Is there salvation on the horizon?
By Muhammad Zamir
Injustice, communal hatred, and racial
discrimination have persisted in Myanmar because the Myanmar administration
does not bother to be consistent with international law and human rights
regulations. They have dictated their own terms, followed their own hacked
grammar of life, and disregarded accepted norms of behaviour.
This unfortunate aspect has grown in
dimension and intensity because of Myanmar’s existing potential in the form of
energy resources and territory that can be used by some neighbours, not only
for improving their own economic and national interests, but also for selling
defense equipment.
It has since become very clear that Myanmar
might have an elected government and a so-called civilian administration, but
the reins of power still belong to their arrogant armed forces -- now blatantly
supported by radical and communal Buddhist monks. They want to create a
completely Buddhist state without the presence of ethnic minorities belonging
to any other religious faith.
The government of Myanmar and their other
administrative authorities presently practise a format where no one is allowed
to even the utter the word Rohingya in the context of the affected population.
Even Pope Francis carefully avoided using this reference during his visit to
that country in 2017. Myanmar authorities believe such a measure will help
their younger generation to forget that such a population ever existed in their
country. Hitler did the same with regard to the Jewish population during his
rule.
Since August 2017, systematic oppression,
ethnic cleansing, murder, rape, and arson have led to more than 790,000 illegal
migrants leaving their Rakhine homes and entering Cox’s Bazar, Ukhiya, and
Teknaf.
Instead of denying entry to these affected
people, our prime minister showed her magnanimity. A coordinated effort was
undertaken by the government, the host community, and several international and
local organizations to ensure that this suffering mass would receive food,
health care, water, sanitation, and also special care for their children.
However, the subsequent months have revealed
a gradual growth in the number of Rohingya living within the different camps in
this sub-region. This development is unfortunately beginning to create many
deleterious effects on the affected region.
Careful surveys carried out by different
government agencies have revealed that the total number of the Rohingya
population has now crossed one million. The gradual expansion of the camps
meant to provide temporary shelter to the Rohingya has led to destruction of
nearly 200 hectares of arable land. About 5,000 acres of land has also,
according to UNDP, been rendered useless because of sandy soil flowing down
from the denuded slopes. This has also seriously affected the use of such
forest area by wild animals. The displaced Rohingya also appear to have become busy
in drug trafficking, human trafficking, smuggling, and other nefarious
activities in the Cox’s Bazar area.
There have been several bilateral discussions
between Bangladesh and Myanmar officials. In these bilateral meetings, Myanmar
was informed of the five demands that had been put forward by the Rohingya from
their camps. That included (a) citizenship for the Rohingya with equal
opportunities, (b) security for the Rohingya after their return with monitoring
facility of such security by international actors, (c) return of land forcibly
taken away from them and proper compensation for damage that had taken place,
(d) justice for the violence perpetrated on them and (e) rehabilitation of
those living in internally displaced camps in the Rakhine state.
These were indeed tall orders. In an
interview with a German media outlet towards the end of August, circulated eventually
on September 4, 2019, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen has however
pointed out the reality: “Myanmar authorities have agreed to one of these
demands: Provide safety, security, and mobility to the Rohingya people. Demands
such as granting citizenship to Rohingya, punishment for people involved in the
Rohingya massacre, recognizing Rohingya as an ethnic group, and allowing them
to return to their own homes have not been met.”
There have been two attempts to repatriate
these Rohingya back to Myanmar. Both were symbolic. These attempts failed, as
those identified as acceptable for return decided not to take that step,
because they had not received any assurance of being accorded Myanmar
citizenship. Matters came to a head on August 25, with Rohingya convening a
protest meeting in the Kutupalong camp with digitally printed banners and
placards written in English, pressing their five points demand and refusing to
move out of Bangladesh.
There were fiery speeches by Rohingya
activist Mr Mohibullah and other Rohingya. Instead of supposedly being a prayer
meeting, the gathering assumed different connotations. Tens of thousands of
Rohingya also turned up in a particular uniform dress code. The disappointing
aspect was that the Bangladesh authorities appeared to have been totally
ignorant that such a dynamic was about to take place.
It was also evident that the coordination
required for holding the meeting had required funding and that had obviously
originated from external sources. Some foreign and local NGOs have been
identified in encouraging Rohingya not to return. These include US-based NGOs
Adventist Development and Relief (ADRA) and Al Markazul Islam (AMI) and also
the Rohingya Refugee Committee (RRC) and the Voice of Rohingya and Arakan Refugee
Society for Peace and Humanity (ARSPM).
They have also been responsible for creating
a negative mindset about a possible transfer to Bhashanchar. It has since been
discovered that incorrect information has been used to assist the Rohingya in
obtaining mobile phone SIMs, citizenship ID cards, and even Bangladeshi
passports.
Such a scenario has evidently been a source
of embarrassment for the government.
In view of the above evolving circumstances,
it is good that the government has now taken some significant decisions -- (a)
identifying those organizations who are instigating Rohingya not to return, (b)
banning their entry or operations within the Rohingya camp area, (c)
incapacitating the use of the SIMs obtained by the Rohingyas illegally, and (d)
building strong barbed wire fences around the camps to stop Rohingya from
leaving their camps and becoming a source of anxiety for the host community.
Bangladesh has done enough. It is now the
turn of UN, as well as the EU, the US, Canada, and Australia to be more active
within Myanmar. Salvation might then appear.
Muhammad Zamir, a former ambassador, is an
analyst specialized in foreign affairs, right to information, and good
governance. He can be reached at muhammadzamir0@gmail.com.--
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Don’t forget to read more below:
UN FFM Report: 600,000 Rohingya still in Myanmar
at 'serious risk of genocide': https://lnkd.in/grp4Gvg
Can China Able to Help Find a Durable
Solution for the Rohingya Refugees Crisis? https://lnkd.in/g6qy_qK
Rohingya plight worse
than ever https://lnkd.in/du-VCvE