Fresh violence has broken out once again between Myanmar’s Rohingya and Rakhine people. The world has, however, restricted itself only to verbal expressions of concern regarding this latest round of ethnic cleansing carried out by Myanmar’s law enforcement authorities. They have not come forward to actively stop these atrocities
In this regard, The New York Times has observed that “Myanmar has long persecuted the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority, denying it basic rights to citizenship, to marry, to worship, and to an education.” Reuters has also reported that more than 1,000 homes have been razed in Rohingya villages in Myanmar during the military “counter-insurgency” lock-down there and analysis of satellite images from November 10, 17, and 18 by the Human Rights Watch have revealed burning of houses.
Latest figures indicate that up to 30,000 people have been displaced in Myanmar’s Rakhine state -- half of them over the course of the second and third weeks of November.
The latest situation has emerged after a series of attacks on the border police on October 9 in Maungdaw Township, a predominantly Muslim area in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, which left some officials dead. The attackers supposedly fled the bloody scene with a hoard of weapons stolen from the police armory.
The Myanmar president’s office subsequently alleged that a previously unknown Rohingya Muslim group called Aqa Mul Mujahidin was responsible for the attacks. Muslim Rohingyas have strongly denied any knowledge or involvement in any of the attacks.
State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi has suggested caution over the certainty of the claims being made by both sides. The displaced Rakhine belonging to the Buddhist community has, however, reached its own dangerous conclusions and have indicated that this incident will usher in the start of another bloody, sectarian conflict.
In the meantime, the Maungdaw Rohingya Muslim population has been prohibited from leaving the area.
Chris Leya from the Arakan Project, an advocacy group with a network of sources across the area, has mentioned: “In the first week [of the operation], we know the army was burning villages, burning houses, shooting people on sight, looting, and arresting people too. We have also had a report of a number of women having been raped.” In the meantime, the government has acknowledged using helicopter gunships in support of ground troops in the operations.
It may be noted here that nearly 140,000 Rohingya have been living as internally displaced people (IDP) in dire conditions in camps on the outskirts of Sittwe since the last spate of riots in 2012, which left more than 100 dead.
Civil society activists have alleged that the state capital does not offer Rohingya IDPs the same security as the Buddhist Rakhine who also fled Maungdaw. Media reports have also indicated that humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya IDP camps was temporarily suspended after the attacks in Maungdaw.
We have to understand that Bangladesh does not want another mass arrival of Rohingya Muslims into this country due to cogent reasons
The already complex humanitarian crisis is being further exacerbated through rumours of unfair aid distribution. This is fuelling suspicions between the Rohingya and Rakhine communities.
Many within the Buddhist community are claiming that the NGOs are only supporting the Rohingya Muslim community (Bengali people). This complaint was made recently by Rakhine camp chairman U Soe Naing, who also referred to the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.
Commenting on this situation, Innocent Sauti of the World Food Program (WFP) has observed that they are ready to assist everybody, but the regional government has turned down their offer to assist the Buddhist Rakhine IDPs sheltering in Sittwe, claiming that the monasteries already have ample supplies. WFP has also emphasised that “we are not getting involved in the politics. WFP is committed to giving people food, irrespective of their background or religion.”
In the meantime, the UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, Mr Yanghee Lee, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs have expressed concern in the way the Myanmar government is handling the issue. This was also strong criticism of Suu Kyi’s comment that the Myanmar government was responding to the evolving situation based on “the rule of law.”
It may be recalled that this September the Obama administration eased remaining economic sanctions on Myanmar because of assertions by Suu Kyi that the Myanmar government was focusing “on bringing respect for the human rights of its people.”
That decision now appears to have been premature.
The scenario within this sub-region continues to be a source of concern for Bangladesh which is already hosting nearly 32,000 documented Rohingya Muslim refugees in different camps located in the Cox’s Bazar area. It is also known that more than 400,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees who entered Bangladesh over the past two decades have managed through various means to assimilate themselves clandestinely, within the local Bangladeshi population.
The UNHCR has once again urged the Bangladesh government to keep its border with Myanmar open to allow safe passage for the Rohingyas fleeing persecution in Myanmar. The Bangladeshi Border Guards and its Coast Guard have been following government instructions in this regard. They have been humane in looking after terrified migrants before persuading them to return to Myanmar’s side of the border.
Despite this, the print and electronic media have indicated that more than 10,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees have managed to evade the Border Guards and have taken shelter within Bangladesh.
We have to understand that Bangladesh does not want another mass arrival of Rohingya Muslims into this country due to cogent reasons. Since 1978, we have had several such unfortunate experiences. Fresh arrivals of thousands more will only affect the gradual improvement in bilateral relations.
It is this dynamic that persuaded our Foreign Ministry to summon the Myanmar ambassador and express serious concern about the evolving situation and demand that Myanmar “ensure integrity of its border” to stop this illegal influx.
Another meeting on this very issue has also been convened in Cox’s Bazar between representatives from the Bangladesh Border Guards (BGB) and the Myanmar Border Police on working out common modalities to stop such infiltration into Bangladesh.
A densely populated country like Bangladesh must not be left to shoulder this recurring problem by itself. The Bangladesh government has been trying its best to be constructive in this regard. We are trying to address the potential of greater connectivity with Myanmar through the implementation of the BICM Corridor and BIMSTEC.
Our prime minister has met Aung San Suu Kyi twice in recent months -- in New York and in Goa -- and has reiterated that there is prospect for improving bilateral engagement in trade, energy, and the exploitation of maritime resources.
Consequently, we think that time has now come for the EU, the USA, Canada, and Australia, their civil society (so aware of human rights), the United Nations, the ICRC, and the OIC to take a more pro-active stance and actively engage with the new civilian government and control the evolving human disaster in Myanmar.
We also need to understand that, with the armed assailants still at large, the threat of inter-communal bloodshed continues to loom large over Rakhine State. The sensitivity of the situation is being further exacerbated with rumours, escalating uncertainty.
This is making the prospect of meaningful reconciliation that much harder to achieve.
Muhammad Zamir, a former Ambassador and Chief Information Commissioner, is an analyst specialised in foreign affairs, right to information, and good governance.