Rohingya Ethnic Cleansing - Updates & Discussions

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10:30 AM, November 28, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 11:09 AM, November 28, 2017
Suu Kyi loses Freedom of Oxford over Rohingya crisis

Photo: AFP
The Straits Times, Singapore
Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been stripped off an honour granting her the Freedom of Oxford over her response to the country's Rohingya crisis.
Oxford city councillors said they did not want to honour "those who turn a blind eye to violence", stripping the Nobel laureate of the freedom of the city granted to her in 1997 for her "long struggle for democracy", reported the BBC.
Read More: No Glasgow honour for Aung San Suu Kyi
Suu Kyi spent years under house arrest in Myanmar during the military dictatorship in the country. But her failure to denounce the military or address allegations of ethnic cleansing that have driven more than half a million Rohingya to Bangladesh has been criticised by world leaders and rights groups.

The decision to permanently remove the honour accorded to Suu Kyi was taken at a meeting of the Oxford City Council following a preliminary vote in October.

"Oxford has a long tradition of being a diverse and humane city, and our reputation is tarnished by honouring those who turn a blind eye to violence," said Mary Clarkson, who proposed the motion. "We hope that today we have added our small voice to others calling for human rights and justice for the Rohingya people."

A portrait of Suu Kyi that had been displayed at St Hugh's College, Oxford, had earlier been removed from display.
Copyright: The Straits Times/ Asia News Network
http://www.thedailystar.net/rohingy...om-oxford-honour-over-rohingya-crisis-1497559


Pope’s Peace and Reconciliation Mission to Myanmar
Larry Jagan, November 28, 2017

Thousands of people have lined the streets of Yangon to greet Pope Francis as he arrived in what is a momentous moment for Myanmar. The crowds were waving specially made flags which all carried the Pontiff’s key message on his mission: ‘love and peace’.

The mood is subdued for fear of antagonizing the country’s majority Buddhist population. Everyone knows though that the Pope – effectively the leader of the world’s Christian community is visiting Myanmar.

There are mixed feelings amongst the average people – all Buddhists – as they go about their business. “He’s a man of peace, he represents peace world-wide and preaches peace,” said Win Lwin a 40-year-old taxi driver, a strong supporter of the prodemocracy party and a Buddhist. “Peace is what out country needs most,” he added. Others are more disinterested. “It’s great for the Catholics and Christians,” said a young Yangon student, Nay Aye. “But it won’t affect us.”

However in recent days there has been a vicious campaign in the country’s social media – in the Myanmar language – that remains hostile to his visit, accusing him of stirring religious tensions in the country. But the government remains convinced that the trip can only help its campaign for peace and reconciliation.

Pope Francis is the world’s most senior religious leader and is on a delicate diplomatic visit. It is the first visit by a Papal leader to Myanmar, and has raised expectations that is presence and message will support the government’s approach and strategy. “The Pope is a unifying figure, preaching compassion, love and peace and his visit comes at a decisive moment,” Denzel Abel, a Myanmar intellectual, former diplomat and a Catholic told the SAM. “He has a charismatic presence, and will certainly galvanize people.

Many hope he can help spur support for Aung San Suu Kyi at a very critical time for her government. Violence in the country’s western region of Northern Rakhine has led to more than 700,000 Muslim Rohingya fleeing across the border into neighboring Bangladesh in the wake of a military crackdown that Washington has called “ethnic cleansing”.

International human rights groups have accused the Myanmar army of “crimes against humanity”: including murder, rape, torture and forcible dislocation; allegations that the Myanmar military denies. These groups are hoping that the Pope will be able to highlight the plight of the Rohingya during his combined visit to both Myanmar and Bangladesh, which ends in Dhaka next Saturday. They are also pushing him to try to end the deadly violence against the largely stateless Muslims.

There have been concerns that the religious leader might use the highly contentious term ‘Rohingya’. It is not recognized by the authorities, who insist they are ‘Bengalis’, to indicate they are from Myanmar but trespassers from Bangladesh. The Pope has called them Rohingya in the past, when he urged the Myanmar authorities to end to the violent persecution of the minority Muslim population. But he is likely to avoid the term on this visit, according to sources close to the Vatican.

“We have asked him at least to refrain from using the word ‘Rohingya’ because this word is very much contested and not acceptable to the military, nor the government, nor to most people in Myanmar,” the Catholic Archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Bo told the Bangkok Post in an interview last week, after he had returned from Rome, where he briefed the Pope.

The symbolism of the visit is important and the poster welcoming Pipe Francis is highly significant, suggested Denzil Abel. On one side there is Myanmar’s flag and on the other the Pope holding a dove – the international symbol of peace – under the slogan ‘love and peace’. In a video message sent to Myanmar last week, Pope Francis said he wanted the trip to lead to “reconciliation, forgiveness and peace” as well as encourage harmony and cooperation.

The Pope is the second most important leader to visit Myanmar, according to many diplomats in Yangon, after the President of the United States. “The Pope is one of the most respected moral voices in the world today, and therefore his visit is even more significant, coming as it does when Myanmar faces so many problems” said Denzil Abel.

Christianity in Myanmar is over 500 years old, and the Pope’s visit, according to many in the Catholic flock will strengthen recognition and understanding of the institution. It will show the shared Christian and Buddhist’s vision of compassion, he added.

The visit is also highly significant as it comes at a time when Aung San Suu Kyi and her government are facing increasing international pressure to resolve the communal conflict in Rakhine, end the violence and tackle the plight of the Muslim refugees. She has pinned her hopes of a solution on the recommendations of the Kofi Annan Advisory Commission, announced at the end of August, after a year-long investigation.

But immediately after the announcement, increased violence erupted, as a result of insurgent attacks on some thirty police border posts. Now the government is faced with the task of repatriating over half a million refugees from Bangladesh, rebuilding their homes and trying to improve communal relations, between the local Buddhist Arakanese and the Rohingya Muslims. The reconciliation strategy envisaged by the State Counselor, was announced when she launched the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement and Development in Rakhine, which she chairs herself.

As part of this strategy – and in an effort to stimulate support in the country for government’s Rakhine reconstruction and reconciliation process – Aung San Suu Kyi launched a series of inter-faith meetings throughout the country. These prayer meetings for peace were held during October, initially with the Buddhist monks participating. At the meeting in Yangon, the country’s Catholic leader played a prominent role. Through these, Aung San Suu Kyi hoped not only to improve the situation in Rakhine, but strengthen the whole peace process, according to government insiders.

In her public address to the whole nation, she emphasized Buddhist values. “I have no doubt that all of them [the people of Myanmar here and abroad] will come forth to help us with Metta (loving kindness) and Thitsa (Truth).” The aim was to mobilize the nation behind the Buddhist tenets of love and kindness, and to wrestle Buddhism out of the hands of extremists, according to an advisor involved in the speech.

But the military, and the Buddhist clergy, may have misunderstood this approach. “She looks like she wants to promote other religions above Buddhism,” a former senior military officer reflected.

And the leaders of the Buddhist faith have taken umbrage, at what they saw as a slight against the monks who participate in the ceremonies. Monks were not on present on the stage, but sat at the front near the stage, which was seen as a sign of disrespect. Recently the 47-member Ma Ha Na – the highest official Buddhist authority in the country – recently banned monks from participating in all future interfaith gatherings. This was to prevent this unintended snub enflaming the passions of Buddhists, a devout Buddhist explained to me.

“Aung San Suu Kyi – as will Pope during his visit – is promoting harmony, love and peace: the appreciation of diversity, and focusing on conciliation,” said Cardinal Bo. Fears that the Pope may inadvertently enflame religious tensions seem to be misplaced. “The Pope doesn’t want to anger any community, and is concerned not to divide or polarize,” Cardinal Bo added. “This would not help the situation: this is not the solution.”

But not all Myanmar Christians are as enthusiastic as the Archbishop in his support fot Myanmar’s civilian leader. “This over enthusiastic support could cause divisions within the wider Christian community — especially the Baptist communities like the Kachin, whose support for Aung San Suu Kyi is at its lowest ever point, given her perceived neglect and indifference to their suffering and persecution,” Seng Raw, a Kachin activist and civil society leader told SAM. “In short it does not support the peace process.”

This is not a view shared by most Catholics who strongly believe that the Pope’s visit will have a positive affect, with its emphasis on unity. This is the reason he is also meeting the army chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing – at Cardinal Bo’s suggestion. But Seng Raw also hopes that “Pope Francis’s clear moral leadership — that is lacking in the leaders of this country – will inspire everyone to be more compassionate.”

Aung San Suu is meeting his holiness when he flies to the capital Nayyidaw. This is the second time the two have met. Aung San Suu Kyi at earlier in the year, at which time she invited him to visit. After near two decades of trying, diplomatic relations were established between the Vatican and Myanmar in May this year. The Pope it is understood was anxious to strengthen their ties with a personal visit. But one, which shows his commitment to peace and the plight of the poor, Cardinal Bo told SAM.

There is no doubt that Aung San Suu Kyi wants the Pope’s visit to highlight her governments efforts prioritize peace. Activists working on the peace process and Rakhine reconciliation are hoping that the visit may produce some tangible results, and not remain purely symbolic. The Vatican could involve its good offices to provide concrete support for the process, in much the same way the UN did in the past, mediating between the military and Aung San Suu Kyi, while she was under house arrest. This would keep international support apolitical and may help in finding a solid solution, especially to the problems in Rakhine.
https://southasianmonitor.com/2017/11/28/popes-peace-reconciliation-mission-myanmar/

Number of Rohingya refugees fleeing to Bangladesh reaches 624,000: UN
Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-28 03:39:11|Editor: pengying

A Bangladeshi man helps Rohingya Muslim refugees to disembark from a boat on the Bangladeshi shoreline of the Naf river after crossing the border from Myanmar in Teknaf on September 30, 2017. (Xinhua/AFP)
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- The number of Rohingya refugees who have fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh since Aug. 25 has reached 624,000, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Monday.

An average of 430 Rohingya refugees entered Bangladesh per day this past week, a slowdown compared to the previous week.

The Rohingyas fled their homes in northern Rakhine State of Myanmar into neighboring Bangladesh after deadly attacks staged by the rebel Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on police posts on Aug. 25 allegedly touched off a wave of retribution by government and vigilante forces.

Rohingyas arriving in refugee camps -- some having traversed an inlet of the Bay of Bengal on makeshift rafts and boats -- reported widespread violence against them.

On reports of an agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar on the repatriation of the refugees, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said it is important that people are able to return to the place they came from "in a safe, dignified and protected manner."

The ethnic Rohingyas are denied citizenship in the largely Buddhist nation.
KEY WORDS:Rohingya

 

[Banglar Bir]

The Stateless Rohingya

Penny Mordaunt: Extra UK aid gives a future to persecuted Rohingya
Ms Mordaunt pledged that the UK will continue to stand by the Rohingya people and Bangladesh, now and in the future.

On a visit to Cox’s Bazar, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt has announced further UK aid for the Rohingya crisis, as she warns that global funding will start to dry up in 100 days.

Ms Mordaunt pledged that the UK will continue to stand by the Rohingya people and Bangladesh, now and in the future. She met some of the 620,000 innocent men, women and children who have been tragically driven from their homes in Burma and forced to make the treacherous journey to Bangladesh, relying on aid to survive.

Today’s announcement of £12 million for the Rohingya crisis is providing urgently needed food now and ensuring more lives are not put at risk when international funding starts to run out in February 2018. This brings the UK’s total support to £59 million since 25 August 2017.

She praised the Government of Bangladesh and the local communities for their continued generosity in helping the Rohingya people and also urged other countries to follow the UK’s lead by promising longer-
International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said:
Read More »
https://www.gov.uk/…/penny-mordaunt-extra-uk-aid-gives-a-fu…

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From Sarajevo to Kutupalong
Brigadier General AF Jaglul Ahmed
Published at 06:29 PM November 27, 2017
Last updated at 10:25 PM November 27, 2017

An undeniable humanitarian disasterSYED ZAKIR HOSSAIN
Bangladesh must guard its own national interests
The recent influx of Rohingya refugees into the southern part of Bangladesh is a novel phenomenon for the people of this land.

A human flow as large as this reminds me of Sarajevo in 1994. Decades have passed since I returned from Sarajevo, but memories of Sebrenica came flooding back with the influx of Rohingya into Bangladesh.

Globally, ethnic cleansing is not a new phenomenon, but the current Rohingya cleansing operations in the Rakhine and the consequent spill-over of survivors into Bangladesh is new in this region.

We are being forced to absorb this unprecedented surge in population and that is adding significantly to our existing problems.

Not unknown to the world, decades-long persecution of the Rohingya turned into a violent and all-out offensive after the attack on the Myanmar Security Force’s camp in August.

This, apparently, triggered the genocide, which involved Myanmar soldiers raping young girls, setting children on fire, and guillotining youths — comparable to medieval barbarism.

New stories of horror surface every day, and news of whole villages being burnt to the ground on the other side of the border are the most common yet.

The perception of the majority is that the religious identity of the Rohingyas was the primary reason for their expulsion and extermination.

Some believe that the conscience of the world is strong enough to help them return home and restart their lives as Rohingya. There is a further belief that one day they would move freely in the state of Rakhine as free Rohingya with no fear of death or persecution. But that is the belief of a small number of people whose faith in God is yet infinite.

The clamour in the national and international media is only creating more sensationalism, intended to draw in more viewers and readers but hardly providing any solution.

But what is the solution anyway in the midst of the persisting violence across the border and constant wave of refugees to Bangladesh numbering more than thousands every day?

The door for Rohingya to enter Bangladesh is still open from an idealistic humanitarian perspective but how long will such idealism hold is a critical question.

Many other issues from the realist perspective are already becoming evident, like extremists in the Rakhine blockading relief material, some Rohingyas committing crimes like murder in the refugee camps, and the sufferings of thousands of students of local schools and colleges that are in complete disarray as a result of the refugee crisis.

A nation like Bangladesh cannot share its resources and bear all responsibility for these distressed communities indefinitely.

When the supply of food runs out and the space to live gets further congested, our sympathy for the Rohingya may also start to dry up.

‘Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests’

For want of food, shelter, fresh oxygen, or water, the Rohingyas who once fled violence may turn to violence themselves.

Multilateral efforts are yet not strong enough to force Myanmar to roll back their cleansing operations and take back their own people.

Bilateral efforts already signal a long-term process, which will be a huge strain on a resource-constrained nation like Bangladesh.

Many countries in the multilateral efforts agreed to create pressure on Myanmar, while some abstained to commit to either side due to the likelihood of their own national interest colliding in the greater geo-political game.

Every state around the problem has its own strategic viewpoint from which it is to decide as to what it should calibrate with.

It is difficult to conclude who is right or wrong. But what it can remind us of is the famous quote by Lord Palmerstone: “Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests.”

What lies ahead for Bangladesh in terms of this precarious issue springing from across the border?

A nation embroiled in its own internal turmoil and rarely able to co-relate the role of geo-politics into its fate and future is bound to be in shock and awe with a humanitarian crisis such as this.

The humanitarian need of these distressed communities might soon be overshadowed by the interest of different vested groups. Whose interest will advance and find pre-eminence is still difficult to predict, but there is every chance that the poorer stakes will suffer.

In retrospect, Sarajevo, in the heart of Europe, received due attention from many powerful stakes; the Rakhine might even draw some attention for its geo-political significance but surely not Kutupalong — the Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh.

There is life back again in Sarejevo. But Kutupalong might see a humanitarian disaster to complicate not only the untroubled Bangladesh but the entire region.

An unknown game theory could draw Bangladesh into the complex geo-political whirlwinds. It is sure to suffer unless it manages the situation with an appropriate geo-political strategy.

It may be time for Bangladesh to recall the Palmerstone quote and to best harness its own national interest.

The principle behind determining your own interest must be founded on the national foreign policy objectives and geo-political realities.

Every neighbour is important, and everyone has their own interest, and so does Bangladesh. The sooner we recognise that and take the right course, the faster we can relieve ourselves of this unwanted encumbrance.
Brigadier General AF Jaglul Ahmed is Commandant, East Bengal Regimental Centre.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/op-ed/2017/11/27/from-sarajevo-to-kutupalong/

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[Banglar Bir]

Struggle of vulnerable Rohingyas continues
Mohiuddin Alamgir | Published: 00:05, Nov 28,2017 | Updated: 00:12, Nov 28,2017
Vulnerable Rohingyas, including aged people, pregnant and lactating women, orphan children and people with disabilities, entering Bangladesh to flee ethnic cleansing in Rakhine State of Myanmar continue struggling for survival in absence of relief work focused on them.
These Rohingyas taking shelter on hill slopes or erecting makeshift houses cutting forest trees in Cox’s Bazar are highly vulnerable and living in difficult conditions with a little medical facilities and poor access to water and sanitation facilities.

According to an ongoing family counting, jointly conducted by Bangladesh government’s Refugee Relief
and Repatriation Commissioner’s office and UNHCR, one-third of the Rohingya families are vulnerable.
‘Long distribution pathways and a lack of signposting lead to heightened risks for women, children, elderly, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable refugees and increase the problem of children being used by families to collect items,’ said a situation report of Inter Sector Coordination Group, a coordination body of the United Nations and other international agencies working in Cox’s Bazar.
‘Aid workers usually give preference to vulnerable people while carrying out any kind of assistance but it is really important for full-fledged targeted relief activities,’ said Cox’s Bazar refugee relief and repatriation commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam.

‘The speed and scale of the influx has resulted in a critical humanitarian emergency and we need some time to react for targeted relief assistance,’ he added.

According to the UN estimation till Monday, 6,24,000 Rohingyas have entered Bangladesh since the beginning of the ongoing influx, what the United Nations has called the world’s fastest-developing refugee emergency, on August 25.

Officials estimated that the new influx already took to 10.43 lakh the number of documented and undocumented Myanmar nationals in Bangladesh entering the country fleeing persecution at times since 1978.

The new influx began after Myanmar security forces responded to Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’s reported attacks on August 25 by launching violence what the United Nations denounced as ethnic cleansing.

Terrified, half-starved and exhausted, Rohingyas continued arriving in Bangladesh trekking through hills and forests and crossing rough sea and the Naf on boat and taking shelter wherever they could in Cox’s Bazar.

The latest update of family counting came out on November 23 said that 31 per cent of the 172,356 families counted so far were vulnerable –– 16.20 per cent single mother, 4.50 per cent serious medical condition, 4.15 per cent older person at risk, 3.96 per cent disable, 3.72 per cent with disabilities, 2.50 per cent older people with children and 0.87 per cent unaccompanied children.

Single mothers are holding their families together with little support in harsh camp conditions, said people engaged in the counting process.

Others are struggling with serious health problems or disabilities. There are also a high proportion of elderly people at risk, unaccompanied and separated children – some of them taking care of younger siblings, said people working in family counting.

Children made up 54 per cent of the Rohingyas while women 52 per cent said the latest update of family counting.

The coordination group’s situation report also said that Rohingyas were reliant on humanitarian assistance for food, and other life-saving needs. Basic services that were available prior to the influx are under severe strain due to the massive increase in people in the area.

‘In some of the sites spontaneously emerged, water and sanitation facilities are limited or of poor quality, with extremely high density raising the risks of an outbreak of disease’ it said.

‘Communicable disease risks remain high due to crowded living conditions, inadequate water and sanitation facilities and low vaccination coverage. Mental and psychosocial health needs are immense. Many Rohingya refugees are reported to have been physically and mentally traumatised by the violence, including sexual and gender-based violence. Rates of severe acute malnutrition are running at 7.5 per cent, well over the emergency threshold,’ it read.

‘Local health care facilities and NGOs have limited capacity to treat children with SAM with complications,’ the situation report said.

‘Continuum of care for pregnant women, newborn and children needs to be ensured with periodic home visits from a network of community health volunteers,’ it said.

About 325,069 Rohingya people still need nutrition support, said the report.
http://www.newagebd.net/article/29310/struggle-of-vulnerable-rohingyas-continues
ROHINGYA ISSUES
Envoys asked for engaging host countries
Diplomatic Correspondent | Published: 00:02, Nov 28,2017 | Updated: 00:09, Nov 28,2017
The government on Monday asked Bangladesh ambassadors abroad to engage with their respective host country and multilateral organisations to garner support for resolving Rohingya crisis.

Foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali conveyed necessary instructions in this regard to the ambassadors and high commissioners on the second day of the three-day envoy’s conference in Dhaka, diplomats said after a closed-door session on Rohingya issues.

Minister Ali, foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque, Bangladesh ambassador to Myanmar M Sufiur Rahman and about 20 envoys participated in the discussion that continued for about two hours.
Ali, Haque and Rahman explained how the envoys could play a role in resolving the crisis by attaining support for Rohingya repartition with ensuring rights of the persecuted minority community from Rakhine State of Myanmar.

They discussed the instrument signed with Myanmar authorities on Rohingya repatriation.
The instrument, Arrangement on Return of Displaced Persons from Rakhine State, was signed by Myanmar and Bangladesh on November 23 to repatriate Rohingyas who entered Bangladesh from Rakhine State only after October 9, 2016.

Several rights of Rohingyas on their access to basic services and livelihood after their return in Rakhine State, immediate issuance of identity cards to the returnees which might be helpful for the citizenship, allowing them to stay at a safe place near to their original places of residence, ensuring their freedom of movement and not to criminalise and prosecute them for illegal exit from and return to Myanmar were mentioned in the instrument.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday stressed the need for international pressure and bilateral negotiations together for a peaceful and speedy repatriation of the Rohingyas to Myanmar.

Over 6,26,000 Rohingyas, mostly women, children and aged people, entered Bangladesh fleeing unbridled murder, arson and rape during ‘security operations’ by Myanmar military in Rakhine, what the United Nations denounced as ethnic cleansing, between August 25 and November 26.

The ongoing Rohingya influx took the total number of undocumented Myanmar nationals and registered refugees in Bangladesh to over 10,46,000 till Sunday, according to estimates by UN agencies.
http://www.newagebd.net/article/29311/envoys-asked-for-engaging-host-countries

 

[Banglar Bir]

Letter to Pope Francis from a former Rohingya Refugee
www.thestateless.com/2017/11/letter-to-pope-francis-from-a-former-rohingya-refugee.html

POPE FRANCIS
Apostolic Palace
Vatican City

Dear Pope Francis,

On behalf of Rohingya community, I am writing to you with my great humbleness in regards to your visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh, and situations of the community.

You once said, “Life is a journey. When we stop, things don’t go right.” On your auspicious journey of friendship, love and peace, we would kindly like to request you not to stop using “Rohingya” in the journey, which will ultimately do damage to the cultural and ethnic identity of the community that the successive military regime and Aung San Suu Kyi’s government have been trying to erase for many decades.

We have heard that you are advised not to use the term “Rohingya” during your visit to our country of origin, and told that it can divide the communities apart particularly minority Christian community. However, it is the way the racial and religious persecution and suppression of freedom of speech or expression being denied in Myanmar.

You are well-aware of the situations of Rohingya community. We have been stripped of citizenship, denied basic human rights such as freedom of religion, nationality, movement, education, healthcare, livelihood, etc.., and now subjected to “the textbook example of ethnic cleansing” as the United Nations calls, and “the slow-burning genocide” according to experts on genocide.

Nowhere in the world has seen a large scale of campaign of genocide in the modern day than that of Rohingya. Over 620,000 Rohingya are expelled from their ancestral homes becoming refugees in the neighbouring Bangladesh since August 25, 2017; more than 300 villages are razed to the ground; hundreds of women are raped or gang-raped; several children are thrown into fire; and now the remaining Rohingya inside Myanmar are starving and subjected to forced “national verification” process completely erasing and ethnic-reclassification of once recognized ethnic group of Myanmar.

“The people living in northern Arakan (now Rakhine State) are our national brethren. They are called Rohingyas. They are on the same par in the status of nationality with Kachin, Karen, Mon, Rakhine and Shan… They are one ethnic people living within the Union of Burma,” are the words First democratically-elected Prime Minister U Nu relayed to the nation on Burmese Broadcasting Service in September, 1954.

Moreover, Brigadier Aung Gyi, Vice Chief of Staff of Burma Armed Forces too told the country in November 1951, “not to call the Rohingya ‘Khaw Taw’ nor ‘Bengali’, nor ‘Rakhine Muslims. Instead the Rohingya leaders said their self-referential ethnic name was the Arabic word Rohingya”

“Rohingya” is once recognized term to refer the ethnic Muslim minority living in Rakhine State, and Rohingya have contributed to the nation-building until they were slowly deprived of every single mean of community, especially following the implementation of 1982 Citizenship Law.

The denial of the right to self-identification is ‘the cultural genocide’ that the Rohingya community faces in addition to the total physical destruction through the campaign of genocide.

The political leaders of world are turning the blind eye towards the Rohingya – complicitly avoiding the term as the government and the military of Myanmar instructed and desired.

We have no alternatives rather than hoping and believing individuals like you, who dares to stand up against atrocities and defend the basic human rights.

You also said in August, 2015, “Let’s think of those brothers of ours of the Rohingya. They were chased from one country to another and chased out to the sea.”

Now you are visiting two countries – Myanmar and Bangladesh, which become the places of witness of heinous crimes inflicted on the persecuted minority.

I, as a former refugee who spent more than 17 years in Kutupalong Refugee Camp, Bangladesh after fleeing the 1991 ethnic cleansing campaign “Operation Clean Nation” in Rakhine State, Myanmar, would like to hear from you the basic identification of the community – “Rohingya” during your journey in Myanmar, and make a visit to the refugee camps in Bangladesh to personally witness the unspeakable terror perpetrated by the Myanmar Military.

We, Rohingya wish your journey brings love and peace, and adds voice against the suppression of voices.

Sincerely yours,

Mohammed Rafique
Representative of Republic of Ireland
The European Rohingya Council (ERC)
+353 860391625
media@theerc.eu
http://www.thestateless.com/2017/11/letter-to-pope-francis-from-a-former-rohingya-refugee.html

U.N. rights forum to hold special session on Myanmar Rohingya – U.N. sources
www.thestateless.com/2017/11/u-n-rights-forum-to-hold-special-session-on-myanmar-rohingya-u-n-sources.html

GENEVA (Reuters) – The U.N. Human Rights Council is expected to hold a special session on killings, rapes and other crimes committed against Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar that have driven more than 600,000 into Bangladesh since August, U.N. sources said on Monday.

“There will be a special session on December 5,” a senior United Nations source told Reuters.

Council spokesman Rolando Gomez could not confirm the date but said: “There are moves to convene a special session to address the human rights situation in the country.”

At least 16 of the 47 member states must request holding a special session of the Council, which are rare. Bangladesh and Muslim-majority countries were expected to back the call.

In March, the Council already set up a fact-finding team. The investigators reported after their first mission to Bangladesh last month that Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar had testified that a “consistent, methodical pattern of killings, torture, rape and arson is taking place”.

The latest Rohingya exodus from Rakhine state to Bangladesh’s southern tip began at the end of August, when Rohingya militants attacked security posts and the Myanmar army launched a counter-offensive.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra‘ad al-Hussein has described the army’s crackdown in Rakhine state as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. The military has denied the accusations of murder, rape, torture and forced displacement.

Amnesty International and other activist groups, in an open letter sent last week to member states, said that a special session was “imperative to launch decisive action and ensure international scrutiny and monitoring of the situation”.

Pope Francis arrived in Myanmar on Monday on a diplomatically delicate visit for the leader of the Roman Catholic church to the majority-Buddhist country.
http://www.thestateless.com/2017/11...-session-on-myanmar-rohingya-u-n-sources.html

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[Banglar Bir]

Myanmar accused of wiping out secret network of Rohingya reporters
www.thestateless.com/2017/11/myanmar-accused-of-wiping-out-secret-network-of-rohingya-reporters.html

Human rights groups fear military has disappeared or killed undercover journalists to starve the world of news about persecution in Rakhine state
By Shaikh Azizur Rahman / The Guardian
Reporters working inside Myanmar’s Rakhine state to document atrocities against Rohingya have gone missing, raising fears that they have been deliberately targeted by the military.
Young Rohingya volunteers had been secretly reporting on persecution of the Muslim minority in Myanmar since 2012, sending photos, videos and audio clips out of the country using smartphones.

Human rights groups claim the Myanmar military have killed and abducted many of the reporters to “sabotage” the networks and that there is now very little reporting on what is happening in the closed state of Rakhine.

Rohingya refugee Mohammad Rafique, who edits the Rohingya community news portal The Stateless, said that “over 95%” of Rakhine’s mobile reporters had gone missing since the crackdown began.

“Burmese security forces and Rakhine militia are still committing rapes, killings and arson in the Rohingya villages. But [as] the Rohingya mobile reporter network [is] dysfunctional there now, the detailed information of the violence, which we need to produce credible media reports, is not reaching us,” Rafique said.

“International media reporters and human rights activists too gather persecution and violence-related information from the Rohingya mobile network. They all, including our community’s media outlets, are being starved of information from Rakhine now.”

When riots broke out between Buddhists and Rohingya in Rakhine in 2012, the authorities deployed the military, with allegations surfacing that the army committed human rights abuses in the Rohingya villages. With silence from the Myanmar media on the violence, Rohingya community leaders set up the network of undercover citizen reporters, who began documenting incidents and sending reports out of the country, mostly for use by Rohingya media outlets.

Ko Ko Linn, a Bangladesh-based Rohingya community spokesperson, said 2,000 had been active in 2016: “During the military crackdown in Rakhine last year, the mobile reporters collected detailed information of the actions in the villages. Their reports let the world know how exactly the security forces and their Rakhine militia partners committed excesses in the villages in the name of a security crackdown.”

Linn himself is the latest victim of the enforced disappearances – he vanished from Bangladesh one week after this interview took place.

Noor Hossain, 25, a former mobile reporter who fled to Bangladesh in early September, said they took extraordinary risks to gather information.

“We used to hide ourselves the moment the security forces approached our villages. After they left the villages following their raids we would appear on the scenes with our mobile phones, gather on-the-spot information of abuses, violence and other related incidents and send them out through the internet immediately,” he said.

“The security forces are aiming to kill Rohingya men who are found with smartphones.”

Adilur Rahman Khan, of human rights group Odhikar, said he believed the army was sabotaging the network. “We are extremely concerned that many of the horrific level of abuses, including rapes, killings and arson are going unreported,” Khan said.

“Many of the young Rohingya rights defenders became victims of enforced disappearances by the security forces in Myanmar. The military also killed many and scared away the rest out of the country to sabotage the plan of the international human rights groups to gather evidence.”

Phil Robertson, of Human Rights Watch, said: “With Rohingya reporters being absent on the ground, much of the eyewitness video and other information they provided has been lost, and this is a critical missing piece of the puzzle to understand what’s happening on the ground because most of the humanitarian agencies, journalists and international monitors are blocked from most of northern Rakhine state.

“It’s clear that the Myanmar military has been systematically committing atrocities against the Rohingya – but the community’s own monitors are not there to report it any more.”
http://www.thestateless.com/2017/11...out-secret-network-of-rohingya-reporters.html

 

[Banglar Bir]

Yeni Şafak

The Myanmar army escalated an attack on Rohingya Muslims on Aug. 25. Since then, at least 620,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh to escape Myanmar's persecution.
Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a deal on Wednesday on the repatriation of these refugees.

Not many are convinced of returning to Myanmar, where they classified as “stateless." Rohingyas demand citizenship to return the homes that the army ravaged and razed.
http://www.yenisafak.com/…/rohingya-muslims-demand-citizens…

https://www.facebook.com/

 

[Banglar Bir]

03:03 PM, November 28, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 06:37 PM, November 28, 2017
Pope urges respect for human rights in Myanmar, avoids 'Rohingya' row

Pope Francis is welcomed as he arrives at Yangon International Airport, Myanmar November 27, 2017. Photo: Reuters
Reuters, Naypyitaw, Myanmar
Pope Francis today urged the leaders of majority-Buddhist Myanmar, mired in a crisis over the fate of Muslim Rohingya people, to commit themselves to justice, human rights and respect for "each ethnic group and its identity".
The pope avoided a diplomatic backlash by not using the highly charged term "Rohingya" in his addresses to officials, including leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

- Pope Francis avoids using the highly charged term 'Rohingya'

- Myanmar analyst: pope trying not to antagonise local audiences

- Pope met Suu Kyi and leaders of different faiths

However, his words were applicable to members of the beleaguered minority, who Myanmar does not recognise as citizens or as members of a distinct ethnic group.

More than 620,000 Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh - where the pope heads on Thursday - since the end of August, escaping from a military crackdown that Washington has said included "horrendous atrocities" aimed at "ethnic cleansing".

Francis made his comments in Naypyitaw, the country's capital, where he was received by Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace laureate and champion of democracy who has faced international criticism for expressing doubts about the reports of rights abuses against the Rohingya and failing to condemn the military.


"The future of Myanmar must be peace, a peace based on respect for the dignity and rights of each member of society, respect for each ethnic group and its identity, respect for the rule of law, and respect for a democratic order that enables each individual and every group – none excluded – to offer its legitimate contribution to the common good," he said.

Myanmar rejects the term "Rohingya" and its use, with most people instead referring to the Muslim minority in Rakhine state as illegal migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.

The pope had used the word Rohingya in two appeals from the Vatican this year.

But before the diplomatically risky trip, the pope's own advisers recommended that he not use it in Myanmar, lest he set off a diplomatic incident that could turn the country's military and government against minority Christians.

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International, which has accused the army of "crimes against humanity", had urged him to utter it.

A hardline group of Buddhist monks warned on Monday - without elaborating - that there would be "a response" if he spoke openly about the Rohingya.

RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES "A FORCE FOR UNITY"
Richard Horsey, a former UN official and analyst based in Yangon, said the pope's speech was "very cautiously worded" and "crafted to avoid antagonising local audiences".

"He has clearly taken the advice of his cardinals to avoid weighing in too heavily on the Rohingya crisis, but he certainly alludes to it with a message in his speech on some of the specific points that he makes," Horsey said.

Vatican sources say some in the Holy See believe the trip was decided too hastily after full diplomatic ties were established in May during a visit by Suu Kyi.

The pope met privately with Suu Kyi at the presidential palace in this sparsely populated town that became the capital in 2006, and then they both made public addresses at a conference centre.

Suu Kyi said in her speech that there had been an erosion of trust and understanding between communities of Rakhine state, but did not refer to the Rohingya.

Francis, speaking in Italian, said that as it emerged from nearly 50 years of military rule, Myanmar needed to heal the wounds of the past.

He called for a "just, reconciled and inclusive social order", adding that "the arduous process of peacebuilding and national reconciliation can only advance through a commitment to justice and respect for human rights".

Myanmar's army, whose leaders the pope met on Monday, has been battling various autonomy-seeking ethnic minority guerrillas for decades.

The military has denied the accusations of murder, rape, torture and forced displacement of the Rohingya that have been made against it.

The Rohingya exodus from Rakhine state began after August 25, when Rohingya militants attacked security posts and the Myanmar army launched a counter-offensive.

Referring to the country's communal tensions, Francis said religious differences "need not be a source of division and distrust, but rather a force for unity, forgiveness, tolerance, and wise nation-building".

He made the same point at an earlier meeting with leaders of the Buddhist, Islamic, Hindu, Jewish and Christian faiths in Yangon, where he called for "unity in diversity".

Aye Lwin, a prominent Muslim leader who was at the interfaith meeting, told Reuters he had asked the pope to appeal to Myanmar's political leaders "to rescue the religion that we cherish, which could be hijacked by a hidden agenda".

Only about 700,000 of Myanmar's 51 million people are Roman Catholic. Thousands of them have travelled from far and wide to see him and more than 150,000 people have registered for a mass that Francis will say in Yangon on Wednesday.

Francis is expected to meet a group of Rohingya refugees in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, on the second leg of his trip.
http://www.thedailystar.net/rohingy...m_medium=newsurl&utm_term=all&utm_content=all

 

[Banglar Bir]

https://www.facebook.com/

CTV News Channel
25 November at 08:11 ·
The Rohingya crisis was discussed at an event at Toronto City Hall last night. It featured notable speakers including representatives from the Burma Task Force. Toronto City Councillor Neethan Shan spoke at the event and joins us with more on what transpired.

12:00 AM, November 29, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:18 AM, November 29, 2017
Rohingya Repatriation: A pipe dream?
Analysis shows latest deal toughest of the three with Myanmar
Shakhawat Liton
The latest agreement on repatriation of the Rohingyas may not be as effective as the two previous deals signed between Bangladesh and Myanmar in 1978 and 1992 respectively.
A thorough examination of the latest deal signed between the two countries also signals Myanmar's reluctance to take back their nationals who have taken shelter in Bangladesh fleeing the military violence in their homeland.

The deal was signed on November 23 amid concerns by rights bodies over the absence of an atmosphere conducive to repatriation. Myanmar has tightened both the criteria for eligibility for the Rohingya's return and the verification process, making the prospect of repatriation this time almost impossible.

The situation in 1978 was not so harsh for the Rohingyas. They had citizenships in Myanmar. The then deal had made the criteria simple for their return. Presentation of national registration cards or any documents issued in Myanmar indicating their residence in Myanmar were enough for them to go back to their homes.

They even did not need to go through any verification process. The deal also stipulated a six month time frame for completion of the repatriation process. About 200,000 Rohingyas who took shelter in camps in Bangladesh fleeing violence in Myanmar were repatriated.

Rohingyas who had to cross the border again into Bangladesh in 1991-1992 fleeing fresh military violence in Myanmar, however, had to face difficulty to return to their homes due to introduction of the verification process in the 1992 deal.

Rohingyas who lost their citizenships due to a draconian law in 1982 were required to submit documents like Myanmar citizenship identity cards or other documents to pass scrutiny.

Refugee registration cards issued by Bangladesh government were, however, considered as documents in the verification process run by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, that set up a sub-office to process the job.

In this process, around 200,000 Rohingya refugees were able to return. Yet, around 30,000 were left behind in Bangladesh as they were unable to present sufficient documentation.

But Myanmar has tightened the noose this time. According to the new agreement, Myanmar authorities, not UNHCR, will conduct the verification process and the Rohingyas will have to submit documents like copies of expired citizenship identity cards or national registration cards or other relevant documents to prove their past residency in Myanmar.

This is something many Rohingyas will find hard to do as whatever documents they had were either burned with their houses or destroyed in their flight through the monsoon rains.

Unlike 1992, refugee registration cards issued by the Bangladesh government will not be considered this time for their repatriation.

Moreover, separated family members and orphans left behind will require to be certified by a Bangladesh court to be eligible for repatriation.

UNHCR will have a back seat in the process this time. Additionally, Myanmar authorities will also verify the refugee documents issued by UNHCR. In the end it will be Myanmar's discretion whether to take assistance of UNHCR.

The deal does not specify any timeframe for completion of the verification process. What Myanmar's Minister of Social Welfare and Resettlement, Win Myat Aye, said recently about the verification is more alarming. He said Myanmar government could verify 300 potential returnees a day. This means at that rate the process of verifying around 700,000 Rohingyas refugees since October last year will take years to complete.

There are more things for the Rohingyas to be concerned about. After the repatriation in 1978 and 1992, the Rohingyas were able to return to their homes. But this time, many of them will not be able to go back as their houses were burned and razed.

According to the new agreement, they will be settled in temporary places at Dar Gyi Zar village, about 20 kilometers from Maungdaw near the Bangladesh border. It is one of the areas hit hard by the violence that began on August 25 that developed into a full-blown refugee and humanitarian crisis.

In the agreement, the Myanmar government, however, promised not to keep them at temporary holdings for long time. But the fate of more than one lakh Rohingya living in inhuman condition in the camps inside Myanmar after they were displaced in the violence of 2012 is testimony enough of the Myanmar government's hostile attitude towards the Rohingya. International human rights organisations and leaders labelled the camps as modern day Nazi concentration camps.

The new agreement is only for the repatriation of those who entered Bangladesh after the violence in October last year and August this year. Rohingyas who crossed into Bangladesh earlier will be considered for repatriation after conclusion of the current agreement. This means they will have to wait for an indefinite period in the camps in Bangladesh.

Considering the above difficulties, Dhaka did not agree in early October to Myanmar's proposal of following the criteria of the 1992 deal to take back the Rohingyas.

The reasons were clear as explained by Foreign Minster AH Mahmood Ali in a diplomatic briefing on October 9: the 1992 criteria is not “realistic” and the “situation of 1992 and current situation are entirely different.”

Dhaka clarified its position a week after Myanmar Union Minister Kyaw Tint Swe during his visit to Dhaka proposed to follow the criteria of the 1992 deal.

But one and a half months down the line, Mahmood Ali agreed with Myanmar's proposal and signed an agreement during his recent visit to Naypyidaw.

This development came within a week after the Chinese foreign minister's visit to Dhaka and Naypyidaw. China has been protecting Myanmar from the international community's pressure and action and it is also backing a bilateral resolution of the crisis.

Signing the agreement made China's efforts successful and made it easy for Myanmar to buy more time to breathe and to ease international pressure on it. But for the Rohingyas, the coming days may appear more uncertain and the burden on Bangladesh will grow heavier.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/rohingya-repatriation-pipe-dream-1497811

 

[Banglar Bir]

12:00 AM, November 29, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:39 AM, November 29, 2017
ROHINGYA CRISIS
China's peace plan and where things now stand

More than three months into the latest influx of Rohingya refugees, they continue to stream out of Myanmar into Bangladesh, saying they have lost sources of livelihood such as farms and fisheries. PHOTO: ANISUR RAHMAN
Eresh Omar Jamal
The Rohingya crisis has been tough on Bangladesh. First, because of the sheer scale of the influx from Myanmar and its continuity and second because Bangladesh has had to witness them from up close which always makes it more difficult.
The only exceptions to this must be those who commit such atrocities themselves, en masse, as factions within Myanmar are alleged to have done as pointed out by the UN, US, UK, France and a number of human rights organisations among countless others.

Which is why sceptics find it so hard to believe that those making the decisions in Myanmar have, or are willing to, act in good faith with Bangladesh in regards to repatriating and ending the violence against its minorities, which has harmed Bangladesh's interest in many ways, while rendering homeless more than 600,000 men, women and children now living, if it could be called that, in makeshift camps in Bangladesh.

Another reason why this crisis has been so hard on Bangladesh is the lack of substantive support it has received from many of its close partners, particularly India and China, the two most influential in the region. Although even then, one cannot help but admit that this lack of support, to some extent, is of Bangladesh's own making, as its inadequacies and weaknesses over the years have left it with very little diplomatic leverage.

Nevertheless, the most positive recent development in regards to this crisis has been China's proposed peace plan, which both Bangladesh and Myanmar have formally agreed to. The first phase of this plan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, “is to effect a ceasefire on the ground, to return to stability and order, so the people can enjoy peace and no longer be forced to flee.” The second and third parts of the plan are to facilitate an orderly return of those who have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar to their homeland, and “to work toward a long-term solution based on poverty alleviation.”

Moreover, according to the “Arrangement on Return of Displaced Persons from Rakhine State” signed between Bangladesh and Myanmar (on November 23), the two countries also “have agreed” to outline some “general principles, policy aspects and modalities” needed “to ensure smooth conduct of return of displaced Myanmar residents from Rakhine State expeditiously and their integration into Myanmar society.” These “general guiding principles” are 19 in number and seem vague at first sight.

And this lack of concretisation could pose major problems moving forward as many have already pointed out, especially given the current state of relationship between the two countries and the lack of sympathy that the Myanmar government has shown towards Bangladesh, even in response to Bangladesh's immense patience in dealing with Myanmar's seemingly outright hostile activities.

Such past attitude by Myanmar also puts into question its sincerity in adhering to the arrangement, which states that the two countries reiterate “their firm conviction to resolve their problems amicably and peacefully through bilateral negotiations on the basis of mutual understanding, accommodation, trust and goodwill and maintain peace and tranquillity on their borders.”

While it is difficult to say that Bangladesh has shown anything other than a willingness to amicably and peacefully resolve the issues it has with Myanmar, the same cannot be said about Myanmar thus far. Although the latest agreement does provide Myanmar with the perfect opportunity to prove its critics wrong, and re-establish some of the trust and goodwill it has lost with Bangladesh.

But given Myanmar's lack of concern in the past for the interest of Bangladesh and the minorities that have fled from its own territories, how likely is it that Myanmar is willing to make the necessary compromises and take the required steps to establish permanent peace in the region? Critics say not very. However, the truth is that only time can tell.

What is interesting though is that according to reports, Myanmar's army has replaced the general in charge of Rakhine State, Major General Maung Maung Soe—transferring him from his post as the head of Western Command in Rakhine—only a couple of weeks back. Moreover, the impetus that China has provided could also prompt a shift in its position.

For example, according to Song Qingrun, a research fellow at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, “China's thinking is to resolve the Rohingya issue through development in Rakhine State” (“Decoding China's proposal to address Rohingya crisis”, November 22, China Global Television Network).

Referring to the Chinese foreign minister's comment about China building an economic corridor with Myanmar—starting from China's southern Yunnan Province and going down to Mandalay in Myanmar, before splitting east to Yangon and west to Kyaukpyu, a town in Rakhine State—Song explained that “China will use its capital, technology and other resources to help Myanmar to develop the poor area and decrease the causes of their conflicts.”

Whether the Myanmar authorities see things quite like this is difficult to say. But what is certainly true is that what Myanmar must now be aware of fully is that should Myanmar make an about-turn again—after China has tried to act as a mediator—it will also be irritating China, something which it can ill afford to do, particularly in the face of such widespread criticism from everyone else. Thus it is difficult to see how Myanmar can now afford to refuse China's request to stop the violence, and not work with Bangladesh to take back its nationals.

However, what Bangladesh (and China too, simply in the interest of regional stability) must remain insistent upon is that this time the violence against minorities in Myanmar must permanently be brought to a halt. That too should be included in the negotiations.

And lastly, on November 24 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reportedly said that conditions in Rakhine State “are not in place to enable safe and sustainable returns” for more than 600,000 Rohingya refugees.

This the Myanmar authorities must address as it cannot expect those who have fled to return to the horrific conditions that they had escaped from in the first place.

And neither should it expect that by delaying the process of addressing these issues, it would be able to pull the wool over Bangladesh's eyes this time.
Eresh Omar Jamal is a member of the editorial team at The Daily Star.
http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion...peace-plan-and-where-things-now-stand-1497706

12:00 AM, November 29, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:00 AM, November 29, 2017
Pope sidesteps Rohingya crisis
Urges respect for human rights in Myanmar address

Pope Francis stands beside Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi during an event in Naypyitaw yesterday. The Pope held talks with Suu Kyi during his visit aimed at alleviating religious and ethnic hatred that have driven thousands of Rohingyas from the country. Photo: AFP
Afp, Naypyidaw
Pope Francis called for respect for rights and justice in a keenly-watched address in Myanmar yesterday, but refrained from any mention of the Rohingya or the alleged ethnic cleansing that has driven huge numbers of the Muslim minority from the country.
Sharing a stage with Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the capital Naypyidaw, he did not address the Rohingya crisis head-on but instead tip-toed around the unfolding humanitarian emergency.

Peace can only be achieved through "justice and a respect for human rights", he said in a broadly-framed speech that also called for "respect for each ethnic group and its identity".

The word "Rohingya", an incendiary term in a mainly Buddhist country where the Muslim minority are denied citizenship and branded illegal "Bengali" immigrants, was entirely absent from his speech.

Francis has repeatedly defended the group, some 620,000 of whom have fled from Myanmar's Rakhine state to Bangladesh since August.

Rights groups had urged him to tackle Myanmar about its treatment of the minority during his four-day visit, but the local Catholic Church had cautioned him against straying into the Rohingya issue.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has been ostracised by a global rights community that once adored her but is now outraged at her tepid response to the plight of the Rohingya.

She spoke of the challenges her country faces as it creeps out of the shadow of five decades of military rule, but also did not reference the Rohingya.

The government aimed to build the nation by "protecting rights, fostering tolerance, ensuring security for all", she said in a short speech, that gave a nod to global concern over the "situation in the Rakhine."

The pope's peace mission is studded with pitfalls in Myanmar, where a monk-led Buddhist nationalist movement has fostered widespread loathing for the Rohingya.

In recognition of those tensions his public speech was "very carefully worded", Myanmar-based political analyst Richard Horsey told AFP, speculating "he is likely to have been more forthright in private meetings with Myanmar's leaders."

But the pontiff's words were of little comfort to Rohingya stuck in dire conditions in Bangladesh.

"We are very much disappointed that he did not mention the Rohingya crisis," said Rohingya activist Mohammad Zubair from Kutupalong refugee camp, speaking of a religious leader who previously "even held prayers for the Rohingya".
POPE, THE LADY AND A GENERAL
Late on Monday the 80-year-old pontiff received a "courtesy visit" from Myanmar's powerful army chief -- whose troops, according to the UN and US, have waged a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya in Rakhine.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has firmly denied allegations of widespread brutality by his forces, despite the flight of hundreds of thousands who have recounted widespread cases of rape, murder and arson.

His office said the general told the pope there was "no discrimination" in Myanmar, and he praised his military for maintaining "the peace and stability of the country".

The Lady, as she is fondly known in Myanmar, finally came to power after elections in 2015 but has fallen from grace internationally for not doing more to stand up to the army in defence of the Rohingya -- whose name she will not publicly utter.

Rights groups have clamoured for Suu Kyi to be stripped of her peace prize. Oxford, the English city she once called home, on Monday removed her Freedom of the City award for "inaction" in the face of oppression of the Rohingya.

Just days before the papal visit, Myanmar and Bangladesh signed a deal to start repatriating Rohingya refugees within two months.

But details of the agreement -- including the use of temporary shelters for returnees, many of whose homes have been burned to the ground -- raise questions for Rohingya fearful of returning without guarantees of basic rights.

So far, the pontiff has received a warm welcome in Myanmar, whose Catholic community numbers just over one percent of the country's 51 million people.

But some 200,000 Catholics are pouring into the commercial capital Yangon from all corners of the country ahead of a huge, open-air mass in Yangon this morning.
Francis will travel on to Bangladesh on Thursday.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/pope-sidesteps-rohingya-crisis-1497823

Rohingya issue: Bangladesh caught in its short-sightedness
Published: 00:05, Nov 29,2017 | Updated: 01:15, Nov 29,2017

WHY no one seems to be too enthusiastic about the recently signed MoU between Bangladesh and Myanmar on Rohingya repatriation is best explained when our foreign minister says that it has been drafted as Myanmar desired. He added that Bangladesh is happy that Myanmar has agreed to take some of them back.

But Myanmar may be comfortable that the heat will be low now after the MoU and, of course, it can send more refugees any time and Bangladesh can do little about it. Rohingya situation/status has not changed since 1977 and Bangladesh remains at the mercy of Myanmar’s political will.

The facilitator appears to be China who was beginning to feel the heat internationally and knew that at some point of time, the United States might offer something to Bangladesh or do something that could make China uncomfortable.

China’s stake in Myanmar is high and it can still call the shots there and that is what mattered in the end. It came to Bangladesh and reduced the multi-lateral directions that Bangladesh was being forced to take and made it firmly bilateral under Chinese supervision. It was what both China and Myanmar had wanted knowing from the past that Bangladesh’s capacity to diplomatically handle the Rohingya on its own is limited.
Does the MoU mean much?
THE MoU basically takes the heat off Myanmar and gives China more space to pursue OBOR and other economic priorities. But it leaves Bangladesh as vulnerable as before. Given that the MoU follows the 1992 framework closely, the flaws of that one remains. It appears hurriedly cobbled together but as pro-Bangladesh government analysts are saying, It is a beginning at least.

A critical part of the MoU say, only those who came after the alleged ARSA attack will qualify to be considered for repatriation. By doing so, Bangladesh has endorsed the Myanmar, China and Russian position that all of this was due to Rohingya insurgency and not Myanmar army activities.

This also means that the Rohingya refugees before the alleged attack have lost the right to return as the MoU specifically denies/ignores the existence of any such people making the return of all Rohingyas impossible. Thus, about 4,00,00 are now here to stay as Myanmar wanted. It also relieves itself of any accusation that an ethnic cleansing took place.

Ethnic cleansing was actually used by the United Nations which has said that the situation in Myanmar is not fit for the refugees to return. Our media also report that most Rohingyas now in the camps are also not willing to return either. Where does the situation go from here now?
Will refugees return if they at all go back?
IT IS certainly not in favour of the refugees because they are not even a party to the discussion. It is an MoU between Myanmar, which does not recognise the Rohingyas as its citizens, and Bangladesh, which does not accept them as refugees. In this strange quandary, the Rohingyas have no role to play. They are not just victims but invisible too.

But several issues have been mentioned regarding their return to Myanmar which may mean that this is just a time-buyer and another deluge is possible in future. This is apart from the fact that many may not be able to prove their status as residents of Myanmar as mentioned in the MoU.

The 1993 term was vague on their status and the citizenship or associate citizenship is not about to be returned to them; so, even if they do return, they will be housed in temporary shelters and camps which many fear will be used to coerce them again. In that case, what guarantee is there that they will not escape back to Bangladesh? Commenting on the MoU, the Australian web site ‘Conversation’ which has covered the issue since the crisis says:

‘The idea of voluntary return stems from a 1993 agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar, under which those Rohingyas who can prove their identity must fill in forms with the names of family members, their previous address in Myanmar, their date of birth, and a disclaimer that they are returning voluntarily.

But those who do choose to return will face extortion, arbitrary taxation, and restrictions on freedom of movement. Many will be required to undertake forced labour, and some will face state-sponsored violence and extrajudicial killings.’
Given this scenario, how far will the MoU guarantee a safe repatriation?
It is admitted by all that China has played a critical part in getting the MoU signed as all the negative publicity was hurting China’s image as the prime vendor in the region. China needs aggressive marketing stances which have stumbled a bit recently in the region.

However, it remains strong enough to push Myanmar and Bangladesh to a MoU and in this equation the Rohingyas are not a factor.

The problem is that an MoU that was signed and admitted by the foreign minister was largely done as sought by Myanmar.

The world has cited evidence of ethnic cleansing and the people responsible are still in power. No dates and guidelines, no guarantee of safety, no involvement of the United Nations — barring consultation with the UNHCR — if and when Myanmar decides, and, of course, no mention of any long-term plan that leaves Bangladesh as vulnerable as before to a fresh exodus.

Will Bangladesh force the Rohingyas to return if they refuse as it looks like? Will they erect fences to prevent another exodus?
At this point, it seems more like a victory for China followed by Myanmar and a helpless Bangladesh caught in the trap of its own short-sightedness.
Afsan Chowdhury is a journalist and researcher.
http://www.newagebd.net/article/29354/rohingya-issue-bangladesh-caught-in-its-short-sightedness

 

[Banglar Bir]

Govt allocates Tk 23b for Rohingya camps in Noakhali
Prothom Alo English Desk | Update: 21:40, Nov 28, 2017

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) on Tuesday approved a project, Ashrayan-3, involving Tk 23.12 billion for constructing camps in Noakhali’s Hatia for forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals, Rohingyas, reports BSS.

The approval came at a meeting of the ECNEC held at the NEC conference room on Tuesday with its chairperson and prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.

Bangladesh navy will implement the project at Bhasan Char of Char Ishwar union in Noakhali's Hatia where one lakh Rohingyas will be accommodated and after their repatriation, the project will be used to accommodate the poor in the country, said planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal after the meeting.

He said the ECNEC decided that this fast-track project will be implemented from December 2017 to December 2019.

A total of 14 projects were approved in Tuesday's ECNEC meeting with an estimated cost of Tk 10,0.99 billion, said the minister.

"Of the total project cost, Tk 100.48 billion will come from the national exchequer and Tk 500.88 million from the own fund of organizations concerned," the minister told reporters.

Kamal said Bangladesh-Myanmar has already signed an agreement and repatriation of Rohingyas will begin in the next two or three months.

"Rohingyas are in a distressed condition and the government has started taking steps for mitigating their sufferings and I am hopeful that other countries come forward with assistance," said the planning minister.

He said prime minister Sheikh Hasina ordered to repair all roads affected in the floods within the next one year. All old roads will have to be repaired now instead of constructing new roads, Kamal added.

While focusing on Ashrayan-3, he said the project will be implemented with government's own fund and necessary infrastructure will be constructed to ensure the security of the project area.

The project includes land development, shore protection work, construction of embankment, construction of 1,440 barrack houses and 120 shelter stations in 120 cluster villages for accommodating 1,03,200 people, construction of a place of worship, construction of infrastructure for water supply and sewerage.

Offices and residence houses will be constructed for Bangladesh navy to maintaining security of the area.

There will also be helipad, boat landing site, mobile towers, radar station, CCTVs, solar panels and power sub-station.

Other approved projects are development of power distribution system in Mymensingh (Tk 15.75 billion), development of rural infrastructures for Madaripur, Sariatpur and Rajbari districts (Tk 15.60 billion), development of important rural infrastructure (2nd phase) (Tk 9.50 billion), development of important rural infrastructure for Sirajganj district (Tk 4.46 billion),

Development of small irrigation systems in Noakhali, Feni and Laxmipur (Tk 1.44 billion), construction of multistory residential flats in Azimpur government colony for government officials-employees (Tk 9.90 billion), construction of 288 residential flats in Jigatala for government officials-employees (Tk 3.04 billion),

Construction of multistory residential buildings in Motijheel government colony (Tk 2.57 billion), construction of railway overpass at Shasangachha in Comilla town (Tk 940 million), development of Langarpara-Shreebordi road in Sherpur (Tk 820 million), stipend project for higher secondary education (7.98 billion) and construction of Chittagong Muslim Institute Cultural Complex (Tk 2.33 billion).
http://en.prothom-alo.com/bangladesh/news/135444/Govt-allocates-Tk-23b-to-shelter-Rohingyas

 

[Banglar Bir]

‘The generals and Suu Kyi sing from the same Buddhist nationalist hymn book’
Syed Zainul Abedin Eiffel
Published at 02:36 PM September 14, 2017
Last updated at 10:48 PM September 14, 2017

Dr Maung Zarni Courtesy
Myanmar's army has great political, economic and strategic interests in keeping the ethnic conflict alive in Rakhine and carrying out the purge of Rohingyas from their homeland
In an exclusive interview with the Dhaka Tribune’s Syed Zainul Abedin, Maung Zarni, a Burmese academic exiled in the UK, says the Myanmar army has great political, economic and strategic interests in keeping the ethnic conflict alive in Rakhine and carrying out the purge of Rohingya from their homeland.

Maung Zarni is an academic, activist, commentator and expert on Myanmar. He is currently a London-based scholar with the Documentation Centre of Cambodia at the Sleuk Rith Institute.

“My own late great-uncle was deputy chief of Rohingya district and deputy commander of all Armed Forces in Rakhine Division in 1961. That was at the time when the Burmese military embraced Rohingyas as an ethnic group in Burma (Myanmar) as full citizens. They were fighting the Rakhine secessionists at the time,” he says.

What is happening in northern Rakhine state?
Using the pretext of fighting terrorism, Myanmar Tatmadaw (the armed forces) are engaged in the largest wave of systematic killings and destruction of the Rohingya population. They are using air force, navy and army units, as well as police and urban riot control special units in these attacks, which have resulted in 370,000 Rohingya fleeing their villages.

What is the official line from the Myanmar government?
The Aung San Suu Kyi-led civilian government in partnership with the armed forces are selling this large scale scorched earth operation as national defence in the face of a Rohingya “terrorist” attack which killed 12 police officers and soldiers. This narrative is false: Myanmar is not fighting terrorism, it is speeding up what its commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, reportedly told the armed forces was the pursuit of “the unfinished business” of World War II (1942).

Are there any historical comparisons to the Rohingya insurgency?
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’s attacks against Burmese border guard posts in Oct 2016 and Aug 2017 more closely resemble the Nazi victims’ uprising at Auschwitz in Oct 1944 than a properly organised and armed “insurgency.” In October 1944, the Jewish inmates killed four SS officers in one barrack at a concentration camp and the SS responded by killing about 500 Jewish and Polish prisoners. Similar large scale terror campaigns were launched by the Burmese military in 1978 and 1991-92, expelling upwards of 260,000 people in each wave.

Why is the Rohingya community being targeted?
The Burmese military took an anti-Muslim turn when Ne Win came to power in a coup in 1962. The generals have purged the entire armed forces of all Muslim officers in the last 50 years, painted the Rohingya as having cross-border cultural, linguistic and historical ties to the populous Muslim nation of the then East Pakistan, and framed this as a threat to national security as early as the mid-1960s.

There are other binational communities along the Sino-Burmese, Indo-Burmese, Thai-Burmese borders – such as Kachin, Chin, Shan, Karen, Kokant, Mon – as well as Buddhist Rakhine (with ties to Chittagong). But none of these communities are Muslims. So despite the historical Rohingya presence in Rakhine or Arakan dating back to pre-British colonial days, the military hatched an institutionalised policy of cleansing Western Burma (Myanmar) of Rohingyas. Myanmar is engaged in the destruction of the Rohingya using national laws tailored to exclude, disenfranchise and strip them of any basic rights. There are other Muslims throughout Burma (Myanmar) but only the Rohingya have their own geographic pocket.

Can the persecution of the Rohingyas be called a genocide?
Yes, absolutely. Myanmar can be proven to be engaged in the fully fledged crime of genocide, in terms of both the Genocide Convention of 1948. Of the five acts of genocide stated in the Geneva Convention, Myanmar is guilty of every crime except the last, which concerns the transfer of victim children to a different group to change the character of the population. Myanmar does not even bother doing that: the troops and the Rakhine burn and kill infants and children, according to eyewitness survivors. As Professor Amartya Sen put it – this is “institutionalised killing” by the state of Myanmar. He based that assertion on the three-year research work done by me and my researcher colleague in London, called “The Slow Burning Genocide of Myanmar’s Rohingya.”

What is the history of communal divide in Myanmar?
Burma (Myanmar) is a multi-ethnic country of about one or two dozen distinct ethnic communities. The official list of 135 national races, from which Rohingyas are excluded, is really a fiction. But in this multi-ethnic web of people with different faiths, there have been many divisions, prejudices and ethno-racism. The military employs the international, colonial “divide and rule” principle that the British used. So in Arakan (Rakhine), Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists have been divided and there has been mutual distrust and hostilities since WWII. But that is not unique to Rakhine; there were divisions and armed conflicts between the majority Buddhist Bama and Karens with 20% Christian population, or Bama and predominantly Buddhist Shan, or Bama and predominantly Christian Kachins and Chins. Virtually every non-Bama minority group attempted to seek independence from the Union of Burma. Rohingyas and the Rakhine had their own armed secessionist movements as well.

But other communal tensions are no longer stoked by the Burmese military. But it has systematically made sure that Rakhine and Rohingya do not seek or achieve communal reconciliation like the rest. One major reason is Rakhine nationalists still maintain the dream of restoring their sovereignty. The military has pitted the Rohingya and Rakhine Buddhists, who have long shared Arakan as their common birthplace, in order to maintain its colonial domination over Rakhine.

Yes, there are communal aspects to Rakhine and the Rohingya conflict. But it is the Burmese central armed forces which is the primary player in keeping this conflict alive.

Does the minority and majority issue play a role in this situation?
The non-Rohingya minorities have been brainwashed through a systematic campaign of misinformation to think about the Rohingya as “illegal Bengali migrants,” although many Rohingyas have been in western Burma since decades before British colonial rule. These minorities and the Bama majority are brainwashed to think that only they are the true indigenous peoples of Burma, despite the fact that they too migrated to Burma during pre-colonial times in various waves of migration from Southern China, Tibet, and the Indian subcontinent. So this thinking fuels deep racism towards Rohingyas and, to a lesser extent, towards Chinese and Christians. But China is too powerful for the military to try to stoke anti-Chinese racism. So, the military diverts public discontent and frustration over hardships of life under failed military leaders towards the Rohingya – making them a scapegoat.

How is geopolitics playing a role in this?
Rakhine is rich in natural resources, especially in the predominantly Rohingya north of the state. It has off-shore natural gas, fertile agricultural land, untapped titanium, rare earth materials, aluminum, natural deep sea harbours for deep sea port, and land for a tax-free Special Economic Zone. Just last week Myanmar announced that today’s killing fields of North Rakhine will be turned into a vast Special Economic Zone near the Bangladeshi borders.

Also, the coastline is strategic for China, which wants to have an alternative to the narrow Straits of Mallaca near Singapore for fear of future conflicts with the US and her allies. Rakhine is that alternative. Because it is important to China, it becomes important to players with anti-Chinese strategic visions, namely the US, India, Japan and South Korea, who are all allies and friends.

How would you explain the stance of Aung San Suu Kyi on the military crackdown?
Aung San Suu Kyi is a well-documented and widely reported anti-Muslim racist and a Buddhist nationalist. She is utterly misinformed about the Rohingya situation – their identity, history, politics in Burma – by her ex-military senior colleagues and Rakhine supporters. The army has cleansed its ranks of any Muslims, and she has cleansed the NLD party of all Muslims.

Both the generals and Aung San Suu Kyi sing from the same Buddhist nationalist hymn book and their vision of Burma does not have much space for Muslims – and no space for Rohingyas. Her stance is nothing less than 100% genocidal. The generals view Western Burma (Myanmar) as an originally Muslim-free region and part of the kingdom of Burma – despite all evidence to the contrary that Rakhine was a rich, cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic and multi-faith kingdom.

What does Myanmar stand to gain from all this?
The army is regaining popularity even among the Buddhist monks who were the historical threat to the army’s rule as evident in the Saffron Revolt of 2007. The army is now making the traditionally hostile Rakhine nationalists who are anti-Burmese and pro-independence dependent on the army for their safety. And it has derailed Suu Kyi’s majoritarian democratic transition. Economically, the army has the lion’s share of all commercial and development projects in Rakhine.

How do you see the situation developing?
But the major losers are the people of Burma (Myanmar) at large. The society is now moving into the terrorism-obsessed mental space. The public will continue to be reliant on the army and the army’s whims because it is afraid of “jihad.” The military and Suu Kyi are unable to find a Big Tent vision for every ethnic group in Burma (Myanmar). They will continue to work together in the wrong policy framework of preempting “terrorism” from Muslims at large inside Burma (Myanmar) and the Rohingya. That will become self-fulfilling as their anti-Muslim racist policies and the genocidal violence against Rohingyas has stoked deep rage within 1.7 billion Muslims around the world.

Ultimately, Burma (Myanmar) is going to become a site of major conflicts and terrorism.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/world/s...-suu-kyi-sing-buddhist-nationalist-hymn-book/

 

[Banglar Bir]

12:00 AM, November 29, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:45 PM, November 29, 2017
ROHINGYA CRISIS
China's peace plan and where things now stand

More than three months into the latest influx of Rohingya refugees, they continue to stream out of Myanmar into Bangladesh, saying they have lost sources of livelihood such as farms and fisheries. PHOTO: ANISUR RAHMAN
Eresh Omar Jamal
The Rohingya crisis has been tough on Bangladesh. First, because of the sheer scale of the influx from Myanmar and its continuity and second because Bangladesh has had to witness them from up close which always makes it more difficult.
The only exceptions to this must be those who commit such atrocities themselves, en masse, as factions within Myanmar are alleged to have done as pointed out by the UN, US, UK, France and a number of human rights organisations among countless others.

Which is why sceptics find it so hard to believe that those making the decisions in Myanmar have, or are willing to, act in good faith with Bangladesh in regards to repatriating and ending the violence against its minorities, which has harmed Bangladesh's interest in many ways, while rendering homeless more than 600,000 men, women and children now living, if it could be called that, in makeshift camps in Bangladesh.

Another reason why this crisis has been so hard on Bangladesh is the lack of substantive support it has received from many of its close partners, particularly India and China, the two most influential in the region. Although even then, one cannot help but admit that this lack of support, to some extent, is of Bangladesh's own making, as its inadequacies and weaknesses over the years have left it with very little diplomatic leverage.

Nevertheless, the most positive recent development in regards to this crisis has been China's proposed peace plan, which both Bangladesh and Myanmar have formally agreed to. The first phase of this plan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, “is to effect a ceasefire on the ground, to return to stability and order, so the people can enjoy peace and no longer be forced to flee.” The second and third parts of the plan are to facilitate an orderly return of those who have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar to their homeland, and “to work toward a long-term solution based on poverty alleviation.”

Moreover, according to the “Arrangement on Return of Displaced Persons from Rakhine State” signed between Bangladesh and Myanmar (on November 23), the two countries also “have agreed” to outline some “general principles, policy aspects and modalities” needed “to ensure smooth conduct of return of displaced Myanmar residents from Rakhine State expeditiously and their integration into Myanmar society.” These “general guiding principles” are 19 in number and seem vague at first sight.

And this lack of concretisation could pose major problems moving forward as many have already pointed out, especially given the current state of relationship between the two countries and the lack of sympathy that the Myanmar government has shown towards Bangladesh, even in response to Bangladesh's immense patience in dealing with Myanmar's seemingly outright hostile activities. Such past attitude by Myanmar also puts into question its sincerity in adhering to the arrangement, which states that the two countries reiterate “their firm conviction to resolve their problems amicably and peacefully through bilateral negotiations on the basis of mutual understanding, accommodation, trust and goodwill and maintain peace and tranquillity on their borders.”

While it is difficult to say that Bangladesh has shown anything other than a willingness to amicably and peacefully resolve the issues it has with Myanmar, the same cannot be said about Myanmar thus far. Although the latest agreement does provide Myanmar with the perfect opportunity to prove its critics wrong, and re-establish some of the trust and goodwill it has lost with Bangladesh.

But given Myanmar's lack of concern in the past for the interest of Bangladesh and the minorities that have fled from its own territories, how likely is it that Myanmar is willing to make the necessary compromises and take the required steps to establish permanent peace in the region? Critics say not very. However, the truth is that only time can tell.

What is interesting though is that according to reports, Myanmar's army has replaced the general in charge of Rakhine State, Major General Maung Maung Soe—transferring him from his post as the head of Western Command in Rakhine—only a couple of weeks back. Moreover, the impetus that China has provided could also prompt a shift in its position. For example, according to Song Qingrun, a research fellow at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, “China's thinking is to resolve the Rohingya issue through development in Rakhine State” (“Decoding China's proposal to address Rohingya crisis”, November 22, China Global Television Network).

Referring to the Chinese foreign minister's comment about China building an economic corridor with Myanmar—starting from China's southern Yunnan Province and going down to Mandalay in Myanmar, before splitting east to Yangon and west to Kyaukpyu, a town in Rakhine State—Song explained that “China will use its capital, technology and other resources to help Myanmar to develop the poor area and decrease the causes of their conflicts.”

Whether the Myanmar authorities see things quite like this is difficult to say. But what is certainly true is that what Myanmar must now be aware of fully is that should Myanmar make an about-turn again—after China has tried to act as a mediator—it will also be irritating China, something which it can ill afford to do, particularly in the face of such widespread criticism from everyone else. Thus it is difficult to see how Myanmar can now afford to refuse China's request to stop the violence, and not work with Bangladesh to take back its nationals.

However, what Bangladesh (and China too, simply in the interest of regional stability) must remain insistent upon is that this time the violence against minorities in Myanmar must permanently be brought to a halt. That too should be included in the negotiations.

And lastly, on November 24 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reportedly said that conditions in Rakhine State “are not in place to enable safe and sustainable returns” for more than 600,000 Rohingya refugees. This the Myanmar authorities must address as it cannot expect those who have fled to return to the horrific conditions that they had escaped from in the first place. And neither should it expect that by delaying the process of addressing these issues, it would be able to pull the wool over Bangladesh's eyes this time.
Eresh Omar Jamal is a member of the editorial team at The Daily Star.
http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion...peace-plan-and-where-things-now-stand-1497706

 

[Banglar Bir]

Bangladesh PM: Put more pressure on Myanmar to take back its nationals
BSS
Published at 09:11 AM November 30, 2017

UN Under Secretary Fekitamoeloa Katoa Utoikamanu talking to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her office in Dhaka on November 29, 2017 Focus Bangla
The prime minister said the people of Cox's Bazar are in trouble with the exodus of tens of thousands of Rohingya people
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has renewed her call to the international community, including the United Nations, to put more pressure on Myanmar to take back its nationals from Bangladesh.

“The international community should continue to mount pressure on Myanmar so that they take back their forcibly displaced nationals from Bangladesh,” she said when UN Under Secretary Fekitamoeloa Katoa Utoikamanu paid a courtesy call on her at her office in Dhaka on Wednesday.

After the meeting, Prime Minister’s Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim briefed reporters.

The premier said Bangladesh has given shelter to the Rohingya people on the humanitarian grounds. “But it will not be possible for us to keep them here for a long time,” she said.

Sheikh Hasina said Bangladesh experienced severe flood this year. “And on top of it, the Rohingya crisis has become an additional burden for the country,” she said.

She said the people of Cox’s Bazar district are in trouble with the exodus of tens of thousands of Rohingya people who fled to Bangladesh following the atrocities on them.

Sheikh Hasina highlighted her government’s various successes in different fields, including women empowerment, development of agriculture, poverty reduction and rural development.

“The government is giving utmost priority to research for boosting agriculture production,” she said.

Pointing out Vision 2021 of her government, she said it has been working with a planned manner to achieve the goal.

Referring to Bangladesh’s commendable successes in achieving MDGs, the prime minister expressed her firm determination that it would also be able to achieve the SDGs set by the UN.

The UN Under Secretary highly appreciated Bangladesh’s development in various sectors and said the world body is reviewing to continue its assistance for Bangladesh although the country is going to graduate to a middle income country from an LDC.

In this connection, Fekitamoeloa Katoa Utoikamanu mentioned that graduation of a country from an LDC to a middle income country is a success of the UN efforts.

The UN Under Secretary said assistance will not be stopped if a country is graduated to a middle income one from an LDC saying the UN step should not be like punishment.

Fekitamoeloa said it is now revisiting rules and laws about how to provide the assistance to every individual country even after its graduation to a middle income country.

She said the UN would extend some kind of packages of assistance depending on the requirements and vulnerability of every single country and it would also discuss the requirements with the respective country.

The press secretary explained that previously the UN used to give such assistance under a single policy for all countries graduated to middle income countries from least developed countries.

Prime Minister’s International Affairs Advisor Dr Gowher Rizvi and Principal Secretary Dr Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury were present.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/banglad...-pm-put-pressure-myanmar-take-back-nationals/

 

[Banglar Bir]

Advisers who told Pope Francis not to mention Rohingya 'violated our human rights', says Burmese activist

Pope Francis is welcomed to Burma AP
By Sally Hayden
The Independent
November 28, 2017
Human Rights Watch says pontiff missed 'important opportunity' to raise international concerns in Burma. But a leading Rohingya blogger tells The Independent the blame does not lie with Francis himself
Pope Francis should not be blamed for his failure to mention human rights abuses against Rohingya Muslims during the keynote speech of his trip to Burma, a leading activist in the country has said.
International rights groups said the pontiff had “missed an opportunity” to raise international concerns and that it was “disappointing” he chose not to mention the Rohingya by name as he appeared alongside Burma’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the capital Naypyidaw.

But Nay San Lwin, who has run a website called Rohingya Blogger since 2005, said it was the fault of those who advised Pope Francis on his conduct.

“The Pope is an amazing person,” Mr Nay told The Independent from Bangladesh. “If I have to blame someone I would blame Burmese Cardinal Charles Maung Bo... In my opinion Charles Maung Bo violated the basic human rights.”

Pope Francis should “condemn the ongoing genocide”, Mr Nay said. In his speech, the Pope called on the government in general terms to “respect each group and its identity”. “Religious differences need not be a source of division and distrust, but rather a force for unity, forgiveness, tolerance and wise nation-building,” he said.

Mr Nay also noted that Burmese military chief Aung Hlaing “said they don’t discriminate (against) anyone base on religion”. Mr Nay said: “That was a lie. Rohingya and other Muslim minorities have been discriminated (against) for decades.”

Refugees continue to flee to Bangladesh, which has seen an influx of almost 700,000 refugees since 25 August, when Burmese security forces began a campaign against Rohingya villages.

The country’s military has insisted it is conducting a counter-insurgency clearance operation that was provoked by Rohingya militants’ synchronised attacks on 30 security posts in the northern part of Rakhine State.

The response has been almost universally condemned by the international community.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in September that ethnic cleansing is taking place in Burma, leading to a “catastrophic” humanitarian situation for the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Burma rejects the term “Rohingya” and its use, with most people instead referring to the Muslim minority in Rakhine State as illegal migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh.
The Pope had used the word in two appeals from the Vatican this year.

But, before the diplomatically risky trip, his advisers recommended that he not use it in Burma, lest he set off a diplomatic incident that could turn the country’s military and government against minority Christians.

Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, accused the pontiff of missing “an important opportunity to speak truth to power, and publicly refute the unconscionable pressure by Aung San Suu Kyi and the Myanmar military to deny the Rohingya their identity”.
“The fact that the word ‘Rohingya’ is so contentious shows the lengths to which Burma has gone to demonise a desperately poor and repressed religious minority.”

Meanwhile, Daniel Aguirre, a former legal adviser to the International Commission of Jurists in Myanmar, said Pope Francis was slightly more sympathetic.

The pontiff was “damned if he did and damned if he did not say the word Rohingya,” he told the The Independent. “Although it is disappointing that he did not refer to the Rohingya by name, his visit brought attention to the human rights violations against them.”

He said it’s is up to the “diplomats in Yangon, the international community and especially neighbouring countries to use their influence with the government to halt violations of human rights and protect minorities in Burma”.

“Most of all, national leadership is required; Burma’s public intellectuals, religious leaders and voices from civil society need to promote a more inclusive, tolerant version of a national identity that respects human rights.”
http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2017/11/advisers-who-told-pope-francis-not-to.html

 

[Banglar Bir]

Atrocities against the Rohingya is a process of slow genocide’

Speakers at an international conference styled "Ending the Slow Burning Genocide of Rohingyas by Myanmar” at Dhaka University on Tuesday. November 29, 2017 (Photo: Focus Bangla)
By Fazlur Rahman Raju
Dhaka Tribune
November 30, 2017
'The Burmese government is committing atrocities not only against the Rohingya, but also against 17 other ethnic communities.
The international community and the Bangladeshi people must stand by the Rohingya during the most rapid forced mass exodus the world has seen in a generation, rights activists and religious leaders said at a conference in Dhaka on Wednesday.

They were speaking at the “Ending the Slow Burning Genocide of Rohingyas by Myanmar” conference organised by the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) in the Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Building of Dhaka University.

“We are witnessing the death of a nation,” Dr Maung Zarni, a Myanmarese human rights activist and scholar of genocide and racism, said.

“The Buddhist people in Burma are purposefully wiping out a community, and they have been doing this for the past 45 years.”

In addition to 400,000 Rohingya who were already living in Bangladesh, a total of 620,000 refugees have entered the country from Myanmar since August 24, when ethnic conflicts in Myanmar’s Rakhine state sparked the most rapid human exodus seen worldwide since the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

“Another 600,000 people would have been killed had Bangladesh not opened its door to the helpless people,” Ma Khin Mai Aung, a Myanmarese-Rakhine lawyer, writer and activist based in New York, said.
“Each of the Myanmar people was brainwashed by [the then] military junta that the Rohingya people should not live in Burma. This is why they are targeting the Rohingya.”

Sanghanayak Suddhanda Mahathero, president of Bangladesh Buddha Kristi Prochar Sangha, called on the international community to pressure Myanmar to repatriate its nationals from Bangladesh.
“As a Buddhist, I am ashamed that Buddhist people are committing genocide against Rohingya people in Myanmar,” he said.

Slamming Myanmar’s State Counsellor for her apparent silence over the crisis, Prof Emeritus Serajul Islam Chowdhury said: “Aung San Suu Kyi’s role has taken us by surprise. She was once a victim, but now she is an ally of the perpetrators.” Dr Zarni urged the global community to extend a helping hand to the persecuted minority.

“The Burmese government is committing atrocities not only against the Rohingya, but also against 17 other ethnic communities in the country. This is a slow process of genocide [by the Myanmar authorities],” he said.

“It’s our duty to stand beside the Rohingya people and against the Burmese military; otherwise our next generation will ask questions about what we did when the Rohingya were persecuted.”

Other attendees at the conference on Wednesday included Prof CR Abrar of Dhaka University; Chair Emeritus of Parliament of the World Religious Dr Malik Majahid; rights activist Hameeda Hossain; Supreme Court Judge Syed Refaat Ahmed; Prof Gayatri Spivak of Columbia University in New York; and Rohingya activist Ro Nay San Lwin.
http://www.rohingyablogger.com/2017/11/atrocities-against-rohingya-is-process.html