The Rohingya crisis has undeniably spiralled into the world’s fastest developing refugee emergency, a humanitarian and human rights nightmare. The first-hand testimonials of the Rohingya refugees clearly hint at excessive violence and serious violations of human rights, including indiscriminate firing of weapons, use of landmines against civilians and sexual violence. Not to mention that this is not a sad tale of mere ethnic cleansing or outburst of communal hatred – it is the combination of multiple crimes being committed deliberately by a reckless and malicious military for more than over five decades inside a closed country. Moreover, the army is continuing to do it by ignoring and justifying its crimes at the cost of wreaking havoc on another nation.
America, Britain and France were joined by many Council Members in demanding an immediate end to the violence and a strong council response. A global coalition of 88-civil society and human rights organizations urged the Security Council to step up pressure on Myanmar’s authorities by seriously considering options for imposing arms embargo against the military and targeted financial sanctions against individuals responsible for crimes against humanity, but the prospect of a strong response from the Security Council, however, appeared unlikely after both China and Russia supported the Myanmar government’s approach to tackle the crisis.
According to the Secretary General of the UN the situation in Myanmar is “fast developing into a humanitarian nightmare”. He has urged Myanmar to end its military operation which has sparked the exodus of Rohingyas since August. The Secretary General Mr Guterres confirmed he has received bone-chilling accounts from those who fled, mainly women, children and the elderly. But despite such en-masse killing, Russia and China remained unmoved.
The Security Council could not pass any resolution for taking action against Myanmar because Russia and China were found supporting the butchering in Myanmar of men, women and children with no consideration for humanity. There is no big power politics involved and yet China and Russia refused to come to the aid of Rohingyas who have been denied their citizenship and threw them out their homeland most savagely. They lost no time in forgetting the good relationship Bangladesh maintained with them. Rohingya crisis has caused awful uncertainty to cope with the refugees who came from Myanmar.
Bangladesh could do nothing to stop them except killing them like the Myanmar army. Even if the allegation is true, no country can legally throw out a whole ethnic population. These people used to have Rakhine State as their independent country.
Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the United Nations accused Myanmar authorities on Thursday of carrying out a brutal, sustained campaign to cleanse the country of an ethnic minority.
She has shown foresight when she categorically expressed the view that “The tome for well-meaning diplomatic words in the (Security Council) has passed. She said elsewhere in her statement: We must now consider the security forces who are implicated in abusing and stoking harmed among their own citizens. It was the first time that the US has called for punishment of Myanmar army.
Bangladesh had nothing to do with the crisis in Myanmar. But Myanmar has committed an act of aggression against Bangladesh by pushing nearly ten lakhs of their own people into Bangladesh. The people are still coming as the killing of Muslims continuing unabated.
One can also say that Myanmar has thrust a war on Bangladesh if immediately the Rohingya refugees are not taken back under an international arrangement. Myanmar does attach no such importance to bilateral agreements reached in the past.
Now it is an international genocide case and it has to be settled through an internationally binding pact.
Responsible observers say that Myanmar calculated that Bangladesh is weak for a military response. Myanmar should not have thought in terms of military response. It may aggravate the crisis within Myanmar also. Nowadays no war is fought alone. If any such eventuality occurs then Myanmar will be a hot bed for international terrorists. In Bangladesh, there is likely to raise public anger and unrest among its own people.
Let the existing peace continue in this region.
So let us think of a peaceful solution of the refugee crisis. No country can accept any other country’s people as its own.
