Another crime against humanity is taking place. Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority, mostly habited for centuries in the Rahkine State of Myanmar (formerly Burma) faces systematic prosecution at the hands of country’s army and Buddhist monks. In a recent violence, over 2,600 houses of poor Rohingya minority were set on fire, forcing them to leave the country without any destination. In recent violence over 400 Rohingyas were killed. The crime against humanity is still emerging. According to UN, at least 270,000 refugees took shelter in neighbouring Bangladesh and some flew to India but faced deportation.
Rakhine was an independent State but was captured by Burma in 1784. In 1824 British annexed it and the State became the part of British India. When British left in 1948 from Burma, Rakhine remained part of it. Today, Rohingya constitutes 1.1 million population in Myanmar but they are not recognised as a minority group and faces systemic prosecution in State legislatures. Around 2 million Rohingya fled other countries since 1978. Rohingyas are the “single largest stateless community in the world”. The action of Myanmar Government might radicalise the Rohingyas in the near future as the Mindonao minority Muslims group in the southern Philippines or as Kashmiris in India.
Implications for India
Another radical group is in the making with “Buddhist monks’ blessings” and with severe implications for South Asia. Additionally, capturing this “opportunity” if the Taliban-Daesh factors come to Rohingyas, the situation from Rakhine to Kashmir would become perilous, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should had thought of this factor before visiting Yangon after the BRICS Summit and giving advice to Myanmar Government. His tight lips for Rohingya humanity and support to the Myanmar Government would backfire in the future, emanating a much larger human crisis of Muslims from Rakhine State to the Indian Occupied State of Kashmir.
Modi looks happy that his Shiv Sinha’s Hindutva has come true to Myanmar in the form of military-junta and Buddhist monks with the same purpose of prosecuting minority Muslims. This Hindu-Buddhist radicalism would invite radical Islam too, disturbing harmony in South East Asia, which had refrained from religious radicalism.
A New Emerging Islamic Radical Trend
The Indian and Bangladeshi anti-Rohingya move would internationalise the issue and invite Islamic militant to help brother Rohingyas. Some estimates show that there already exist terror Rohingya groups with their links with other terrorists groups outside of Myanmar.
This crisis is in the making. The Rakhine States might become a “Frontline” for Islamic militants comes from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and Turkey. Radical Islamic outfits such as Daesh, ISIL, Taliban, Al-Qaeda offshoots, IMU, ETIM could join hands with Rohingya cause. Muslims from neighbouring Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Mindonao in the Philippines, besides several other outfits, might use Rakhine as new frontier. This would become a new battle-ground for Islamic militants versus Buddhist radicals supported by Hindu fanatics.
Demonstrations all over in Pakistan on 8 September demonstrated this new emerging trend where all guns were directed against Myanmar Government and in support of merciless Rohingyas. If their prosecution goes on, this trend might emerge much rapidly. If Rohingyas are allowed to reach Pakistan, there might accrued a dramatic shift and many outfit organisations may recruit them and use them against Myanmar, India, and Afghanistan. New Jihadi recruits are always needed by such hungry organisations. A new wave of terrorism might seep the region.
The Nobel Laureate
The silent approach of Aung San Suu Kyi has been forcing many to call for the reversion of the Nobel Peace Prize accorded to her as she failed to raise her voice for Rohingyas, probably fearing threats from the army and the Buddhist monks – a country actually ruled by them. Her role has been considered an ignominy for not protecting an ethic minority.
She is relating the Rohingya’s situation with Indian Muslim minority problem. She says: “because [there is] a large Muslim community in India and in places like Kashmir, [India] had this trouble of sorting out the terrorists from the innocent citizens and all those who are not involved in the terrorist movement at all. So we have the same problem.” Her message has sent a negative signal to Muslims all over the world and Islamists could take action. Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel peace prize, has called on fellow laureate to speak out against the persecution of the Rohingyas.
The Rohingya issue is a left-over of World War II and an unfinished agenda since 1948 but it is a pure humanitarian issue and should be seen from this angle. Genocide by the Myanmar Government should be ended immediately and place before the international community for resolution and justice. It must be decided if Rohingyas were given all legal rights in Myanmar and they forma separate State. Outfit organisations should not be allowed to use the issue furthering their terror motives to insure the region. The global community must prevent this on-going ethic genocide.