Myanmar coup leaves Bangladesh in the lurch

The latest army coup in Myanmar has impacted its neighbours India and Bangladesh in sharply contrasting ways. For India, it appears a wait-and-watch situation. Thanks to the close coordination between the Indian and Myanmar armies (Tatmadaw) over insurgency- related issues plaguing both countries in recent years, relations between the two countries are expected to be near normal.

For Bangladesh however, the latest coup, strenuously underplayed if not denied outright by both Myanmar and China, is nothing short of a heartbreaker. Burmese authorities had finally agreed to rehabilitate over 40,000 ‘refugees’, cleared out of a list of around 800,000 people drawn up by Dhaka, after years of never-ending talks. It seems things are now back to square one.

The overthrow of the newly elected NLD (National League for Democracy) Government headed by former Supreme Counsellor, Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi had renewed hopes that it would be possible to repatriate the fortunate 40,000 people to the Rakhine province by March/April.

At present, around 11,00,000-plus Rohingyas are estimated to be holed up in Cox’s Bazar and other parts of Bangladesh. About 100,000 are being shifted to the newly emerged Bhashan char island, about 21 miles off shore from Bangladesh. Dhaka deserves credit for providing the best of rehab facilities for such a large number of people.

The community had settled in the Rakhine province since the 1820s during the British rule, recruited from nearby areas as migrant labour. The majority Buddhist view is that they came over from Bangladesh, a narrative Dhaka rejects strongly.

Since 1982, a new citizenship law announced by Burmese authorities declared Rohingya Muslims as ‘resident foreigners’ and not citizens. Media reports as well as researchers indicate there have been at least 4/5 major ethnic cleansing raids to drive out the community in recent years. The last one conducted by the armed forces occurred in September 2017.

While the Rohingyas can stay on in Rakhine, their children cannot study beyond the primary level. Nor can they look forward to get official jobs or easily access medical help. The government also enjoys the right to take over any Rohingya property at any time. They can do forced labour as ordered by the government, on subsistence level wages but cannot travel to other areas within Myanmar, leaving their tents. The majority Buddhists accuse them of Islamic militancy and breeding faster to outnumber native tribes.

Much was expected from the NLD headed by its Supreme Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, but in vain. She shocked the world opinion by not only approving the decision to marginalise a vibrant living community of around 1.6 million people, but defended the various army raids. She dismissed reports and allegations of genocide as motivated and exaggerated accounts. The last straw for the international community was when she personally defended the military at the International Court of Justice at the Hague.

Two Burmese soldiers had during a hearing of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague admitted that there had indeed occurred a genocide of the Rohingyas in September 2017, giving details hitherto unknown. (IPA)