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| 969 Sri Lanka style in support of Burma's Buddhists. |
Colonial apologists are unlikely to
agree but in looking deeper to understand the dynamics that continue to rip
continents, regions and nations apart, it is the policies adopted by the
British in all of the nations they conquered and ruled that are to be blamed.
Myanmar is no exception. Its land was
demarcated to the advantage of the British, it flooded Burma with foreign labor
giving rise to the question of citizenship and controversy surrounds deaths of
Burma’s leader Gen. Aung Sun (father of Aun Sui ki) as in the case of Congo’s
martyr Patrice Lumumba and UN chief Dag Hammerskjold and probably many more
foreign leaders.
Now using media at its disposal and
organizations that work to uphold the interest of the West, the entire agenda
revolves round in blaming nations for the troubles the British created and the
demands to re-enter these countries to create the second-phase of troubles. In
all cases since Britain has escaped accountability for its crimes against
humanity an International Truth Commission must be established to bring to
light these sordid truths.
Scenario faced by Third World
The ancient bastions are falling,
countries are being broken up or separated, people are coerced into treating
friends as foes and arms are generously supplied to ensure a handful profit,
cultures and ancient religions are being dehumanized all in pursuit of the
re-entry of those that inflicted barbaric rule under colonial presence.
The neo-colonials are returning to haunt the nations they plundered –
Burma is the next stop and Buddhists of the world cannot remain silent to
Burma’s plight. The Buddhist world must rally round Burma unequivocally.
Burma’s history goes back to the 2nd
century B.C. with the earliest inhabitants – the Pyu who were all followers of
Buddhism. The Burmese resisted efforts by British, Dutch and Portuguese traders
to establish posts along the Bay of Bengal since 1612 resulting in 3
Anglo-Burmese wars first of which was in 1824.
Burma was annexed to India in 1886
creating a separate colony in 1937 with the Burma Act. In separating India from
Burma the British did as they have done in all of its other territories –
creating administrative boundaries that would “create” future troubles. Burma’s
case was no different.
Thus the Chin, Kachins and Naga tribes
were divided between the two nations of India and Burma (Chin Hills
Regulation). This was made clear when in 1941, Sir Robert Reid declared “they
(the Chin, Kachin and Naga) are not Indian in any sense of the word, neither in
origin nor in outlook, and it is a historical accident that they have been
taken into an Indian province”.
Then there is the 220km dividing Burma and Bangladesh. The Chittagong Hill Tracts (hereafter CHT), an area of 13,295 square kilometers, is the south eastern part of Bangladesh, bordering the Arakan and Chin States of Burma, and Tripura and Mizoram States of India – originally this was no so.
The British annexed the CHT area in
1860 and created an autonomous administrative district known as “The Chittagong
Hill Tracts” within the undivided British Bengal. British enacted the
Regulation 1 of the 1900 Act in order to protect the Jumma people from economic
exploitation of non indigenous people. The majority of Jummas in the CHT are
Buddhists.
When the independent state of Bangladesh
was created in 1971 the Mukti Bahini (Bangladesh liberation) force began to
attack the Jummas. In the late 1970s President Zia sponsored migration of
Muslim Bangladeshi settlers into the CHT. This programme was not made public
but sponsored migration is now acknowledged resulting in Bangladeshi Muslims
making up 1/3 of the CHT population.
Al-Rabita, a Saudi government funded NGO, is the main Islamic missionary
organisation rooted in Wahhbism which is active in the region, backed by the
military, it is entrusted with the Islamisation of the region. In 1986, within
a period of eight months 54 Buddhist temples have been destroyed and 22 Hindu
temples were burnt down by the Bangladesh military.
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| Saudi Arabia's Al-Rabita, the Muslim World League |
Since 1980s through 1990s there have been 13 major massacres all targeting Jummas. That is because the Chittagong Hill Tracts were once under Burma’s topography until Britain decided to change that to its advantage under calculated annexations. Fears have foundations.
Similar historical “accidents” created
by the British are many.
It was the British that brought Muslims
as labor from India (Bangladesh) to Burma and it was on this ground that the
Burmese deny citizenship to Rohingyas who cannot show ancestry before 1823 as
there were no reference to Rohingyas in the census.
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| 11 Years-old Buddhist girl raped and murdered by Bangladeshi Muslims in CHT (2012). |
The 500,000 Muslims in Burma in 1921
more than half were Indian Muslims. The Indian incursions to Burma were all
encouraged by Britain with the purpose intent of creating discord. Riots did
result in 1930 because British firms were employing Indians in Burma.
Then in 1938 still under British rule
was the anti-Muslim riots because of the favoritism which led to a campaign
called Burma for Burmese Only. Now the argument is – if the British brought
these Rohingyas into Burma to create dissent it is Britain that must provide
citizenship to all these Rohingyas in Britain for making their life hell as
well as for Burma too.
It is time Britain owned up to all its
dirty tricks through centuries of manipulations. Why do the mainstream media
and international human rights organizations refrain from making these
realities known?
A hallmark of British rule throughout
its colonies was selective economic prosperity that has inculcated a breed of
colonial servants ever ready to function as sepoys (servants of a foreign
occupier working against indigenous people).
There are many citizens of
post-independent colonies particularly in the Indian sub – continent who
mentally prefer to live under white rule still and explains why they are
directly and indirectly involved in destabilizing operations promoted and
funded by the West, and publicly advocate re- colonization efforts by the
latter.
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| A burnt-down Buddhist monastery in CHT (2012). |
Just like how CIA funds the American
Society for a Free Asia that gives arms, military training, financial
assistance and even air support to Tibet dissidents and training in the US. Can
we blame China’s caution when declassified US documents reveal that millions of
US public funds have been given to Dalai Lama personally through the National
Endowment for Democracy (NED).
Similarly, Burma’s opposition is
supported through the US embassy in Yangon and assistance given through the
Centre for Applied Non-Violence Action and Strategies that prides itself in
overthrowing popular independent governments of non – aligned states.
Burma can pride itself as the only
nation that refused to be subservient and servile to its colonial master when
it refused to become a member of the British Commonwealth in 1947 as well as
refuse economic handouts by World Bank – the response to this was to use the
international media to subject Burma to a dirty game of denigration, shaming
and demonizing the country’s leaders and depicting nothing but brutality and
the marketing of the slogan “democracy” – we saw the democracy that the West
gave Iraq, Libya, Kosovo and Egypt!
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| 969 Buddhist monks' response to ASSK's rejection of 1-wife & 2-children only policy for Bengali-Muslims. |
When President Obama made his first overseas trip to Burma and called
Aung San Suu Kyi his “personal hero” there is little left for others to imagine
where Burma will head and in which direction, and it is unlikely to be any
different to India under Sonia Gandhi, the uncrowned (Italian born) empress of
India.
It is amidst these controversies that
speculation has been raised by the BBC investigation itself as to the
complicity of Britain in the murder of Gen. Aung San, father of Aung San Suu
Kyi in view of the close links between the convicted assassins, the chief
Conspirator U Saw (leading Burmese politician and protégé of British colonial
authorities), and British officials who engineered a raid on the Burmese Army
Ordnance Depot in Rangoon, and then handed over the weapons stolen i.e. Bren
Guns and ammunition, to the would be assassins.
This has been established by research
conducted by BBC on declassified information released by the British Government.
How many other conspiracy theories are there involving the West in the deaths
of Third World leaders – this means the killers are still at large or have died
without being held to account for their crimes and an International Tribunal on
Truth and Justice must be established to unearth the evidence and reveal the
truth.
Not many people are actually aware that
Rohingyas are originally from Bangladesh and it is the Bangladeshi Government
that must take responsibility of them. However, the manner in which the British
purposely carried Muslim labor into Burma to change the demographics of the
country requires that Britain take sole responsibility.
If Rohingyas are unhappy in Burma in view of the Burmese not wishing to
accept them as indigenous people, then it is up to the British Government to
admit their wrongs, apologise to the Burmese Govt. and people, and then offer
Rohingiyas scope for immigration to the UK.
Far above all these remedies what is
long overdue is the need for an International Truth Commission that would bring
to light all of the dirty tricks and calculated manipulations committed in
British colonies by the British East India Company and later by the British
Colonial authorities and to finally award redress and compensation including an
apology for the atrocities that resulted and continue to take place as a
result.
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| Shenali Waduge. |
In times of trouble not long ago, Sri
Lanka was in need of friends and we knew the difficulties that friends had to
come to our aid – we should not cower any longer.
Related posts at following links:
Islamic Genocide of Buddhists in Bangladesh
Time Magazine Was Wrong: Shenali Waduge
Related posts at following links:
Islamic Genocide of Buddhists in Bangladesh
Time Magazine Was Wrong: Shenali Waduge