Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan The grim photos of the Rohingya refugees, and of stacked up and slashed bodies, are heart-rending, reminding you of the killings in Rwanda, Cambodia, India (1947), Pakistan and Bangladesh (1971) and in other places. They illustrate history's sordid saga of man's brutality to man. The immediate need is to provide water, food, clothes, medicines and proper shelter to these helpless people. The Saudi donation of $50 million is generous, but more countries have to pitch in. A long-term solution, however, can only be found through diplomacy, patience and wisdom. Rohingyas are Muslims who live in the Arakan area of western Myanmar (formerly Burma). The United Nations has described them as the world's most persecuted minority. Human Rights Watch, Doctors without Border and Amnesty International have highlighted their plight and/or attacks on them by civilians and the armed forces. Photojournalist Greg Constantine, who has documented the world's stateless for seven years, calls their situation “the darkest and the most dire.” The present crisis erupted when a Rakhine Buddhist woman was allegedly raped and killed by three Rohingya men in June. Enraged mobs attacked Rohingyas in revenge killing, burning, looting. This followed ongoing conflicts between Muslims and Buddhists in Myanmar's Rakhine state. Both sides condemned these sectarian disputes but the situation worsened with the Rohingyas bearing the brunt of the killings. Some 70,000 Rohingyas, out of an estimated 800,000 to a million, were displaced within Myanmar according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Hundreds were killed. Figures of thousands killed have been reported. Some 40,000 fled to neighboring Bangladesh and are living in makeshift camps. Bangladesh is already hosting 300,000 to 500,000 refugees who fled Myanmar earlier. Some have also gone to Thailand, Malaysia, India and Pakistan. Observers say the Rohingyans numbered some three million people in Myanmar but their number has been declining. The Myanmar government deployed troops and declared a state of emergency in Rakhine state on June 10. Some normalcy has been restored. But observers have accused the army and police of targeting the victims, making mass arrests of Rohingyas and subjecting them to violence. Some monks have tried to block humanitarian assistance to the Rohingyas. The government has allowed aid to the displaced. The problem's roots are historic: Rohingyan Muslims have been in Myanmar for centuries, but the present government and some Buddhists treat them as foreigners. Arabs arrived in Arakan in the 8th century and were followed by others in subsequent centuries. When the British East India Company took control of Arakan people began to move freely between Burma and British India with Bengalis settling in Arakan and Rakhine people doing the same in Bengal. The energetic Indians' domination of the commercial sector of the Burmese economy, however, created resentment. The Second World War worsened the conflict, with the Japanese invaders targeting the Indians in particular. Burmese Buddhists also saw them as foreigners though Rohingyans had lived in Burma for centuries. That the Rohingyans were Muslims in a Buddhist land also made them seem different. However, no one questioned the Burmese citizenship of the Rohingyans till the armed forces seized power in 1962. In 1978 the army attacked the Rohingyas and 200,000 fled to Bangladesh after the killings, rapes and destruction of homes and mosques. In 1982 Gen. Ne Win revoked the citizenship of all Rohingyas and new laws forbade them to travel without official permission, own land or have more than two children. Other military campaigns have driven hundreds of thousands to Bangladesh. General Thein Sein, Myanmar's president, told UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres that it is “totally impossible to accept illegal Rohingyas.” He asked the UNHCR to set up camps for them or find countries willing to accept them. Myanmar Immigration Minister Thein Htay said that the Rohingyas are not “among our more than 130 ethnic races.” Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi called for laws to protect the rights of the ethnic minorities in her maiden speech to the national parliament. Asked whether she considered Rohingyans as Burmese citizens, she said: “I do not know. We have to be very careful about what the laws of citizenship are and who are entitled to them.” Her caution is justified. For more than five decades Burma was under military rule. Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi herself was imprisoned and her party was banned. The generals have now relented a bit and San Suu Kyi is nudging the generals to allow full democracy. Outsiders can help by providing financial assistance for the Rohingyas and talking softly to Myanmar's emerging leaders. They should not be pressed to immediately reverse their policy of several decades. Rather, Aung San Suu Kyi's promise to protect minorities should be supported. Rohingyans have lived in Myanmar for centuries. Myanmar's leaders should be encouraged to fully respect their rights, and those of all citizens, as Mynamar embraces democracy. — Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan is a retired Canadian journalist, public servant and refugee judge. He has received the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal.
