Rakhine Crisis | the Nest of Unrest

Political Tip brings insight and analysis of the Rakhine issue that haunts Rohingya and Myanmar to this day. Stay tuned for more.

They Have No Place Called Home!

You might have seen the word “Rohingya Genocide” on the newspapers and social media while browsing through the web. It turns out to be one of the most vulnerable groups of the displaced according to the UN, an ethnic foe to the Government, and an even bigger burden to carry by the neighbors!

So, everything gets summed up in a question: Who are Rohingya and what their issue is?

A Rights-Deprived Ethnic Group

Rohingya are a Muslim majority people that claim to be the residents of the Western Myanmar Province of Rakhine. Their accent is Bengali, in contrast to the mother language Burmese of that region. So, they become somewhat of a mix, they are not Bengalis because they are in Myanmar and they are not Myanmar-locals because they speak Bengali.

Rohingya are people who have literally "NO ONE" to look after them...

Issue

There are a many issues that Rohingya have to face due to this disadvantageous stage. They are deprived of the citizenship in their own homeland. They are considered as foreigners, or associate citizens that make their means of life very miserable.

In addition to that, there are ethnic differences (due to which, traditional differences occur), there is a lack of a common language and a terrorist cult that operates on the price of the lives of Rohingya. In fact, the situation is so worse that even the movement of Rohingya is restricted to the state of Rakhine of Myanmar. Furthermore, Rohingya have to prove their ancestors to be living in the Myanmar during the colonial era! Only then can be they called citizens of the country and be given civil rights.

The Ethnic Cleansing Event: Cause and Aftermath

In 2012, an event of sectarian violence broke out when a Rohingya woman was raped and murdered in the Rohingya-dominated area. Since then, the Buddhist locals and Rohingya have been rioting against one another, while making heavy casualties on both of the sides.

As these protests were taking place, the Government started to move Rohingya to the refugee camps as their state of live became more crippled, owing to the riots. Some of the Rohingya fled to the Bangladesh, while some other sought asylum in the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand etc.

The life in the concentration camps is poor and miserable.

However, the times were not of the essence for the Rohingya. This sectarian violence of 2012 was sparked a chain reaction of similar events throughout Myanmar, and the Military had to step in to stop the violence.

The Events of 2017

In the August of 2017, a terrorist group ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) that claims to be the protectors of the rights of Rohingya staged attacks on 30 different posts of Police and military in Myanmar. The instigators also claimed the responsibility of these attacks. This sparked another wave of violence, but this time even the military took to arms with the locals of the country.

The sole result: Rakhine would bleed even more!
ARSA, which is also suspected to have ties with the IS and the Myanmar still fight to this day, harming the innocent lives of Rohingya in this expedition. There are often reports of villages being torched, attacks on refugee camps (which have become concentration camps now) and Rohingya abduction.

Even the neighbors of Myanmar, India and Bangladesh are in trouble due to this Rohingya issue. In the Muslim Bengali soil, the refugee influx is high and costly, while on the other, the illegal migration issues are taking place.

Analysis

It fills me with great grief to assert that Rohingya are in the worst state of life an ethnic group can imagine of. The army, which they thought of as their own is suspecting them. The people, which they thought were their own is burning their homes, and the life has been miserable since the Colonial Era for these people.

The poverty, lack of education and a depressed state of life has already been haunting these poor beings. Although, with the launch of anti-ARSA campaign in the soil of Myanmar, the Rohingya dream has suffered another wound.

Now, during this anarchy, the only ones who are suffering the most are these beings, and with unwilling neighbors, there are not much choices left than dying. Hunger poverty and people already had a high misery, as no one owned these poor fishermen. Now, thanks to ARSA, their sole purpose of life was also snatched from them.

The sectarian violence is something that, according to me left a biased decision by the Myanmar officials. The justice should have been to the side of Rohingya. But, the situation is framed in such a way that even having their lives in their own hands was considered to be a win for them. Now that the ARSA has taken up the responsibility of Salvation, it only is left in the hands of the other Muslim nations, if they could come to the aid of their religious brothers and sisters…