Prof. Zahurul Alam :
(From previous issue)
Via the 1982 Citizenship Act the military junta formulated and implemented special (black) Acts that converted this already marginalized group of people into one of the poorest stateless and dispossessed communities of the world. The 1982 Act created a system of natural citizenship: only those who were in a position to prove that they were residing in Burma with their families since before 1948 and were fluent in one of the ‘accepted’ (state/national) languages were entitled to be recognized as the citizens of that country. Although the first condition could be fulfilled by many Rohingyas, the second, concerning the language was far beyond their ability due to the historical process of their marginalization and social isolation for which overwhelming majority of the Rohingyas were deprived of right to education. Apart from their own language or dialect, the Rohingyas hardly had any opportunity to learn any other language. As a result almost all Rohingyas appeared incompetent to become citizens of Burma. This Act and subsequent denial to accept them as the citizens of Burma denied Rohingyas their basic rights to live as human being.
The outflow of the Rohingyas from their homeland Rakhain increased considerably in during the 1970s. Overwhelming share flew to neighboring Bangladesh. In 1978, during Zia regime a huge Rohingya inflow to Bangladesh was recorded. Ziaur Rahman refrained from resolving the issue through fruitful diplomacy. Rather he kept such intrusion of Rohingyas secret both from the world and from the countrymen. Such act of Bangladesh’s military regime provoked both Rohingyas and the Burmese to choose Bangladesh as a suitable destination for the Rohingyas. Burma continued their mission of making Rakhain a ‘Rohingya-free’ land and enhanced their anti-Rohingya campaign in the subsequent years. For enhanced repression on the Rohingyas, the Burmese government started using the technique of increasing social antagonisms. The local Buddhist-extremists were directed against the Rohingyas by the military regime. Simultaneously legal and illegal actions were undertaken to increase Buddhist population in Rakhain and thereby capturing land, business and other basic amenities from the local Rohingya residents. These were actions similar to those undertaken by the Nazis in Germany against the Jews prior to and during the Second World War. For compelling Rohigyas leave their land the Burmese regime with the help of local extremists conducted uninterrupted murders, rapes and other methods of repressions in the Rohingya villages, towns and other settlements.
Currently more than one million Rohingyas reside in Bangladesh of which around six hundred thousand migrated to this country after 25 August 2016 in response to accelerated anti-Rohingya actions by the Myanmar army, law enforcing agencies and Buddhist extremists. The remaining four hundred thousand or more migrated to Bangladesh at different points of time most of whom are believed to have amalgamated with the society. For already populous Bangladesh intrusion of more than a million additional mouths must have adverse impact on its economic and socio-political emancipation and stability. The country had been attaining high growth rates and encouraging social indicators for last decade. It has surpassed neighboring countries like India, Pakistan, Nepal and many other countries of ‘Third World’ in many indicators. However, for sustaining these achievements, the country needs to sustain a peaceful environment, which may be disrupted due to increased competitiveness in the labor market, food and nutritional sectors and most importantly in the political arena following enhanced Rohingya inflow since August 2017.
At the initial stages of Rohingya inflow after 25 August 2017, Border Guards of Bangladesh prevented the trend and pushed back several thousand Rohigyas. However, as soon as the issue was identified as a major humanitarian crisis the government of Bangladesh opened its border and started settling the repressed and homeless Rohingya refugees. This role of the government of Bangladesh, especially the humanitarian approach of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been appreciated by the international community. It is believed that the Five Point proposal of Sheikh Hasina that she placed in 72nd UNGA for peaceful and respectable repatriation of the Rohingyas should be taken as the basis for the return of the Rohingyas to their homeland Rakhain.
The recently signed treaty between Bangladesh and Myanmar regarding repatriation of Rohingyas has taken into consideration the five points of Sheikh Hasina and the proposals of Kofi Annan Report. However, some of the additional points, such as the final decision to remain with Myanmar, the need for citizenship documents which were never given to all of the Rohingyas or have been destroyed during recent massacre, lack of any provision for international arbitration, etc. may at a certain point appear to be great obstacle in repatriation. In addition the pace of repatriation suggested by Myanmar and accepted so far by Bangladesh (300 people per day) would take more than 10 years to complete the repatriation process. Especially the role that the Myanmar government played so far regarding Rohingya issue does not let us be sufficiently optimistic about smooth solution of Rohingya problem. Such apprehension becomes stronger with the comments made by Bill Richardson, who has recently resigned from the so called ‘International Advisory Panel’ of Suu Kiy saying that the Panel is a whitewash and he does not want to be a member of cheerleading squad for the Myanmar government. Richardson accused Suu Kyi of lacking moral leadership.
Under the circumstances the government of Bangladesh immediately needs to undertake some practical measures for repatriation of the Rohingyas with active involvement of the international agencies, such as the UN, ASEAN, SAARC, OIC EU, etc. Simultaneously, more intensive diplomacy with China needs to be conducted to make them understand the relevance of peace and stability in this region for strategic gains rather than aiming at immediate benefits from investments in Rakhain. For the government this election year is a crucial period. The Rohingya issue coupled with others may undermine the developmental successes that the government has attained during its last two tenures.
(Professor Dr. Zahurul Alam, President, Governance and Rights Centre (GRC))
