (Nagamin) Operation:
The Arakan state authorities again carried out Muslim ethnic cleansing
operation where the mass arrest, torture and killing of Muslims, male and
female, young and old were held indiscriminately. About 300,000 Rohingyas
compelled to take refuge in the makeshift camps in Bangladesh.
1982: Enactment of worst Citizenship Law and
cancellation of the nationality of ethnic Rohingya minority with branding them
as non-nationals.
1989: New citizenship scrutiny
cards issued to Burmese nationals
1991-1992: Pyi Thaya operation in the
northern Arakan state: Nearly 250,000 people flee Bangladesh to
escape persecution.
1992: NaSaKa military (Border force) established in
northern Arakan state which became notorious for abuses of Human Rights of
Rohingyas.
1993: Border immigration control
restricted marriage of Rohingya in Maugdaw Township.
1994: Burmese regime stopped
issuing birth certificates to Rohingya children
1997: Head of Sitwe immigration
office restricts Rohingya traveling outside their township.
2001: 30 ancient and heritage
mosques and Islamic schools destroyed in and around Maungdaw Township.
2005: Maungdaw Peace and
Development Council restricted Rohinyga marriages and Birth rates.
2008-2009: Govt. allowed
‘spot-checks’ Rohinyga homes and restricts movements.
2012: State-patronized violence
erupts in Arakan state between Buddhist and Muslims. Almost 140,000 people were
displaced in internal camps and squatting on the outskirts of villages at the
mercy of their-persecutors and hundreds other killed.
2014: Rohingya was excluded from
April Nation-wide Census.
2015: Parliament grants
temporary white card holders (mostly Rohingya) the right to vote in planned
Constitutional amendment in February while the president reverses the decision
a few days later and declares white cards invalid.
It is crystal clear from the above data that a process of
genocide against the Rohingya population is underway in Burma. Burmese
officials, military forces, nationalist Rakhine politicians and civil society
leaders and hard-line Buddhist Monks are central to this annihilation process.
They have been the victims of worst kind of oppressions and scapegoating as to when
considered historically and systematically reveal a bleak that the Rohinyga are
gradually being decimated. Now , the Rohingya people potentially are facing the
final stages of genocide- Mass annihilation followed by the erase of the glory
from Burmese history.
World un-saturated response to the
Annihilation of Rohinygas
The international community has been observing all the
repressive and offensive measures of Burmese regime for the last 6 decades.
Some quarters including United Nations (UN) having no power to apply by them
have been raising their constant voice of concern regarding the sufferings of
the Rohingya people. Their deep expressions were not enough to dismantle the
ironic machinery of the oppressors. On the other hand, the mighty human rights
watch-dogs have been playing a role of ‘mere spectators’ with eyes closed and
ears deaf over the progressive deteriorating plight of Rohingyas- the world’s
most persecuted minority. Their long standing grievances could not draw the
attention of the world chieftains because of the complex regional monopoly of
powers and politics. The dramatic conclusion has not been drawn effectively as
because of the religious belief of the Rohingya Muslims in comparison to the
people of East-Timur. The Christian nation of the East-Timur got the taste of
independence under the UN sponsored act of self-determination when Indonesia has
to relinquish its control of the territory in 2002. The failure to resolve the
critical situation of the Rohingya can also be attributed in part to Burman’s
political democratic transition that has absorbed attention of almost all the
international community. With respect to the international community, the
balance of attention towards the Rohinyga people at the moment is mainly
negative. As a result, the Burmese forces became a hard nut to crack for the
philanthropist and peace-lovers. No worthwhile ascension of their right of
freedom and security has been occurring.
Self-Defense: The Last resort to recourse
against oppression
In the welter of the prevailing situation, it has been
hard for the oppressed people to get free and honor as human being unless and
until they have fought back the oppressors. The Self-Defense has been the ‘One
and Only’ justifiable way of emancipation against the tyrannical force when the
opponent lacks conscience. It is clear and ahistorical that apartheid forces
can never be defeated by pacifism or non-violence’s philosophical appeal. Nobody
in the world or in the history has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to
moral sense of the oppressors. The French revolution did never abolish the
monarchy simply by pacifism. Similarly the oppressed Rohingya people now-a-days
are seemed to exert an act of self-defense as a ‘necessary evil’ to restore the
lost glory and live with full dignity and sovereignty. This self-defense of the
Rohigya people has rarely been a first resort, rather it is the last resort
left to recourse against the tyranny for their survival as a human being in the
earth. The recent attack of oppressed Rohinyga in Arakan is an unpronounced
illustration of self-defense to the oppressors. It seems to have no alternative
to the youth ‘fighters’ except to defend their selves and to save the community
from further suppressions of racist regime. The future belongs to those who
prepare for it today. This ‘resistance’ and ‘self-defense’ has got much popularity
among Rohingya themselves and the foreign rights activists. They have conceded
that the attack have much trembled the Burmese authority ever stroked since
1965. The Rohingya right activists assumed the ‘resistance’ as the mass
uprising against the oppressors.
As per a video clip released in the social media on
October 14, ‘the fighters’ accused the successive Burmese tyrannical regime of
genocidal mass killing subjected to the Rohingya people and expressed their
concern over the silence and ignorance as well as apparent failure of the
resourceful world to protect the innocent Rohinygas from the hands of Burmese
offenders. These ‘fighters’ are ‘compelled’ by their dire situation to make
their own destiny through “uprising, self-determination in self-defense” . They
seek fundamental but legitimate rights and justice for the innocent Rohinygas
dying to defend their mothers, sisters, elder persons and children from
continuous military assault—the right never achieved from the so-called
‘civilized world’.
The defenders have put a 20 (twenty) points basic demands
to be realized immediately for the defense ended successively. The national and
international analyst ‘confess that the movement of self-defense to meet their
basic demands were quite logical’ and not an act of terrorism as per definition
of ‘UN report on Terrorism in November 2004’. The UN report described terrorism
as ‘ any act intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or
non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a
govt. or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act’. As
the attacks were only to combatant or armed forces and neither cause death or
serious bodily harm to neither civilians nor non-combatants, it can be excluded
from the act of terrorism and violence according to the UN report.
There are more than a dozen ethnic rebel armed groups
fighting against the Burmese govt. for their rights and demands. What is more
surprising to us that the Mon, Karen, Wa, Shan, Chin, Kachin and other ethnic
groups have been waging their armed resistance against Burmese regime to
separate their state from Burman nation while the Rohinyga resistance is simply
to accept as a part of Burma nation. The govt. is trying to have negotiation
with those who wants the separation but on the contrary warns of taking ‘effective
action to defend against in accordance with the anti-terrorism law’. Instead of
trying to understand the root of the problem on the ground and having more
even-handed in its treatment, the authority has been painting it with the color
of terrorism and violence. It is a matter of great concern that we could be
witnessing of establishing another armed ethnic group- a one more to be added
to Burma’s long list of rebellions if she would not address the grievances of
the stateless Rohingya people.
Last but not the least; the world is gradually advancing
to the path of peace and non-violence. Understanding the facts to the root of
the crisis of all ethnic groups including the Rohingya through non-violence
endurable way will bring the rebels to the knees of Burmese government. The
government under the leadership of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi should immediately
cease all military offensives against all the ethnic groups including the
Rohingyas and thereby should understand the art of compromise and reiterate its
commitment to peace and stability. The international community like- UN, EU,
OIC, ASEAN, and the US should come forward and intervene to the current human
crisis in Arakan as per the given ‘Responsibility to Protect (R2P) in the
global political commitment to prevent genocide and ethnic cleansing. They
should also pressurize the Burmese govt. to secure recognition and ensure
rights and freedom of Rohingya Muslims in Arakan where no mass is tortured , no
human being is killed, no woman is
abused and no child is denied his/her
dignity of citizenship of this peaceful world.
*The author is a
Human Rights activist
Contact: drkif1120@gmail.com