asad71
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" Mr President, where there are Bengalis, that is Bangladesh"
1.
That was the retort of Shekh Mujib when Gen Ne Win had suggested that there was no problem for Bengalis to stay in Burma as long as they observed local laws. This retort had worried Ne Win so much that he often mentioned this during his meetings with diplomats.So why not accept the Burmese version that these are Bangladeshis and therefore lodge our claim to Arakan?
2.Myanmar once again brands Rohingya Muslims as Bangladeshis Myanmar's same old trick raises concern
Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, who were rescued by the Myanmar navy alongside Bangladeshi refugees, are interviewed by immigration officers at a Muslim religious school used as a temporary refugee camp at Aletankyaw in the Rakhine state Saturday. Photo: Reuters
Staff Correspondent
Myanmar has once again banked on its old trick to describe Rohingya Muslims as "Bengalis" to avoid responsibilities amid growing international pressure on it to rescue thousands of boatpeople trapped at sea.
Following the rescue of 208 people from a boat on Thursday, Myanmar government officials claimed all of them were from Bangladesh and they would be deported to Bangladesh soon.
But government officials and experts on migrant issues in Dhaka termed it a “ploy” to push Rohingyas into Bangladesh.
Myanmar does not recognise the Rohingya population as its citizen.
Its claim came under fire as Reuters news agency found at least eight Rohingya Muslims among the 208, after interviewing a group of them at Kyauk Taw in Rakhine state where the rescued have been kept.
A team of Bangladesh officials will go there today or tomorrow to interview them, said a top foreign ministry official.
“If anyone is a confirmed Bangladeshi citizen, we'll instantly arrange for his repatriation,” the official added.
In another development, the Border Guard Bangladesh yesterday sought a complete list from Myanmar of those rescued.
Previously, the Myanmar authorities sent an “incomplete” list of 200 people, claiming they were Bangladeshis. The list does not contain particulars of those rescued in detail.
THE DENIAL
Over the recent years, thousands of “stateless” Rohingya and desperate fortune-seekers from Bangladesh embarked on dangerous sea voyages to Malaysia and other countries.
A recent crackdown on the people-smuggling trade in Thailand led to scores of migrants being abandoned by trafficking gangs in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.
Taking advantage of the situation, the Myanmar authorities are labelling the rescued as Bangalees.
Even when the international media reported that several thousand Rohingya and Bangladeshi people are floating in the sea, Myanmar Vice-president U Nyan Tun on May 21 said most of the boatpeople were not from his country.
On the same day, its information ministry cited Nyan Tun saying the assumption that people are fleeing the state due to suppression and discrimination are completely at odds with what is happening on the ground, although some people may be trying to migrate for economic reasons.
The next day, Myanmar's military commander-in-chief said some boatpeople landing in Malaysia and Indonesia were “pretending to be Rohingya Muslims” to receive UN aid and that the “boat victims” were from Bangladesh, according to Reuters.
"This is nothing but the continuation of its [Myanmar's] policy," said Prof Delwar Hossain of international relations department at Dhaka University.
Bangladesh is already under international pressure to take in more Rohingyas, and Myanmar's denial and trick would result in more pressure on Bangladesh, he observed.
"Bangladesh has to expedite its diplomatic efforts and show with facts and figures that these victims are mostly Rohingyas," said Prof Delwar, also director of Centre for East Asia Studies at the DU.
Asked, a government official said, "We have strong doubt that all the 208 boatpeople are Bangladeshis .... There may be some Bangladeshis, but we believe that most of them are Rohingyas from Myanmar.”
THE PERSECUTION
Over the years, thousands of Rohingya people have fled to Bangladesh and other countries to escape persecution.
The trend began in the late 1970s as its government continued to impose discriminatory regulations on the Rohingyas, estimated to be 1.1 million, mostly in Rakhine province.
According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the Rohingyas were not formally recognised as Burmese national group after the country's independence in 1948. Also, the 1982 Citizenship Law denied them citizenship.
They are subject to various exploitations, including forced labour, extortion, restrictions on movement, denial of residence rights, inequitable marriage regulations and land confiscation.
Amid military oppression, some 5 lakh Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh -- first in 1978 and then in 1991-92. Presently, around 32,000 Rohingya refugees live in the UNHCR-run camps in Bangladesh, while an estimated 3 to 5 lakh live outside the camps.
Under the present reformist government formed in 2011, Myanmar saw the worst sectarian violence in 2012 that left hundreds dead and 1.4 lakh homeless, mostly Rohingyas in Rakhine, according to media reports.
Already grappling with the refugees, Bangladesh this time closed its door to the fresh Rohingya influx.
Over the past three years, over 120,000 Rohingyas have boarded ships to flee abroad. At least 25,000 migrants left Myanmar and Bangladesh in the first quarter of this year, about double the number over the same period last year. Between 40 and 60 percent of the 25,000 are thought to be from Myanmar's western state of Rakhine, the BBC reported on May 18, citing the UN refugee agency.
BORDER ALERT
Dhaka put on alerts the border guards and local administration to resist any possible pushback from Myanmar.
"From previous experiences, the government has ordered the border force to keep an eye on the border so that no pushback can taken place," said a highly placed source, seeking anonymity.
MASS GRAVES IN MALAYSIA
After the discovery of mass graves in Malaysia believed to contain bodies of hundreds of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh, officials at Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur said they would look into the matter.
Sayedul Islam, counsellor (Labour Wing) at the mission, told The Daily Star by phone yesterday that there was no way of knowing if there were any Bangladeshi among the victims until the Malaysian police investigated it.
Earlier on May 11, as many as 603 migrants, who claimed to be Bangladeshis, were rescued by the Malaysian authorities.
Sayedul Islam said they would start verifying their nationality by this week.
1.
That was the retort of Shekh Mujib when Gen Ne Win had suggested that there was no problem for Bengalis to stay in Burma as long as they observed local laws. This retort had worried Ne Win so much that he often mentioned this during his meetings with diplomats.So why not accept the Burmese version that these are Bangladeshis and therefore lodge our claim to Arakan?
2.Myanmar once again brands Rohingya Muslims as Bangladeshis Myanmar's same old trick raises concern
Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, who were rescued by the Myanmar navy alongside Bangladeshi refugees, are interviewed by immigration officers at a Muslim religious school used as a temporary refugee camp at Aletankyaw in the Rakhine state Saturday. Photo: Reuters
Staff Correspondent
Myanmar has once again banked on its old trick to describe Rohingya Muslims as "Bengalis" to avoid responsibilities amid growing international pressure on it to rescue thousands of boatpeople trapped at sea.
Following the rescue of 208 people from a boat on Thursday, Myanmar government officials claimed all of them were from Bangladesh and they would be deported to Bangladesh soon.
But government officials and experts on migrant issues in Dhaka termed it a “ploy” to push Rohingyas into Bangladesh.
Myanmar does not recognise the Rohingya population as its citizen.
Its claim came under fire as Reuters news agency found at least eight Rohingya Muslims among the 208, after interviewing a group of them at Kyauk Taw in Rakhine state where the rescued have been kept.
A team of Bangladesh officials will go there today or tomorrow to interview them, said a top foreign ministry official.
“If anyone is a confirmed Bangladeshi citizen, we'll instantly arrange for his repatriation,” the official added.
In another development, the Border Guard Bangladesh yesterday sought a complete list from Myanmar of those rescued.
Previously, the Myanmar authorities sent an “incomplete” list of 200 people, claiming they were Bangladeshis. The list does not contain particulars of those rescued in detail.
THE DENIAL
Over the recent years, thousands of “stateless” Rohingya and desperate fortune-seekers from Bangladesh embarked on dangerous sea voyages to Malaysia and other countries.
A recent crackdown on the people-smuggling trade in Thailand led to scores of migrants being abandoned by trafficking gangs in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.
Taking advantage of the situation, the Myanmar authorities are labelling the rescued as Bangalees.
Even when the international media reported that several thousand Rohingya and Bangladeshi people are floating in the sea, Myanmar Vice-president U Nyan Tun on May 21 said most of the boatpeople were not from his country.
On the same day, its information ministry cited Nyan Tun saying the assumption that people are fleeing the state due to suppression and discrimination are completely at odds with what is happening on the ground, although some people may be trying to migrate for economic reasons.
The next day, Myanmar's military commander-in-chief said some boatpeople landing in Malaysia and Indonesia were “pretending to be Rohingya Muslims” to receive UN aid and that the “boat victims” were from Bangladesh, according to Reuters.
"This is nothing but the continuation of its [Myanmar's] policy," said Prof Delwar Hossain of international relations department at Dhaka University.
Bangladesh is already under international pressure to take in more Rohingyas, and Myanmar's denial and trick would result in more pressure on Bangladesh, he observed.
"Bangladesh has to expedite its diplomatic efforts and show with facts and figures that these victims are mostly Rohingyas," said Prof Delwar, also director of Centre for East Asia Studies at the DU.
Asked, a government official said, "We have strong doubt that all the 208 boatpeople are Bangladeshis .... There may be some Bangladeshis, but we believe that most of them are Rohingyas from Myanmar.”
THE PERSECUTION
Over the years, thousands of Rohingya people have fled to Bangladesh and other countries to escape persecution.
The trend began in the late 1970s as its government continued to impose discriminatory regulations on the Rohingyas, estimated to be 1.1 million, mostly in Rakhine province.
According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, the Rohingyas were not formally recognised as Burmese national group after the country's independence in 1948. Also, the 1982 Citizenship Law denied them citizenship.
They are subject to various exploitations, including forced labour, extortion, restrictions on movement, denial of residence rights, inequitable marriage regulations and land confiscation.
Amid military oppression, some 5 lakh Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh -- first in 1978 and then in 1991-92. Presently, around 32,000 Rohingya refugees live in the UNHCR-run camps in Bangladesh, while an estimated 3 to 5 lakh live outside the camps.
Under the present reformist government formed in 2011, Myanmar saw the worst sectarian violence in 2012 that left hundreds dead and 1.4 lakh homeless, mostly Rohingyas in Rakhine, according to media reports.
Already grappling with the refugees, Bangladesh this time closed its door to the fresh Rohingya influx.
Over the past three years, over 120,000 Rohingyas have boarded ships to flee abroad. At least 25,000 migrants left Myanmar and Bangladesh in the first quarter of this year, about double the number over the same period last year. Between 40 and 60 percent of the 25,000 are thought to be from Myanmar's western state of Rakhine, the BBC reported on May 18, citing the UN refugee agency.
BORDER ALERT
Dhaka put on alerts the border guards and local administration to resist any possible pushback from Myanmar.
"From previous experiences, the government has ordered the border force to keep an eye on the border so that no pushback can taken place," said a highly placed source, seeking anonymity.
MASS GRAVES IN MALAYSIA
After the discovery of mass graves in Malaysia believed to contain bodies of hundreds of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh, officials at Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur said they would look into the matter.
Sayedul Islam, counsellor (Labour Wing) at the mission, told The Daily Star by phone yesterday that there was no way of knowing if there were any Bangladeshi among the victims until the Malaysian police investigated it.
Earlier on May 11, as many as 603 migrants, who claimed to be Bangladeshis, were rescued by the Malaysian authorities.
Sayedul Islam said they would start verifying their nationality by this week.
