Major General Ashab Uddin ndc,psc (Retd) :
Rohingya, the marginalized majority Muslim community of Myarmar has been making headlines for years. The distressed and officially stateless people have suffered from the most horrific atrocities and human right abuse from who they thought to be their own government. Over a million Rohingya refugees have fled violence that took place in the northern Rakhine state of Myanmar. The atrocity is referred as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. Bangladesh is now faced with the burden of more than one million refugees to feed and the challenge of solving the issue by ensuring their return in a befitting manner. Rohingya crisis is said to be one of the most vulnerable crises in the history. The August 25 is the first anniversary of the mass flight of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh following the attacks carried out by the Myanamer military in which thousands were killed and most of their houses were burnt.
Let us look back the genesis of the crisis in brief. The Rohingya is an ethnic group, who has lived for centuries in the majority Buddhist Myanmar. According to many historians, the Rohingya residence in Arakan dates back to as early as the 12th century. Due to the systematic marginalization, violence and persecution, hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas have fled to neighbouring countries over the course of many decades. During more than 100 years of British rule (1824-1948), there was a significant amount of migration of labourers to Myanmar from today’s India and Bangladesh. As the British administered Myanmar was seen as a province of India, such migration was considered internal. After independence, the government viewed the migration during the British rule as “illegal”. Shortly after Myanmar’s independence from the British in 1948, the Union Citizenship Act was passed, defining which ethnicities could gain citizenship. Rohingyas were not included. In 1982, a new ‘Citizenship Law’ was passed, effectively rendering the Rohingyas stateless. Under the law, Rohingyas were not recognised as one of the country’s 135 ethnic groups.
The military crackdown followed by an attack allegedly conducted by the pro-Rohingya militant group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on October 9, 2016. Myanmar Security Forces mounted the pressure what they called a clearance operation in Northern Rakhine State. On August 24, 2017 yet another allegedly coordinated attack by ARSA on Myanmar Security Forces flared up a renewed and more intense military crackdown on the Rohingyas. Approximately one million Rohingyas were subjected to the most unprecedented atrocity and widespread human rights violation and subsequently fled to Bangladesh over next few months. The story that followed is well known to all by now.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military for last four decades. After the landslide victory of National League for Democracy (NLD) under the leadership of the Noble Laurite Ms Aung Sun Suu kyi the country was thought to be having the long awaited transition to democracy. However, the transition did not take place as expected. The military continues to dominate with the obligatory military representation in all the national policy making bodies. Her silence regarding Myanmar military’s atrocity in Rakhine shocked the world humanity. The military on the other hand, has out rightly violated all norms of sanity in dealing with the situation in Raknine. Their action is condemned by most of the state and non-state actors. However, the military leadership hardly heeded to the global impression and continued to oppress the Rohingyas. In this backdrop, position of state and non-state actors should be viewed to understand the complexity of the Rohingya crisis. India has recently re-vitalized its relation with Myanmar for the interest of trade and security due to her obvious interest to balance Chinese influence in the region. India had considerably developed her political, economic and military ties with Myanmar. The Kaladan Multimodal Transport Corridor, with river and road transportation in the Arakan province will give India access from and to the port of Sittwe bypassing Bangladesh. For many reasons India possibly eyes Myanmar as a better strategic partner than Bangladesh. India’s response to the recent tension between Bangladesh and Myanmar over Rohingya issue proved her inclination to Myanmar. China follows a strong development strategy with Myanmar. Like India, China also eyes Myanmar as a leverage towards controlling India’s influence over the Bay of Bengal. Among many others, China has funded the project of Kyakphu sea port in Myanmar. This would provide China a strategic access to the Indian Ocean bypassing the choke point at Malacca Strait. China has also constructed 1200 km pipe line to import gas from Rakhine to Kunming. A Trans Myanmar-China gas and oil pipeline to Yunnan in China is progressing rapidly. Keeping all those interests in view China has refrained herself from taking any positive step to resolve the recent Rohingya crisis in a peaceful way. US’s strategy to contain China has prompted to review her policy towards Myanmar. After the initial onslaught of the Rohingya crisis, US shifted her stance on the issue and raised strong voice against the acts of Myanmar military. Besides withdrawing military assistance to Myanmar, US also voiced the need for making Myanmar’s senior military leadership accountable for their act. On 19 January 2017, OIC passed a resolution on Rohingya crisis urging Myanmar government to take effective measures to prevent the humanitarian crisis in Rakhain state and called upon the OIC member states to extend humanitarian support to the distressed people. During the OIC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting-2018 in Dhaka, the forum strongly condemned Myanmar for her actions and vowed to remain beside Bangladesh. Since the escalation of recent Rohingya crisis UN has been highly vocal and active for refraining Myanmar from the acts of atrocities. However, due to the position of China and Russia, strong step could not be taken by UNSC. UN has repeatedly remarked the acts of Myanmar military as a “Textbook example of ethnic cleansing”. Though, there are three MOU and agreements signed between the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar but unfortunately not a single refugee has been repatriated due to lack of sufficient effort by Myanmar to create a conducive environment for spontaneous return of Rohingyas.
The crowd of approximately 11,20,000 refugees living in the camps within such a small area poses a number of threats/ challenges concerning security, health, environment etc. Challenge related to security is on an upward curve. Presence of law enforcing agencies is yet insufficient compared to the vastness and complexity of the area in question. There are chances that ARSA could use these camps as shelter, training and recruiting. Such information would always be instrumental for Myanmar to accuse Bangladesh for harbouring terrorists. Criminal activities are on rise also. There have been a good number of incident involving abduction, killing, looting and armed clashes within the refugee camps. There have been reports of emergence of small groups who are involved in armed criminal activities. The Rohingya refugees have been involved in illegal drug trafficking from Myanmar ever since they first migrated to Bangladesh. The situation is now even more dreadful. A large number of refugees are actively involved in trafficking Yaba from Myanmar and trading the same beyond Cox’s Bazar to the other parts of Bangladesh. Human trafficking is another plausible impact of the refugee influx. Thousands of Rohingyas had been trafficked to countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia etc. Risk of the refugees being merged with the general population and at the same time increased the risk of social crimes by those trafficked refugees. The cramped conditions of the refugee camps, combined with poor sanitation, have contributed to several disease outbreaks. The situation is compounded by the fact that many refugees from Myanmar had never been previously vaccinated against preventable diseases due to severe government restrictions on access to health services. Identification of a good number Rohingyas being HIV positive is a serious concern as well.
The influx poses considerable detrimental impacts on the environment. Researches conducted by competent agencies have identified number of challenges in the form of physical environmental impacts and cumulative impacts on ecosystems. A group of poor and persecuted Muslim population can be an ideal condition and appropriate source of recruiting for the radical Islamist terrorist groups. This will be particularly appropriate when the terrorist organization in the Middle East are cornered and looking for new ground and recruits to carry forward the agenda in a different region of the world. The Rohingya crisis is both a humanitarian and security issue. However, the Myanmar Government continues to show reluctance in initiating repatriation process.This is not a Bangladesh’s problem and it is a problem of Myanmar or even beyond i.e. global humanitarian impasse. The international community needs to hold the Myanmar to take effective measures to repatriate their own people, the Rohingyas back to their home. In this accord the recommendation made by Kofi Anan Commission may be considered.
A highly militarized response is unlikely to bring peace to the area. The political and the military leaders of Myanmar need to have positive vision for future Rakhain state with a broader vision of national identity that finds strength in diversity in Myanmar society. The biggest challenge in front of Bangladesh is to vigorously pursue the global consensus already created against Myanmar’s position in Rohingya issue. Bangladesh’s humanitarian approach towards sheltering the refugees has been well applauded in the global community. United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) António Guterres and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim jointly visited Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar on July 2 this year. The UNSG called on the international community to “translate” its solidarity into support for the distressed population. The World Bank Group President announced a grant of nearly $500 million to help Bangladesh address the needs of refugees. Before that, Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar on July 01, 2018 following his visit to Rakhine. He remarked that conditions in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state are not ready yet for the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas. However, in the midst of so many factors backing up Myanmar for not heeding to the international community, there is one factor that can dramatically change the scenario. That is — bringing the perpetrators to the international court of justice for their crime against humanity. In this connection, considerable progress has taken place. EU has imposed sanction on senior military officials of Myanmar for their “nearly proved” involvement in human rights violation in Rakhine. The dismissal of seven senior army Generals immediately after the sanction can be seen as a visible outcome of mounting pressure on Myanmar leadership. Bangladesh should smartly pursue the issue utilizing her global reputation already created along the path of humanity and diplomacy.
(Major General Ashab Uddin ndc,psc (Retd) is a former Ambassador and GOC Chittagong Area.)
Rohingya, the marginalized majority Muslim community of Myarmar has been making headlines for years. The distressed and officially stateless people have suffered from the most horrific atrocities and human right abuse from who they thought to be their own government. Over a million Rohingya refugees have fled violence that took place in the northern Rakhine state of Myanmar. The atrocity is referred as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. Bangladesh is now faced with the burden of more than one million refugees to feed and the challenge of solving the issue by ensuring their return in a befitting manner. Rohingya crisis is said to be one of the most vulnerable crises in the history. The August 25 is the first anniversary of the mass flight of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh following the attacks carried out by the Myanamer military in which thousands were killed and most of their houses were burnt.
Let us look back the genesis of the crisis in brief. The Rohingya is an ethnic group, who has lived for centuries in the majority Buddhist Myanmar. According to many historians, the Rohingya residence in Arakan dates back to as early as the 12th century. Due to the systematic marginalization, violence and persecution, hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas have fled to neighbouring countries over the course of many decades. During more than 100 years of British rule (1824-1948), there was a significant amount of migration of labourers to Myanmar from today’s India and Bangladesh. As the British administered Myanmar was seen as a province of India, such migration was considered internal. After independence, the government viewed the migration during the British rule as “illegal”. Shortly after Myanmar’s independence from the British in 1948, the Union Citizenship Act was passed, defining which ethnicities could gain citizenship. Rohingyas were not included. In 1982, a new ‘Citizenship Law’ was passed, effectively rendering the Rohingyas stateless. Under the law, Rohingyas were not recognised as one of the country’s 135 ethnic groups.
The military crackdown followed by an attack allegedly conducted by the pro-Rohingya militant group Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on October 9, 2016. Myanmar Security Forces mounted the pressure what they called a clearance operation in Northern Rakhine State. On August 24, 2017 yet another allegedly coordinated attack by ARSA on Myanmar Security Forces flared up a renewed and more intense military crackdown on the Rohingyas. Approximately one million Rohingyas were subjected to the most unprecedented atrocity and widespread human rights violation and subsequently fled to Bangladesh over next few months. The story that followed is well known to all by now.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military for last four decades. After the landslide victory of National League for Democracy (NLD) under the leadership of the Noble Laurite Ms Aung Sun Suu kyi the country was thought to be having the long awaited transition to democracy. However, the transition did not take place as expected. The military continues to dominate with the obligatory military representation in all the national policy making bodies. Her silence regarding Myanmar military’s atrocity in Rakhine shocked the world humanity. The military on the other hand, has out rightly violated all norms of sanity in dealing with the situation in Raknine. Their action is condemned by most of the state and non-state actors. However, the military leadership hardly heeded to the global impression and continued to oppress the Rohingyas. In this backdrop, position of state and non-state actors should be viewed to understand the complexity of the Rohingya crisis. India has recently re-vitalized its relation with Myanmar for the interest of trade and security due to her obvious interest to balance Chinese influence in the region. India had considerably developed her political, economic and military ties with Myanmar. The Kaladan Multimodal Transport Corridor, with river and road transportation in the Arakan province will give India access from and to the port of Sittwe bypassing Bangladesh. For many reasons India possibly eyes Myanmar as a better strategic partner than Bangladesh. India’s response to the recent tension between Bangladesh and Myanmar over Rohingya issue proved her inclination to Myanmar. China follows a strong development strategy with Myanmar. Like India, China also eyes Myanmar as a leverage towards controlling India’s influence over the Bay of Bengal. Among many others, China has funded the project of Kyakphu sea port in Myanmar. This would provide China a strategic access to the Indian Ocean bypassing the choke point at Malacca Strait. China has also constructed 1200 km pipe line to import gas from Rakhine to Kunming. A Trans Myanmar-China gas and oil pipeline to Yunnan in China is progressing rapidly. Keeping all those interests in view China has refrained herself from taking any positive step to resolve the recent Rohingya crisis in a peaceful way. US’s strategy to contain China has prompted to review her policy towards Myanmar. After the initial onslaught of the Rohingya crisis, US shifted her stance on the issue and raised strong voice against the acts of Myanmar military. Besides withdrawing military assistance to Myanmar, US also voiced the need for making Myanmar’s senior military leadership accountable for their act. On 19 January 2017, OIC passed a resolution on Rohingya crisis urging Myanmar government to take effective measures to prevent the humanitarian crisis in Rakhain state and called upon the OIC member states to extend humanitarian support to the distressed people. During the OIC Foreign Ministers’ Meeting-2018 in Dhaka, the forum strongly condemned Myanmar for her actions and vowed to remain beside Bangladesh. Since the escalation of recent Rohingya crisis UN has been highly vocal and active for refraining Myanmar from the acts of atrocities. However, due to the position of China and Russia, strong step could not be taken by UNSC. UN has repeatedly remarked the acts of Myanmar military as a “Textbook example of ethnic cleansing”. Though, there are three MOU and agreements signed between the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar but unfortunately not a single refugee has been repatriated due to lack of sufficient effort by Myanmar to create a conducive environment for spontaneous return of Rohingyas.
The crowd of approximately 11,20,000 refugees living in the camps within such a small area poses a number of threats/ challenges concerning security, health, environment etc. Challenge related to security is on an upward curve. Presence of law enforcing agencies is yet insufficient compared to the vastness and complexity of the area in question. There are chances that ARSA could use these camps as shelter, training and recruiting. Such information would always be instrumental for Myanmar to accuse Bangladesh for harbouring terrorists. Criminal activities are on rise also. There have been a good number of incident involving abduction, killing, looting and armed clashes within the refugee camps. There have been reports of emergence of small groups who are involved in armed criminal activities. The Rohingya refugees have been involved in illegal drug trafficking from Myanmar ever since they first migrated to Bangladesh. The situation is now even more dreadful. A large number of refugees are actively involved in trafficking Yaba from Myanmar and trading the same beyond Cox’s Bazar to the other parts of Bangladesh. Human trafficking is another plausible impact of the refugee influx. Thousands of Rohingyas had been trafficked to countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia etc. Risk of the refugees being merged with the general population and at the same time increased the risk of social crimes by those trafficked refugees. The cramped conditions of the refugee camps, combined with poor sanitation, have contributed to several disease outbreaks. The situation is compounded by the fact that many refugees from Myanmar had never been previously vaccinated against preventable diseases due to severe government restrictions on access to health services. Identification of a good number Rohingyas being HIV positive is a serious concern as well.
The influx poses considerable detrimental impacts on the environment. Researches conducted by competent agencies have identified number of challenges in the form of physical environmental impacts and cumulative impacts on ecosystems. A group of poor and persecuted Muslim population can be an ideal condition and appropriate source of recruiting for the radical Islamist terrorist groups. This will be particularly appropriate when the terrorist organization in the Middle East are cornered and looking for new ground and recruits to carry forward the agenda in a different region of the world. The Rohingya crisis is both a humanitarian and security issue. However, the Myanmar Government continues to show reluctance in initiating repatriation process.This is not a Bangladesh’s problem and it is a problem of Myanmar or even beyond i.e. global humanitarian impasse. The international community needs to hold the Myanmar to take effective measures to repatriate their own people, the Rohingyas back to their home. In this accord the recommendation made by Kofi Anan Commission may be considered.
A highly militarized response is unlikely to bring peace to the area. The political and the military leaders of Myanmar need to have positive vision for future Rakhain state with a broader vision of national identity that finds strength in diversity in Myanmar society. The biggest challenge in front of Bangladesh is to vigorously pursue the global consensus already created against Myanmar’s position in Rohingya issue. Bangladesh’s humanitarian approach towards sheltering the refugees has been well applauded in the global community. United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) António Guterres and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim jointly visited Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar on July 2 this year. The UNSG called on the international community to “translate” its solidarity into support for the distressed population. The World Bank Group President announced a grant of nearly $500 million to help Bangladesh address the needs of refugees. Before that, Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar on July 01, 2018 following his visit to Rakhine. He remarked that conditions in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state are not ready yet for the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas. However, in the midst of so many factors backing up Myanmar for not heeding to the international community, there is one factor that can dramatically change the scenario. That is — bringing the perpetrators to the international court of justice for their crime against humanity. In this connection, considerable progress has taken place. EU has imposed sanction on senior military officials of Myanmar for their “nearly proved” involvement in human rights violation in Rakhine. The dismissal of seven senior army Generals immediately after the sanction can be seen as a visible outcome of mounting pressure on Myanmar leadership. Bangladesh should smartly pursue the issue utilizing her global reputation already created along the path of humanity and diplomacy.
(Major General Ashab Uddin ndc,psc (Retd) is a former Ambassador and GOC Chittagong Area.)
