(This post is Aljazebra’s “Mass Graves for Myanmar’s Rohingyas” published
on August 9 by the notoriously-biased Arab TV station sponsored by the Islamic
Mafia OIC.)
Decades-old
tension between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in coastal
Rakhine state exploded with new ferocity in June, leaving at least 78 people
dead and tens of thousands homeless.
Exclusive
reporting conducted last week in the highly restricted region suggests that the
long-term fallout from recent violence could be even more damaging than the
bloodshed. The United Nations has estimated that 80,000 people are still
displaced around the cities of Sittwe and Maungdaw, and international rights
groups continue to denounce Myanmar for its role in the conflict.
As it
stands, any thought of reconciliation between local Buddhists and Muslims
appears a distant dream. Many Rohingya have fled the polarised region, fearing
revenge attacks and increasing discrimination. Their status has sparked
international concern and disagreement.
Rights
groups have condemned the violence. The Myanmar government has denied any
wrongdoing, while neighbouring Bangladesh has rejected an influx of refugees
and slashed access to aid. For those Rohingya caught up in the dispute, the
day-to-day situation is rapidly slipping from desperate to dire.
Social 'non-engagement'
Prominent mosques and buildings, many of which were burned in
arson attacks during the violence, now bear signs from the municipality
reading, "No one is allowed to enter". Locals told Al Jazeera the
properties have been taken over by the state.
In some
areas of Sittwe, the devastation from the violence that peaked in June is
comparable to Cyclone Nargis, which struck Myanmar in 2008.
Most
striking was the almost completely absence of the Rohingya population that once
made up nearly one-third of the city's residents, and the largest portion of
its working class. The impact of that loss was obvious.
The
Rohingya who worked as the city's ever-present rickshaw drivers and porters at
the jetty and markets are now gone. There are no signs of Muslims at the
airport, the boat that shuttles ferry passengers to outlying islands, or even
the local busses that run from Buthidaung to Maungdaw, two Rohingya-majority
states.
Local
Hindus, and residents who appear to be of Indian descent, have taken to
applying bindis on their foreheads to avoid being mistaken for Rohingya.
A range
of interviews found that Buddhist Rakhines had collectively decided to practice
a policy of "non-engagement" with the Rohingya. In practical terms,
this meant a ban on businesses, as well as controlling access to food,
medicine, travel and communication. According to local sources, Rohingya are no
longer allowed to enter the city's largest market or to travel from town to
town.
Facing starvation
 |
| Bengali plague on the Bangladesh border. |
By local
accounts, this camp is the biggest of the camps that have sprung up to shelter
the displaced city dwellers. The refugees endured the current monsoon rains in
mud-floored tents, living mostly on bags of rice provided by the UN's World
Food Programme. There is no clinic, proper bathroom or clean water, as
witnessed by Al Jazeera.
The camp
is surrounded by all hours by security troops. Many wonder if the soldiers are
there to protect them from attacks from the Rakhine, or keep them under guard.
"Many
of the refugees who fled from inside the city are manual labourers and daily
wagers. We are having great difficulties just surviving each day. We fear what
will happen to us if we go back to the town. We can't go there yet. Those who
risked going back to their homes and shops were prevented by authorities on
security grounds," said U Shwe Maung, a Rohingya refugee in Bhumei.
"We
are sharing food with each other. We are now facing starvation. Even though we
are provided food by the WFP, that is not enough for such a huge number of
people like this," he added.
The
Rohingya now forced to live in the Bhumei camp appeared desperate. One woman
was crying in the street with her rain-soaked children on her lap. She said
they were sick and there was no clinic to look after them or food to eat.
"We
want to go back to our homes if the officials provide security for us,"
said Mahmud Shiko, a Rohingya in Bhumei. "The police told me I'd find
nothing back there if I return, but I still want to go back."
Military accused
The HRW
report denounced both sides for the cycle of reprisal attacks, estimating that the
death toll was far higher than the Myanmar government total of 78. HRW also
blasted Myanmar's security forces, sent in by the government, for standing down
while the Rakhine and Rohingya groups battled each other. As the attacks
escalated and thousands of Rohingya rioted, the report said that police and
paramilitary troops fired on Rohingya protesters.
In an
outlying area, according to the report, soldiers shot at Rohingya villagers as
they tried to escape and looted food and valuables from their emptied homes. Benjamin
Zawacki, a Bangkok-based researcher for Amnesty International, described the
violence as "primarily one-sided, with Muslims generally and Rohingya
specifically the targets and victims".
HRW says
hundreds of men and boys were rounded up in mass arrests, their whereabouts
still unknown. Informal Rohingya estimates put the number of missing and
arrested in the thousands.
On the
hushed streets of Sittwe and in the tent city outside Bhumei, Rohinyga speak of
the brutality of the Rakhine and the Myanmar forces, and of the many loved ones
still missing from the conflict.
Animosity abounds
The
alleged victims are not the only combatants talking about the violence. In a
series of interviews with off-duty security officers at bars and restaurants in
Sittwe, a picture emerged of what some Myanmar military and police think about
the Rohingya.
The soldier, whose name has been withheld, explained that the
killings took place when hundreds of rioting Muslims blocked and tried to overwhelm the
truck carrying his unit. The Muslim mobs were unaware the truck, a civilian vehicle
used for road construction, was carrying soldiers.
"I put the butt of my gun here at [the right side of] my
waist and shot down many Muslims while keeping my left hand on magazines so
that I could quickly fill up my bullets," said the soldier, now stationed
at a village outside Maungdaw. "There were so many dead bodies that we
even had to call in a bulldozer to make a mass grave."
Another ethnic Rakhine soldier boasted that he and his troops
killed uncountable numbers of rioting Rohingya in the village of Nyaung Chaung in the
countryside around Maungdaw during the early June crackdown.
"We have even still kept this from our [commanding]
officers," he said.
It was
impossible to verify these claims. Even so, the uncaring nature of the
statements shows the animosity that some who wield power have for the Rohingya.
Such anger is easily apparent on the streets.
An
educated Rakhine woman, visiting Maungdaw from the US where she has lived for
20 years, spoke bitterly when asked if the human rights she enjoys should be
granted to Rohingya to ease tension between the communities. "Human rights
are for human being only. Are Rohingya humans?" she told Al Jazeera.
"We
are the house owners and they are the guests. When the guests attempt to drive
out the homeowners, human rights are no longer meant for them."
Government 'solution'
The
government also denounced "attempts by some quarters to politicise and
internationalise this situation as a religious issue", a sidelong
reference to the criticism emerging from Muslim countries, such as Indonesia
and Saudi Arabia, over the assaults on Rohingya.
Then
again, the government has, over the years, denied the entire existence of a
"Rohingya problem", and even the Rohingya themselves.
Rohingya: The world's most forgotten people
Myanmar's
formerly military government and its state-run media have strictly avoided the
word "Rohingya", referring to the group instead as "Bengali
Muslims", implying that the people are not indigenous and have migrated to
Myanmar a few decades ago. The Myanmar immigration minister has repeatedly
said that there are no Rohingyas in Myanmar.
Last
month, in his meeting with a UN High Commissioner for Refugees delegation,
President Thein Sein said refugee camps or deportation was the only answer for
nearly the country estimate 800,000 to a million Rohingya Muslims.
"We
will take responsibility for our ethnic people but it is impossible to accept
the illegally entered Rohingyas, who are not our ethnicity," he told UNHCR
chief Antonio Guterres, according to the president's official website.
The
former general said the "only solution" was to send the Rohingyas to
refugee camps run by UNHCR. "We will send them away if any third country
would accept them. This is what we are thinking is the solution to the
issue."
Uncertain future
 |
| Bengali Sayyad Abdullah and his enormous family of 82. |
The population fears, possibly stemming from cultural
stereotypes, are an issue that 72-year-old Rohingya elder Sayyad Abdullah can
appreciate. He has four wives, 28 children and, in his words, "lots"
of grandchildren.
Last week, authorities cited Abdullah's family and quoted him
in press briefings about the so-called population explosion. Abdullah rejected
any desire for an autonomous state and said he was open to government measure
to curb Rohingya families to one wife and two children, but not at the expense
of dignity.
"We
just desire equal rights like the Rakhine and the Burmese, and we want nothing
more than a normal life," he told Al Jazeera.
Other
Rohingya leaders say the perception of their community is wrong, and racist.
The majority are impoverished farmers and labourers, but some Rohingya hold
university degrees and own many businesses in Sittwe and Yangon.
 |
| Bengali-Muslim Members of Parliament. |
As it
stands, the vast majority of Rohingya are denied Myanmar citizenship, cannot own
businesses, marry or relocate. The president's proposal to relegate the
Rohingya population to UNHCR-run camps seems unsustainable and humiliating.
Whether
this long-simmering dispute is founded in race, religion or population, matters
little to the Rohingya stuck in camps such as Bhumei. Nor to the Rakhine who
live in majority Rohingya areas and claim to live in constant fear of attack.
Some
scholars, such as Myanmar expert Bertil Linter, claim the animosity between
Rakhine and Rohingya began during the Second World War, when Buddhists backed
the Japanese and Muslims the British. Other experts say the rift began
centuries before.
In either
case, unless the government or international bodies intervene, the violence and
discrimination seem destined to continue.
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