Poetry, art and songs of broken souls

 

A young Rohingya refugee reads ‘Exodus: Between Genocide and Me’ by Rohingya poet Mayyu Ali at a refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar of Bangladesh. (Photo: New Ali)

The river separates Arakan and Bengal

The river that Rohingya startle to hear

The crossing is to escape or to die

Where many are swallowed alive

The East becomes a roaring inferno

The West is world’s largest makeshift camp

Some leave their limbs behind, bodies are carried

Others cross with bullets embedded

A bullet in the chest is bigger than a heart

A body falls into the water

Another dances on the riverbank

The world just watches on

Whilst criminals erase their marks

The river cradles irrefutable evidence

Whilst the human solidarity is a lie

Waves bear witness to what victims suffer. (The Naf River)

This heart-rending poem embodies the agony of one of the world’s most persecuted minorities — Rohingya Muslims. And it has been composed by a young Rohingya poet in exile.

Mayyu Ali, 28, lives with his parents at Balukhali refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar of Bangladesh. He is on the front line of a cultural resurgence among the beleaguered community.

Born and brought up at Maungdaw in Rakhine (Arakan) state of Myanmar, Ali studied for a BA degreee in English at the University of Sittwe in the state capital before sectarian violence in June 2012 stopped his education in the second year, forcing him to work for an aid agency in Maungdaw.

His family fled following the Aug. 25, 2017, military crackdown. “My home and village were burned down by the Burmese security forces and my parents and I escaped to Bangladesh for our lives,” Ali told UCA News.

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।

Persecution, neglect and silence deepen Rohingya crisis

A Rohingya mother with her children at Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh on Dec. 7, 2017.
(Photo: Stephan Uttom/ucanews.com)

Ethnic cleansing of Rohingya in Myanmar has strong parallels with the genocide of ethnic Tutsis in Rwanda, one of the worst atrocities of modern times.

From April-July 1994, Hutu militias backed by the Hutu-majority government and military, massacred up to one million minority Tutsis.

The genocide was the culmination of long-time ethnic conflict in Rwanda, a small equatorial republic straddling central and eastern Africa. 

What can Pope Francis and Bangladesh achieve from upcoming trip?

Pope Francis’s apostolic journey to Bangladesh (Nov. 30-Dec. 2) is highly expected to be welcoming, joyful and peaceful, unlike his somewhat prickly trip to ethnically and religiously divided Myanmar days before.

Francis will be the third pontiff to visit the Muslim-majority nation. 

Rohingya banned from marrying Bangladesh nationals

A Rohingya refugee mother with her child in Cox's Bazar of Bangladesh

Bangladesh’s government has banned marriage between Bangladesh nationals and Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, alleging that the latter are attempting to use marriage to gain citizenship.

“We have ordered marriage registrars not to officiate any union between Bangladeshi nationals and Rohingyas and also not to enlist marriage between Rohingyas themselves,” Anisul Haque, Minister of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs told reporters in Dhaka. “We have already published a circular regarding the matter.”

The move comes after the issue was raised during this week’s annual meeting of deputy commissioners and top government officials in 64 districts of the country.

“We have received complaints that Rohingyas wed Bangladeshis and try to use the marriage certificate to gain Bangladeshi passports and other documents,” the minister added.

Haque warned that if any registrar violates the order they would face up to two years in jail.

In an interview with BBC Bangla Service, Haque defended the move when asked whether a government can dictate to whom one can marry.

“This doesn’t mean we are trying to control people’s freedom of marriage. Our intention is to comply with the official marriage registration system and we have clarified that marriage of illegal immigrants including Rohingyas doesn’t fall into that jurisdiction,” he said.

“Rohingyas have no legal status in Bangladesh as of now so they can’t be entitled to the legal option of marriage,” Haque added.

Bangladesh loses sight of own refugee past

Rohingya Children at a refugee camp in Bangladesh (photo: Dr. Habib Siddiqui)

Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest and most densely populated countries, rarely makes international headlines for good reasons, so if you see something hit the wires of the international press, prepare yourself for the worst.

Whether it is an expose of the country’s dire poverty or the toxicity of the drinking water; whether the lack of infrastructure or political unrest; bad news is a safe bet from a country where half the 160 million population can’t read and earns only about 50 cents per day.

But some issues are more pressing, if not more widely reported, in the country.

One example is the issue of refugees – a longstanding issue that has again come to the fore with the outbreak of violence in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

Allegedly sparked by the rape and murder of a young Buddhist girl and the subsequent retaliatory killing of 10 Muslims, the violence drove hundreds of Rohingya towards the Bangladesh border.

Authorities on the Bangladeshi side have continued to refuse entry to Rohingya refugees, despite incurring criticism from Human Rights Watch, the UN Office for the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the US State Department.

Since last week, border guards have turned back boats carrying hundreds of refugees seeking a safe haven – though authorities did provide food and water before sending them on their way.

Apart from its international commitments as a member of the United Nations and the dictates of common decency, has the country forgotten the assistance it received at a time of great need?

An estimated 10 million people fled to India during the 1971 war of liberation.

Foreign Minister Dipu Moni defended the refusal of entry to the Rohingya by saying, “Bangladesh never signed any kind of international act, convention or law for allowing and giving shelter to refugees. That’s why we are not bound to provide shelter to Rohingyas.”

The statement fails to address the most critical issues, ones that have deep historical roots.

In 1978 and again in 1991, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees fled Rakhine state to Bangladesh to escape sectarian violence that some have equated to ethnic cleansing by the then military junta ruling Myanmar.

Many later returned, but a large number refused out of fear for their safety. Bangladesh authorities say that about half a million Rohingya refugees still remain in Bangladesh, residing in largely makeshift camps in the southeastern border districts.

The UNHCR puts the figure at between 200,000 and 300,000, with only 28,000 granted official refugee status.

Authorities are obviously trying to prevent another influx of refugees that may not want to return once order is restored.

Despite maintaining a presence in Myanmar since at least the 7th century, the Rohingya have been denied citizenship by their government, which refuses to include them in a list of 135 recognized ethnic minorities.

Today the Rohingya are numbered among the world’s most persecuted minorities, unrecognized as citizens at home and unwanted abroad.

Descendents of ethnic Rakhine, Bengali and Arab seafarers, they continue to be unwelcome in Bangladesh as well.

Relegated to ill-equipped and unhealthy camps, and subject to exploitation and abuse by border security guards as well as local residents, the Rohingya receive little in the way of official support from the government, which sees them as an additional burden on a country already groaning under the substantial weight of other social and political problems.

The Rohingya problem is not without precedent.

Bangladesh’s three million ethnic tribals continue to fight for their rights despite being recognized as citizens of the country.

And what of the 160,000 Bihari Muslim refugees who fled to the former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) from India after the partition? They have always considered themselves citizens of Pakistan, though they were not born there and most have never even visited that country.

They have been locked in the country since Bangladesh broke away from Pakistan in 1971, proving that dividing countries on religious grounds was a historic blunder.

For more than 40 years, the Rohingya have endured international neglect and dire living conditions. Bangladesh remains adamant about its refugee policy, and efforts by the international community have to date been largely ineffective.

The international community must decide on a better course of action. The limbo in which the Rohingya have lived for so long is not sustainable. And tensions in western Myanmar, and Bangladesh’s resistance to change its position on refugees, will likely spell even more bad news for the country.

The Third Eye is the pseudonym for a Dhaka-based journalist and analyst

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