A Rohingya mother is seen in a refugee camp in Teknaf. PHOTO: AFP
The calamitous ordeal of the Rohingya community of Myanmar has received woefully inadequate media coverage over the years despite having been declared one of the most hectored, tyrannised and aggrieved tribal minorities in the world by the United Nations.
This observable fact can be unswervingly attributed to the media oligopolists; they are undermining the copious atrocities being committed against Muslims in different parts of the world in general, as part of a ploy to legitimise the ongoing war on terrorism.
For decades these ill-fated people have been shunned, browbeaten and subjected to ghastly physical and emotional abuse by the Government of Myanmar. This same government still maintains that Muslims who verbally communicate in a local dialect of Bengali is reason enough to believe that they are illegal Bengali immigrants!
This unsubstantiated assertion is effectively countered by the veracity of the centuries-long existence of this specific ethnic group in the Arakan region. Conversely, the Government of Bangladesh contends that the Rohingyas are natives to Myanmar with no ties, whatsoever, to Bangladesh.
This sour predicament has resulted in the denial of citizenship and insufficient access to basic rights and privileges including food, shelter and education to the Rohingyas by the central government of Myanmar. The former are subjugated in different ways some of which include absolute and unwarranted exclusion from the larger Buddhist communities, forced toilsome labour, prohibition from working in either the private or the governmental sector and/or enlisting in either the police or the armed forces. There is also a stern restriction on each family for having not more than two children by virtue of Burmese law.
Be that as it may, in spite of all obstacles and adversities the Rohingyas have managed to placidly dwell in synchronisation with the Buddhist Rakhines in the Arakan region. While many have fled to countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Pakistan to escape oppression, the bulk of the younger generation has relocated to the adjacent state of Bangladeshwhich is currently home to an estimated 300,000 Rohingyas.
Since Bangladesh is over-populated and bereft of resources, the Bangladeshi government has finally banned Rohingya refugees from entering into the country. Therefore the majority of dispossessed Rohingyas are now apprehended by the Bengali border security personnel while attempting to cross over and are afterwards battered and discarded into the UN refugee camps situated alongside the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
It is estimated that approximately 30,000 Rohingyas currently reside in these camps; those fortunate enough to have lived through the tribulation seek refuge in villages located at a convenient distance.
It was not until recently that the troubles of the Rohingyas spiralled out of control. The incident which led to the mass genocide and ethnic cleansing of this already heinously maltreated race was the alleged rape and murder of a Buddhist woman by three Rohingya males. Immediately afterwards, the local Arakanese Buddhist population in cahoots with the help of political leadership and law enforcement officials of Myanmar, retaliated by brutally assaulting, torturing, raping and murdering scores of innocent Rohingyas including men, women and children while concomitantly annihilating their homes and businesses.
The recurrent violence and blood-shed have compelled large numbers of Rohingyas to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh in boats and fishing trawlers some of whom are reported to have been ravaged by freebooters whilst on the way. Nonetheless, the Bangladeshi government is reluctant to accommodate more of them in lieu of the aforementioned reasons and the emphatic denial of Burmese citizenship to the Rohingyas.
Consequently they are forced to retreat to their native soil wherein they are more than likely to be victimised by the vicious local Buddhist inhabitants.
The refusal of the Bangladeshi Government to open its borders for the Rohingyas irrespective of escalating global pressure and scrutiny has sparked a furore within and outside the country as this conduct infringes upon more than just a few international UN laws pertaining to refugees.
According to a recent survey conducted by The Daily Star, the overpowering majority of the general public of Bangladesh, as opposed to the government, are in favour of the Rohingyas being granted safe passage into the country. Many of these individuals have displayed auspiciousness candidly by forming and/or joining different support groups for the Rohingya populace on Facebook and other social networking sites.
Given the dourness of the wretched plight of our Rohingya brothers and sisters it is vital that all Muslim nations should conjointly endorse this worthy cause by pressing for Bangladesh to open its borders for them, in turn, pledging munificent moral and financial contribution for their subsequent rehabilitation. Additionally they should ensure the Bangladeshi government that each, in its own right and individual capacity is agreed upon sharing the burden by offering to allow and to accept into its domain as many Rohingya refugees as possible. This enterprise is bound to profoundly assuage if not completely resolve the misery of these tormented, destitute and vulnerable souls.
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