Rohingya Muslims forming minority living in the state of Arakan (now Rakhine) in Myanmar for centuries are now the most persecuted community in the world. Way back to 1982, the Rohingyas were decitizenised and outlawed by the military regime of Myanmar under its Citizenship Law of 1982 and deprived of access to all facilities as provided for them by the state earlier. Later the Rohingyas were persecuted, rendered homeless, their women raped and finally deported by Myanmar Government from its territory. Finding no place to live in Myanmar, a large number of Rohingyas started staying on boats and rafts floating on sea-water and many of them famished and drowned in the sea.
Last August the Rohingyas experienced a sort of Doomsday when Myanmar armies, monks and mobs jointly began pogrom on Rohingyas in Arakan, resulting in huge loss of their lives and properties. Even in order to conceal the fact, the Rohingyas’ dead bodies were incinerated by armies. As many as 4.2 lakh Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh, crossing a large and deep river existing between Bangladesh and Myanmar borders so as to save their lives and they were provided shelter in Cox Bazar by Bangladesh. But it is pity to note here that the initiative so far taken by the Muslim World except Turkey for the safety and rehabilitation of Rohingyas seems to be unsatisfactory.
Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, has failed rather miserably to resolve the humanitarian crisis being faced by Rohingyas in her country. What is now happening in Arakan is termed as “Genocide” and “Ethnic Cleansing” by many nations. It has besmirched the face of Myanmar’s Buddhists believing in the principle of “non-violence and peace” as propagated by Gautam Buddha.
The basic objective behind the creation of the UN was to help maintain peace and tranquillity in the world. As such the UN is now under obligation to exert adequate pressure on the Government of Myanmar to retake and rehabilitate the Rohingya refugees being hosted in different countries with re-granting of full citizenship right to them in Myanmar and ensure their safety and security by deploying international peace-keeping forces in the region wherein they are rehabilitated till normalcy returns. If the UN fails to do so, any country may, taking the incident of Rohingyas as example, dare to persecute, oppress, slay and finally deport its minority community from its territory in future. Consequently a community forming minority in a country will not be able to live therein with its minority and religious identity and status in future.
[The writer is Associate Professor who teaches Financial Management in the Commerce Stream at P B College, Gauripur, Assam.]