 |
(Blockades Hold Back Food, Water, and Medical Aid)
|
December 30, 2012
As Burma prepares the Rohingya for "citizenship" the order of the day
appears to be starvation and police brutality. Thein Sein has publicly
claimed that any Muslim who is a citizen of Myanmar will be treated as
such under the newly formed democratic regime. Yet Rohingya and other
Muslim ethnic groups in Burma have been subject to ethnic cleansing
since June of 2012. This sort of violence occurred under the old Junta
control and prior to Colonial power in the region. However this time
around the threat of a total genocide against the Rohingya appears more
plausible than ever before now that neighboring countries are developed
enough to prevent escape.
In the months that followed the massive influx of ethnic violence in the
region the Junta style authorities reappeared in the Rakhine region of
Burma. Police and military leaders immediately began rounding up
Rohingya and in some incidents mass executions have taken place.
Rohingya who were able to fight back were dealt with through systematic
roundups and disarming by government and Buddhist militia like mobs.
Those who survived were forced into camps that greatly resemble the
small concentration camps used by the Japanese during World War Two.
For those who were taken to police run camps and prisons the stories of
torture became a very real situation. Boys as young as their early teens
have been taken to these "safe houses" and prisons where they have been
subjected to torture without ever once being convicted of any crime.
Piles of bodies have been reported near or behind these facilities so as
to leave the Muslim bodies out and unburied well past the time allotted
for such ceremonies given by the Koran.
Yet now that the outside world has shown even the most minimal amount of
interest the Burmese government has pulled back on outright slaughter
of the Rohingya. Instead of the mass executions that immediately
followed the outbreak of violence, the Myanmar authorities have turned
to their Communist teachings for inspiration in implementing the
Rohingyas' "final solution". Following in the footsteps of Stalin, Thein
Sien's government has begun expanding upon their original goal of
starving out the Rohingya who they claim hide in the "illegal refugee
camps". This method is meant to recreate Stalin's infamous "forced
famines".
 |
(Wasting Away As The Outside World Watches)
|
The goal of this barbaric method of warfare is to force submission or
extermination of a selected group by withholding the basics all humans
need to live. In the case of the Rohingya the Burmese have decided to
blockade the camps and keep all sources of food, water, and medical aid
out of Rohingya hands. Police and military have been recorded going into
the camps to fetch any source of food or water that the Rohingya may
scavenge. The blockades also serve as a way to keep the Rohingya in the
camps so that they have no hope of escape. In affect, the refugee camps
within Myanmar have become death camps.
Starvation is the new reality for the Rohingya who hoped this wave of
ethnic cleansing would pass like all the rest. Their children are dieing
at an alarming rate as malnutrition claims the weakest members of their
community first. Without some form of help soon the Rohingya within
Burma may face total hell at the hands of their tormentors.
There are stories leaking out of Burma that the government is growing
tired of waiting. That the regime wants the "final solution" sooner than
later. Military personnel have been reported to have been growing in
number in regions further away from where Western media normally has
access too. These soldiers, as usual, carry only more ammunition and
absolutely no aid for the Rohingya they are now harassing. Even with
starvation claiming more lives every day... it appears the Buddhists in
charge are looking to cleanse their land of all other religions once and
for all.
This is the face of genocide in the modern age. This is the face of
genocide in Myanmar. How long till we act? How many more times do we
have to watch this before our hearts begin to beat?
