Where would the Rohingyas go?

Rejected by the country they were born in and shunned by the neighbouring states, the Rohingya are among the most vulnerable amongst forcibly displaced groups. Thousands of Rohingya have been fleeing Myanmar, especially after the August 25 violence in Western Myanmar. The United Nations Refugee Agency places them among the most vulnerable groups of the forcibly displaced.  Rohingya are an ethnic group, largely comprising Muslims, who predominantly live in the Western Myanmar province of Rakhine. They speak a dialect of Bengali, as opposed to the commonly spoken Burmese language. Myanmar has considered them as persons who migrated to their land during the Colonial rule, it has not granted Rohingyas full citizenship. Since they are not citizens they are not entitled to be a part of the civil service as well. Their movements within the Rakhine state is also restricted.

In October 2016, nine police officers were killed by armed men, believed by officials to be Muslims. Amid the ensuing violence, a number of Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh and government troops expanded their presence in Rakhine state. The most recent violence is seen as a major escalation not only because of the scale, but because of the involvement of the new Rohingya militant group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. It says the attacks on government forces were an act of self-defense. Violence broke out in the Rakhine state on 25^th August, when Militants attacked government forces. In response, security forces supported by Buddhist military launched a clearance operation that has killed a number of people and forced more than 300,000 to flee their homes. Refugees have spoken of massacres in villages, where soldiers have raided and burned their homes. There have been a chain of gruesome acts that have been carried out on the people there. Newspaper articles, social media websites, have all shown snippets and clips of a distorted state in complete doom.

Interestingly while Bangladesh considers them to be unwanted refugees from Myanmar, the latter perceives the Rohingyas as migrants from Bangladesh, leaving this group of about one million people to float in midair, without legal citizenship in any country. Has humanity come to such a halt that providing the basic amenities to them have also become questionable? We all hear tall talks about eminent leaders who aim at providing citizens with fancy facilities. But it seems the people who inhabit this giant globe are labeled as citizens and fragmented by continents, class, caste, race, gender and other such insignificant details. The Rohingyas can be from Bangladesh, they can also be from Myanmar. But is tracing the trajectory to their roots much more important than providing them with their basic rights and amenities at the face of atrocity and vulnerability. Each and every day the population of a nation grows due to child birth and the death rate too increases with each passing day. The food production of any country is sufficient enough to fend for an added number of people. Then, is it so difficult to not be able to make place for these people and provide them with a dwelling place? However, keeping in mind that these people need to be evacuated for the acts of brutalities that are being carried out on them are gruesome and horrifying, why should they be uprooted from their homes? For people who have been living there for years should be accepted as inhabitants and not just associate citizens. A constitutional law cannot surpass the urgent need of these human beings.

These however, may sound like utopia, but a state did not start off merely thinking of its inhabitants as citizens. The constitutional frameworks around are such, that it has restricted human beings by a single, political term, citizens. This word carries with it the load of a number of atrocities and brutalities. From time in memorial, citizens who are not accepted by a particular country have been cleansed off. We have witnessed this in the First World War and even now, in Myanmar, Syria, Aleppo and many such places. Not only are the Rohingyas refugees, but we are all refugees in some way or the other, taking refuge under a law, under a nation, that claims to function democratically. Humanity is now long forgotten. What should be the need of the hour is egalitarianism. Intersectionality has been so intensified that it giving rise to such miserable and horrifying acts. Thus, the Rohingyas, according to me, should not be forced to take shelter anywhere else. They cannot be uprooted from their habitus which they have inhabited for years now. Protests take shape in various ways, but such should not be the response. Uprooting and cleansing off an entire group is in no way reasonable to suit a nation’s law. However, keeping in mind that the world is not a better place we should all stretch our hands forward and welcome these people into our land, not as refugees, but as humans. Let us not confine humanity to terms like refugees and citizens, but aim towards making life for everyone peaceful and just.

Srishti Maitra

Intern

AGA

1.1.2018