Myanmar must rehabilitate the stateless Rohingya

The government further noted its serious exception to the UNCHR’s issuing of public statements urging it to open its borders to the Rohingya refugees. Also with equal stress, it reacted to US Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the US State Department’s call to give shelter on humanitarian grounds to the victims of ethnic repression fleeing Myanmar.

What are we hearing from the foreign minister of a country that suffered oppression and persecution at the hands of the Pakistani occupation forces that turned the country into a veritable abattoir in 1971? How can she forget that millions of Bengalis crossed the international border into neighbouring India and enjoyed the generosity and hospitality of Indian people and their government? How can she even mention that the country is not a signatory to certain international laws that oblige it to provide shelter to people in distress?

We cannot relegate ourselves to the status of those governments who often defy international calls and pleas to show kindness and sympathy towards people in need, on the pretext of their not being a party to this or that law or convention.

Is it not a disgrace to our image as a people whose social, religious and cultural ethos revolves around the basic tenets of humanity, generosity and compassion for suffering humanity? 

Why should such a situation arise at all? Why should foreign governments and international agencies concerned with human rights and refugee rehabilitation have to plead with the Bangladesh government to show compassion for people seeking refuge from persecution in their own homeland?

It may be noted that the recent spate of communal violence in Myanmar started after the rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman, allegedly by some criminals belonging to the Rohingya minority community. This sparked ethnic violence in Rakhine state (formerly Arakan province) of Myanmar. Hardly a week later, on June 1, a Buddhist mob murdered 10 Muslim pilgrims who were travelling on a bus. The violence spread further and the mobs have been engaged in systematic looting and arson attacks on village after village inhabited by ethnic Rohingya Muslims, butchering their men, women and children indiscriminately.

From their past experience, the Rohingya know full well what kind of protection they will get from the Myanmar government in such times of crisis. For in the past, in 1991 and in 1977, it was not in the aftermath of any ethnic or religious riots – but of a crackdown by government forces on them – that the Rohingya people had to flee their homes and seek refuge in Bangladesh.

Is it then any surprise that these helpless, terror-stricken people, who are yet to be acknowledged as citizens in their own ancestral homeland by their rulers, are again knocking at our door?

This is an SOS call from humanity in distress. Our gut response should therefore to be humane and kind to these people, and to extend to them the humanitarian assistance they are desperately in need of – before being requested by any third party to do so. And by pushing these helpless people back into the hands of their persecutors, we will lose whatever good reputation we had earned in the past.

There is no question that the international community has failed miserably to respond to the Rohingya crisis properly. Whenever similar crises would erupt in the past, leading to a mass exodus of Rohingya victims across the border into Bangladesh, the UN and members of the international community would confine their responsibility to requesting only that Bangladesh provide shelter to these people. Bangladesh did always comply with these requests. Except for supplying some relief materials and money, they would conveniently forget the issue. As a consequence, the root cause of the Rohingya crisis remains unresolved, while Bangladesh is left to shoulder the burden of the unrepatriated refuges, decade after decade.

Clearly, such bad experience has prompted the Bangladesh government to take a hard stance against accepting a fresh influx of Rohingya. This is why it has reacted the way it has to international humanitarian bodies’ pleas. For the fear among government people that, this time again, it is going to be a repetition of previous experiences is not quite unfounded.

But that cannot be reason enough to be insensitive and heartless towards these hapless people, most of whom have been forced to leave their homes through no fault of their own.

The issue of political correctness should not get the better of the considerations of humanity, under any circumstances. We must continue to press the international community to prevail upon the Myanmar government to control the riots and create an appropriate environment for these victims of persecution to return to their homes.

At the same time, being an unwilling host to these refugees, the Bangladesh government should also constructively engage in dialogue with the Myanmar government, so that once peace is restored, it will be ready to take back all the refugees currently living in Bangladesh.

Since the Myanmar government is opening up to the West, the world’s powers should take advantage of this situation to pressure Myanmar to return its minority Rohingya Muslims to their rightful status as citizens of that country. Give back their lands and ensure all protections so that they do not have to flee their homes to any other country in the future.