Who will speak for Rohingyas? | The Korean Times

The military junta in Myanmar has been courted by the West in its quest to encourage the democratization process in this bastion of tyranny. However, it is primordial that respect of human rights, especially the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya minority should remain high on the international agenda.

The Rohingyas are the most defenseless religious minority in the world. However, their fate draws very little attention from the international community. They live in an impoverished enclave between Myanmar and Bangladesh. Since Myanmar’s independence from the British in 1948, thousands of Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh to escape racial and religious prosecution by the Buddhist Rakhines and the Burmese military junta.

The Rohingyas have lived in the Arakan region for hundreds of years. However, the annexation of this independent province in 1784 by the Burmese government forced the Rohingyas to endure discriminatory policies, persecution through their marginalization and the restriction of their movement, their marriage, and constantly confiscating their land and driving them to annihilation.

In 1977, almost the Burmese junta launched Nagar Min (Dragon King) ― a military operation that drove thousands of Rohingyas to a camp at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh as a form of ethnic cleansing as hundreds died and thousands were left without food or shelter.

In the past decade, the Bangladeshi government has tightened its borders with Burma, as it has already more than 25,000 Rohingya refugees. Faced with a scarcity of land, lack of financial resources and inability to cope with this deluge of refugees, the government turned its back on this helpless minority.

The “dark-skinned” Rohingyas, who have some physical traits similar to Bangladeshis have always suffered abuse. The junta passed a law in 1982 that stripped them of their citizenship and made them unwelcome people with no place they can call home. They became the Roma of East Asia. The junta calls them “dogs, thieves, terrorists, and mulattos.” The official state newspaper, The Myanmar Alin, refers to the persecuted Muslims with derogatory names, such as “Kalar,” which means black. Recently, when Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in her European tour, was asked about the recent attacks on the Rohingyas that left dozens killed and thousands displaced, her answer was, “I don’t know.” Not a reassuring statement for the Rohingyas’ future.

The Muslim world bears a historic moral responsibility in choosing to ignore the continuous ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas. I am sure that the Arab states can afford a meager portion of the billions of dollars in their coffers to ease some of the hunger and thirst of these forgotten people.

Zerougui Abdelkader

Adjunct professor, Ph.D.

American University

Rohingyas recount terror of Burma clashes

                                

Zohara Khatun says she and her family ran for their lives - her father was killed 

Zohara Khatun is still reeling from the trauma of seeing her father killed in western Burma in June. 

"My father was shot dead by the Burmese military in front me. Our entire village was destroyed. We ran for our lives. I still don't know what happened to my mother," she said, sitting in a thatched hut in a fishing village near the town of Teknaf in south-eastern Bangladesh. 

Ms Khatun is one of the Rohingya Muslims who have managed to cross into Bangladesh following the communal unrest in western Burma's Rakhine province. 

The 30-year old broke down repeatedly as she tried to explain what happened over the border. 

She says their village came under attack during clashes between majority Buddhists and local Muslims, mostly from the Rohingya minority. Nearly 80 people were killed in the fighting and thousands were displaced. 

Human rights groups allege that Burmese security forces continue to carry out mass arrests, forcing many Rohingya Muslims to flee. A state of emergency declared last month is still in force in many places of the province. Unwanted 

There is no independent confirmation of the claims of extra-judicial killings and other abuses - journalists are denied access to the area. Burma denies its security forces are responsible for human rights abuses.

Since the June clashes, thousands of refugees have been trying to get into Bangladesh, taking perilous boat journeys along the Bay of Bengal and across the river Naf, which separates the two countries. 

"We were floating on water for six days. I could not feed my children for days," Ms Khatun said. 

"When we tried to reach Bangladesh, we were not allowed to enter. We did not know where to go." 

There are an estimated 800,000 Rohingya Muslims living in western Burma. The Burmese authorities argue that the Rohingyas are recent migrants from the Indian sub-continent. 

But Dhaka says they belong to Burma, so they are not welcome in Bangladesh either. Dhaka says there are already 400,000 Rohingyas living inside the country, most of them, it says illegally. 

Bangladesh has pushed nearly 1,500 Rohingya Muslims back into Burma since June saying it cannot afford to help them. 

Some - like the family of Zohara Khatun - have managed to get in. The Rohingyas who came recently have been living in hiding among Bangladeshi villagers. They are afraid that if the authorities come to know about them they will be sent back to Burma immediately. 

Bangladeshi authorities say they are determined to stop the latest influx. 

Lt Col Zahid Hasan of the Bangladeshi border guards showed me how his men have been patrolling the river Naf to prevent Rohingyas from crossing into the country. 

"It is really putting a direct effect on our social stability as well as the economy. If this influx continues then the problem of stability will be at stake," Col Hasan said. 

"Sometimes these Rohingya people are involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking and other anti-social activities which are really affecting the social stability in this area." 

The Rohingyas deny such allegations. 'We belong to Burma'

The refugees I spoke to accused Burmese security forces of turning a blind eye when their villages came under attack.

 

Sayeda Begum now has no husband and her children no father 

"My husband was killed in the riots. The Burmese police were shooting only at the Muslims, not the Buddhists. The military was just watching from the rooftop and they did not intervene," said Sayeda Begum, another Rohingya Muslim woman. 

Rohingya Muslims have flocked to Bangladesh over the past 30 years, bringing with them tales of oppression and exclusion. 

They are denied citizenship and land rights in Burma. Human rights groups say they are among the most persecuted minorities in the world. 

But Bangladesh's refusal to allow in the recent wave of refugees has also attracted criticism. 

"We understand it is not that easy. So we advocate with the government of Bangladesh to give at least temporary protection status to those arriving from Rakhine state of Myanmar [Burma]," said Dirk Hebecker, a senior official from the UN Refugee Agency in the Bangladeshi town of Cox's Bazaar. 

The Rohingyas who crossed into Bangladesh in the past three decades have been living in camps along the border. The unofficial refugee camps have no running water, drainage or health facilities. The Rohingyas live in abject poverty and squalor in these camps. 

 

Conditions in the unofficial Rohingya refugee camps are squalid 

The recent statement by Burmese President Thein Sein that the Rohingyas should be resettled in a third country has also added to the anxiety of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. 

"We are concerned by the president's comments. We belong to Burma and we want to go back to our villages. It is difficult to live in refugee camps like this," said Ahmed Hossain, a Rohingya community leader in Kutupalong camp, near Cox's Bazaar. 

"We are willing to go back to Burma only if our security and rights are guaranteed." 

For years, Bangladesh has been urging the Burmese authorities to take back the Rohingya refugees living in various camps but without much success. 

The latest crisis comes at a time when Burma is gradually moving towards democracy. But many here in Bangladesh argue that the process may not be complete unless the Rohingya issue is resolved.

The international community to save the Muslims of Burma and a visit to the territory of Myanmar

MP Mohammad Sadat (Egypt)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Meanwhile, Mohamed Anwar Sadat, President of the Commission on Human Rights People's Assembly and former President of the Reform Party and the need for development intervention of the international community, led by the United Nations to stop the bloodshed and ethnic cleansing of murder, rape and the suffering of the Muslims of Burma.

In the context of these events confirmed that Sadat is doing arrangements with parliamentarians from the Commission on Human Rights and the party leaders and civil society organizations and human rights activists and to arrange for a visit to the territory of Myanmar to stand on Mejrebat events there and of Muslims from genocide.

Sadat also called for the need to open a dialogue with the ruling power there, and civil society organizations, the State of Burma in order to reach a quick solution to these bloody events.

Sadat and calls for all human rights organizations in the world and the international community to intervene quickly to protect the Muslim minority there and the defense of the most important human right is the right to life and bodily integrity.

Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar victims of global power struggle

“Muslims in Myanmar are the victims of the strategic interests of the big powers,” Selçuk Çolakoğlu, an expert from the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization (USAK), told Sunday’s Zaman, adding that the Myanmar issue has an international dimension.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Although continuing violence against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar alarmed the international community, bringing their plight to the international agenda, experts agree that Muslims in Myanmar are the victims of a global power struggle and that the international community should end its silence on the situation affecting the Southeast Asian country.

The first glimmer of violence in Myanmar occurred in June after claims that three Rohingya Muslims raped a Buddhist woman. Following the allegations, extremist Buddhists started killing Muslims living in Arakan province, the location of the recently escalating violence in the country, near Bangladesh. “What kind of solution can be found for the conflict is a question mark. The issue should be put on the UN agenda. But it’s impossible for the UN Security Council to issue a resolution against the Myanmar government due to Chinese influence. Myanmar’s government has had very close relations with China for 20 years. Therefore, Myanmar is an important country for the other powers due to its relationship with China. The competition for leadership between China and the US in the Indian Ocean is serious.

Recent visits by US officials to Myanmar are to break Chinese influence in the region,” said Çolakoğlu.

Agreeing with Çolakoğlu regarding the role of the global powers in Myanmar, Sait Demir from Turkey’s Humanitarian Aid Foundation (IHH), told Sunday’s Zaman that the major powers had significant interests in Myanmar, adding that due to these policies they remain silent on the situation in Myanmar. “Myanmar also has important natural resources. Therefore, the US and China have conflicting policies in Myanmar,” said Demir, adding that both powers supported Myanmar’s government.

According to official statistics, 4 percent of the 75 million people in the country are Muslim, while 89 percent are Buddhist. The Muslims are not seen as citizens of Myanmar by nationalist Myanmar leaders, officials and fanatical Buddhists, and in turn are exposed to discrimination.

“Myanmar’s government has an important role in the current conflict. Since the independence of the country, there has been an exclusionary policy carried out by the government against the Rohingyan Muslims to create a nation-state based on the Buddhist ethnic group. In this sense, the other religious and ethnic groups are either being assimilated or forced to migrate. This policy is carried out to reduce the influence of these groups within the country,” said Çolakoğlu, adding that the conflict in Myanmar had two aspects, ethnic and religious.

Tun Khin, president of the Rohingya Organization, said the international community should take immediate action concerning the situation in Myanmar, adding that pressure should be put on the government.

Stating that the attacks on Muslims are not a sectarian issue, Khin claimed that the regime in the country had prepared a plan to murder Muslims.

Agreeing with Khin, Demir said Myanmar’s government was provoking the conflicts between Muslims and Buddhists, adding the government was arming the Buddhists against Muslims. “The government is applying a divide and rule policy,” said Demir.

Turkey has called on international organizations, especially the UN, not to remain silent about the violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu spoke with the secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, and Bangladeshi Foreign Minister Dipu Moni last week about the situation of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

A Turkish diplomatic official told Sunday’s Zaman that Turkey was following the situation in Myanmar closely, adding that Turkey has always supported the reform process in Myanmar. “Turkey is currently carrying out a fact finding process in Myanmar. Turkey has contacts with both the OIC and the UN. Turkey is also in touch with authorities in Myanmar and Bangladesh,” said the same official.

Meanwhile, to mobilize international opposition to the situation, during a visit to China in June İhsanoğlu discussed the situation with Chinese authorities, pleading with them to closely follow the situation and to take the initiative with its southern neighbor Myanmar, with which it has close relations.

Myanmar President Thein Sein declared a state of emergency in Arakan province following clashes between Buddhists and Muslims and deployed army troops to restore stability.

Defining the attacks as “ethnic cleansing based on race and religion,” Wakar Uddin, chairman of the Arakan Rohingya Union (ARU), said the state of emergency in Arakan further was further deteriorating the living conditions of Muslims, while Buddhists ignored the state of emergency.

Decades of discrimination have left the Rohingya stateless, with Myanmar implementing restrictions on their movement and withholding land rights, education and public services.

Myanmar’s government is currently not allowing any media organizations to enter the country.

“No one is allowed to enter Arakan province. The government has also arrested UN staff in Myanmar,” said Demir.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Melissa Fleming said last Friday that 10 UN staff and aid workers have been arrested in Myanmar. Martin Nesirky, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, also confirmed this news, adding that the UN was following the situation with concern.

There are also contradictory figures regarding the death toll of Muslims in Arakan province. An aid team from the United Nations, which is the only foreign team that was allowed to enter the region, has said the death toll was neither as low as Myanmar’s government had declared nor as high as activists have claimed.

“The number of deaths is not clear, and it is contradictory. It is not possible to find the bodies of the Muslims. It is said that 1,500 bodies are lost,” said Demir.

While tens of thousands of Muslims fled Myanmar due to the violence, Bangladeshi authorities did not allow the Rohingyans waiting at the border gates to seek refuge in their country.

“Even though Bangladesh closed its doors to Rohingyan Muslims, there are still 150,000 Rohingyans in refugee camps in Bangladesh,” said Demir, adding that relations between Myanmar and Bangladesh had deteriorated due to the Rohingyan Muslim issue.

Demir stated that Rohingyans, who are denied citizenship and ethnic recognition in Myanmar and instead are viewed as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, are not allowed to work or have a house, adding that there is no electricity in Muslim villages in Myanmar.

Although, local sources claimed last Monday that the conflict had somewhat eased, Demir, who has been serving in Myanmar for nine years, said he didn’t believe that the conflict had eased, adding that the Myanmar government had started deploying army troops near the region to provoke the conflict

EU takes diplomatic action to end massacre of Muslims in Myanmar

European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton attends a news conference in Helsinki on March 6, 2012. (Photo: Reuters)                                                    

The European Union is carrying out diplomatic initiatives in order to stop the massacre of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, the Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday.

Anatolia quoted High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton's spokesperson Michael Mann as saying they were closely monitoring acts of violence against the Muslim minority in Myanmar. “EU diplomats got in touch with officials in Myanmar following a directive of Catherine Ashton. Experts from the [European Community Humanitarian Office] ECHO were dispatched to Myanmar to determine the urgent needs of the Muslims,” Mann said.

The EU had reduced some of its political and economic sanctions on Myanmar earlier this year after several political prisoners were released from prison and the opposition was permitted to join elections. Myanmar's government wants to make use of the EU's tariff-free import procedures for poorer countries.

The EU has attached more importance to the issue of tariff-free imports after Myanmar assured the International Labor Organization (ILO) that it would end forced labor in the country by 2015. Most of the people subject to forced labor in Myanmar are Muslims.

Amnesty International said last week that Muslim Rohingyas are increasingly being targeted in violent attacks that have included killings, rape and physical abuse. Amnesty International also accused both security forces and ethnic Rakhine Buddhists of carrying out new attacks against Rohingyas, who are seen as foreigners by the ethnic majority and are denied citizenship by the government because it considers them illegal settlers from neighboring Bangladesh.

Burma urged to ensure their citizenship

Chittagong, Bangladesh: Bangladesh supports the Amnesty International (AI) statement that has called on Burma for giving citizenship to Rohingyas, who have been living for centuries in Rakhine state of Myanmar on July 21, according to Bangladesh officials.

The London-based AI called on Rangoon on July 20, to amend or repeal the 1982 citizenship law to ensure that Rohingyas living in Rakhine (Arakan) state are no more stateless people.
“The AI has just reciprocated our demand of decades, that Myanmar ensure citizenship to Rohingyas as quick as possible,” a senior official of the ministry of foreign affairs (MoFA) told.
The citizenship law introduced by General Ne Win in 1982 is not compatible with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or with Myanmar’s legal obligations under international treaties, human rights groups say.
“The law arbitrarily stripped many people like Rohingyas in Myanmar, of the right to citizenship,” said a senior official of Chittagong-based the Historical Society of Arakan.
The call of AI came at a right time when Myanmar’s new parliament has begun its session, said the MoFA official.
Foreign Minister Dipu Moni also urged Myanmar on July 18, to take back hundreds and thousands of registered and unregistered Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh.
“Under international human rights law and standards, no one may be left or rendered stateless,” Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher, said in a statement on July 20.
For too long Myanmar’s human rights record has been marred by the continued denial of citizenship for Rohingyas and a host of discriminatory practices against them, the statement said.
The plight of Rohingyas has been re-exposed following fortnight-long communal riot in Arakan state bordering Bangladesh in June when scores of people, mostly minority Rohingyas, were killed and thousands were displaced.
The Myanmar government declared a state of emergency in Arakan state on June 10 and it has been in force in several areas, where Border Security Force (Nasaka), army, and police have conducted mass arrests in areas dwelt by Rohingyas.
“Declaring a state of emergency is not a license to commit human rights violations. It is the duty of security forces to defend the rights of everyone — without exception or discrimination — from abuses by others, while abiding by human rights standards themselves,” said Mr. Zawacki.
Hundreds of Rohingyas, mostly men and boys, have been detained in secret detention centers and the detainees were ill-treated and abused, added the statement.

Authority targets religious leaders in Maungdaw

Maungdaw, Arakan State: The concerned security forces-Military Intelligence and Burma border security force (Nasaka)- have been arresting religious leaders since yesterday, said a teacher from Maungdaw.

The officer from Nasaka area number 6, summoned all village admin officers with five religious leaders at his office today at about 9:30 am where the officer ordered to the village admins and religious leaders – not to process in the Mosques for congregational prayers or in the homes and if found, will arrest every body in process and also warned that the religious leaders led the conflict between Rohingya and Rakhine, according to a village admin from Nasaka area number 6.
“After meeting, the officer arrested five religious leaders – Moulan Abu Siddique, 45, from Hla Poe Khuang (Sorfordin Bil) village, Moulana Yousuf Ali, 40 from Zin Paung Nyar village, Moulana Mohamed Alam,40, from Poungzarr village, Moulan Kawlim, 40, from Hlabawzar and Moulana Dil Mohamed, 40,from Hlabawzarr.”
Besides,the Military Intelligence and Nasaka arrested 4 other Rohingyas from the Juma Moaque of Thayai Gonetan ( Knonena Para) while they were praying in the veranda (porch), according to a villager.
“The arrestees are: – Moulana  Fazal Haque, 50, Butu, 31,  Amir Abdul Gaffor ,42 and another Moulana . The arrestees were kept in the Nasaka custody of Nasaka area number 7.”
Similarly, the Nasaka and Military Intelligence arrested 6 Rohingyas from Pa Nyaung Pingyi and 3 Rohingyas from Du Nyaung Pingyi today morning, said a villager from Maungdaw south. “ Most of the arrestees are religious leaders or students.”