Banglar Bir
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Wake up Bangladesh, it’s time for a foreign policy!
- Thread starter Banglar Bir
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Banglar Bir
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Rohingya crisis: Opt for multilateral negotiation
Interminable influx into Bangladesh of thousands of Rohingya Muslims—-whose number is approaching 600,000—-seems not to stop as Myanmar’s trigger-happy military in tandem with 87.9 per cent Therav?da Buddhist slaughterers are hell-bent on exterminating and hounding out the entire minority Muslims.
The UN, the EU, the OIC, Malaysia are ardently active to combine forces with Dhaka; but our Government and Foreign Ministry appear to be inconspicuous and diffident and are acting rather slowly, sporadically and in fits and starts.
Common sense dictates that our diplomatic machinery needs a shot in the arm and stimulus to mobilise world opinion for which PM Hasina should personally meet heads of governments of Russia, China, the US, UK, France i.e. all the UNSC permanent members so that they take steps with due seriousness and urgency.
Home Minister is leaving for Yangon on October 23, but it is hard to say if it would be useful.
If our Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali thinks the crisis can be solved bilaterally then it may perhaps be a pipe dream. We do not think he will cut any ice in dealing with a neighbour where the rulers are bloodthirsty hook, line, and sinker regarding Muslims.
We see no wisdom in pursuing bilateral approach to such a colossal behemoth of a crisis, so we wish to reiterate that involvement of the UN, Mr. Kofi Annan, the EU and the OIC is a must.
Suu Kyi has opened the way for people like Wirathu to act with absolute impunity.
Ashin Wirathu, the monk who dubs himself the “Burmese bin Laden” and leads the viciously anti-Muslim 1969 Movement.
Wirathu had recently visited Rakhine State, giving hate-filled anti-Muslim speeches to crowds of thousands in which he calls for expelling the Muslims from the country. [Vide The Rohingya and Myanmar’s ‘Buddhist Bin Laden’ by Alex Preston, 12 February 2015 gq-magazine.co.uk/ article/myanmar-rohingya-muslim-burma]
Although the rulers of Myanmar misrepresent the history, to set the record straight, the Rohingyas have had a well established presence in Burma since the twelfth century.
The Rohingya were once counted as a part of the Mrauk-U (Mrohaung) kingdom in Arakan which stood independent of both the Burman kingdoms in the Irrawaddy delta and central Burma as well as Bengal and the Moguls to the west. Muslim traders came to the area in the eighth century when the local dynasty was seated at Wesali, not far from contemporary Mrauk-U and some of the traders settled along the shores. More Muslim sailors made their way to the Arakan region during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
In the 1400s, when Mrauk-U was invaded by forces of the Burman kingdom at Ava, King Narmeikhla sought help from Bengaland expelled the invaders with the help of a Muslim army. The link between Bengal and Mrauk-U from this point solidified, to the extent that the Mrauk-U king began to use Muslim court titles along with traditional ones.
Buddhist kings ruled Mrauk-U but Muslim officials often played a significant role in the court. Indeed, the inclusion of a variety of ethnic minority and religious officers in courts was a common practice throughout the mainland Southeast Asian sub-region. [Vide hrw.org/reports/2000/burma/burm005-01.htm]
Meanwhile, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs has viewed dozens of burned and destroyed villages in northern Rakhine during his recent tour by air, and called on Myanmar to investigate allegations of human rights abuses by security forces.
The final report of the Advisory Commission chaired by Kofi Annan dated 23 August puts forward recommendations to surmount the political, socio-economic and humanitarian challenges that currently face Rakhine State. It builds on the Commission’s interim report released in March of this year. [Vide rakhinecommission.org/the-final-report/]
The Commission members have travelled extensively throughout Rakhine State, and held meetings in Yangon and Naypyitaw, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Geneva.
The final report—-the outcome of over 150 consultations and meetings held by the Advisory Commission since its launch in September 2016—- addresses in depth a broad range of structural issues that are impediments to the peace and prosperity of Rakhine State.
Several recommendations focus specifically on citizenship verification, rights and equality before the law, documentation, the situation of the internally displaced and freedom of movement, which affect the Muslim population disproportionately.
Kofi Annan believes the recommendations, along with the interim report, can trace a path to lasting peace and respect for the rule of law in Rakhine State.
Whether or not a coincidence, a twist of fate or an adverse turn of events, Rohingya crisis intensified as Indian PM Modi arrived in Burma for talks. [Vide Max Bearak’s report, 2017 September 5, washington post .com /…/wp/ rohingya-crisis -intensifies- as-indias-modi-arrives -in-burma-for-talks].
Again, in Susma Swaraj’s “very short meeting” with Sheikh Hasina in New York “the Rohingya crisis did not come up for discussion”. Why on earth the best friend and closest neighbour looks the other way while Dhaka is literally in dire straits?
What is more, India is pushing Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh. “Our directions are very clear, and that is to push all Rohingyas into Bangladesh”, said an Indian border guard in West Bengal [Vide dailymail.co.uk/ indiahome/ India news/ article -4981898/ Bangladesh-steps- security-India-border-Rohingya-fears.html, dated 15 October 2017].
Given that two of the five permanent members in the UN Security Council refused to adopt any motion to take decisive action against Myanmar’s ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas, the world community is yet to reach a consensus.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s five-point plan deserves to be mulled over with due seriousness by the UN.
Besides, the Kofi Annan Commission’s recommendations made earlier have to be implemented in letter and spirit.
http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/Pages/UserHome.aspx?ID=4&date=0#Tid=14935
Interminable influx into Bangladesh of thousands of Rohingya Muslims—-whose number is approaching 600,000—-seems not to stop as Myanmar’s trigger-happy military in tandem with 87.9 per cent Therav?da Buddhist slaughterers are hell-bent on exterminating and hounding out the entire minority Muslims.
The UN, the EU, the OIC, Malaysia are ardently active to combine forces with Dhaka; but our Government and Foreign Ministry appear to be inconspicuous and diffident and are acting rather slowly, sporadically and in fits and starts.
Common sense dictates that our diplomatic machinery needs a shot in the arm and stimulus to mobilise world opinion for which PM Hasina should personally meet heads of governments of Russia, China, the US, UK, France i.e. all the UNSC permanent members so that they take steps with due seriousness and urgency.
Home Minister is leaving for Yangon on October 23, but it is hard to say if it would be useful.
If our Foreign Minister Mahmood Ali thinks the crisis can be solved bilaterally then it may perhaps be a pipe dream. We do not think he will cut any ice in dealing with a neighbour where the rulers are bloodthirsty hook, line, and sinker regarding Muslims.
We see no wisdom in pursuing bilateral approach to such a colossal behemoth of a crisis, so we wish to reiterate that involvement of the UN, Mr. Kofi Annan, the EU and the OIC is a must.
Suu Kyi has opened the way for people like Wirathu to act with absolute impunity.
Ashin Wirathu, the monk who dubs himself the “Burmese bin Laden” and leads the viciously anti-Muslim 1969 Movement.
Wirathu had recently visited Rakhine State, giving hate-filled anti-Muslim speeches to crowds of thousands in which he calls for expelling the Muslims from the country. [Vide The Rohingya and Myanmar’s ‘Buddhist Bin Laden’ by Alex Preston, 12 February 2015 gq-magazine.co.uk/ article/myanmar-rohingya-muslim-burma]
Although the rulers of Myanmar misrepresent the history, to set the record straight, the Rohingyas have had a well established presence in Burma since the twelfth century.
The Rohingya were once counted as a part of the Mrauk-U (Mrohaung) kingdom in Arakan which stood independent of both the Burman kingdoms in the Irrawaddy delta and central Burma as well as Bengal and the Moguls to the west. Muslim traders came to the area in the eighth century when the local dynasty was seated at Wesali, not far from contemporary Mrauk-U and some of the traders settled along the shores. More Muslim sailors made their way to the Arakan region during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
In the 1400s, when Mrauk-U was invaded by forces of the Burman kingdom at Ava, King Narmeikhla sought help from Bengaland expelled the invaders with the help of a Muslim army. The link between Bengal and Mrauk-U from this point solidified, to the extent that the Mrauk-U king began to use Muslim court titles along with traditional ones.
Buddhist kings ruled Mrauk-U but Muslim officials often played a significant role in the court. Indeed, the inclusion of a variety of ethnic minority and religious officers in courts was a common practice throughout the mainland Southeast Asian sub-region. [Vide hrw.org/reports/2000/burma/burm005-01.htm]
Meanwhile, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs has viewed dozens of burned and destroyed villages in northern Rakhine during his recent tour by air, and called on Myanmar to investigate allegations of human rights abuses by security forces.
The final report of the Advisory Commission chaired by Kofi Annan dated 23 August puts forward recommendations to surmount the political, socio-economic and humanitarian challenges that currently face Rakhine State. It builds on the Commission’s interim report released in March of this year. [Vide rakhinecommission.org/the-final-report/]
The Commission members have travelled extensively throughout Rakhine State, and held meetings in Yangon and Naypyitaw, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, and Geneva.
The final report—-the outcome of over 150 consultations and meetings held by the Advisory Commission since its launch in September 2016—- addresses in depth a broad range of structural issues that are impediments to the peace and prosperity of Rakhine State.
Several recommendations focus specifically on citizenship verification, rights and equality before the law, documentation, the situation of the internally displaced and freedom of movement, which affect the Muslim population disproportionately.
Kofi Annan believes the recommendations, along with the interim report, can trace a path to lasting peace and respect for the rule of law in Rakhine State.
Whether or not a coincidence, a twist of fate or an adverse turn of events, Rohingya crisis intensified as Indian PM Modi arrived in Burma for talks. [Vide Max Bearak’s report, 2017 September 5, washington post .com /…/wp/ rohingya-crisis -intensifies- as-indias-modi-arrives -in-burma-for-talks].
Again, in Susma Swaraj’s “very short meeting” with Sheikh Hasina in New York “the Rohingya crisis did not come up for discussion”. Why on earth the best friend and closest neighbour looks the other way while Dhaka is literally in dire straits?
What is more, India is pushing Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh. “Our directions are very clear, and that is to push all Rohingyas into Bangladesh”, said an Indian border guard in West Bengal [Vide dailymail.co.uk/ indiahome/ India news/ article -4981898/ Bangladesh-steps- security-India-border-Rohingya-fears.html, dated 15 October 2017].
Given that two of the five permanent members in the UN Security Council refused to adopt any motion to take decisive action against Myanmar’s ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas, the world community is yet to reach a consensus.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s five-point plan deserves to be mulled over with due seriousness by the UN.
Besides, the Kofi Annan Commission’s recommendations made earlier have to be implemented in letter and spirit.
http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/Pages/UserHome.aspx?ID=4&date=0#Tid=14935
Banglar Bir
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12:00 AM, October 23, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:23 AM, October 23, 2017
Looking beyond the obvious
The security factor in the Rohingya crisis
Rohingya refugees who crossed the border from Myanmar a day before, wait to receive permission from the Bangladeshi army to continue their way to the refugee camps, in Palang Khali, October 17, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Jorge Silva
Brig Gen Shahedul Anam Khan ndc, psc (Retd)
It is undeniable that the Rohingya problem imposes a huge security burden on Bangladesh. The international community is unable to realise the fact that we are sheltering a population of the size of three electoral constituencies, and that in real-estate terms means two or three upazilas. The sheer magnitude of it is incomprehensible. But not only that, more than half of the refugees are children suffering from severe malnutrition.
In fact, security was the reason why Bangladesh was extremely cautious about allowing refuge to the Rohingyas when they faced persecution, although not of the same scale, in 2012. And many of them were forced back, as was attempted unsuccessfully this time too. It would not be misplaced to take issue with those who tend to think that the Rohingya problem is a border issue that has graduated to a humanitarian issue eventually and might become a security issue in the long run. The magnitude of the problem and its true character must be grasped. It was never a border issue and was always a security and humanitarian issue.
And we had commented in this very column in 2012 to the effect that one had perhaps not heard in the past our foreign minister being more forceful on any other bilateral issue, involving our security and national interest, than when vehemently refusing to allow the Rohingyas refuge in Bangladesh. But the question is, what kind of security are we talking about?
The Rohingya issue was never a border problem; it was most certainly a humanitarian issue with severe security ramifications. But did we really think seriously about security in dealing with Myanmar on this problem in the last decade in particular? While it was the primary concern of ours to see that the Rohingya refugees were repatriated in toto to their own country, we did not project the matter strongly enough internationally to persuade the military in Myanmar to accord the Rohingyas the right that was theirs – jus soli – the right of the soil. It is not a fact that these people had moved into a new country. They were citizens of a country, the territory of which had been appropriated by Myanmar. It was not the people of Arakan that had moved in large numbers from one 'country' to another; it was its border that had moved over three centuries towards the east. So how can they not be citizens of a country the Rohingyas and their forefathers were born in?
And while we were satisfied that some of the refugees had gone back, we should have alerted the world to the impending catastrophe and what that might mean for Bangladesh. But the more sceptical amongst us might question the efficacy of such an effort given that the UN has itself bottled two contemporary reports on the Rohingyas. Its attitude is fairly representative of the attitude of the international community on this matter in the past.
One of the reasons for according red-carpet treatment to Myanmar leadership, while the Rohingyas were being persecuted, was that the West did not want to step on the toes of its favourite girl. The ostensible reason was that she was the window of opportunity for the democratisation of Myanmar. The real reason was more parochially strategic and economic. So, for Bangladesh, it might have been a difficult venture to make the world see through the ultimate objective the Myanmar military had set itself—of denuding Rakhine of the Rohingyas, but nonetheless worth a try. Nothing palpable was done.
Again, in this very column, we had also written that we would go wrong if we acted on the premise that the Rohingya was Myanmar's problem alone, and it is exactly because we are its neighbour that our stake is so much higher. What happens in Myanmar impacts our security and we should be more concerned to see that the situation is not exacerbated. And that is exactly what we did not do. The consequences are there for the world to see and for Bangladesh to suffer.
Regrettably, the role of the international organisations and the global community should have been more forceful. One had hoped that these organisations would be more vocal and brought to bear more pressure on the Myanmar government to address the root cause of the problem.
But we would go wrong again if we bought the story which Myanmar military is selling to the world. That the Rohingyas are a bunch of terrorists, and it is the terrorists that they are after. The hoax of ARSA attack on the military camps has been exposed by a UN report that suggests that the preparation of military operation in Rakhine predates the so-called ARSA attacks on August 25.
Yes, the Rohingya issue can and will become a security threat. Some countries still wrongly consider the matter to be an internal affair of Myanmar and would like to leave it to resolve the problem. The logic, given the ground reality, is mind boggling.
Is it wise to expect the final denouement of a problem to be peaceful, just and equitable when the main stakeholder – the Myanmar government – is the cause of the problem?
Brig Gen Shahedul Anam Khan ndc, psc (Retd) is Associate Editor, The Daily Star.
http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/strategically-speaking/looking-beyond-the-obvious-1480294
Looking beyond the obvious
The security factor in the Rohingya crisis
Rohingya refugees who crossed the border from Myanmar a day before, wait to receive permission from the Bangladeshi army to continue their way to the refugee camps, in Palang Khali, October 17, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Jorge Silva
Brig Gen Shahedul Anam Khan ndc, psc (Retd)
It is undeniable that the Rohingya problem imposes a huge security burden on Bangladesh. The international community is unable to realise the fact that we are sheltering a population of the size of three electoral constituencies, and that in real-estate terms means two or three upazilas. The sheer magnitude of it is incomprehensible. But not only that, more than half of the refugees are children suffering from severe malnutrition.
In fact, security was the reason why Bangladesh was extremely cautious about allowing refuge to the Rohingyas when they faced persecution, although not of the same scale, in 2012. And many of them were forced back, as was attempted unsuccessfully this time too. It would not be misplaced to take issue with those who tend to think that the Rohingya problem is a border issue that has graduated to a humanitarian issue eventually and might become a security issue in the long run. The magnitude of the problem and its true character must be grasped. It was never a border issue and was always a security and humanitarian issue.
And we had commented in this very column in 2012 to the effect that one had perhaps not heard in the past our foreign minister being more forceful on any other bilateral issue, involving our security and national interest, than when vehemently refusing to allow the Rohingyas refuge in Bangladesh. But the question is, what kind of security are we talking about?
The Rohingya issue was never a border problem; it was most certainly a humanitarian issue with severe security ramifications. But did we really think seriously about security in dealing with Myanmar on this problem in the last decade in particular? While it was the primary concern of ours to see that the Rohingya refugees were repatriated in toto to their own country, we did not project the matter strongly enough internationally to persuade the military in Myanmar to accord the Rohingyas the right that was theirs – jus soli – the right of the soil. It is not a fact that these people had moved into a new country. They were citizens of a country, the territory of which had been appropriated by Myanmar. It was not the people of Arakan that had moved in large numbers from one 'country' to another; it was its border that had moved over three centuries towards the east. So how can they not be citizens of a country the Rohingyas and their forefathers were born in?
And while we were satisfied that some of the refugees had gone back, we should have alerted the world to the impending catastrophe and what that might mean for Bangladesh. But the more sceptical amongst us might question the efficacy of such an effort given that the UN has itself bottled two contemporary reports on the Rohingyas. Its attitude is fairly representative of the attitude of the international community on this matter in the past.
One of the reasons for according red-carpet treatment to Myanmar leadership, while the Rohingyas were being persecuted, was that the West did not want to step on the toes of its favourite girl. The ostensible reason was that she was the window of opportunity for the democratisation of Myanmar. The real reason was more parochially strategic and economic. So, for Bangladesh, it might have been a difficult venture to make the world see through the ultimate objective the Myanmar military had set itself—of denuding Rakhine of the Rohingyas, but nonetheless worth a try. Nothing palpable was done.
Again, in this very column, we had also written that we would go wrong if we acted on the premise that the Rohingya was Myanmar's problem alone, and it is exactly because we are its neighbour that our stake is so much higher. What happens in Myanmar impacts our security and we should be more concerned to see that the situation is not exacerbated. And that is exactly what we did not do. The consequences are there for the world to see and for Bangladesh to suffer.
Regrettably, the role of the international organisations and the global community should have been more forceful. One had hoped that these organisations would be more vocal and brought to bear more pressure on the Myanmar government to address the root cause of the problem.
But we would go wrong again if we bought the story which Myanmar military is selling to the world. That the Rohingyas are a bunch of terrorists, and it is the terrorists that they are after. The hoax of ARSA attack on the military camps has been exposed by a UN report that suggests that the preparation of military operation in Rakhine predates the so-called ARSA attacks on August 25.
Yes, the Rohingya issue can and will become a security threat. Some countries still wrongly consider the matter to be an internal affair of Myanmar and would like to leave it to resolve the problem. The logic, given the ground reality, is mind boggling.
Is it wise to expect the final denouement of a problem to be peaceful, just and equitable when the main stakeholder – the Myanmar government – is the cause of the problem?
Brig Gen Shahedul Anam Khan ndc, psc (Retd) is Associate Editor, The Daily Star.
http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/strategically-speaking/looking-beyond-the-obvious-1480294
Banglar Bir
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ROHINGYA CRISIS
Influx on amid diplomatic move
Diplomatic Correspondent | Published: 00:05, Oct 26,2017 |
Updated: 00:25, Oct 26,2017
Rohingya refugees walk through water after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, at a port in Teknaf on Wednesday. — Reuters photo
Bangladesh continued diplomatic move for ensuring return of Rohingyas to their homeland Rakhine State of Myanmar while Rohingya influx into the country continued on Wednesday with thousands of the ethnic minority people fleeing ethnic cleansing in Rakhine.
While a Chinese special envoy was shuttling between Dhaka and Nay Pyi Taw for conveying commitment of the Myanmar government for taking back its nationals, the Bangladesh authorities were yet to trust the Myanmar authorities on the realisation of its commitments soon, officials said.
Bangladesh on Wednesday requested China for her constructive all-round engagement for expediting return of the Myanmar nationals to their home.
The Chinese envoy conveyed that commitment of the Myanmar government ‘is much stronger this time,’ foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque said at his office after a meeting with a Chinese special envoy.
‘We said that we would find it true when they [Myanmar] would implement this commitment,’ he said.
Shahidul Haque said that he told the envoy that there were about 4,00,000 Myanmar nationals in Bangladesh when the envoy came six months ago and now the number of Myanmar nationals was over one million as violence continued in Rakhine State.
Chinese foreign ministry special envoy on Asian affairs Sun Guoxiang arrived Dhaka from Yangon Tuesday night for discussing the resurgence of crisis created with the recent Rohingya influx into Bangladesh.
The Chinese envoy would return to Myanmar again and might convey Bangladesh’s position about the situation, the foreign secretary said.
Sun was told that Bangladesh had no conflict with Myanmar other than one point, repatriation of Myanmar nationals.
Presence of over a million Rohingyas is a huge burden on Bangladesh, which has allowed them only on humanitarian grounds, Shahiduyl Haque said, ‘It cannot linger for unlimited period.’
Asked if China was mediating between Bangladesh and Myanmar, he said that the question of mediation had not come as such as China said that it wanted a peaceful solution to the crisis through bilateral negotiations.
China wants to settle the situation working with both Bangladesh and Myanmar, the foreign secretary said.
Asked if Chinese envoy communicated any new message, he said China was very eager to see a peaceful solution as existing situation was unfavourable for Asia in general and the region in particular.
The Chinese envoy would have not been shuttling between the two countries if the situation was good for the region, he said
.
Another diplomat said that Bangladesh officials said China should help to resolve the crisis although China had its own dynamics in engaging with Myanmar.
Earlier in the morning on Wednesday, the foreign secretary and senior foreign ministry officials were engaged in an interactive session on Rohingya issues with mission chiefs of the member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the BRICS.
Shahidul also held a meeting with Saudi ambassador Abdullah HM Al-Mutairi on Rohingya issues, the officials said.
The Bangladesh side sought support of the OECD and BRICS member countries and the Arab kingdom in international moves for holding a special session of the UN Human Rights Council at the earliest to exclusively discuss Rohingya issues.
Support of at least 16 of the 45 member-countries is required for holding a special session of the UNHRC.
Bangladesh also insisted that the UNHRC member countries should consider adopting resolutions in this regard.
Mission chiefs of the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Russia, India, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Vatican, among others, were present in the meeting.
After the meeting with mission chiefs and the OECD and BRICS member countries, Chinese ambassador to Dhaka Ma Mingqiang said at the foreign ministry that the way China engaged herself in diplomacy was different from many other countries.
‘We don’t make noise like many other countries,’ he said.
Both Bangladesh and Myanmar ‘are friends of China and we want the two countries engage for a peaceful solution of the problem through bilateral negotiations,’ Ma said.
The Rohingya new arrivals on Wednesday alleged that the Myanmar military forces set fire to their villages at Buthidaung three days before amidst international outcry against the Myanmar regime for stopping ethnic cleansing in Rakhine State.
Over 6,04,000 minority 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 October 24.
Then new ongoing influx took the total number of undocumented Myanmar nationals and registered refugees in Bangladesh to over 10,23,000 till Tuesday, according to estimates of UN agencies.
During his last visit in Dhaka in the last week of April, Sun Guoxiang insisted in line with the Myanmar government’s position that Bangladesh and Myanmar should bilaterally resolve the matter of return of all Myanmar nationals.
Sun Guoxiang is also actively involved in the Chinese government’s efforts to promote peace process involving minority groups in Myanmar.
http://www.newagebd.net/article/26958/influx-on-amid-diplomatic-move
12:00 AM, October 26, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:31 AM, October 26, 2017
Dhaka pushing for special UN session
Foreign minister briefs envoys from different countries; China for a peaceful solution
Diplomatic Correspondent
Dhaka has intensified diplomatic efforts for the UN Human Rights Council to hold a special session and adopt a resolution on the Rohingya crisis.
Such efforts, however, need support of at least 16 of the 45 member-countries for an exclusive session of the UNHRC on any issue, diplomatic sources said.
As part of the government effort, Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque briefed diplomats from the US, UK, China, Russia, India, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Vatican yesterday morning.
Senior foreign ministry officials were also present during the briefing.
The foreign secretary also held an exclusive meeting with Saudi Ambassador Abdullah HM Al-Mutairi on the Rohingya issue.
During the briefing, foreign diplomats sought to know Dhaka's short, mid and long-term plans for the crisis.
In reply, officials said Bangladesh was focusing on immediate solution and wanted to see the Rohingyas taken back to their homeland as soon as possible, foreign ministry sources said.
More than 600,000 Rohingyas entered Bangladesh since August 25. They are mostly children, women and elderly people.
CHINA FOR PEACEFUL SOLUTION
China wants to see a peaceful solution to the Rohingya crisis, foreign ministry officials said yesterday.
“Their intention and commitment for sending them [Rohingyas] back is now stronger,” the foreign secretary told reporters quoting Chinese special envoy of Asian Affairs, Sun Guoxiang, after their meeting.
He said Dhaka informed the Chinese envoy when he came here six months ago, that the number of Rohingyas was four lakh and now it stood at one million.
The foreign secretary said China was very worried about the crisis as it was not good for the region.
However, the question of China's mediation to resolve the crisis did not come up for discussion, he added.
“We sought support in the areas where we need. We're always optimistic and this time, too [regarding repatriation],” said the foreign secretary.
He said the only issue discussed at the meeting was the Rohingya issue and Bangladesh's position is to send them back safely.
“Our stance is that their nationals will have to be taken back. It's our one-point agenda. It's an unbearable burden. The prime minister allowed them to stay here on humanitarian ground. But it cannot be for long,” he said.
Replying to a query about China's position on the issue, the foreign secretary said both Myanmar and Bangladesh were China's friends. “They want to bring a peaceful resolution working with the two friends.”
Sun Guoxiang, who arrived in Dhaka on Wednesday, will head for Beijing this morning.
AID WORKERS BARRED
Aid workers were barred from visiting a camp for displaced Muslims in the central part of Rakhine State yesterday.
A group of about 10 Myanmar nationals, working for US and Britain- based charity Relief International (RI), were forced to turn back when residents of the mostly Buddhist ethnic Rakhine community staged a protest in the town of Myebon, a regional administrator and an activist told Reuters.
In early September, Myanmar blocked all UN aid agencies from delivering vital supplies of food, water and medicine to thousands of Rohingyas, a persecuted Muslim minority in Rakhine.
The Rohingyas, who recently entered Bangladesh, complained of food crisis in parts of Rakhine, while UN and other aid agencies and rights bodies have been demanding that they be allowed to provide emergency supplies to Rakhine.
“The RI group was trying to go to the camp and the locals blocked the way,” Tin Shwe, Myebon's administrator, told Reuters, adding that the aid workers returned to their office.
Khin Thein, a leader of a regional branch of the Arakan Women's Network, said her group joined the protest after authorities told the community the NGO would provide education about gender-based violence, hygiene and sanitation to Muslims.
”They have food, they have shelter to live,“ she told Reuters. ”We can't accept these kinds of excessive things for them.
"We will not allow them to pass through our township. We already protested several times in the past. We have suspicions about them. We don't trust foreigners, international people.”
Yesterday's incident was the latest example of the numerous obstacles that humanitarian organisations face in Rakhine State, said Pierre Peron, a spokesman for the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
US MOUNTS PRESSURE ON TRUMP
US lawmakers have mounted pressure on the Trump administration to declare that ethnic cleansing is taking place against the Rohingya Muslim population in Myanmar.
Hundreds of women, children and men belonging to the Rohingya minority have been "systematically killed" and driven from their homes, their villages burned to the ground by Myanmar's military, lawmakers charged the State Department officials during a hearing.
They angrily said the US made no major change to its ties to Myanmar, and its officials have shied away from legal terms such as "ethnic cleansing" or "crimes against humanity" despite what many say is strong evidence.
"This is ethnic cleansing, it's pretty clear," said Senator Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat. "Yes, I think it's genocide."
Three US officials testifying at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday declined to refer to violence against the Rohingya as "ethnic cleansing", before a complete review is announced, according to US media reports.
Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the committee, presided over the hearing. The members of the committee, including Senator Cardin, took part in the hearings on “Assessing US Policy towards Burma: Geopolitical, Economic and Humanitarian Considerations.”
The officials told the lawmakers that the State Department has identified and announced new and ongoing actions to punish those who have committed atrocities.
Meanwhile, US Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma (Myanmar) W Patrick Murphy said the US is working with the international community to hold accountable those responsible for atrocities in Rakhine, says a statement from the US state department.
"What I can say as a matter of policy, we've assessed that atrocities have been committed and we must pursue accountability," he said in a special briefing in Washington yesterday.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpa...risis-aid-workers-turned-away-rakhine-1481911
Influx on amid diplomatic move
Diplomatic Correspondent | Published: 00:05, Oct 26,2017 |
Updated: 00:25, Oct 26,2017
Rohingya refugees walk through water after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, at a port in Teknaf on Wednesday. — Reuters photo
Bangladesh continued diplomatic move for ensuring return of Rohingyas to their homeland Rakhine State of Myanmar while Rohingya influx into the country continued on Wednesday with thousands of the ethnic minority people fleeing ethnic cleansing in Rakhine.
While a Chinese special envoy was shuttling between Dhaka and Nay Pyi Taw for conveying commitment of the Myanmar government for taking back its nationals, the Bangladesh authorities were yet to trust the Myanmar authorities on the realisation of its commitments soon, officials said.
Bangladesh on Wednesday requested China for her constructive all-round engagement for expediting return of the Myanmar nationals to their home.
The Chinese envoy conveyed that commitment of the Myanmar government ‘is much stronger this time,’ foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque said at his office after a meeting with a Chinese special envoy.
‘We said that we would find it true when they [Myanmar] would implement this commitment,’ he said.
Shahidul Haque said that he told the envoy that there were about 4,00,000 Myanmar nationals in Bangladesh when the envoy came six months ago and now the number of Myanmar nationals was over one million as violence continued in Rakhine State.
Chinese foreign ministry special envoy on Asian affairs Sun Guoxiang arrived Dhaka from Yangon Tuesday night for discussing the resurgence of crisis created with the recent Rohingya influx into Bangladesh.
The Chinese envoy would return to Myanmar again and might convey Bangladesh’s position about the situation, the foreign secretary said.
Sun was told that Bangladesh had no conflict with Myanmar other than one point, repatriation of Myanmar nationals.
Presence of over a million Rohingyas is a huge burden on Bangladesh, which has allowed them only on humanitarian grounds, Shahiduyl Haque said, ‘It cannot linger for unlimited period.’
Asked if China was mediating between Bangladesh and Myanmar, he said that the question of mediation had not come as such as China said that it wanted a peaceful solution to the crisis through bilateral negotiations.
China wants to settle the situation working with both Bangladesh and Myanmar, the foreign secretary said.
Asked if Chinese envoy communicated any new message, he said China was very eager to see a peaceful solution as existing situation was unfavourable for Asia in general and the region in particular.
The Chinese envoy would have not been shuttling between the two countries if the situation was good for the region, he said
.
Another diplomat said that Bangladesh officials said China should help to resolve the crisis although China had its own dynamics in engaging with Myanmar.
Earlier in the morning on Wednesday, the foreign secretary and senior foreign ministry officials were engaged in an interactive session on Rohingya issues with mission chiefs of the member countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the BRICS.
Shahidul also held a meeting with Saudi ambassador Abdullah HM Al-Mutairi on Rohingya issues, the officials said.
The Bangladesh side sought support of the OECD and BRICS member countries and the Arab kingdom in international moves for holding a special session of the UN Human Rights Council at the earliest to exclusively discuss Rohingya issues.
Support of at least 16 of the 45 member-countries is required for holding a special session of the UNHRC.
Bangladesh also insisted that the UNHRC member countries should consider adopting resolutions in this regard.
Mission chiefs of the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Russia, India, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Vatican, among others, were present in the meeting.
After the meeting with mission chiefs and the OECD and BRICS member countries, Chinese ambassador to Dhaka Ma Mingqiang said at the foreign ministry that the way China engaged herself in diplomacy was different from many other countries.
‘We don’t make noise like many other countries,’ he said.
Both Bangladesh and Myanmar ‘are friends of China and we want the two countries engage for a peaceful solution of the problem through bilateral negotiations,’ Ma said.
The Rohingya new arrivals on Wednesday alleged that the Myanmar military forces set fire to their villages at Buthidaung three days before amidst international outcry against the Myanmar regime for stopping ethnic cleansing in Rakhine State.
Over 6,04,000 minority 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 October 24.
Then new ongoing influx took the total number of undocumented Myanmar nationals and registered refugees in Bangladesh to over 10,23,000 till Tuesday, according to estimates of UN agencies.
During his last visit in Dhaka in the last week of April, Sun Guoxiang insisted in line with the Myanmar government’s position that Bangladesh and Myanmar should bilaterally resolve the matter of return of all Myanmar nationals.
Sun Guoxiang is also actively involved in the Chinese government’s efforts to promote peace process involving minority groups in Myanmar.
http://www.newagebd.net/article/26958/influx-on-amid-diplomatic-move
12:00 AM, October 26, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 03:31 AM, October 26, 2017
Dhaka pushing for special UN session
Foreign minister briefs envoys from different countries; China for a peaceful solution
Diplomatic Correspondent
Dhaka has intensified diplomatic efforts for the UN Human Rights Council to hold a special session and adopt a resolution on the Rohingya crisis.
Such efforts, however, need support of at least 16 of the 45 member-countries for an exclusive session of the UNHRC on any issue, diplomatic sources said.
As part of the government effort, Foreign Secretary Md Shahidul Haque briefed diplomats from the US, UK, China, Russia, India, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Vatican yesterday morning.
Senior foreign ministry officials were also present during the briefing.
The foreign secretary also held an exclusive meeting with Saudi Ambassador Abdullah HM Al-Mutairi on the Rohingya issue.
During the briefing, foreign diplomats sought to know Dhaka's short, mid and long-term plans for the crisis.
In reply, officials said Bangladesh was focusing on immediate solution and wanted to see the Rohingyas taken back to their homeland as soon as possible, foreign ministry sources said.
More than 600,000 Rohingyas entered Bangladesh since August 25. They are mostly children, women and elderly people.
CHINA FOR PEACEFUL SOLUTION
China wants to see a peaceful solution to the Rohingya crisis, foreign ministry officials said yesterday.
“Their intention and commitment for sending them [Rohingyas] back is now stronger,” the foreign secretary told reporters quoting Chinese special envoy of Asian Affairs, Sun Guoxiang, after their meeting.
He said Dhaka informed the Chinese envoy when he came here six months ago, that the number of Rohingyas was four lakh and now it stood at one million.
The foreign secretary said China was very worried about the crisis as it was not good for the region.
However, the question of China's mediation to resolve the crisis did not come up for discussion, he added.
“We sought support in the areas where we need. We're always optimistic and this time, too [regarding repatriation],” said the foreign secretary.
He said the only issue discussed at the meeting was the Rohingya issue and Bangladesh's position is to send them back safely.
“Our stance is that their nationals will have to be taken back. It's our one-point agenda. It's an unbearable burden. The prime minister allowed them to stay here on humanitarian ground. But it cannot be for long,” he said.
Replying to a query about China's position on the issue, the foreign secretary said both Myanmar and Bangladesh were China's friends. “They want to bring a peaceful resolution working with the two friends.”
Sun Guoxiang, who arrived in Dhaka on Wednesday, will head for Beijing this morning.
AID WORKERS BARRED
Aid workers were barred from visiting a camp for displaced Muslims in the central part of Rakhine State yesterday.
A group of about 10 Myanmar nationals, working for US and Britain- based charity Relief International (RI), were forced to turn back when residents of the mostly Buddhist ethnic Rakhine community staged a protest in the town of Myebon, a regional administrator and an activist told Reuters.
In early September, Myanmar blocked all UN aid agencies from delivering vital supplies of food, water and medicine to thousands of Rohingyas, a persecuted Muslim minority in Rakhine.
The Rohingyas, who recently entered Bangladesh, complained of food crisis in parts of Rakhine, while UN and other aid agencies and rights bodies have been demanding that they be allowed to provide emergency supplies to Rakhine.
“The RI group was trying to go to the camp and the locals blocked the way,” Tin Shwe, Myebon's administrator, told Reuters, adding that the aid workers returned to their office.
Khin Thein, a leader of a regional branch of the Arakan Women's Network, said her group joined the protest after authorities told the community the NGO would provide education about gender-based violence, hygiene and sanitation to Muslims.
”They have food, they have shelter to live,“ she told Reuters. ”We can't accept these kinds of excessive things for them.
"We will not allow them to pass through our township. We already protested several times in the past. We have suspicions about them. We don't trust foreigners, international people.”
Yesterday's incident was the latest example of the numerous obstacles that humanitarian organisations face in Rakhine State, said Pierre Peron, a spokesman for the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
US MOUNTS PRESSURE ON TRUMP
US lawmakers have mounted pressure on the Trump administration to declare that ethnic cleansing is taking place against the Rohingya Muslim population in Myanmar.
Hundreds of women, children and men belonging to the Rohingya minority have been "systematically killed" and driven from their homes, their villages burned to the ground by Myanmar's military, lawmakers charged the State Department officials during a hearing.
They angrily said the US made no major change to its ties to Myanmar, and its officials have shied away from legal terms such as "ethnic cleansing" or "crimes against humanity" despite what many say is strong evidence.
"This is ethnic cleansing, it's pretty clear," said Senator Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat. "Yes, I think it's genocide."
Three US officials testifying at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday declined to refer to violence against the Rohingya as "ethnic cleansing", before a complete review is announced, according to US media reports.
Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the committee, presided over the hearing. The members of the committee, including Senator Cardin, took part in the hearings on “Assessing US Policy towards Burma: Geopolitical, Economic and Humanitarian Considerations.”
The officials told the lawmakers that the State Department has identified and announced new and ongoing actions to punish those who have committed atrocities.
Meanwhile, US Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma (Myanmar) W Patrick Murphy said the US is working with the international community to hold accountable those responsible for atrocities in Rakhine, says a statement from the US state department.
"What I can say as a matter of policy, we've assessed that atrocities have been committed and we must pursue accountability," he said in a special briefing in Washington yesterday.
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpa...risis-aid-workers-turned-away-rakhine-1481911
Banglar Bir
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With the Rohingya refugees' relentless influx, Bangladesh is experiencing yet another height in the already troubled deeper political crises within the country.
Bangladesh's foreign relations are once again proving to be one sided and lacks potential diplomatic bearing, making the situation even more uncertain, at the face of other conspiracies to let down the whole nation. what do we expect next .....
Bangladesh's foreign relations are once again proving to be one sided and lacks potential diplomatic bearing, making the situation even more uncertain, at the face of other conspiracies to let down the whole nation. what do we expect next .....
Banglar Bir
SENIOR MEMBER
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2006
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- 7,805
- Reaction score
- -3
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Does India want honest relation with Bangladesh?
Abdur Rahman Khan
Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Dhaka last week manifested another round of commitment for stronger ties with Bangladesh. The visible outcome was the opening of the new chancery complex of the Indian High Commission in Baridhara, Dhaka.
During the ceremony, she also launched 15 development projects being funded by India in Bangladesh. The development projects, worth about $8.7 million, are in the areas of education, health care, information technology, water supply, and social welfare.
Beyond strategic partnership
“India is following a policy of neighbours first, and among the neighbours Bangladesh is foremost,” Swaraj said at the ceremony, describing bilateral relations as having gone beyond a strategic partnership.
Her visit however, did not produce any joint statement with her Bangladesh counterpart.
On Rohingya issue, Sushma Swaraj said that they should return to their homeland and India was helping Myanmar to develop Rakhine state for better livelihood.
However, there was no discussion on major bilateral concerns like the Teesta water sharing that defied solution for years.
Prior to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Dhaka in June 2015, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali had asked reporters to have patience on Teesta deal. He also had said the issue relating to sharing of Teesta waters was being discussed behind the scene. And after nearly long three years it still appears to have remained concealed “behind the scene.”
The maiden visit of Sushma Swaraj as Indian external Minister in 2014 had indicated a paradigm shift in India’s role in the matrix of political forces in Bangladesh. The 2014 Sushma Swaraj visit outlined the parameters within which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government would conduct their bilateral relations with Bangladesh.
At that time Sushma Swaraj said, “I come to Bangladesh with a message of friendship and goodwill from the newly elected Government in India. I come with the goal of enhancing our relationship and mutual understanding. I come with the belief that the potential of our partnership is vast. I come with the faith that the people of both our countries desire and deserve closer relations and concrete results”.
It was less than a month after Swaraj visited Bangladesh in 2014, the UN’s Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) based in The Hague had delivered the verdict resolving the long standing maritime dispute between Dhaka and New Delhi.
However, people in Bangladesh witnessed helplessly that they had permanently lost their claim on South Talpatti Island.
Sushma’s difficult mission
This time Sushma said Bangladesh gets “priority among all its neighbours” as per India’s neighbourhood policy. She said the relationship between Bangladesh and India is moving ahead in a faster pace.
Indian External Minister also wished that Bangladesh should have a general election participated by all parties. It may be sounding a positive tone to BNP whose chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia met Sushma at Hotel Sonargaon.
In her first visit to Dhaka, Sushma also had held meeting with BNP chairperson showing an attitude to Bangladesh very different from what Indian Congress government did by lending total support to Awami League during the general elections held in 2014.
A number of left leaning political leaders, however, argued that contrary to what the Indians wanted Bangladesh to believe, Sushma came to press India’s own interest, not to look after Bangladesh’s interest. CPB Central leader Ruhin Hossain Prince commented that Sushma’s visit was an attempt to strengthen India’s ties with Bangladesh by providing financial assistance.
BSD central leader Razekuzzan Ratan said while providing financial help, India at the same time wanted to wrest Bangladesh out of Chinese military influence. The growing influence of China in Nepal has disturbed New Delhi and it wanted to ensure that this does not happen in Bangladesh.
However, Biplobi Workers Party’s General Secretary Saiful Huq had a different angle to the visit. He said India’s another concern was to suggest that Bangladesh should not depend too much and does not align with the US and the Western countries too closely on the question of Rohingya crisis since India has an interest in Myanmar.
He said, New Delhi wants that Bangladesh should remain tied to India’s sphere of influence regardless of what is happening in the region.
http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/Pages/UserHome.aspx
Rohingya crisis calls for new initiatives in regional politics
Faruque Ahmed
With India and China supporting Myanmar’s ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in the region Bangladesh has become the unwilling victim of the exodus of refugees to shelter the homeless.
People had expected that Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj during her visit to Dhaka would recognize the concern of Bangladesh and call upon Myanmar to stop the genocide.
Myanmar can’t destroy its ethnic Muslim minority and push them into Bangladesh. The entire world is denouncing the brutality of Myanmar military and as a regional power and Bangladesh’s best friend India was expected to play its due role to resolve the crisis.
Sushma’s guarded statement
But surprisingly her statements at all levels during the visit remained carefully limited to talk about the ‘displaced persons’ without naming Rohingyas by name. This is what the Myanmar government also does to refer to Rohingyas as the use of word Rohingya is banned in Myanmar.
Her suggestion that Bangladesh is India’s best neighbor therefore, appears hollow.
Sushma has voiced concern over the violence in the Rakhine state and hoped normalcy will return to the state with the return of the displaced persons. For this the recommendations of the Kofi Annan Commission need to be implemented. She said long term solution to the situation in Rakhine state is rapid socio-economic and infrastructure development.
India is helping Myanmar with financial and technical assistance for such development and all communities will benefit from it. But many fear that linking the return of the Rohingyas with such economic and infrastructural development risks slowly abandoning their cause.
Critics say if India wants to see the Rohingyas as beneficiaries of its development assistance, it should ask Myanmar to stop killing them and torching their villages.
The community must not be uprooted.
But she refrained from even condemning Myanmar for the killing.
It was evidently disappointing despite Bangladesh government’s call to put sustained pressure on Myanmar to end the crisis.
No wonder, the Indian FM’s statement has to match her prime minister’s open support for the Myanmar government. Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi expressed his country’s open support to Myanmar over Rohingya issues last month during his visit there saying India understands the country’s position on it.
Sushma Swaraj reiterated it again here further deepening the people’s frustration who were upbeat that she may take the plight of Rohingyas seriously and agree to use India’s power and influence as a friend to protect the Rohingyas.
India can’t annoy Myanmar
The Indian help was rightly expected when the political relations of Bangladesh with India are at all time high and Bangladesh is facing a kind of aggression from its (India’s) another friend on the border. It was expected that India should try to be even handed and help resolve the crisis.
Shushma did not go anywhere near that and only announced providing some aid to the refugees.
As things appear, India has been working on a long-term plan with Myanmar at political and diplomatic level over the past several years and at times at the cost of Bangladesh.
Its Myanmar policy aims at containing China’s influence in that country along its Northeast border where China has finalized a deal with Myanmar to build a deep-sea port at Sithwei in the Rakhine coast.
China is also setting up an industrial state in the region as part of its one belt one road policy initiative prompting India to put all its efforts to woo the Myanmar government and provide matching financial assistance. The Rohingya issue, therefore is not its priority.
Incidentally, India is also working to reduce China’s influence in Bangladesh.
It torpedoed China’s bid to set up a deep-sea port at Sonadia Island in the Bay of Bengal in 2014. China is now going to build that port at Sithwei while the Bangladesh government’s plan to build the deep-sea port at Sonadia has been shifted to Paira closer to Kolkata port.
The Japanese government plans to set up an energy hub at Matarbari Island in the Bay of Bengal including an LNG terminal and coal depots to set up several large coal-based power plants is also going slow while the giant Rampal power plant – with two 1320 MW power production facilities at western border has become a priority project.
Indian diplomats tell the truth
In fact the ‘Look East’ policy of Bangladesh with road and railway link from Chittagong to Thailand and China’s Kunming through Myanmar is no more a priority on the map in the volatile situation.
China is now going to the Bay of Bengal using deep sea port at Sithwei like the ones it has built in Sri Lanka and Gwador in Pakistan to link China with Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea.
Indian diplomats made made no secret of Indian strategy.
Former Indian foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal said in a recent article in an Indian daily that India should give priority to Myanmar over Bangladesh.
He suggested that Myanmar is India’s gateway to the East and it should work with Myanmar to build a highway from India to Vietnam through Myanmar and Thailand.
So India should not see Rohingya issue on bilateral perspective with Bangladesh.
In an interview with BBC former Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka Pinak Ranjan Chakrovarti has bluntly announced that India has no reason to stand by Bangladesh on the Rohingya issue. He said Delhi has closer relations with Myanmar like that of Bangladesh’s special friendship with China.
So Bangladesh should now tell China to do something on Rohingya issue.
He said Bangladesh rushes to the Chinese court whenever it feels like.
So it may now ask China to take some Rohingyas. It is not India’s problem and China must do something if it so believes.
But the fact is that like India, China also has not been helpful to Bangladesh when it comes to the Rohingya crisis. It has been left alone.
They are both supporting Myanmar to protect their interest.
Bangladesh has some strategic value to be the gateway to Bay of Bengal and beyond but its importance has apparently been outmaneuvered.
This is a critical time for Bangladesh and experts believe new initiative is needed now to rework the country’s policies to cope with the changing political landscape.
http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/Pages/UserHome.aspx?ID=2&date=0
Abdur Rahman Khan
Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s visit to Dhaka last week manifested another round of commitment for stronger ties with Bangladesh. The visible outcome was the opening of the new chancery complex of the Indian High Commission in Baridhara, Dhaka.
During the ceremony, she also launched 15 development projects being funded by India in Bangladesh. The development projects, worth about $8.7 million, are in the areas of education, health care, information technology, water supply, and social welfare.
Beyond strategic partnership
“India is following a policy of neighbours first, and among the neighbours Bangladesh is foremost,” Swaraj said at the ceremony, describing bilateral relations as having gone beyond a strategic partnership.
Her visit however, did not produce any joint statement with her Bangladesh counterpart.
On Rohingya issue, Sushma Swaraj said that they should return to their homeland and India was helping Myanmar to develop Rakhine state for better livelihood.
However, there was no discussion on major bilateral concerns like the Teesta water sharing that defied solution for years.
Prior to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Dhaka in June 2015, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali had asked reporters to have patience on Teesta deal. He also had said the issue relating to sharing of Teesta waters was being discussed behind the scene. And after nearly long three years it still appears to have remained concealed “behind the scene.”
The maiden visit of Sushma Swaraj as Indian external Minister in 2014 had indicated a paradigm shift in India’s role in the matrix of political forces in Bangladesh. The 2014 Sushma Swaraj visit outlined the parameters within which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government would conduct their bilateral relations with Bangladesh.
At that time Sushma Swaraj said, “I come to Bangladesh with a message of friendship and goodwill from the newly elected Government in India. I come with the goal of enhancing our relationship and mutual understanding. I come with the belief that the potential of our partnership is vast. I come with the faith that the people of both our countries desire and deserve closer relations and concrete results”.
It was less than a month after Swaraj visited Bangladesh in 2014, the UN’s Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) based in The Hague had delivered the verdict resolving the long standing maritime dispute between Dhaka and New Delhi.
However, people in Bangladesh witnessed helplessly that they had permanently lost their claim on South Talpatti Island.
Sushma’s difficult mission
This time Sushma said Bangladesh gets “priority among all its neighbours” as per India’s neighbourhood policy. She said the relationship between Bangladesh and India is moving ahead in a faster pace.
Indian External Minister also wished that Bangladesh should have a general election participated by all parties. It may be sounding a positive tone to BNP whose chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia met Sushma at Hotel Sonargaon.
In her first visit to Dhaka, Sushma also had held meeting with BNP chairperson showing an attitude to Bangladesh very different from what Indian Congress government did by lending total support to Awami League during the general elections held in 2014.
A number of left leaning political leaders, however, argued that contrary to what the Indians wanted Bangladesh to believe, Sushma came to press India’s own interest, not to look after Bangladesh’s interest. CPB Central leader Ruhin Hossain Prince commented that Sushma’s visit was an attempt to strengthen India’s ties with Bangladesh by providing financial assistance.
BSD central leader Razekuzzan Ratan said while providing financial help, India at the same time wanted to wrest Bangladesh out of Chinese military influence. The growing influence of China in Nepal has disturbed New Delhi and it wanted to ensure that this does not happen in Bangladesh.
However, Biplobi Workers Party’s General Secretary Saiful Huq had a different angle to the visit. He said India’s another concern was to suggest that Bangladesh should not depend too much and does not align with the US and the Western countries too closely on the question of Rohingya crisis since India has an interest in Myanmar.
He said, New Delhi wants that Bangladesh should remain tied to India’s sphere of influence regardless of what is happening in the region.
http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/Pages/UserHome.aspx
Rohingya crisis calls for new initiatives in regional politics
Faruque Ahmed
With India and China supporting Myanmar’s ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in the region Bangladesh has become the unwilling victim of the exodus of refugees to shelter the homeless.
People had expected that Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj during her visit to Dhaka would recognize the concern of Bangladesh and call upon Myanmar to stop the genocide.
Myanmar can’t destroy its ethnic Muslim minority and push them into Bangladesh. The entire world is denouncing the brutality of Myanmar military and as a regional power and Bangladesh’s best friend India was expected to play its due role to resolve the crisis.
Sushma’s guarded statement
But surprisingly her statements at all levels during the visit remained carefully limited to talk about the ‘displaced persons’ without naming Rohingyas by name. This is what the Myanmar government also does to refer to Rohingyas as the use of word Rohingya is banned in Myanmar.
Her suggestion that Bangladesh is India’s best neighbor therefore, appears hollow.
Sushma has voiced concern over the violence in the Rakhine state and hoped normalcy will return to the state with the return of the displaced persons. For this the recommendations of the Kofi Annan Commission need to be implemented. She said long term solution to the situation in Rakhine state is rapid socio-economic and infrastructure development.
India is helping Myanmar with financial and technical assistance for such development and all communities will benefit from it. But many fear that linking the return of the Rohingyas with such economic and infrastructural development risks slowly abandoning their cause.
Critics say if India wants to see the Rohingyas as beneficiaries of its development assistance, it should ask Myanmar to stop killing them and torching their villages.
The community must not be uprooted.
But she refrained from even condemning Myanmar for the killing.
It was evidently disappointing despite Bangladesh government’s call to put sustained pressure on Myanmar to end the crisis.
No wonder, the Indian FM’s statement has to match her prime minister’s open support for the Myanmar government. Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi expressed his country’s open support to Myanmar over Rohingya issues last month during his visit there saying India understands the country’s position on it.
Sushma Swaraj reiterated it again here further deepening the people’s frustration who were upbeat that she may take the plight of Rohingyas seriously and agree to use India’s power and influence as a friend to protect the Rohingyas.
India can’t annoy Myanmar
The Indian help was rightly expected when the political relations of Bangladesh with India are at all time high and Bangladesh is facing a kind of aggression from its (India’s) another friend on the border. It was expected that India should try to be even handed and help resolve the crisis.
Shushma did not go anywhere near that and only announced providing some aid to the refugees.
As things appear, India has been working on a long-term plan with Myanmar at political and diplomatic level over the past several years and at times at the cost of Bangladesh.
Its Myanmar policy aims at containing China’s influence in that country along its Northeast border where China has finalized a deal with Myanmar to build a deep-sea port at Sithwei in the Rakhine coast.
China is also setting up an industrial state in the region as part of its one belt one road policy initiative prompting India to put all its efforts to woo the Myanmar government and provide matching financial assistance. The Rohingya issue, therefore is not its priority.
Incidentally, India is also working to reduce China’s influence in Bangladesh.
It torpedoed China’s bid to set up a deep-sea port at Sonadia Island in the Bay of Bengal in 2014. China is now going to build that port at Sithwei while the Bangladesh government’s plan to build the deep-sea port at Sonadia has been shifted to Paira closer to Kolkata port.
The Japanese government plans to set up an energy hub at Matarbari Island in the Bay of Bengal including an LNG terminal and coal depots to set up several large coal-based power plants is also going slow while the giant Rampal power plant – with two 1320 MW power production facilities at western border has become a priority project.
Indian diplomats tell the truth
In fact the ‘Look East’ policy of Bangladesh with road and railway link from Chittagong to Thailand and China’s Kunming through Myanmar is no more a priority on the map in the volatile situation.
China is now going to the Bay of Bengal using deep sea port at Sithwei like the ones it has built in Sri Lanka and Gwador in Pakistan to link China with Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea.
Indian diplomats made made no secret of Indian strategy.
Former Indian foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal said in a recent article in an Indian daily that India should give priority to Myanmar over Bangladesh.
He suggested that Myanmar is India’s gateway to the East and it should work with Myanmar to build a highway from India to Vietnam through Myanmar and Thailand.
So India should not see Rohingya issue on bilateral perspective with Bangladesh.
In an interview with BBC former Indian High Commissioner to Dhaka Pinak Ranjan Chakrovarti has bluntly announced that India has no reason to stand by Bangladesh on the Rohingya issue. He said Delhi has closer relations with Myanmar like that of Bangladesh’s special friendship with China.
So Bangladesh should now tell China to do something on Rohingya issue.
He said Bangladesh rushes to the Chinese court whenever it feels like.
So it may now ask China to take some Rohingyas. It is not India’s problem and China must do something if it so believes.
But the fact is that like India, China also has not been helpful to Bangladesh when it comes to the Rohingya crisis. It has been left alone.
They are both supporting Myanmar to protect their interest.
Bangladesh has some strategic value to be the gateway to Bay of Bengal and beyond but its importance has apparently been outmaneuvered.
This is a critical time for Bangladesh and experts believe new initiative is needed now to rework the country’s policies to cope with the changing political landscape.
http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/Pages/UserHome.aspx?ID=2&date=0
Banglar Bir
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12:00 AM, October 27, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 01:10 AM, October 27, 2017
Isn’t Bangladesh’s stake worthy?
Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. PHOTO: PMO
Shah Husain Imam
One can draw two significant messages from Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's just-concluded visit to Bangladesh:
First, she has basically reiterated India's position that an incumbent government is obligated to hold the general election, if and when it falls due in a democratic country.
She, however, added, that how an election will be held would be determined by the people.
And she resonates with any champion of democracy when she says all parties should participate in the election.
She responded to these issues, not of her own volition—which may have been interpreted as meddling in another country's affairs—but when raised by BNP leader Begum Khaleda Zia with the former.
The second bottom line which is of immediate concern relates to an iteration of India's position that all refugees from the Rakhine state must return to their abodes as citizens of Myanmar.
With India endorsing recommendations of the Kofi Annan Commission instituted by the UN (also accepted by Aung San Suu Kyi), grant of citizenship rights to Rohingyas, the cornerstone of Annan's report, is non-negotiable.
Sushma Swaraj's visit to Bangladesh on October 22 was set against the backdrop of a combination of extraordinary circumstances.
In its foreground, however, lay the visit to New Delhi of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson which took place last Tuesday. Tillerson embarked on the South Asian itinerary including Pakistan and Afghanistan with a statement that the odyssey will culminate in a trip to India “in the face of the growing Chinese influence in Asia.”
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has accompanied the US secretary of state to New Delhi in what has been given out to be the quest for “a new architecture for South Asia.” Tillerson's job has not been helped by the “hidden chaos in the White House,” some pessimists were quick to point out.
At any rate, the US and EU have been all the time toughening their stances against Myanmar. They have already stopped military assistance and are planning to impose travel bans on that country's army generals.
Sanctions on financial transactions are on the way.
Having regard to all these factors, one can argue that the timing of Sushma Swaraj's trip to Dhaka may not have been a mere coincidence. It could have been deliberately designed to tie in with the apparently new equation in the region.
The fourth meeting of the India-Bangladesh Joint Consultative Commission has been overdue. A grey area of distance has been growing in the relationship between New Delhi and Dhaka on the issue of an unprecedented exodus of Rohingyas into Bangladesh fleeing persecution in the Rakhine state of Myanmar. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while meeting Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw last month, lost an opportunity, so we thought, of bringing to bear his moral influence on the regime to stop the raging “ethnic cleansing” of a hapless minority.
He gave a pro forma statement condemning “violence” without any reference to the abject victimisation of the Rohingyas.
For a time, the South Block appeared to be siding with Myanmar's official position. Indian officials seemed to believe and, said as much, that a good number of Rohingyas who were found to be in India may have infiltrated via Bangladesh. So, they tried “deporting” several of them across the border into Bangladesh. Our border guards resisted the attempts.
Thus, misgivings had been created that required to be allayed. There appears to have been a shift of assumptions or premises based on which previous posturing had been made.
Bangladesh's sensibilities are beginning to be respected with an underlying concern to make good on a negative signal of alienation put across earlier on. For instance, it is reported that the Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told our prime minister that Narendra Modi had “advised Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi not to 'destroy' her image on her stance on the Rohingya issue as Myanmar military's action in Rakhine state sparked a global outrage.”
So, we heard Sushma, uttering mellifluous words, “Porshi pehle usse pehle Bangladesh (neighbour first, but Bangladesh come atop the list).”
She is even more specific in her expressing solidarity with Bangladesh: “Bangladesh-India relation goes far beyond strategic partnership.”
One final word in the form of a question to China and Russia which have taken the side of Myanmar when the chips were down in the UN implying their stakes are high in Myanmar.
Isn't Bangladesh's stake worthy? With her size of the economy, trainable human resource reserve, huge potential of natural resource base that can boast maritime and sea-bed bonanza waiting to be harnessed, let alone having a homogeneous, secular society, what does Bangladesh lack that Myanmar can provide?
On the contrary, we have so much to offer to the world.
Shah Husain Imam is a commentator on current affairs and former Associate Editor, The Daily Star.
Email: shahhusainimam@gmail.com
http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/pleasure-all-mine/isnt-bangladeshs-stake-worthy-1482316
Isn’t Bangladesh’s stake worthy?
Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. PHOTO: PMO
Shah Husain Imam
One can draw two significant messages from Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's just-concluded visit to Bangladesh:
First, she has basically reiterated India's position that an incumbent government is obligated to hold the general election, if and when it falls due in a democratic country.
She, however, added, that how an election will be held would be determined by the people.
And she resonates with any champion of democracy when she says all parties should participate in the election.
She responded to these issues, not of her own volition—which may have been interpreted as meddling in another country's affairs—but when raised by BNP leader Begum Khaleda Zia with the former.
The second bottom line which is of immediate concern relates to an iteration of India's position that all refugees from the Rakhine state must return to their abodes as citizens of Myanmar.
With India endorsing recommendations of the Kofi Annan Commission instituted by the UN (also accepted by Aung San Suu Kyi), grant of citizenship rights to Rohingyas, the cornerstone of Annan's report, is non-negotiable.
Sushma Swaraj's visit to Bangladesh on October 22 was set against the backdrop of a combination of extraordinary circumstances.
In its foreground, however, lay the visit to New Delhi of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson which took place last Tuesday. Tillerson embarked on the South Asian itinerary including Pakistan and Afghanistan with a statement that the odyssey will culminate in a trip to India “in the face of the growing Chinese influence in Asia.”
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has accompanied the US secretary of state to New Delhi in what has been given out to be the quest for “a new architecture for South Asia.” Tillerson's job has not been helped by the “hidden chaos in the White House,” some pessimists were quick to point out.
At any rate, the US and EU have been all the time toughening their stances against Myanmar. They have already stopped military assistance and are planning to impose travel bans on that country's army generals.
Sanctions on financial transactions are on the way.
Having regard to all these factors, one can argue that the timing of Sushma Swaraj's trip to Dhaka may not have been a mere coincidence. It could have been deliberately designed to tie in with the apparently new equation in the region.
The fourth meeting of the India-Bangladesh Joint Consultative Commission has been overdue. A grey area of distance has been growing in the relationship between New Delhi and Dhaka on the issue of an unprecedented exodus of Rohingyas into Bangladesh fleeing persecution in the Rakhine state of Myanmar. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while meeting Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyidaw last month, lost an opportunity, so we thought, of bringing to bear his moral influence on the regime to stop the raging “ethnic cleansing” of a hapless minority.
He gave a pro forma statement condemning “violence” without any reference to the abject victimisation of the Rohingyas.
For a time, the South Block appeared to be siding with Myanmar's official position. Indian officials seemed to believe and, said as much, that a good number of Rohingyas who were found to be in India may have infiltrated via Bangladesh. So, they tried “deporting” several of them across the border into Bangladesh. Our border guards resisted the attempts.
Thus, misgivings had been created that required to be allayed. There appears to have been a shift of assumptions or premises based on which previous posturing had been made.
Bangladesh's sensibilities are beginning to be respected with an underlying concern to make good on a negative signal of alienation put across earlier on. For instance, it is reported that the Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told our prime minister that Narendra Modi had “advised Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi not to 'destroy' her image on her stance on the Rohingya issue as Myanmar military's action in Rakhine state sparked a global outrage.”
So, we heard Sushma, uttering mellifluous words, “Porshi pehle usse pehle Bangladesh (neighbour first, but Bangladesh come atop the list).”
She is even more specific in her expressing solidarity with Bangladesh: “Bangladesh-India relation goes far beyond strategic partnership.”
One final word in the form of a question to China and Russia which have taken the side of Myanmar when the chips were down in the UN implying their stakes are high in Myanmar.
Isn't Bangladesh's stake worthy? With her size of the economy, trainable human resource reserve, huge potential of natural resource base that can boast maritime and sea-bed bonanza waiting to be harnessed, let alone having a homogeneous, secular society, what does Bangladesh lack that Myanmar can provide?
On the contrary, we have so much to offer to the world.
Shah Husain Imam is a commentator on current affairs and former Associate Editor, The Daily Star.
Email: shahhusainimam@gmail.com
http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/pleasure-all-mine/isnt-bangladeshs-stake-worthy-1482316
Saiful Islam
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How many times does India need to visit to "strengthen ties"
People need to wake up and smell the coffee, BD is a slave country.
People need to wake up and smell the coffee, BD is a slave country.
Banglar Bir
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Lonely, yet we do not walk alone
Rohingya refugees line up for relief aid at the Nayapara refugee camp in Teknaf. Photo: AFP
Nizamuddin Ahmed
The position of Russia is bullish at best because the Kremlin machinery does not have the eye to see the human destruction in the Rakhine State of Myanmar; yet there have been protests in Moscow, and arrests too, with Chechen Republic's Ramzan Kadyrov contemplating a nuclear strike.
China (playing the “internal matter” card to mask its Belt and Road Initiative) takes a little time, as it did in 1971, to understand the situation in Bangladesh because its radar, some say, is slow to detect friends. Interestingly, across China's border province of Yunnan, Myanmar's Kachin and Shan populations have been restive for over fifty-five years.
India's position is “clear haay” because of its heavy investment in Myanmar for its “Act East” policy. Modi shook hands with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi after her out-of-her-control army launched the bloody carnage, and Sushma Swaraj is jetting to and fro to keep intact, even if by cementing, Indira Gandhi's pledge of lasting Dhaka-Delhi friendship.
In her most recent visit to Dhaka, the Indian external affairs minister said that “normalcy” can only be restored after all the refugees in Bangladesh return to Myanmar, not uttering “Rohingya”, which should please Naypyidaw. Suu Kyi is a Jawaharlal Nehru Awardee and Bhagwan Mahavir World Peace winner.
Two are permanent members of the UN Security Council and the third is a contender, despite which for the first time in nine years the 15-strong council unanimously expressed on September 13 “concern about reports of excessive violence during the security operations and called for immediate steps to end the violence in Rakhine, de-escalate the situation, re-establish law and order, ensure the protection of civilians.” One can vaguely read “the brutality of Burma” between those lines.
Holding on to her Nobel Peace Prize by the apology of tradition that the award has never been rescinded, the “military prisoner” has lost face. Oxford University's St Hugh's College has removed Suu Kyi's portrait from public display in a decision that followed students voting. She will also be stripped of the Freedom of the City of Oxford after the city council voted unanimously, saying it was “no longer appropriate” to celebrate the de facto leader of Myanmar.
UK decided last month to suspend all engagement, including training, with the Myanmar until military action against civilians in Rakhine State stopped. Notwithstanding Brexit, the European Union will cut back contacts with Myanmar's top generals in a first step to increase sanctions over the vicious army offensive. This follows an existing EU embargo on arms and equipment “that can be used for internal repression”. Suu Kyi had been bestowed with European Parliament's Sakharov Prize.
The US has condemned atrocities against Rohingya Muslims and in late October was considering new sanctions because the atrocities committed are tantamount to “ethnic cleansing”, which the French President Emmanuel Macron has called genocide. Present and past Myanmar military leaders have also been barred from visiting the states, only one year after decades-long trade sanctions against the secretive and isolated regime were lifted to set the stage for democracy. Suu Kyi is a US Congressional Gold Medallist.
Professor Muhammad Yunus—among the first Nobel laureates to speak out against the atrocities being committed against the Rohingya—penned an open letter to the UNSC asking the latter to intervene. Archbishop Desmond Tutu also condemned fellow Nobel peace prize awardee Suu Kyi with the words “Silence is too high a price”. Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai condemned the tragic and shameful treatment of the Rohingya. Suu Kyi is a recipient of the Swedish Olof Palme Prize.
In December last year, several Nobel laureates called for the “international community as a whole to speak out much more strongly” as “a human tragedy amounting to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity” was unfolding in Myanmar, a disturbed country with over a hundred different ethnic communities.
It appears the 400,000-strong Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces) were looking for an excuse to pounce on the Rohingya to depopulate the Rakhine State as per the country's 1982 constitutional amendment. It can now be confirmed that the country (where the military has a stranglehold on the civil society) has backtracked from marching towards democracy. Isolation is addictive.
While some in Dhaka's sceptic opposition are accusing the Hasina government of failing in international diplomacy, the savoir-faire with which the prime minister has won the hearts beyond boundaries is evident even among world leaders. In fact, the people of Bangladesh can take a bow. Here we must add plaudits for our government officers who have done a splendid job thus far by managing the colossal task of providing for over six lakh additional people, sick and weary, hungry and homeless, in a few thousand acres of land, amidst the rain.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi was sent to Myanmar to urge the government to halt deadly violence against the Muslim-majority Rohingya amid growing anger in the world's most populous Muslim nation. She also visited Dhaka to assure Bangladesh of its humanitarian support.
In addition to Germany providing humanitarian aid, its Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that Germany supports the recommendations of the Rakhine Advisory Commission under the leadership of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as a “good starting point”. Suu Kyi has been honoured with the Norwegian human rights award, the Professor Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize.
The Arab world has been stirred too. Saudi's King Salman has ordered the payment of USD 15 million aid for the Rohingya refugees. The Saudi Cabinet renewed the Kingdom's calls on the international community to take urgent action to stop the attacks and to allow the Myanmar Muslim-minority their basic human rights. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told the UN General Assembly, “My country is gravely concerned and condemns the policy of repression and forced displacement carried out by the government of Myanmar against the Rohingya minority.”
As part of its USD 100,000 intervention for Rohingya refugees, Qatar Red Crescent Society also aims to vaccinate children and fund public catering centres for the refugees.
UNHCR chartered a Boeing 777 to deliver family tents, shelter materials, jerry cans, blankets, sleeping mats and other essential items as emergency relief for 25,000 refugees—1/24th of the total number fleeing from Suu Kyi, who won UNESCO's International Simón Bolívar Prize.
Indian Air Force used Chittagong's Shah Amanat International Airport to deliver India's massive 7,000-tonne relief assurance for Bangladesh. Another flight carrying 14 tonnes of relief materials from Morocco also landed at Chittagong. The Indonesian ambassador to Dhaka Rina Prihtyasmiarsi Soemarno handed over tents, blankets, rice and sugar at Chittagong.
Malaysia was strongly vocal, saying that Myanmar had denied permission for the international community to provide humanitarian aid to the Rohingya Muslims and, more disappointingly, killed Rohingya women and children. Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Malaysia could not accept the Myanmar crackdown on the Rohingya community and wanted the issue to be resolved democratically and by international standards.
Most recently, United Nations investigator Yanghee Lee acknowledged that there were “well-documented accounts of killings, rapes, burned villages and forced displacement” of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
In spite of overwhelming global denouncement of Myanmar and yet disappointing international relief for the Rohingya, despite widespread condemnation of Suu Kyi and yet regionalised concern based on strategic self-interest, regardless of bravado verbalisation by world bodies and leaders, and yet no effective socioeconomic action plan, there is reason to believe we are not the only friends of a marginalised ethnic population. We do not walk alone.
Dr Nizamuddin Ahmed is a practising architect, a Commonwealth Scholar and a Fellow, a Baden-Powell Fellow Scout Leader, and a Major Donor Rotarian.
http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/chintito-1995/lonely-yet-we-do-not-walk-alone-1483006
Rohingya refugees line up for relief aid at the Nayapara refugee camp in Teknaf. Photo: AFP
Nizamuddin Ahmed
The position of Russia is bullish at best because the Kremlin machinery does not have the eye to see the human destruction in the Rakhine State of Myanmar; yet there have been protests in Moscow, and arrests too, with Chechen Republic's Ramzan Kadyrov contemplating a nuclear strike.
China (playing the “internal matter” card to mask its Belt and Road Initiative) takes a little time, as it did in 1971, to understand the situation in Bangladesh because its radar, some say, is slow to detect friends. Interestingly, across China's border province of Yunnan, Myanmar's Kachin and Shan populations have been restive for over fifty-five years.
India's position is “clear haay” because of its heavy investment in Myanmar for its “Act East” policy. Modi shook hands with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi after her out-of-her-control army launched the bloody carnage, and Sushma Swaraj is jetting to and fro to keep intact, even if by cementing, Indira Gandhi's pledge of lasting Dhaka-Delhi friendship.
In her most recent visit to Dhaka, the Indian external affairs minister said that “normalcy” can only be restored after all the refugees in Bangladesh return to Myanmar, not uttering “Rohingya”, which should please Naypyidaw. Suu Kyi is a Jawaharlal Nehru Awardee and Bhagwan Mahavir World Peace winner.
Two are permanent members of the UN Security Council and the third is a contender, despite which for the first time in nine years the 15-strong council unanimously expressed on September 13 “concern about reports of excessive violence during the security operations and called for immediate steps to end the violence in Rakhine, de-escalate the situation, re-establish law and order, ensure the protection of civilians.” One can vaguely read “the brutality of Burma” between those lines.
Holding on to her Nobel Peace Prize by the apology of tradition that the award has never been rescinded, the “military prisoner” has lost face. Oxford University's St Hugh's College has removed Suu Kyi's portrait from public display in a decision that followed students voting. She will also be stripped of the Freedom of the City of Oxford after the city council voted unanimously, saying it was “no longer appropriate” to celebrate the de facto leader of Myanmar.
UK decided last month to suspend all engagement, including training, with the Myanmar until military action against civilians in Rakhine State stopped. Notwithstanding Brexit, the European Union will cut back contacts with Myanmar's top generals in a first step to increase sanctions over the vicious army offensive. This follows an existing EU embargo on arms and equipment “that can be used for internal repression”. Suu Kyi had been bestowed with European Parliament's Sakharov Prize.
The US has condemned atrocities against Rohingya Muslims and in late October was considering new sanctions because the atrocities committed are tantamount to “ethnic cleansing”, which the French President Emmanuel Macron has called genocide. Present and past Myanmar military leaders have also been barred from visiting the states, only one year after decades-long trade sanctions against the secretive and isolated regime were lifted to set the stage for democracy. Suu Kyi is a US Congressional Gold Medallist.
Professor Muhammad Yunus—among the first Nobel laureates to speak out against the atrocities being committed against the Rohingya—penned an open letter to the UNSC asking the latter to intervene. Archbishop Desmond Tutu also condemned fellow Nobel peace prize awardee Suu Kyi with the words “Silence is too high a price”. Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai condemned the tragic and shameful treatment of the Rohingya. Suu Kyi is a recipient of the Swedish Olof Palme Prize.
In December last year, several Nobel laureates called for the “international community as a whole to speak out much more strongly” as “a human tragedy amounting to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity” was unfolding in Myanmar, a disturbed country with over a hundred different ethnic communities.
It appears the 400,000-strong Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces) were looking for an excuse to pounce on the Rohingya to depopulate the Rakhine State as per the country's 1982 constitutional amendment. It can now be confirmed that the country (where the military has a stranglehold on the civil society) has backtracked from marching towards democracy. Isolation is addictive.
While some in Dhaka's sceptic opposition are accusing the Hasina government of failing in international diplomacy, the savoir-faire with which the prime minister has won the hearts beyond boundaries is evident even among world leaders. In fact, the people of Bangladesh can take a bow. Here we must add plaudits for our government officers who have done a splendid job thus far by managing the colossal task of providing for over six lakh additional people, sick and weary, hungry and homeless, in a few thousand acres of land, amidst the rain.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi was sent to Myanmar to urge the government to halt deadly violence against the Muslim-majority Rohingya amid growing anger in the world's most populous Muslim nation. She also visited Dhaka to assure Bangladesh of its humanitarian support.
In addition to Germany providing humanitarian aid, its Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that Germany supports the recommendations of the Rakhine Advisory Commission under the leadership of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as a “good starting point”. Suu Kyi has been honoured with the Norwegian human rights award, the Professor Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize.
The Arab world has been stirred too. Saudi's King Salman has ordered the payment of USD 15 million aid for the Rohingya refugees. The Saudi Cabinet renewed the Kingdom's calls on the international community to take urgent action to stop the attacks and to allow the Myanmar Muslim-minority their basic human rights. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told the UN General Assembly, “My country is gravely concerned and condemns the policy of repression and forced displacement carried out by the government of Myanmar against the Rohingya minority.”
As part of its USD 100,000 intervention for Rohingya refugees, Qatar Red Crescent Society also aims to vaccinate children and fund public catering centres for the refugees.
UNHCR chartered a Boeing 777 to deliver family tents, shelter materials, jerry cans, blankets, sleeping mats and other essential items as emergency relief for 25,000 refugees—1/24th of the total number fleeing from Suu Kyi, who won UNESCO's International Simón Bolívar Prize.
Indian Air Force used Chittagong's Shah Amanat International Airport to deliver India's massive 7,000-tonne relief assurance for Bangladesh. Another flight carrying 14 tonnes of relief materials from Morocco also landed at Chittagong. The Indonesian ambassador to Dhaka Rina Prihtyasmiarsi Soemarno handed over tents, blankets, rice and sugar at Chittagong.
Malaysia was strongly vocal, saying that Myanmar had denied permission for the international community to provide humanitarian aid to the Rohingya Muslims and, more disappointingly, killed Rohingya women and children. Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Malaysia could not accept the Myanmar crackdown on the Rohingya community and wanted the issue to be resolved democratically and by international standards.
Most recently, United Nations investigator Yanghee Lee acknowledged that there were “well-documented accounts of killings, rapes, burned villages and forced displacement” of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
In spite of overwhelming global denouncement of Myanmar and yet disappointing international relief for the Rohingya, despite widespread condemnation of Suu Kyi and yet regionalised concern based on strategic self-interest, regardless of bravado verbalisation by world bodies and leaders, and yet no effective socioeconomic action plan, there is reason to believe we are not the only friends of a marginalised ethnic population. We do not walk alone.
Dr Nizamuddin Ahmed is a practising architect, a Commonwealth Scholar and a Fellow, a Baden-Powell Fellow Scout Leader, and a Major Donor Rotarian.
http://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/chintito-1995/lonely-yet-we-do-not-walk-alone-1483006
Banglar Bir
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Time to cut trade ties with Myanmar
Tribune Editorial
Published at 09:18 PM November 04, 2017
How can we answer to our conscience knowing full-well what the Myanmar military is doing to the innocent Rohingya minority -- not even sparing children or pregnant women?
Despite the on-going humanitarian crisis involving Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in their home state, Bangladesh continues to trade with the country responsible for it.
Myanmar’s ruthless persecution of the Rohingya has burdened an already overpopulated Bangladesh with around one million hungry and severely distressed refugees.
The government, while doing its best, is struggling to host and feed them, while also figuring out the plan for eventual repatriation with officials in Myanmar who are bent on making the process as difficult as possible.
The Myanmar military’s crimes against humanity have prompted international outrage and even some punitive action, such as the World Bank halting a $200 million development loan to the country.
And yet, sadly, Bangladesh continues to approve deals to import rice and fuel oil from our hostile neighbour.
It is understandable that Bangladesh needs to stock up on food, but do we really need Myanmar as a trading partner?
It should be a matter of principle that a nation should not trade with another that is directly involved in ethnic cleansing, and, further, a matter of dignity, because Myanmar has been trying to sully our name with false accusations.
How can we answer to our conscience knowing full-well what the Myanmar military is doing to the innocent Rohingya minority — not even sparing children or pregnant women?
To send the right message to Myanmar, we need a clear and decisive policy regarding our trade dealings with the country — this means putting a stop to all trade unless and until Myanmar ends its human rights abuses.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/editorial/2017/11/04/time-cut-trade-ties-myanmar/
Tribune Editorial
Published at 09:18 PM November 04, 2017
How can we answer to our conscience knowing full-well what the Myanmar military is doing to the innocent Rohingya minority -- not even sparing children or pregnant women?
Despite the on-going humanitarian crisis involving Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in their home state, Bangladesh continues to trade with the country responsible for it.
Myanmar’s ruthless persecution of the Rohingya has burdened an already overpopulated Bangladesh with around one million hungry and severely distressed refugees.
The government, while doing its best, is struggling to host and feed them, while also figuring out the plan for eventual repatriation with officials in Myanmar who are bent on making the process as difficult as possible.
The Myanmar military’s crimes against humanity have prompted international outrage and even some punitive action, such as the World Bank halting a $200 million development loan to the country.
And yet, sadly, Bangladesh continues to approve deals to import rice and fuel oil from our hostile neighbour.
It is understandable that Bangladesh needs to stock up on food, but do we really need Myanmar as a trading partner?
It should be a matter of principle that a nation should not trade with another that is directly involved in ethnic cleansing, and, further, a matter of dignity, because Myanmar has been trying to sully our name with false accusations.
How can we answer to our conscience knowing full-well what the Myanmar military is doing to the innocent Rohingya minority — not even sparing children or pregnant women?
To send the right message to Myanmar, we need a clear and decisive policy regarding our trade dealings with the country — this means putting a stop to all trade unless and until Myanmar ends its human rights abuses.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/editorial/2017/11/04/time-cut-trade-ties-myanmar/
Banglar Bir
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DEGENERATING ROHINGYA CRISIS
Jelling of robust diplomacy and military vigilance is the way out
Shahid Islam
The military-backed regime in Myanmar did not catapult the Rohingya crisis to an astronomic height just to get rid of a designated ethnic group who does not share the faith and the ethnicity of majority Myanmaris.
It’s a calculated move to trigger a geographic adventure against Bangladesh’s hilly regions abutting the strategic Bay of Bengal and Myanmar’s Rakhine province.
The influx of mostly Muslim Rohingyas into Bangladesh over the last 90 days had surpassed all previous records since the late 1970s when the first splurge of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh occurred.
In the following decades, China became the second largest economy of the world while India, which shares borders with Myanmar, strove to create a second front over the ocean to reach its troubled Northeastern region via Myanmar in the face of bubbling anti-Indian feelings sweeping Bangladesh following change of Bangladesh’s geopolitical stances during what is dubbed as post-1975 re-calibration of Bangladesh’s foreign and defence policies.
Sizzling geopolitical conundrum
Bangladesh today is equally friendly with India and China; the two regional giants obliquely pursuing their geo-strategic interests at the cost of many small neighbours’ vital national appetite.
Especially in recent years, Delhi clinched major strategic deals with the USA while Beijing slowly grew its economic and military muscles to attain a stature parallel to the USA.
In the process, Myanmar ventured into a pseudo democracy to set the stage for major re-calibration of its foreign and defence policies, keeping the military’s political tentacles almost intact, and inched closer to the USA and India; the powers that sought desperately Myanmar’s denouement from China that had backed a virtually perennial military regime for decades.
This prompted Beijing to draw Bangladesh closer into its embrace, aiding the later with lofty economic and military aids.
And thus surfaced to the fore a sizzling geopolitical conundrum that turned sifting wheat from the pebbles difficult.
Beijing may still seem poised to rub Myanmar’s back at the UN when the global community sits for discussion on the horrific ethnic cleansing of Rohingya refugees by Myanmar’s military cabal, but that’s hardly indicative of Myanmar’s full allegiance towards Beijing in the manner it was in previous decades.
Rather, the military backed regime in Myanmar is craftily concluding its mission by pushing out of the country under coercion the remnant of about 250,000 Rohingya Muslims, and, still doggedly insisting that the Rohingyas are not citizens of that country.
Negation of a historic truth and the ethnic reality of a people who had lived in a land for over 600 years is the first denigration, and distortion, that Myanmar wishes to capitalize as its raison de e’tre for the commissioning of crime that modern civilization can no way condone or reconcile with.
Global maritime conduit
And that’s what is prompting the NATO-led western governments to side with the displaced and uprooted Rohingya refuges wholeheartedly, hence with Bangladesh, while Moscow and Beijing still dither in ambivalence on the threshold of a distorted perception that solely hinges on the rationale of Myanmar’s communist antecedent and proclivity.
Fact is: The Bay of Bengal constitutes a veritable chunk of global maritime conduit on which India, Bangladesh and Myanmar have territorial contiguity while Beijing and Washington cannot abandon their vital interest either on the littoral states and the adjacent waterways so as to remain visible, engaged, and reckonable as the major Asia-Pacific players.
Given such a reality, the Rohingyas became the innocent victims of a multi-dimensional regional and global power play that may not subside in the near future unless Bangladesh plays a more assertive role to have the dispossessed Rohingyas packed backed to their ancestral home.
Only robust diplomacy, backed by passionate military preparedness, may make Bangladesh win this game.
http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/Pages/UserHome.aspx
Jelling of robust diplomacy and military vigilance is the way out
Shahid Islam
The military-backed regime in Myanmar did not catapult the Rohingya crisis to an astronomic height just to get rid of a designated ethnic group who does not share the faith and the ethnicity of majority Myanmaris.
It’s a calculated move to trigger a geographic adventure against Bangladesh’s hilly regions abutting the strategic Bay of Bengal and Myanmar’s Rakhine province.
The influx of mostly Muslim Rohingyas into Bangladesh over the last 90 days had surpassed all previous records since the late 1970s when the first splurge of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh occurred.
In the following decades, China became the second largest economy of the world while India, which shares borders with Myanmar, strove to create a second front over the ocean to reach its troubled Northeastern region via Myanmar in the face of bubbling anti-Indian feelings sweeping Bangladesh following change of Bangladesh’s geopolitical stances during what is dubbed as post-1975 re-calibration of Bangladesh’s foreign and defence policies.
Sizzling geopolitical conundrum
Bangladesh today is equally friendly with India and China; the two regional giants obliquely pursuing their geo-strategic interests at the cost of many small neighbours’ vital national appetite.
Especially in recent years, Delhi clinched major strategic deals with the USA while Beijing slowly grew its economic and military muscles to attain a stature parallel to the USA.
In the process, Myanmar ventured into a pseudo democracy to set the stage for major re-calibration of its foreign and defence policies, keeping the military’s political tentacles almost intact, and inched closer to the USA and India; the powers that sought desperately Myanmar’s denouement from China that had backed a virtually perennial military regime for decades.
This prompted Beijing to draw Bangladesh closer into its embrace, aiding the later with lofty economic and military aids.
And thus surfaced to the fore a sizzling geopolitical conundrum that turned sifting wheat from the pebbles difficult.
Beijing may still seem poised to rub Myanmar’s back at the UN when the global community sits for discussion on the horrific ethnic cleansing of Rohingya refugees by Myanmar’s military cabal, but that’s hardly indicative of Myanmar’s full allegiance towards Beijing in the manner it was in previous decades.
Rather, the military backed regime in Myanmar is craftily concluding its mission by pushing out of the country under coercion the remnant of about 250,000 Rohingya Muslims, and, still doggedly insisting that the Rohingyas are not citizens of that country.
Negation of a historic truth and the ethnic reality of a people who had lived in a land for over 600 years is the first denigration, and distortion, that Myanmar wishes to capitalize as its raison de e’tre for the commissioning of crime that modern civilization can no way condone or reconcile with.
Global maritime conduit
And that’s what is prompting the NATO-led western governments to side with the displaced and uprooted Rohingya refuges wholeheartedly, hence with Bangladesh, while Moscow and Beijing still dither in ambivalence on the threshold of a distorted perception that solely hinges on the rationale of Myanmar’s communist antecedent and proclivity.
Fact is: The Bay of Bengal constitutes a veritable chunk of global maritime conduit on which India, Bangladesh and Myanmar have territorial contiguity while Beijing and Washington cannot abandon their vital interest either on the littoral states and the adjacent waterways so as to remain visible, engaged, and reckonable as the major Asia-Pacific players.
Given such a reality, the Rohingyas became the innocent victims of a multi-dimensional regional and global power play that may not subside in the near future unless Bangladesh plays a more assertive role to have the dispossessed Rohingyas packed backed to their ancestral home.
Only robust diplomacy, backed by passionate military preparedness, may make Bangladesh win this game.
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Banglar Bir
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ROHINGYA CRISIS
Home truths about Dhaka’s foreign policy
Notwithstanding the fact that the UNSC’s unanimous affirmation backed by China has strongly condemned the Rohingya crisis, albeit without threatening sanctions, expressing “grave concern” over rights violations and called on Myanmar to rein in military operations, quite unexpectedly Myanmar has hit back at the statement saying it could “seriously harm” efforts to repatriate the Rohingya minority from Bangladesh.
In the interim public health situation among the multitudes of refugees in Cox’s Bazar may assume epidemic proportions, and the WHO has reported on October 21 that 77 Rohingyas died of different diseases between August 25 and October 21 and by now the figure must have swelled. Some 6,15,000 Rohingyas entered Bangladesh in the new influx what the United Nations called the world’s fastest-developing refugee emergency.
The new influx of refugees has totalled to 10.24 lakh entering Bangladesh since 1978.
Incontrovertibly, it is an unbearable economic and logistic burden thrust upon Bangladesh by Myanmar government run to all intents and purposes by Aung San Suu Kyi and the military.
Having been taught Philosophy—-which in essence deals with the fundamental nature of knowledge, principles of ethics, moral values, existence etc at St. Hugh’s College in England—- regrettably, alas, Suu Kyi did not learn that pogrom, persecution, mass murder, ethnic cleansing verging on genocide of the minority disadvantaged Rohingya Muslims are crimes against humanity.
She ought to have known that Ethnic cleansing—- a policy carried out by strong states to mould the demographic map—-is related to genocide, but ethnic cleansing is focused more closely than genocide on geography and on forced removal of ethnic or related groups from particular areas.
The greatest overlap or common characteristics between ethnic cleansing and genocide takes place when forced removal of population leads to a group’s destruction. [Vide The Oxford Genocide Studies edited by Donald Bloxham and A. Dirk Moses and published in May 26, 2010].
In her publicised speech full of untruth, trumped-up story and barefaced lie Suu Kyi—-reported to be an Islmophobic for her anti-Muslim statement—-brazenly trivialised and deprecated the anti-Rohingya pogrom characterised by arson, rape, shooting down and so forth perpetrated by the military and the Buddhists. Suu Kyi said:
“There had been no clashes or clearance operations in the northern state since 5 September; the government had made efforts in recent years to improve living conditions for all people in Rakhine including Muslims”.
Closing her eyes to numerous video footages of the BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Al Jazeera, Reuters, AP, AFP, DPA and thousands of words of news stories datelined Rakhaine in Myanmar, this so-called educated lady barefacedly said, “Most Muslims had decided to stay and that this indicated the situation was not so severe.” Suu Kyi parroted the military which says its operations in Rakhine are aimed at rooting out militants, and has repeatedly denied targeting civilians—-countering witnesses, over half a million refugees and journalists who have contested this.
Why not watch the print and video report on the spot in Rakhaine by Jonathan Head, the BBC’s Southeast Asia Correspondent, ‘A Muslim village was burning’, 7 September 2017 [bbc.com/news/ world-asia-41189564]?
Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has been stripped of her Oxford honour owing to her shameful stance on the Rohingya Muslims. A confirmed Muslim hater Islamophobic after her BBC interview with Mishal Husain, presenter of HARDTALK, last year, Suu Kyi said that she “needs ‘solid evidence’ of violence against Rohingya Muslims.”
Two years back the weekly Holiday congratulated Suu Kyi on her polls win and suggested that she resolve the Rohingya Muslim problem. This paper wrote, the Rohingyas of Arakan had supported Suu Kyi’s NLD candidates in the past and they won all the 23 seats of Arakan some years ago. But Rohingya Muslims’ loyalty, allegiance, courtesy and love have backfired now! [Vide Ms Suu Kyi’s victory vis-à-vis Rohingya Muslims, November 13, 2015.]
It is deplorable to see such a spineless namby-pamby Suu Kyi—-once-upon-a-time under house arrest for 15 years in her home spending her time playing on the piano, reading, and occasionally receiving foreign dignitaries like Hilary Clinton as well as erstwhile top Myanmar leaders General Than Shwe and General Khin Nyunt—-who has stooped so low as to endorsing falsehood. Let alone human values, she has climbed onto the bandwagon of the bloodthirsty military.
This is as a consequence of Suu Kyi’s abominably indefensible sheer lust for subordinate power under the military. The Rohingya have been referred to as the world’s “most friendless people” and are undoubtedly in need of protection. For decades, they have faced persecution and been denied citizenship in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Though 20-year-old Malala Yusufzai, the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, on 3 September 2017 told her fellow Nobel laureate, 72-year-old Suu Kyi that the “world is waiting” for her to act over unrest that has seen tens of thousands of people flee into neighbouring Bangladesh”.
But insensitive stone-hearted Suu Kyi has not budged an inch.
Genocide, as theorists say, does not of necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, and the economic existence of national groups.
This is exactly what is happening in Myanmar concerning which the government in Dhaka, instead of seeking directive from New Delhi, should put its foot down and calibrate or recalibrate its own book of diplomacy and foreign policy based on the credo:
Friendship to all, malice to none.
http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/Pages/UserHome.aspx?ID=4&date=0#Tid=15074
Home truths about Dhaka’s foreign policy
Notwithstanding the fact that the UNSC’s unanimous affirmation backed by China has strongly condemned the Rohingya crisis, albeit without threatening sanctions, expressing “grave concern” over rights violations and called on Myanmar to rein in military operations, quite unexpectedly Myanmar has hit back at the statement saying it could “seriously harm” efforts to repatriate the Rohingya minority from Bangladesh.
In the interim public health situation among the multitudes of refugees in Cox’s Bazar may assume epidemic proportions, and the WHO has reported on October 21 that 77 Rohingyas died of different diseases between August 25 and October 21 and by now the figure must have swelled. Some 6,15,000 Rohingyas entered Bangladesh in the new influx what the United Nations called the world’s fastest-developing refugee emergency.
The new influx of refugees has totalled to 10.24 lakh entering Bangladesh since 1978.
Incontrovertibly, it is an unbearable economic and logistic burden thrust upon Bangladesh by Myanmar government run to all intents and purposes by Aung San Suu Kyi and the military.
Having been taught Philosophy—-which in essence deals with the fundamental nature of knowledge, principles of ethics, moral values, existence etc at St. Hugh’s College in England—- regrettably, alas, Suu Kyi did not learn that pogrom, persecution, mass murder, ethnic cleansing verging on genocide of the minority disadvantaged Rohingya Muslims are crimes against humanity.
She ought to have known that Ethnic cleansing—- a policy carried out by strong states to mould the demographic map—-is related to genocide, but ethnic cleansing is focused more closely than genocide on geography and on forced removal of ethnic or related groups from particular areas.
The greatest overlap or common characteristics between ethnic cleansing and genocide takes place when forced removal of population leads to a group’s destruction. [Vide The Oxford Genocide Studies edited by Donald Bloxham and A. Dirk Moses and published in May 26, 2010].
In her publicised speech full of untruth, trumped-up story and barefaced lie Suu Kyi—-reported to be an Islmophobic for her anti-Muslim statement—-brazenly trivialised and deprecated the anti-Rohingya pogrom characterised by arson, rape, shooting down and so forth perpetrated by the military and the Buddhists. Suu Kyi said:
“There had been no clashes or clearance operations in the northern state since 5 September; the government had made efforts in recent years to improve living conditions for all people in Rakhine including Muslims”.
Closing her eyes to numerous video footages of the BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Al Jazeera, Reuters, AP, AFP, DPA and thousands of words of news stories datelined Rakhaine in Myanmar, this so-called educated lady barefacedly said, “Most Muslims had decided to stay and that this indicated the situation was not so severe.” Suu Kyi parroted the military which says its operations in Rakhine are aimed at rooting out militants, and has repeatedly denied targeting civilians—-countering witnesses, over half a million refugees and journalists who have contested this.
Why not watch the print and video report on the spot in Rakhaine by Jonathan Head, the BBC’s Southeast Asia Correspondent, ‘A Muslim village was burning’, 7 September 2017 [bbc.com/news/ world-asia-41189564]?
Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi who has been stripped of her Oxford honour owing to her shameful stance on the Rohingya Muslims. A confirmed Muslim hater Islamophobic after her BBC interview with Mishal Husain, presenter of HARDTALK, last year, Suu Kyi said that she “needs ‘solid evidence’ of violence against Rohingya Muslims.”
Two years back the weekly Holiday congratulated Suu Kyi on her polls win and suggested that she resolve the Rohingya Muslim problem. This paper wrote, the Rohingyas of Arakan had supported Suu Kyi’s NLD candidates in the past and they won all the 23 seats of Arakan some years ago. But Rohingya Muslims’ loyalty, allegiance, courtesy and love have backfired now! [Vide Ms Suu Kyi’s victory vis-à-vis Rohingya Muslims, November 13, 2015.]
It is deplorable to see such a spineless namby-pamby Suu Kyi—-once-upon-a-time under house arrest for 15 years in her home spending her time playing on the piano, reading, and occasionally receiving foreign dignitaries like Hilary Clinton as well as erstwhile top Myanmar leaders General Than Shwe and General Khin Nyunt—-who has stooped so low as to endorsing falsehood. Let alone human values, she has climbed onto the bandwagon of the bloodthirsty military.
This is as a consequence of Suu Kyi’s abominably indefensible sheer lust for subordinate power under the military. The Rohingya have been referred to as the world’s “most friendless people” and are undoubtedly in need of protection. For decades, they have faced persecution and been denied citizenship in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
Though 20-year-old Malala Yusufzai, the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, on 3 September 2017 told her fellow Nobel laureate, 72-year-old Suu Kyi that the “world is waiting” for her to act over unrest that has seen tens of thousands of people flee into neighbouring Bangladesh”.
But insensitive stone-hearted Suu Kyi has not budged an inch.
Genocide, as theorists say, does not of necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation. The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, and the economic existence of national groups.
This is exactly what is happening in Myanmar concerning which the government in Dhaka, instead of seeking directive from New Delhi, should put its foot down and calibrate or recalibrate its own book of diplomacy and foreign policy based on the credo:
Friendship to all, malice to none.
http://www.weeklyholiday.net/Homepage/Pages/UserHome.aspx?ID=4&date=0#Tid=15074
Banglar Bir
SENIOR MEMBER
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- Mar 19, 2006
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- 7,805
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রোহিঙ্গা সংকট
Skilful Myanmar,how will Bangladesh react?
কৌশলী মিয়ানমার, বাংলাদেশ কী করবে?
আলী রীয়াজ
১১ নভেম্বর ২০১৭
রোহিঙ্গা শরণার্থীদের ভবিষ্যৎ বিষয়ে উদ্বিগ্ন হওয়ার যথেষ্ট কারণ রয়েছেরোহিঙ্গা সংকটের বিষয়ে জাতিসংঘ নিরাপত্তা পরিষদের সভাপতির দেওয়া বিবৃতির পরিপ্রেক্ষিতে মিয়ানমার সরকারের প্রতিক্রিয়া আমাদের গুরুত্বের সঙ্গে বিবেচনা করা দরকার।
এই বক্তব্যকে কেবল তাৎক্ষণিক প্রতিক্রিয়া বা একটি সরকারি ভাষ্য বলে বিচার করা ঠিক হবে না। মিয়ানমার সরকারের বক্তব্যে এ বিষয়ে তাদের দীর্ঘমেয়াদি দৃষ্টিভঙ্গি সুস্পষ্ট এবং এতে করে বাংলাদেশে আশ্রয় নেওয়া ছয় থেকে সাত লাখ রোহিঙ্গা শরণার্থীর ভবিষ্যৎ বিষয়ে উদ্বিগ্ন হওয়ার যথেষ্ট কারণ রয়েছে।
মিয়ানমারের বিবৃতিটির বিপজ্জনক দিকগুলো বোঝার জন্য প্রথমে আমাদের জাতিসংঘ নিরাপত্তা পরিষদের সভাপতির বিবৃতির কিছু দিক আলোচনা করা দরকার।
গত সোমবার জাতিসংঘের নিরাপত্তা পরিষদের বৈঠকে পরিষদের সভাপতির একটি বিবৃতি সর্বসম্মতভাবে গৃহীত হয়েছে। ফলে এটি জাতিসংঘের নিরাপত্তা পরিষদের অবস্থান বলেই বিবেচিত হবে। ওই বিবৃতিতে মিয়ানমার সরকারের প্রতি রাখাইনে রোহিঙ্গা জনগোষ্ঠীর ওপর নৃশংসতা বন্ধের জোরালো দাবিতে সহিংসতায় কার্যত মিয়ানমারের নিরাপত্তা বাহিনীর সংশ্লিষ্টতার কথাও বলা হয়েছে।
শরণার্থীদের ফিরিয়ে নেওয়ার জন্য আহ্বান জানানোর পাশাপাশি কূটনৈতিক ভাষায় মিয়ানমারকে হুঁশিয়ার করা হয়েছে এই বলে, যেন দেশটি ‘অতিরিক্ত শক্তি প্রয়োগ’ না করে।
লক্ষণীয় যে, রাখাইনে ‘বেসামরিক শাসন পুনঃপ্রতিষ্ঠা’ এবং ‘আইনের শাসন নিশ্চিত’ করতে বলা হয়েছে, যাতে স্পষ্ট যে মিয়ানমারের পক্ষ থেকে যে দাবি করা হয়েছিল যে সেনা অভিযান শেষ হয়ে গেছে এবং সম্প্রতি অং সান সু চি ওই এলাকা সফর করে স্বাভাবিক অবস্থা ফিরে এসেছে বলে যে ধারণা দিতে চেয়েছিলেন, সেটা আন্তর্জাতিক সমাজের কাছে গ্রহণযোগ্য হয়নি।
পরিষদ মহাসচিব আন্তোনিও গুতেরেসের প্রতি আহ্বান জানিয়েছে একজন বিশেষ উপদেষ্টা নিয়োগের জন্য, যিনি আগামী ৩০ দিনের মধ্যে মহাসচিবের কাছে বিস্তারিত রিপোর্ট পেশ করবেন। এতে করে এটা সহজেই বোধগম্য যে চীন ও রাশিয়ার কারণে জাতিসংঘ নিরাপত্তা পরিষদের পক্ষ থেকে এই মুহূর্তে কোনো রকম পদক্ষেপ নেওয়া সম্ভব না হলেও নিরাপত্তা পরিষদে বিষয়টি এখানেই শেষ হয়ে যাচ্ছে না।
নিরাপত্তা পরিষদের সভাপতির বিবৃতিতে বাংলাদেশ ও মিয়ানমারের পক্ষ থেকে দ্বিপক্ষীয়ভাবে গৃহীত পদক্ষেপগুলোর, বিশেষত যৌথ ওয়ার্কিং গ্রুপ প্রতিষ্ঠার প্রশংসা করা হলেও এই ওয়ার্কিং গ্রুপে জাতিসংঘের শরণার্থীবিষয়ক হাইকমিশনারকে (ইউএনএইচসিআর) আমন্ত্রণ জানাতে অনুরোধ করা হয়েছে। কিন্তু এ ধরনের প্রচেষ্টার কোনো লক্ষণ এখনো নেই; অক্টোবরের গোড়াতে আমি এ বিষয়ে দৃষ্টি আকর্ষণের চেষ্টা করে বলেছিলাম যে ‘জাতিসংঘের সংস্থাগুলোর প্রত্যক্ষ, কার্যকর ও নীতিনির্ধারণী পর্যায়ে সংশ্লিষ্টতা ছাড়া দ্বিপক্ষীয় আলোচনা ও পদক্ষেপ বাংলাদেশের জন্য ইতিবাচক হবে বলে মনে হয় না।’ (‘আলোচনায় বাংলাদেশ কী পাবে?’ প্রথম আলো, ৫ অক্টোবর ২০১৭)। বিবৃতিতে সবার সমান নাগরিকত্বের নিশ্চয়তা বিধানের কথা বলা হয়েছে।
এই বিবৃতির বিষয়ে জাতিসংঘে মিয়ানমারের প্রতিনিধি সোমবারই আপত্তি জানিয়েছিলেন। বুধবার মিয়ানমার সরকারের পক্ষ থেকে রাজধানী নেপিডোতে দেওয়া বক্তব্যে একে ‘ক্ষতিকর বিবৃতি’ বলে বর্ণনা করা হয়েছে। মিয়ানমারের বিবৃতিতে বলা হয়েছে, জাতিসংঘের বিবৃতির কারণে বাংলাদেশ ও মিয়ানমারের ‘দ্বিপক্ষীয় আলোচনায় বিরূপ প্রভাব’ পড়তে পারে।
বলা হয়েছে, বাংলাদেশ ও মিয়ানমারের মধ্যে আলোচনা হচ্ছে এবং ওই আলোচনাকে ‘নির্ঝঞ্ঝাট’ এবং ‘দ্রুতগতিতে’ চলা বলে বর্ণনা করা হয়েছে। বিবৃতিতে বাংলাদেশ ও মিয়ানমারের ইতিমধ্যকার আলোচনায় যে সাফল্যের কথা বলা হয়েছে, সেখানে রোহিঙ্গা প্রসঙ্গ অনুপস্থিত। বলা হয়েছে, ‘বাংলাদেশের স্বরাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী মিয়ানমার কর্তৃপক্ষের সঙ্গে ২৩ থেকে ২৫ অক্টোবর বৈঠকে বসেছিলেন। তাঁরা চুক্তিতে পৌঁছেছেন এবং দুটি গুরুত্বপূর্ণ কাগজে সই করেছেন, যা ইতিবাচকভাবে দুই দেশের সীমান্ত নিরাপত্তায় প্রভাব ফেলবে।’ (প্রথম আলো, ৮ নভেম্বর ২০১৭)।
কিন্তু এই আলোচনার অগ্রগতির বিষয়ে মিয়ানমার থেকে ফিরে বাংলাদেশের স্বরাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী আসাদুজ্জামান খান কামাল যা বলেছেন, তা খুব আশাব্যঞ্জক নয়।
২৭ অক্টোবর স্বরাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী বলেন, ‘সমস্যা সমাধানে একটি জয়েন্ট ওয়ার্কিং গ্রুপ গঠন করার কথা ছিল। কিন্তু ১০ দফায় একমত না হওয়ায় তা গঠন করা সম্ভব হয়নি।’ তিনি বলেন, ‘তারা এটাকে কাটাছেঁড়া করেছে। পরবর্তী সময়ে আমাদের কাছে ১০ দফার একটি খসড়া কপি পাঠানো হয়েছে। আমরা তা সংশোধন করে পাঠাব।’ (বাংলা ট্রিবিউন, ২৭ অক্টোবর ২০১৭)। শুধু তা–ই নয়, মিয়ানমারের পক্ষ থেকে বাংলাদেশের বিরুদ্ধে অভিযোগ করা হয়েছে যে বাংলাদেশের কারণে শরণার্থী প্রত্যাবাসন বিলম্বিত হচ্ছে এবং বাংলাদেশ বিদেশি সাহায্য পাওয়ার জন্য তা করছে (৩১ অক্টোবর রয়টার্সের প্রতিবেদন)।
বাংলাদেশের স্বরাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী যদিও দ্বিপক্ষীয়ভাবে সমাধানের আশাবাদের কথা বলছেন, কিন্তু তিনিই আমাদের জানিয়েছেন যে কফি আনান কমিশনের রিপোর্ট বাস্তবায়নের প্রশ্নে মিয়ানমার ইতিমধ্যে ভিন্ন অবস্থান নিয়েছে এবং বাংলাদেশের সঙ্গে সম্মত যৌথ বিবৃতি থেকে এই প্রসঙ্গ বাদ দিয়েছে (যুগান্তর, ২৮ অক্টোবর ২০১৭)। ফলে বুধবার মিয়ানমারের পক্ষ থেকে যে বিবৃতি দেওয়া হয়েছে, তাকে আলাদাভাবে না দেখে দেখতে হবে মিয়ানমার সরকারের অবস্থানগুলোর ধারাবাহিকতায়।
এই বিবৃতি এবং ইদানীংকালে মিয়ানমারের পক্ষ থেকে আন্তর্জাতিক পর্যায়ে যেসব প্রচেষ্টা নেওয়া হয়েছে, সেগুলোকে বিবেচনায় নিলে দেখা যায় যে মিয়ানমার রোহিঙ্গা সমস্যার ব্যাপারে বিভিন্ন ধরনের কৌশল গ্রহণ করেছে।
আন্তর্জাতিকভাবে মিয়ানমারের ওপর একধরনের চাপ আছে। মার্কিন পররাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী রেক্স টিলারসনের ১৫ নভেম্বর মিয়ানমার সফর, মার্কিন সিনেটের পররাষ্ট্রবিষয়ক কমিটির একটি প্রতিনিধিদলের ১৮ নভেম্বর বাংলাদেশ সফরের যে কথা রয়েছে, এটা তার প্রমাণ।
২ নভেম্বর মার্কিন সিনেটে উত্থাপিত একটি বিলে মিয়ানমারের সামরিক বাহিনীর সাহায্য এবং তার সঙ্গে সহযোগিতা সীমিত করতে বলা হয়েছে এবং হোয়াইট হাউসকে মিয়ানমারের সেনা কর্মকর্তাদের চিহ্নিত করতে বলা হয়েছে, যাদের ওপর ভিসা নিষেধাজ্ঞা আরোপ করা হবে।
এ ছাড়া পোপ ফ্রান্সিস মিয়ানমার সফর করবেন এই মাসের শেষে। ইতিমধ্যে পোপ রোহিঙ্গাদের বিষয়ে তাঁর সমর্থনসূচক অবস্থানের কথা বলেছেন।
এই প্রেক্ষাপটে আন্তর্জাতিক পর্যায়ে মিয়ানমারের পক্ষ থেকে যেসব কথা বলা হচ্ছে, তাতে পাঁচটি কৌশল স্পষ্ট হয়ে উঠেছে। ওয়াশিংটনসহ অন্যত্র বিভিন্ন আনুষ্ঠানিক ও অনানুষ্ঠানিক ফোরামে মিয়ানমারের পক্ষে যাঁরা কথা বলছেন, তাঁদের কথায় সেসব বিষয় উঠে আসছে।
প্রথমটি হচ্ছে দীর্ঘসূত্রতা; বলা হচ্ছে যে মিয়ানমার তার দেশের নাগরিকদের ফেরত নিতে চায় এবং এ বিষয়ে অং সান সু চি নিজেই উদ্যোগী হচ্ছেন; কিন্তু সমস্যার আশু কোনো সমাধান নেই। অতিদ্রুত শরণার্থীদের ফেরত নেওয়া যাবে না; এর জন্য সময়ের দরকার এবং আন্তর্জাতিক সমাজকে ধৈর্য ধারণ করতে হবে। মিয়ানমার আশা করছে যে এখন সারা বিশ্বে যতটা উৎসাহ আছে, ধীরে ধীরে তাতে ভাটা পড়বে এবং মিয়ানমারের আন্তর্জাতিক বন্ধুরা এ বিষয়ে সমালোচনাকে আগামী দিনে আরও দুর্বল করতে পারবেন।
দ্বিতীয়ত, রোহিঙ্গা সমস্যা দ্বিপক্ষীয় সমস্যা এবং এর আন্তর্জাতিকীকরণ সমাধানের পথে বাধা তৈরি করবে। মিয়ানমারের গত বুধবারের বিবৃতির প্রধান দিকই হচ্ছে এটি। মিয়ানমার যেহেতু আন্তর্জাতিক কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠানের সংযুক্তি ছাড়াই বাংলাদেশের সঙ্গে ‘ঐকমত্য’ তৈরি করতে পেরেছে, সেহেতু এর সমাধানও সেভাবেই করা যাবে।
তৃতীয়ত, মিয়ানমার বলতে চাইছে যে রোহিঙ্গা সমস্যার মূল কারণ রাজনৈতিক নয়, অর্থনৈতিক; আরাকানে আরও বেশি অর্থনৈতিক উন্নয়ন কর্মসূচি গ্রহণ করলে বিরাজমান পরিস্থিতির অবসান হবে।
এই কৌশলের অংশ হিসেবেই ১৭ অক্টোবর ‘দ্য ইউনিয়ন এন্টারপ্রাইজ মেকানিজম ফর হিউম্যানিটারিয়ান অ্যাসিস্ট্যান্স, রিক্রুটমেন্ট অ্যান্ড ডেভেলপমেন্ট ইন রাখাইন’ (যা সংক্ষেপে ‘দ্য ইউনিয়ন এন্টারপ্রাইজ’ বলে পরিচিত) নামে একটি প্রতিষ্ঠান গড়ে তোলা হয়েছে। উদ্বাস্তুদের সহায়তা প্রদান, তাদের প্রত্যাবর্তন তদারকি এবং তাদের পুনরায় বসতি স্থাপনে সহায়তাকে এর লক্ষ্য হিসেবে ঘোষণা করা হয়।
দেশের শীর্ষ ব্যবসায়ীরা এর আওতায় মিয়ানমার সরকারের প্রতিশ্রুত বিনিয়োগের বাইরে অবকাঠামো এবং সামাজিক উন্নয়ন খাতে ১ কোটি ৩০ লাখ ডলার ব্যয় করবেন বলে প্রতিশ্রুতি দিয়েছেন। দেশের বাইরের সংগঠনগুলোকে বলা হচ্ছে যে তারা যেন রাখাইনে দেওয়া তাদের সাহায্য এই প্রতিষ্ঠানের হাতে তুলে দেয়। এই উদ্যোগের লক্ষ্য এটা দেখানো যে সরকার সমস্যা মোকাবিলা করছে এবং সেনাবাহিনীকে বাদ দিয়ে বেসামরিক উদ্যোগেই তা করা হচ্ছে। জাতিসংঘ নিরাপত্তা পরিষদের সভাপতির বিবৃতির ভাষা ও দৃষ্টিভঙ্গিতে কঠোর মনোভাব থাকলেও জাতিসংঘও আশু সমাধানের একটি উপকরণ হিসেবে ‘ইউনিয়ন এন্টারপ্রাইজ মেকানিজম’কে বিবেচনা করছে।
চতুর্থ কৌশল হচ্ছে, মিয়ানমারের ওপর চাপ প্রদানে সতর্কতা অবলম্বনের পরামর্শ দেওয়া। এই ভাষ্য অনুযায়ী, অং সান সু চির ওপর বেশি চাপ প্রয়োগ করলে তিনি সেনাবাহিনীর কাছে ক্ষমতা হারাতে পারেন, যা পরিস্থিতির আরও অবনতি ঘটাবে।
এমনও বলা হয়ে থাকে যে সেপ্টেম্বর মাসে অং সান সু চির জাতিসংঘের সাধারণ পরিষদের বৈঠকে যোগ না দেওয়ার কারণ হচ্ছে, তাঁর অনুপস্থিতিতে সামরিক বাহিনী জরুরি আইন জারি করে ফেলতে পারে এমন আশঙ্কা। সামরিক বাহিনী থেকে নিয়োগপ্রাপ্ত ভাইস প্রেসিডেন্ট মিন্ত সুয়েকে সামনে রেখেই সেনাবাহিনীর পক্ষে সেটা করা সম্ভব ছিল। কেননা, সে সময় প্রেসিডেন্ট চিকিৎসাধীন ছিলেন।
পঞ্চম কৌশল হচ্ছে, রোহিঙ্গা সমস্যার আন্তর্জাতিক প্রতিক্রিয়াকে এমনভাবে উপস্থাপন করা যে এ নিয়ে পশ্চিমা দেশগুলো অতিরিক্ত প্রচার চালাচ্ছে এবং অন্যদের এ বিষয়ে উদ্বেগ নেই।
এটি দেখানোর অংশ হিসেবেই অং সান সু চি এই সপ্তাহান্তে ফিলিপাইনের ম্যানিলায় অনুষ্ঠেয় আসিয়ান শীর্ষ বৈঠকে অংশ নেবেন।
রোহিঙ্গা প্রশ্নে আসিয়ান সদস্যদের ঐকমত্য না থাকায় এই বৈঠকে এ প্রসঙ্গ আলোচিত হবে না। সু চি সপ্তাহের আরও পরের দিকে এশিয়া প্যাসিফিক ইকোনমিক কো-অপারেশন বা এপেকের শীর্ষ বৈঠকের সময় ভিয়েতনামের দানাংয়ে যাবেন, যদিও মিয়ানমার এপেকের সদস্য নয়। এ ছাড়া ২০ ও ২১ তারিখে নেপিডোতে আসেমের পররাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রীদের বৈঠকে রোহিঙ্গা সমস্যার রাজনৈতিক দিক আলোচনার সম্ভাবনা নেই।
মিয়ানমার মনে করে যে এগুলো প্রমাণ করবে রোহিঙ্গা সমস্যার বিষয়ে উদ্বেগ কম দেশেরই আছে।
মিয়ানমার এসব কৌশলে কতটা সফল হবে, সেটা সময়ের বিষয়, কিন্তু এখন তার চেয়েও বেশি গুরুত্বপূর্ণ হচ্ছে, এ ধরনের কৌশলের বিপরীতে বাংলাদেশের পক্ষ থেকে কী ধরনের উদ্যোগ নেওয়া হচ্ছে।
আলী রীয়াজ: যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের ইলিনয় স্টেট ইউনিভার্সিটির রাজনীতি ও সরকার বিভাগের অধ্যাপক।
http://www.prothom-alo.com/opinion/article/1362931/কৌশলী-মিয়ানমার-বাংলাদেশ-কী-করবে
Skilful Myanmar,how will Bangladesh react?
কৌশলী মিয়ানমার, বাংলাদেশ কী করবে?
আলী রীয়াজ
১১ নভেম্বর ২০১৭
রোহিঙ্গা শরণার্থীদের ভবিষ্যৎ বিষয়ে উদ্বিগ্ন হওয়ার যথেষ্ট কারণ রয়েছেরোহিঙ্গা সংকটের বিষয়ে জাতিসংঘ নিরাপত্তা পরিষদের সভাপতির দেওয়া বিবৃতির পরিপ্রেক্ষিতে মিয়ানমার সরকারের প্রতিক্রিয়া আমাদের গুরুত্বের সঙ্গে বিবেচনা করা দরকার।
এই বক্তব্যকে কেবল তাৎক্ষণিক প্রতিক্রিয়া বা একটি সরকারি ভাষ্য বলে বিচার করা ঠিক হবে না। মিয়ানমার সরকারের বক্তব্যে এ বিষয়ে তাদের দীর্ঘমেয়াদি দৃষ্টিভঙ্গি সুস্পষ্ট এবং এতে করে বাংলাদেশে আশ্রয় নেওয়া ছয় থেকে সাত লাখ রোহিঙ্গা শরণার্থীর ভবিষ্যৎ বিষয়ে উদ্বিগ্ন হওয়ার যথেষ্ট কারণ রয়েছে।
মিয়ানমারের বিবৃতিটির বিপজ্জনক দিকগুলো বোঝার জন্য প্রথমে আমাদের জাতিসংঘ নিরাপত্তা পরিষদের সভাপতির বিবৃতির কিছু দিক আলোচনা করা দরকার।
গত সোমবার জাতিসংঘের নিরাপত্তা পরিষদের বৈঠকে পরিষদের সভাপতির একটি বিবৃতি সর্বসম্মতভাবে গৃহীত হয়েছে। ফলে এটি জাতিসংঘের নিরাপত্তা পরিষদের অবস্থান বলেই বিবেচিত হবে। ওই বিবৃতিতে মিয়ানমার সরকারের প্রতি রাখাইনে রোহিঙ্গা জনগোষ্ঠীর ওপর নৃশংসতা বন্ধের জোরালো দাবিতে সহিংসতায় কার্যত মিয়ানমারের নিরাপত্তা বাহিনীর সংশ্লিষ্টতার কথাও বলা হয়েছে।
শরণার্থীদের ফিরিয়ে নেওয়ার জন্য আহ্বান জানানোর পাশাপাশি কূটনৈতিক ভাষায় মিয়ানমারকে হুঁশিয়ার করা হয়েছে এই বলে, যেন দেশটি ‘অতিরিক্ত শক্তি প্রয়োগ’ না করে।
লক্ষণীয় যে, রাখাইনে ‘বেসামরিক শাসন পুনঃপ্রতিষ্ঠা’ এবং ‘আইনের শাসন নিশ্চিত’ করতে বলা হয়েছে, যাতে স্পষ্ট যে মিয়ানমারের পক্ষ থেকে যে দাবি করা হয়েছিল যে সেনা অভিযান শেষ হয়ে গেছে এবং সম্প্রতি অং সান সু চি ওই এলাকা সফর করে স্বাভাবিক অবস্থা ফিরে এসেছে বলে যে ধারণা দিতে চেয়েছিলেন, সেটা আন্তর্জাতিক সমাজের কাছে গ্রহণযোগ্য হয়নি।
পরিষদ মহাসচিব আন্তোনিও গুতেরেসের প্রতি আহ্বান জানিয়েছে একজন বিশেষ উপদেষ্টা নিয়োগের জন্য, যিনি আগামী ৩০ দিনের মধ্যে মহাসচিবের কাছে বিস্তারিত রিপোর্ট পেশ করবেন। এতে করে এটা সহজেই বোধগম্য যে চীন ও রাশিয়ার কারণে জাতিসংঘ নিরাপত্তা পরিষদের পক্ষ থেকে এই মুহূর্তে কোনো রকম পদক্ষেপ নেওয়া সম্ভব না হলেও নিরাপত্তা পরিষদে বিষয়টি এখানেই শেষ হয়ে যাচ্ছে না।
নিরাপত্তা পরিষদের সভাপতির বিবৃতিতে বাংলাদেশ ও মিয়ানমারের পক্ষ থেকে দ্বিপক্ষীয়ভাবে গৃহীত পদক্ষেপগুলোর, বিশেষত যৌথ ওয়ার্কিং গ্রুপ প্রতিষ্ঠার প্রশংসা করা হলেও এই ওয়ার্কিং গ্রুপে জাতিসংঘের শরণার্থীবিষয়ক হাইকমিশনারকে (ইউএনএইচসিআর) আমন্ত্রণ জানাতে অনুরোধ করা হয়েছে। কিন্তু এ ধরনের প্রচেষ্টার কোনো লক্ষণ এখনো নেই; অক্টোবরের গোড়াতে আমি এ বিষয়ে দৃষ্টি আকর্ষণের চেষ্টা করে বলেছিলাম যে ‘জাতিসংঘের সংস্থাগুলোর প্রত্যক্ষ, কার্যকর ও নীতিনির্ধারণী পর্যায়ে সংশ্লিষ্টতা ছাড়া দ্বিপক্ষীয় আলোচনা ও পদক্ষেপ বাংলাদেশের জন্য ইতিবাচক হবে বলে মনে হয় না।’ (‘আলোচনায় বাংলাদেশ কী পাবে?’ প্রথম আলো, ৫ অক্টোবর ২০১৭)। বিবৃতিতে সবার সমান নাগরিকত্বের নিশ্চয়তা বিধানের কথা বলা হয়েছে।
এই বিবৃতির বিষয়ে জাতিসংঘে মিয়ানমারের প্রতিনিধি সোমবারই আপত্তি জানিয়েছিলেন। বুধবার মিয়ানমার সরকারের পক্ষ থেকে রাজধানী নেপিডোতে দেওয়া বক্তব্যে একে ‘ক্ষতিকর বিবৃতি’ বলে বর্ণনা করা হয়েছে। মিয়ানমারের বিবৃতিতে বলা হয়েছে, জাতিসংঘের বিবৃতির কারণে বাংলাদেশ ও মিয়ানমারের ‘দ্বিপক্ষীয় আলোচনায় বিরূপ প্রভাব’ পড়তে পারে।
বলা হয়েছে, বাংলাদেশ ও মিয়ানমারের মধ্যে আলোচনা হচ্ছে এবং ওই আলোচনাকে ‘নির্ঝঞ্ঝাট’ এবং ‘দ্রুতগতিতে’ চলা বলে বর্ণনা করা হয়েছে। বিবৃতিতে বাংলাদেশ ও মিয়ানমারের ইতিমধ্যকার আলোচনায় যে সাফল্যের কথা বলা হয়েছে, সেখানে রোহিঙ্গা প্রসঙ্গ অনুপস্থিত। বলা হয়েছে, ‘বাংলাদেশের স্বরাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী মিয়ানমার কর্তৃপক্ষের সঙ্গে ২৩ থেকে ২৫ অক্টোবর বৈঠকে বসেছিলেন। তাঁরা চুক্তিতে পৌঁছেছেন এবং দুটি গুরুত্বপূর্ণ কাগজে সই করেছেন, যা ইতিবাচকভাবে দুই দেশের সীমান্ত নিরাপত্তায় প্রভাব ফেলবে।’ (প্রথম আলো, ৮ নভেম্বর ২০১৭)।
কিন্তু এই আলোচনার অগ্রগতির বিষয়ে মিয়ানমার থেকে ফিরে বাংলাদেশের স্বরাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী আসাদুজ্জামান খান কামাল যা বলেছেন, তা খুব আশাব্যঞ্জক নয়।
২৭ অক্টোবর স্বরাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী বলেন, ‘সমস্যা সমাধানে একটি জয়েন্ট ওয়ার্কিং গ্রুপ গঠন করার কথা ছিল। কিন্তু ১০ দফায় একমত না হওয়ায় তা গঠন করা সম্ভব হয়নি।’ তিনি বলেন, ‘তারা এটাকে কাটাছেঁড়া করেছে। পরবর্তী সময়ে আমাদের কাছে ১০ দফার একটি খসড়া কপি পাঠানো হয়েছে। আমরা তা সংশোধন করে পাঠাব।’ (বাংলা ট্রিবিউন, ২৭ অক্টোবর ২০১৭)। শুধু তা–ই নয়, মিয়ানমারের পক্ষ থেকে বাংলাদেশের বিরুদ্ধে অভিযোগ করা হয়েছে যে বাংলাদেশের কারণে শরণার্থী প্রত্যাবাসন বিলম্বিত হচ্ছে এবং বাংলাদেশ বিদেশি সাহায্য পাওয়ার জন্য তা করছে (৩১ অক্টোবর রয়টার্সের প্রতিবেদন)।
বাংলাদেশের স্বরাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী যদিও দ্বিপক্ষীয়ভাবে সমাধানের আশাবাদের কথা বলছেন, কিন্তু তিনিই আমাদের জানিয়েছেন যে কফি আনান কমিশনের রিপোর্ট বাস্তবায়নের প্রশ্নে মিয়ানমার ইতিমধ্যে ভিন্ন অবস্থান নিয়েছে এবং বাংলাদেশের সঙ্গে সম্মত যৌথ বিবৃতি থেকে এই প্রসঙ্গ বাদ দিয়েছে (যুগান্তর, ২৮ অক্টোবর ২০১৭)। ফলে বুধবার মিয়ানমারের পক্ষ থেকে যে বিবৃতি দেওয়া হয়েছে, তাকে আলাদাভাবে না দেখে দেখতে হবে মিয়ানমার সরকারের অবস্থানগুলোর ধারাবাহিকতায়।
এই বিবৃতি এবং ইদানীংকালে মিয়ানমারের পক্ষ থেকে আন্তর্জাতিক পর্যায়ে যেসব প্রচেষ্টা নেওয়া হয়েছে, সেগুলোকে বিবেচনায় নিলে দেখা যায় যে মিয়ানমার রোহিঙ্গা সমস্যার ব্যাপারে বিভিন্ন ধরনের কৌশল গ্রহণ করেছে।
আন্তর্জাতিকভাবে মিয়ানমারের ওপর একধরনের চাপ আছে। মার্কিন পররাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রী রেক্স টিলারসনের ১৫ নভেম্বর মিয়ানমার সফর, মার্কিন সিনেটের পররাষ্ট্রবিষয়ক কমিটির একটি প্রতিনিধিদলের ১৮ নভেম্বর বাংলাদেশ সফরের যে কথা রয়েছে, এটা তার প্রমাণ।
২ নভেম্বর মার্কিন সিনেটে উত্থাপিত একটি বিলে মিয়ানমারের সামরিক বাহিনীর সাহায্য এবং তার সঙ্গে সহযোগিতা সীমিত করতে বলা হয়েছে এবং হোয়াইট হাউসকে মিয়ানমারের সেনা কর্মকর্তাদের চিহ্নিত করতে বলা হয়েছে, যাদের ওপর ভিসা নিষেধাজ্ঞা আরোপ করা হবে।
এ ছাড়া পোপ ফ্রান্সিস মিয়ানমার সফর করবেন এই মাসের শেষে। ইতিমধ্যে পোপ রোহিঙ্গাদের বিষয়ে তাঁর সমর্থনসূচক অবস্থানের কথা বলেছেন।
এই প্রেক্ষাপটে আন্তর্জাতিক পর্যায়ে মিয়ানমারের পক্ষ থেকে যেসব কথা বলা হচ্ছে, তাতে পাঁচটি কৌশল স্পষ্ট হয়ে উঠেছে। ওয়াশিংটনসহ অন্যত্র বিভিন্ন আনুষ্ঠানিক ও অনানুষ্ঠানিক ফোরামে মিয়ানমারের পক্ষে যাঁরা কথা বলছেন, তাঁদের কথায় সেসব বিষয় উঠে আসছে।
প্রথমটি হচ্ছে দীর্ঘসূত্রতা; বলা হচ্ছে যে মিয়ানমার তার দেশের নাগরিকদের ফেরত নিতে চায় এবং এ বিষয়ে অং সান সু চি নিজেই উদ্যোগী হচ্ছেন; কিন্তু সমস্যার আশু কোনো সমাধান নেই। অতিদ্রুত শরণার্থীদের ফেরত নেওয়া যাবে না; এর জন্য সময়ের দরকার এবং আন্তর্জাতিক সমাজকে ধৈর্য ধারণ করতে হবে। মিয়ানমার আশা করছে যে এখন সারা বিশ্বে যতটা উৎসাহ আছে, ধীরে ধীরে তাতে ভাটা পড়বে এবং মিয়ানমারের আন্তর্জাতিক বন্ধুরা এ বিষয়ে সমালোচনাকে আগামী দিনে আরও দুর্বল করতে পারবেন।
দ্বিতীয়ত, রোহিঙ্গা সমস্যা দ্বিপক্ষীয় সমস্যা এবং এর আন্তর্জাতিকীকরণ সমাধানের পথে বাধা তৈরি করবে। মিয়ানমারের গত বুধবারের বিবৃতির প্রধান দিকই হচ্ছে এটি। মিয়ানমার যেহেতু আন্তর্জাতিক কোনো প্রতিষ্ঠানের সংযুক্তি ছাড়াই বাংলাদেশের সঙ্গে ‘ঐকমত্য’ তৈরি করতে পেরেছে, সেহেতু এর সমাধানও সেভাবেই করা যাবে।
তৃতীয়ত, মিয়ানমার বলতে চাইছে যে রোহিঙ্গা সমস্যার মূল কারণ রাজনৈতিক নয়, অর্থনৈতিক; আরাকানে আরও বেশি অর্থনৈতিক উন্নয়ন কর্মসূচি গ্রহণ করলে বিরাজমান পরিস্থিতির অবসান হবে।
এই কৌশলের অংশ হিসেবেই ১৭ অক্টোবর ‘দ্য ইউনিয়ন এন্টারপ্রাইজ মেকানিজম ফর হিউম্যানিটারিয়ান অ্যাসিস্ট্যান্স, রিক্রুটমেন্ট অ্যান্ড ডেভেলপমেন্ট ইন রাখাইন’ (যা সংক্ষেপে ‘দ্য ইউনিয়ন এন্টারপ্রাইজ’ বলে পরিচিত) নামে একটি প্রতিষ্ঠান গড়ে তোলা হয়েছে। উদ্বাস্তুদের সহায়তা প্রদান, তাদের প্রত্যাবর্তন তদারকি এবং তাদের পুনরায় বসতি স্থাপনে সহায়তাকে এর লক্ষ্য হিসেবে ঘোষণা করা হয়।
দেশের শীর্ষ ব্যবসায়ীরা এর আওতায় মিয়ানমার সরকারের প্রতিশ্রুত বিনিয়োগের বাইরে অবকাঠামো এবং সামাজিক উন্নয়ন খাতে ১ কোটি ৩০ লাখ ডলার ব্যয় করবেন বলে প্রতিশ্রুতি দিয়েছেন। দেশের বাইরের সংগঠনগুলোকে বলা হচ্ছে যে তারা যেন রাখাইনে দেওয়া তাদের সাহায্য এই প্রতিষ্ঠানের হাতে তুলে দেয়। এই উদ্যোগের লক্ষ্য এটা দেখানো যে সরকার সমস্যা মোকাবিলা করছে এবং সেনাবাহিনীকে বাদ দিয়ে বেসামরিক উদ্যোগেই তা করা হচ্ছে। জাতিসংঘ নিরাপত্তা পরিষদের সভাপতির বিবৃতির ভাষা ও দৃষ্টিভঙ্গিতে কঠোর মনোভাব থাকলেও জাতিসংঘও আশু সমাধানের একটি উপকরণ হিসেবে ‘ইউনিয়ন এন্টারপ্রাইজ মেকানিজম’কে বিবেচনা করছে।
চতুর্থ কৌশল হচ্ছে, মিয়ানমারের ওপর চাপ প্রদানে সতর্কতা অবলম্বনের পরামর্শ দেওয়া। এই ভাষ্য অনুযায়ী, অং সান সু চির ওপর বেশি চাপ প্রয়োগ করলে তিনি সেনাবাহিনীর কাছে ক্ষমতা হারাতে পারেন, যা পরিস্থিতির আরও অবনতি ঘটাবে।
এমনও বলা হয়ে থাকে যে সেপ্টেম্বর মাসে অং সান সু চির জাতিসংঘের সাধারণ পরিষদের বৈঠকে যোগ না দেওয়ার কারণ হচ্ছে, তাঁর অনুপস্থিতিতে সামরিক বাহিনী জরুরি আইন জারি করে ফেলতে পারে এমন আশঙ্কা। সামরিক বাহিনী থেকে নিয়োগপ্রাপ্ত ভাইস প্রেসিডেন্ট মিন্ত সুয়েকে সামনে রেখেই সেনাবাহিনীর পক্ষে সেটা করা সম্ভব ছিল। কেননা, সে সময় প্রেসিডেন্ট চিকিৎসাধীন ছিলেন।
পঞ্চম কৌশল হচ্ছে, রোহিঙ্গা সমস্যার আন্তর্জাতিক প্রতিক্রিয়াকে এমনভাবে উপস্থাপন করা যে এ নিয়ে পশ্চিমা দেশগুলো অতিরিক্ত প্রচার চালাচ্ছে এবং অন্যদের এ বিষয়ে উদ্বেগ নেই।
এটি দেখানোর অংশ হিসেবেই অং সান সু চি এই সপ্তাহান্তে ফিলিপাইনের ম্যানিলায় অনুষ্ঠেয় আসিয়ান শীর্ষ বৈঠকে অংশ নেবেন।
রোহিঙ্গা প্রশ্নে আসিয়ান সদস্যদের ঐকমত্য না থাকায় এই বৈঠকে এ প্রসঙ্গ আলোচিত হবে না। সু চি সপ্তাহের আরও পরের দিকে এশিয়া প্যাসিফিক ইকোনমিক কো-অপারেশন বা এপেকের শীর্ষ বৈঠকের সময় ভিয়েতনামের দানাংয়ে যাবেন, যদিও মিয়ানমার এপেকের সদস্য নয়। এ ছাড়া ২০ ও ২১ তারিখে নেপিডোতে আসেমের পররাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রীদের বৈঠকে রোহিঙ্গা সমস্যার রাজনৈতিক দিক আলোচনার সম্ভাবনা নেই।
মিয়ানমার মনে করে যে এগুলো প্রমাণ করবে রোহিঙ্গা সমস্যার বিষয়ে উদ্বেগ কম দেশেরই আছে।
মিয়ানমার এসব কৌশলে কতটা সফল হবে, সেটা সময়ের বিষয়, কিন্তু এখন তার চেয়েও বেশি গুরুত্বপূর্ণ হচ্ছে, এ ধরনের কৌশলের বিপরীতে বাংলাদেশের পক্ষ থেকে কী ধরনের উদ্যোগ নেওয়া হচ্ছে।
আলী রীয়াজ: যুক্তরাষ্ট্রের ইলিনয় স্টেট ইউনিভার্সিটির রাজনীতি ও সরকার বিভাগের অধ্যাপক।
http://www.prothom-alo.com/opinion/article/1362931/কৌশলী-মিয়ানমার-বাংলাদেশ-কী-করবে
I thought our cousins in the West were delusional when it came to strategic location. This beats it
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Factors hampering solution of Rohingya issue
P K Balachandran, November 14, 2017
Under pressure from the UN, the West and also China, to go in for a deal with Bangladesh, Myanmar’s military-backed government headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, opened up to Bangladesh and invited the latter’s Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan for talks last month.
The talks led to a 10-point agreement which clearly included a provision for the repatriation of 600,000 Rohingyas who had fled to Bangladesh after the latest bout of violence which began on August 25.
But even before the ink on the agreement dried, Myanmar reneged on it and issued a dubious “Joint Statement” minus the crucial paragraph on repatriation.
Zaw Htay, a spokesman for State Counselor (Prime Minister) Aung San Suu Kyi, said that Myanmar is ready to take refugees but only those who have official documents to prove that they had been living in Myanmar. He said that this is as per an agreement signed with Bangladesh in September 1992. But Bangladesh is refusing to go back to the 1992, he pointed out.
Bangladesh has good reasons for not going back to the 1992 pact. The pact had failed comprehensively. Less than 2000 out of the 200, 000 refugees at that time had gone back because only that many had the required official documents. Most of the refugees had no documents to prove Myanmar residency either because Myanmar had not issued documents to them or they had lost them during the riots and the flight to Bangladesh. Bangladesh even used force to push the refugees out, but that too failed.
Myanmar has its own explanation for Bangladesh’s reluctance to accept the 1992 pact. According to Suu Kyi’s spokesman, Zaw Htay, Bangladesh wants the refugees to stay on so that it could get more and more money from the international community to help build gigantic refugee camps for the Rohingyas. According to the Myanmar spokesman, Bangladesh has already received US$ 400 million and is looking for more citing continuing refugee presence.
But Bangladesh sources trash this line, saying that the 1992 repatriation agreement cannot be implemented if official residency documentation is insisted upon. Bangladesh is actually dead against the creation of permanent Rohingya settlements on its territory and is resisting efforts by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to build permanent house or shelters for the refugees.
The government may not take the advice of some foreign experts to build more camps even to relieve congestion in the existing camps in Cox’s Bazar on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. Local officials have banned Bangladeshis marrying refugees, as such marriages may lead to permanent settlement.
After Myanmar reneged on the 10-point agreement between the Bangladesh and Myanmar Interior Ministers, Bangladesh stepped up efforts to get the international community to out pressure on Myanmar.
China, which had played a catalytic role in getting the two adversaries to talk to each other and settle the matter, had failed in its mission to find a solution through the bilateral route. But China still hopes that Myanmar will resist West-led international pressure using the concept of “national sovereignty”.
There are signs that Myanmar will use the concept of sovereignty to resist international pressure. Myanmar has said that it is still wedded to bilateralism. It has pointed out that the talks process with Bangladesh is still on, and that Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali will come to Myanmar for talks on November 16 and 17.
That Myanmar is opposed to international intervention is evident in its response to the UN Security Council’s Joint Statement on the Rohingya issue. Suu Kyi’s office said that the UNSC statement will only hamper bilateral negotiations between Myanmar and Bangladesh which “have been proceeding smoothly and expeditiously.”
The statement also lauded China and Russia for upholding “the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign countries.”
However, egged on by Bangladesh, the UN and the West will continue to put pressure on Myanmar. But this will be done without upsetting their relations with their protégé Aung San Suu kyi, who had restored democracy in Myanmar after years of hard struggle.
The West would also be careful not to step on China’s toes, as China’s goodwill is necessary to contain the emerging threat from North Korea. US President Donald Trump’s overtures to Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Beijing are an indication that the US will handle China with kid gloves.
Bangladesh too will not go beyond a point to seek international intervention as it might lose the support of China which is a major investor in Bangladesh; a significant supplier of military equipment; and a bulwark against its giant neighbor, India. Bangladesh may also be wary about giving in to UNHCR’s permanent settlement plan as a result of internationalizing the problem.
The West has been treading warily. Its bid to get the UNSC to pass a strong “resolution” against China failed because of the fear of its being vetoed by China and Russia, both strong advocates of the concept of the inviolability of national sovereignties. What resulted was a mild “Joint Statement”.
The US State Department has shown reluctance to describe the events in Myanmar as “ethnic cleansing”. It remains to be seen if the US Congress would urge targeted military sanctions against Myanmar. The US has also taken the extremely charitable view that Myanmar has begun the repatriation process.
However, Foreign Ministers from 53 countries from Asia and Europe, who will assemble in Myanmar for the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) on November 20 and 21, will take up the issue of the Rohingyas with the Myanmar leaders. ASEM has as its members, the US, Russia, China, Japan, India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Prior to the summit on or around November 18, Foreign Ministers of Sweden, Germany, Japan and China will visit Dhaka for talks with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and visit refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.
SOURCE DAILY FT
https://southasianmonitor.com/2017/11/14/factors-hampering-solution-rohingya-issue/
P K Balachandran, November 14, 2017
Under pressure from the UN, the West and also China, to go in for a deal with Bangladesh, Myanmar’s military-backed government headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, opened up to Bangladesh and invited the latter’s Interior Minister Asaduzzaman Khan for talks last month.
The talks led to a 10-point agreement which clearly included a provision for the repatriation of 600,000 Rohingyas who had fled to Bangladesh after the latest bout of violence which began on August 25.
But even before the ink on the agreement dried, Myanmar reneged on it and issued a dubious “Joint Statement” minus the crucial paragraph on repatriation.
Zaw Htay, a spokesman for State Counselor (Prime Minister) Aung San Suu Kyi, said that Myanmar is ready to take refugees but only those who have official documents to prove that they had been living in Myanmar. He said that this is as per an agreement signed with Bangladesh in September 1992. But Bangladesh is refusing to go back to the 1992, he pointed out.
Bangladesh has good reasons for not going back to the 1992 pact. The pact had failed comprehensively. Less than 2000 out of the 200, 000 refugees at that time had gone back because only that many had the required official documents. Most of the refugees had no documents to prove Myanmar residency either because Myanmar had not issued documents to them or they had lost them during the riots and the flight to Bangladesh. Bangladesh even used force to push the refugees out, but that too failed.
Myanmar has its own explanation for Bangladesh’s reluctance to accept the 1992 pact. According to Suu Kyi’s spokesman, Zaw Htay, Bangladesh wants the refugees to stay on so that it could get more and more money from the international community to help build gigantic refugee camps for the Rohingyas. According to the Myanmar spokesman, Bangladesh has already received US$ 400 million and is looking for more citing continuing refugee presence.
But Bangladesh sources trash this line, saying that the 1992 repatriation agreement cannot be implemented if official residency documentation is insisted upon. Bangladesh is actually dead against the creation of permanent Rohingya settlements on its territory and is resisting efforts by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to build permanent house or shelters for the refugees.
The government may not take the advice of some foreign experts to build more camps even to relieve congestion in the existing camps in Cox’s Bazar on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border. Local officials have banned Bangladeshis marrying refugees, as such marriages may lead to permanent settlement.
After Myanmar reneged on the 10-point agreement between the Bangladesh and Myanmar Interior Ministers, Bangladesh stepped up efforts to get the international community to out pressure on Myanmar.
China, which had played a catalytic role in getting the two adversaries to talk to each other and settle the matter, had failed in its mission to find a solution through the bilateral route. But China still hopes that Myanmar will resist West-led international pressure using the concept of “national sovereignty”.
There are signs that Myanmar will use the concept of sovereignty to resist international pressure. Myanmar has said that it is still wedded to bilateralism. It has pointed out that the talks process with Bangladesh is still on, and that Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali will come to Myanmar for talks on November 16 and 17.
That Myanmar is opposed to international intervention is evident in its response to the UN Security Council’s Joint Statement on the Rohingya issue. Suu Kyi’s office said that the UNSC statement will only hamper bilateral negotiations between Myanmar and Bangladesh which “have been proceeding smoothly and expeditiously.”
The statement also lauded China and Russia for upholding “the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign countries.”
However, egged on by Bangladesh, the UN and the West will continue to put pressure on Myanmar. But this will be done without upsetting their relations with their protégé Aung San Suu kyi, who had restored democracy in Myanmar after years of hard struggle.
The West would also be careful not to step on China’s toes, as China’s goodwill is necessary to contain the emerging threat from North Korea. US President Donald Trump’s overtures to Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Beijing are an indication that the US will handle China with kid gloves.
Bangladesh too will not go beyond a point to seek international intervention as it might lose the support of China which is a major investor in Bangladesh; a significant supplier of military equipment; and a bulwark against its giant neighbor, India. Bangladesh may also be wary about giving in to UNHCR’s permanent settlement plan as a result of internationalizing the problem.
The West has been treading warily. Its bid to get the UNSC to pass a strong “resolution” against China failed because of the fear of its being vetoed by China and Russia, both strong advocates of the concept of the inviolability of national sovereignties. What resulted was a mild “Joint Statement”.
The US State Department has shown reluctance to describe the events in Myanmar as “ethnic cleansing”. It remains to be seen if the US Congress would urge targeted military sanctions against Myanmar. The US has also taken the extremely charitable view that Myanmar has begun the repatriation process.
However, Foreign Ministers from 53 countries from Asia and Europe, who will assemble in Myanmar for the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) on November 20 and 21, will take up the issue of the Rohingyas with the Myanmar leaders. ASEM has as its members, the US, Russia, China, Japan, India, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Prior to the summit on or around November 18, Foreign Ministers of Sweden, Germany, Japan and China will visit Dhaka for talks with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and visit refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.
SOURCE DAILY FT
https://southasianmonitor.com/2017/11/14/factors-hampering-solution-rohingya-issue/
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