Pakistan and Bangladesh: Responsible to Disclose the Rohingya Genocide

ASIA-UPDATES ON MYANMAR ROHINGYA GENOCIDE, 28 Jan 2019

Aung Aung | AAS – TRANSCEND Media Service

Myanmar government is systematically and repeatedly terrorizing the Rohingya minority since 1965.

Rohingya refugees fleeing from Myanmar walk along a muddy rice field as dusk falls after crossing the border in Palang Khali, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh on 9 October, 2017.
(Photo : Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

16 Jan 2019 – Though 1978 “Repatriation Agreement” acknowledged that the Rohingya had legal residence in the country, Myanmar has been continuously accusing them illegal Bengali intruders from Bangladesh. Not only accuse them as illegal immigrants, but also asked the international community to stop using the term “Rohingya” in an attempt to erase the Rohingya’s history dated to the 8th Century A.D.

Denying existence of Rohingya is State’s Plan of Genocide. Both Pakistan and Bangladesh know State Plan of Burmese Government against Rohingya but none of them officially disclose their witnesses about Rohingya Genocide. In 1978, NagaMin operation was conducted and all National Registration Cards in the hands of Rohingya were confiscated by the State.

The Burmese military used forced evictions and widespread rapes and murders against the Rohingya. By May 1978, approximately 200,000 Rohingya refugees had entered Bangladesh and settled into 13 U.N. refugee camps near the border. The secret 1978 “Repatriation Agreement” that resulted states, “The leaders of delegations, duly authorized by and on behalf of the Government of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma and the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, following their talks held in Dacca on 7th – 9th July 1978.

The Government of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma agreed to the repatriation of the lawful Rohingya residents of Burma because all Rohingya refugees held National Registration Cards of Burma. After repatriation, Burmese government assumed persecution against Rohingya, confiscating their National Registration Cards and replacing them with White Cards to make them illegal Bengali immigrants from Bangladesh.

In 1982, a new citizenship law was passed, which effectively rendered the Rohingya as Stateless as they were again not recognized as one of the country’s 135 ethnic groups. Though Rohingya are an ethnic group living since 8th Century in Burma, they are not considered as one of the country’s ethnic groups. The law had established three levels of citizenship. In order to obtain the most basic level (naturalized citizenship), there must be proof that the person’s family lived in Myanmar prior to 1948, as well as fluency in one of the national languages.

Many Rohingya could not produce the necessary documents because Ne Win’s regime confiscated all documents in the hands of Rohingya through NagaMin Operations. Though Rohingya was among the indigenous ethnic broadcasting program of Burma like Shan, Kachin, Kayin and Chin until 1965, not like Rakhine which was not included in the program until 1974, Rohingya have been being forced to alter them into Bengali through unjust, illogical, dishonest and genocidal attempts by the regime.

In 1990, Director general of National Intelligence, General Khin Nyunt formed NaSaKa which main functions were to torture and oppress Rohingya as much as possible, force them to leave as many as possible and make them illegal Bengali immigrants from Bangladesh issuing White Cards.

NaSaKa transformed all Rohingya villages into the concentration camps depriving all basic rights including educational and healthcare rights, right to travel one place to another. As a result, 1000s of Rohingya took risky sea journey to escape from genocidal persecution. Most of the Asian countries; Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore faced boat people crisis.

Between 1991 and 1992, additional rapes, forced labor, and religious persecution caused another 250,000 Rohingya refugees to flee Myanmar for Bangladesh. A 1992 agreement between Myanmar and Bangladesh similarly acknowledged the lawful residence of the Rohingya in Burma.

Article II of United Nation’s 1948 Genocide Convention describes genocide as “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

Persecution and dehumanization of military junta against the Rohingya has been going on for decades, and genocidal violence against Rohingya was staged in June, 2012 that killed 1000s Rohingya and made more than 140000 internally displaced persons. China helped Thein Sein government of Myanmar stage the violence to complete its Golden Gas Project and Deep Sea Port in KyaukPyu of Rakhine State. The Statement of Dr.Aye Maung, chairman of Arakan National Party; “We should do Rohingya like Israel does against Palestine” was published on Venus News Journal.

Myanmar regime has widely spread a false propaganda; “western gate of Myanmar, Rakhine State is unsecure and incline to fall because Bengali from Bangladesh are invading Myanmar’s territory in daily basis.” ” Many INGOs including Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) who were sympathetic to Rohingya were expelled from Rakhine State.

During Suu Kyi administration, Myanmar launched the worse genocidal operations against Rohingya as an excuse of ARSA, a group of Rohingya insurgent attacked Border Guard Police Post using swords and wooden sticks. As a result, nearly 700,000 have fled the destruction of their homes and persecution risking death by sea or on foot for Bangladesh since August 2017.

At least 6,700 Rohingya, including at least 730 children under the age of five, were killed in the month after the violence broke out, according to MSF. Amnesty International says the Myanmar military also raped and abused Rohingya women and girls.Some 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police and over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down and 113,000 others vandalized.

Influx of Buddhists from Bangladesh to Burma

West Pakistan began a military crackdown on the Eastern wing of the nation to suppress Bengali calls for self-determination rights. During the nine-month-long Bangladesh war for independence, about 500000 people were killed. After the independence, the government encouraged massive settlement by Bangladeshis in Chittagonian Hill Tract region which changed the demographics from 98 percent indigenous in 1971 to less than fifty percent by 2000.

In Patuakhali District and Barguna District the Rakhine population declined from a high of about 100 thousand in the 20th century to 2.5 thousand in 2015. A number of the Rakhines have since fled to Myanmar to escape persecution. There were 144 paras in Barguna and 93 in Patuakhali in 1948, but now the number has come down to 26 and 13 respectively.

Burmese regime encouraged Buddhists to leave Bangladesh by providing Rohingya’s lands which were confiscated by the regime, issuing identity cards for them, offering variety posts in the governmental service. Captain Thar Kyaw and Kyaw Maung who were from Bangladesh became Administrators in 1980s.

Although Robayet Ferdous, associate professor, Department of Mass Communication and Journalism of Dhaka University, commented that most of the Rakhines had gone to Burma due to suppression and land grabbing, Burmese regime was responsible for the influx of Buddhists from Bangladesh. Because Burmese regime always supports the influx blaming Bangladesh as if it persecutes Buddhists in Bangladesh.

Actually, Burmese regime has plan to eradicate Rohingya and replace them with Bangladeshi Buddhist influx. Those Buddhist influx from Bangladesh are called Awakyuntha by native Rakhine and their monasteries are separated from local. They brought hatred and racism with them and spread hatred against Rohingya.

Bangladesh, no doubt, has given shelter to Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in the year 1978, 1991, 2012, 2016, 2017 and up to date. Bangladesh has an obligation to warn Myanmar not to use the term “Bengali” for Rohingya and urge to end Rohingya Genocide immediately.

Pakistan is a State that is overseeing ethnic cleansing in its largest province of Baluchistan. For that reason, it feels that it has no moral right to speak for another community being persecuted. It sells weapons to Myanmar genociders. Even the Rohingya living in Karachi of Pakistan either don’t have an identity card or they are registered as ‘Bengalis’ which is precisely what the Myanmar government is doing to the Rohingya i.e. forcing them to register as Bengalis relinquishing their status as inhabitants of Burma since the 8th century.

Arakan Dream 2020 is an initiative, according to AA chief Gen.Tun Myat Naing, in the name of “The Way of Rakhita,” that the Rakhine are pursuing an independent state and this provokes concern among the Burmese elite who largely hold onto a paternalistic view on guarding sovereignty. Both Rakhine leaders and Myanmar generals have narcotics business (WY, Yaba, Opium) and plans to eliminate Rohingya. For Rakhine army, smuggling Yaba is one of the main income sources to buy weapon from China.

Distributing WY and Yaba among the Rohingya youth by security personals is one of genocidal plans of Myanmar regime. Since 2013, Myanmar secretly distributed WY tablets to Rohingya youth at no cost in Sittwe and 30-40 percent of young Rohingya addict to WY now. Yaba has become a headache for Bangladesh because of an alarming rise in smuggling of the contraband drug from Myanmar. Bangladesh should ask international community to put pressure on Myanmar to shut down the yaba factories in Myanmar.

Both Bangladesh and Pakistan should help to end Rohingya Genocide or raise a strong Rohingya insurgent group like Rakhine Army which is supported by China, in order to fight for their natural rights. According to the principles of philosophy, power is approved. “Might is right” is the norm. It says, “All power to the strongest.” “The winner takes all and it is right in power.”

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About the author: I am a Rohingya student of comparative religions, history, democracy, human rights, freedom and interfaith. Motto of my lifestyle is, “Justice, compassion, forgiveness and tolerance make you a peaceful being.” Welcome everyone to join regardless of race, color, religion, rich or poor. Let’s work for humanity! Though reporting atrocities of Burmese generals is a deathly risk it is essential for us reach our voice to international community and seek a way to end persecution and discrimination based on race and religion in Myanmar. At the same time, we have been trying to build a peaceful and prosperous community.

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