No light in the darkness for Aung San Suu Kyi

Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi attends the inaugural summit between South Korea and five Southeast Asian nations along the Mekong River, at Nurimaru APEC House in Busan, South Korea, 27 November 2019. (Photo by EPA/YONHAP SOUTH KOREA OUT/MaxPPP)

Myanmar and its civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi are in hot water again over the country's mistreatment of minorities, specifically the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state.

In recent weeks, three international lawsuits have been filed against Myanmar over brutal atrocities in 2016 and 2017.

On Nov. 11, The Gambia filed a 46-page application at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention by committing crimes against humanity against Rohingya.

Three days later, Suu Kyi was named among several state officials in a lawsuit in Argentina by Rohingya and South American human rights organizations for serious crimes including genocide against the minority community.

The same day, judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) authorized a full investigation into allegations of persecution and crimes against humanity that forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh from Rakhine.

Repatriation of the Rohingya: Real deal or mind game?

Rohingya Muslims enter Shahporir Dwip Island in Bangladesh after crossing the Naf River on Sept. 13, 2017 to escape a military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine State. The Rohingya issue remains a thorny political and diplomatic problem between the neighboring countries. (Photo by Stephan Uttom/ucanews.com)    

The failed attempt to send 150 refugees out of over one million currently residing in overcrowded camps in Cox's Bazar back to Rakhine State in Myanmar was the first concrete step for their repatriation.

The problem is that none of those in the first batch of 2,260 refugees due to be sent home were willing to go. Most of them responded by fleeing their temporary shelters and going into hiding. Others held daylong protests opposing the repatriation move.

Dhaka has been working enthusiastically to return the Rohingya to Myanmar but the deal has been delayed several times after a repatriation deal was signed in January of this year.

The first deal, inked without any third party involvement, sparked an international outcry.

Bangladesh, one of the world's most densely populated and impoverished nations, was forced to sign the deal as it creaks under the weight of domestic pressures including a shortage of resources. Finding more resources to feed some one million refugees has invited a backlash from many Bangladeshis.

Yet the deal failed to defuse the mounting international criticism of Myanmar's handling of the crisis. It did not include third party oversight and, importantly, lacked any input from those at the center of the crisis — the Rohingya.

That being said, none of the deals signed so far have taken into account the key concerns and demands of the Rohingya, including calls for justice over the atrocities they have suffered, the return of their property, reparations for the damage done, and the right to citizenship in Myanmar.

Rohingya repatriation plan not sustainable

Plan to send refugees back to Myanmar lacks foresight as they are still unwelcome in Rakhine State (Photo: Stephan Uttom/ucanews.com)

The world's most unloved people, the most persecuted, the godforsaken — call the Rohingya Muslims by whatever name you prefer.

Those born in Rakhine State in Buddhist-majority Myanmar are unwanted in their place of birth and equally unwelcome in Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

They seem like left-out pages of history, as they cannot call the place they were born "home" in any true sense of the word despite their historical presence there being enshrined in the 2,000-year-old Arakan kingdom (located where Rakhine now lies) as early as the 8th century. 

নির্যাতন, অবহেলা ও নীরবতা: রোহিঙ্গা সংকটের নেপথ্যে

Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar in September, 2017 (Photo: Stephan Uttom)

মায়ানমারে রোহিঙ্গা মুসলিম সংখ্যালঘু সম্প্রদায়ের জাতিগত নি:স্বকরণ (Ethnic Cleansing) প্রক্রিয়ার সঙ্গে রুয়ান্ডার তুতসি জনগোষ্ঠীর গনহত্যার ব্যাপক ধরণের সাদৃশ্য রয়েছে। তুতসি গণহত্যা (Genocide) আধুনিক বিশ্বে সংঘটিত সবচেয়ে ভয়াবহ গণহত্যাগুলোর মধ্যে অন্যতম।

১৯৯৪ খ্রিস্টাব্দের এপ্রিল থেকে জুলাই মাসে এ গণহত্যা সংঘটিত হয়। রুয়ান্ডার সংখ্যাগরিষ্ঠ হুতু সম্প্রদায়ের জঙ্গীগোষ্ঠী ও হুতু সমর্থিত সরকারের সেনাবাহিনীর হাতে এ সময়কালে প্রায় ১০ লক্ষ সংখ্যালঘু তুতসি হত্যাকান্ডের শিকার হয়।

এ গণহত্যা ছিল মধ্য ও পশ্চিম আফ্রিকার দেশ রুয়ান্ডায় সুদীর্ঘকাল ধরে চলা জাতিগত বিদ্বেষ ও সহিংসতার চরম ও নিষ্ঠুরতম পর্যায়।

Victory but no freedom for Bangladesh

A child wears a headband of Bangladesh National Flag during victory day celebrations in Dhaka. File Photo: www.technewssource.com) 

People in Bangladesh celebrated their 40^th Victory Day last Friday. It’s a red letter day in the history of Bengali people who snatched independence from West Pakistan in 1971.

The misery people went through is little known to the world, even to many in South Asian countries. There has been little effort to let the world know what actually happened in 1971.

The war began with one of the worst genocides in the history of mankind. The West Pakistan army killed three million people and ravaged more than 300,000 women in a matter of weeks and at least 10 million people took shelter in India.

The Bengali people are not by nature warriors, but they couldn’t help turning into a brave nation amid that massacre. After nine months bloody struggle they defeated the army to claim victory.

The independence of Bangladesh was, in a sense, a global war with the USA and China assisting Pakistan and Bangladesh getting support from India and Russia. It was also a war between moderate and extreme forces in Islam. This time the moderate force was victorious.

Yet after 40 years, we still have not achieved freedom.

The disparity between rich and poor has not changed. A few rich and influential people enjoy all the amenities of life while 80 percent languish in poverty.

Politics are entirely election-oriented and political leaders see it as nothing more than a rich vein to be mined. They have no hesitation in colluding with their former enemies if it suits them.

The war we fought and won was against a vulture who tried to grab our heart. There are many more evils to defeat and many more wars to win. One day the people will rise, throw away all injustice and freedom will be ours, truly.

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