25 August Observed Genocide Day by Rohingya Diaspora

Kuala Lumpur: Rohingya diaspora globally commemorated 2^nd anniversary of Genocide Remembrance Day on 25 August 2019 as it marks the day of starting the last genocidal operation by Myanmar military in 2017 against Rohingya minority resulting in the deportation of more than one million members of this minority from their native land that constituted about 90 percent of the then existing Rohingya population inside. It was the last stage of a systematic genocide whose corner stone was set by Gen. Ne Win in earlier 60s followed by numerous major military operations conducted successively until 2017.

Describing the situation of 25 August 2017 and its successive operations, the former head of UN Refugee Agency, Zeid Ra‘ad al-Hussein told to United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva “The situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.

Ms. Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar at the 37th session of the Human Rights Council said, “I am becoming more convinced that the crimes committed following 9 October 2016 and 25 August 2017 bear the hallmarks of genocide and call in the strongest terms for accountability. Not only does the Myanmar Government have a responsibility to account for the alleged crimes in Rakhine State since 9 October 2016 and 25 August 2017, and the violations that continue today, but the international community must also be vigilant. It must not be beguiled by the proliferating Government committees and commissions, and by promises and commitments yet to be fulfilled.”

In this brutal operation, approximately one million people were forcefully displace, twenty-four thousands were massacred, eighteen thousands women and minor girls were raped or sexually assaulted, thirty four thousands children were orphaned, four hundred villages were burnt to ashes and forty three thousand people were wounded.

Since the bilateral agreement between Bangladesh and Burma was signed on 23 Nov 2017, there have been two physical repatriation attempts that ended in failure. The reason behind the failure seems to be the exclusion of Rohingya from repatriation talk, who are one of the trilateral parts of the crisis.

In the previous mass exodus that took place in 1978 and 1992, there were also official repatriation. Due to lack of complying with post-repatriation promises by Myanmar government and lack of a radical solution to the problem, another same frustrating situation has repeated in 2016-7. Still there are some elderlies who became refugee thrice, in 1978, 1992 and 2017.

Out of pressure, though Myanmar is showing willingness like before to take its citizens back on the basis of some false promises, refugees are well aware of its evil intent, as the IDPs still could not return to their original places. They, therefore, lost trust.

A refugee activist told to RVision “Every time Rohingya refugees were forcefully repatriated, so they have been moving to and fro since the last century. It did not put an end to the circle of exodus.”

“We don’t want to be burden on the shoulders of Bangladesh once again in the future. We are looking for a permanent solution to the problem. Perhaps there is no example in the world history that there was/is a people who became refugee so many times.” added the activist.

The root cause of the Rohingya problem is the revocation of their citizenship through a planned amendment in the citizenship law in 1982, the restoration of which may constitute the foundation of the solution to the problem.

More than a hundred thousand genocide survivors gathered in Bangladesh camps to mark the 2^nd anniversary of the genocide they survived demanding to let them go back home with rights, security, dignity and justice. In case of a premature repatriation, the mother of humanity, PM Sheikh Hasina should good bye them saying “See you soon again”.