Daily Times

The Rohingya Muslims have suffered racial discrimination for decades in Myanmar. They are gunned down, their villages are burnt, crops destroyed, babies thrown into fire and ,girls and women raped. The northern state of Rakhine in Myanmar today is synonymous with death, destruction, displacement, forced Labour , enforced  disappearances, poverty, hunger, mass rape and arson, which has all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing. An extensive 400  page  report recently released by the United Nations human rights panel has  exposed the  crimes carried out by Myanmar ‘s armed forces  -known as the Tatmadaw-   against the Rohingya Muslims  and other ethnic minorities throughout the country under the cover of counter-insurgency.

“The nature, scale and organization of the operations suggests a level of pre planning and design on the part of the Tatmadaw leadership consistent with the vision of the commander -in chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing”the report said.

The Myanmar military last August started deadly crackdown against Rohingya Population  following the attacks on police check posts  by a small armed Rohingya faction, in which 10,000 civilians were reportedly killed.  Since modus operandi  of Myanmar   military is killing the Muslim minority indiscriminately  this is the reason why,   750,000 fled  to neighbouring Bangladesh piling pressure onto already overcrowded  world’s biggest camp with Rohingya refugees  living in squalid conditions  in the Cox’s Bazar, area near the Naf river that divides the two countries.

UN Investigators with the International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, who had been denied access to Myanmar conflict region  for the assessment of atrocities inflicted on the Muslim minority under discussion, conducted interviews with 875 victims and eye – witnesses who had fled the country  in the wake of “clearance operation “. They both  described soldiers dragging people out of their home ,shooting them at point -blank or slitting their throats ;  girls and   women brutally tortured and gangraped before other family members, ;some of the victims were tied naked by their hands or hair to trees.The UN  meticulously written report  said”  rape and sexual violence are a part of   a deliberate strategy  to intimidate, terrorize or punish a civilian population, and are used as a tactic of war”.

While the the community in question was being culled,their  400 hundred  villages were  wiped off the map .

UN Investigators with the International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, conducted interviews with 875 victims and eyewitnesses who had fled the country in the wake of “clearance operation”. They both described soldiers dragging people out of their homes ,shooting them point-blank or slitting their throats; girls and women brutally tortured and gangraped before other family members; some of the victims were tied naked by their hands or hair to trees

In the light of its findings, the fact -finding mission has demanded that six top military officials -including the army’s commander -in-chief -be investigated and prosecuted for genocide. Marzuki Darusman, chair of the UN fact-finding mission very recently remarked “Peace will not be achieved while the Myanmar military remains above the law”.

Both Myanmar military and defacto civilian leader Aung San Suu kyi are in a state of denial and defiance .The military has termed the recent UN report a “interference in the infernal affairs of the country”, whereas Suu kyi surprisingly times and again has called this and Other UN reports highlighting the Rohingya crisis and persecution a “huge iceberg of misinformation” and, “and, rape of women and girls  by security personnel as “made -up stories”. Such arguments hold no water.The gravest crimes against ethnic and religious minority highlighted by the various UN reports which are seen by Suu Kyi as exaggerated stories, is tip of the iceberg .

Defending the military ‘s means and methods applied in wiping out certain civilian minority transpires that Aung San Suu kyi has renounced the use of reason.

The question is: if Myanmar’s scorched- earth-response  is against militants, and no crimes committed against the Rohingya Muslims by the military, then why  has the regime  refused entry of international independent observers for the assessment of atrocities inflicted on the oppressed community who are seen as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh by the predominantly Buddhist country?

The criminal act of supposed militants  targeting  police check posts, can not be and  should not be  used as a tool to tyrannise the whole population of minority Muslims living in pathetic conditions. To crush Rohingya Muslims is tantamount to war crimes. The  Myanmar government’s unwillingness to allow humanitarian aid agencies to reach famished people has created a humanitarian crisis.

The magnitude of military highhandedness can be gauged from the fact that the Rohingya refugees are unwilling to return to  Rakhine despite the repatriation deal  signed between Bangladesh and Myanmar. The  refugees are convinced that returning to Rakhine without Myanmar accepting their basic right of citizenship is akin to triggering Tatmadaw- guns directed against them.

Suu Kyi’s mutuality with the military establishment of Myanmar on the Rohingya slow genocide is the product of power politics. She understands that speaking for the oppressed Rohingyas, on the one hand, will affect her relations with the security establishment that still holds strong political power despite the country’s democratically elected government in office, and, on the other, will anger Myanmar’s Buddhists, undermining her future electoral prospects. Power corrupts politicians and Suu Kyi is no exception.In power politics ,with  entry into corridors of powers; a great  many  veteran politicians/democratic icons  change their  colour and character and start compromising on the democratic values and principles ,and humanitarian goals they once fought for.”The state counsellor ,Daw Aung San Suu kyi has not used her defacto as Head of Government, nor  her moral authority, to stem or prevent the unfolding events in Rakhine”,the UN report said.

Yanghhee lee, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar rightly remarked “What we forget is Aung Saan Suu kyi is a politician through and through. People expect her to have that  big high  moral voice but she is a politician, and what’s the most important objective if you are a politician? Getting elected”, adding further she said ,”I think we need to delete our memories of the imprisoned democratic icon”. Given Suu kyi   being complicit in ugly scheme of ethnic cleansing of the  Rohingya  and silence over the humanitarian crises,her international reputation has been tarnished leading to revoking of honor and awards given and granted to her for courageous struggle against Burmese repressive military rulers; Aung Saan Suu Keyi becoming first Canadian to be stripped of honorary citizenship. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum has rescinded its top”Elie Wiesel Award ” to Suu  Keyi because of her failure to condemn and stop military attacks on her country’s minority Rohingya Muslims. Under such circumstances, she was stripped off ” Freedom of the city award “by the Oxford city councillors saying they did not want to honour ” those who turn a blind eye to violence” And she was deprived of “Freedom of Glasgow Award ” for her inaction in the face of oppression of the Rohingya. Despite this fast losing international stature ,Suu kyi ‘s conscience remains unshaken on the plight of the most persecuted ethnic minority in Myanmar. According to Abraham lincoln,”   Nearly  all men can stand adversity ,but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power”.

While Suu Keyi is being censured for authoritarianism ,and  is  deprived of honour  and international awards due to her silence on Rohingya genocide .On the diplomatic front ,the world which has  done little so far to  push the Myanmar regime and democratically elected government of National league for Democracy (NLD) for the political solution of Rohingya crisis,  it needs to play more   active role pressing Myanmar and building  moral  pressure on Suu kyi for the political settlement of the issue being discussed.  The Rohingya issue is a political problem and can be resolved by political justice and dialogue. Firstly, the discriminatory Myanmar’s 1982 Citizenship Law that renders the Rohingyas stateless in their own country and negates their basic rights, needs to be discarded. After all, they have lived in Myanmar for centuries and by virtue of that should be entitled to the status of citizens.  The world should raise robust voice against injustice and engage Aung San Suu kyi  in order to ensure she revisit  divisive doctrine cultivated over  the years  against the Rohingya Muslims by the majority in the country.It has to be  acknowledged that  military retains much power in Myanmar , at least  Suu kyi  could speak for the Muslims subjected to textbook example of ethnic cleansing .Nobel Laureate  Desmond Tutu  condemned  Suu kyi on her keeping mum over the massacre of the Rohingya  saying , “If the political price of your  ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your silence, the price is surely too steep”. The UN report has called on the UN Security council to refer Myanmar to the International  Criminal court (ICC) or establish an ad hoc international tribunal on Rohingya genocide. Justice demands the Tatmadaw which acts with complete impunity is held to account at the forum recommended by the UN report .

The writer is an Educationist and a freelance contributor; he can be reached at nazeerarijo@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, October 14^th 2018.