Rohingya crisis
The government in Myanmar needs to lift its Rohingya population in the Rakhaine state from their present state by recognizing them as citizens of the country and take measures to prevent the ongoing oppression on them. The Rohingya have every right to enjoy all the rights entitled to any other citizen of that country. However, against the backdrop of the recent outrageous incidents of violence perpetrated over them, the Myanmar government and its de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has come under severe criticism from the international community at large.
Yet the country or its leader, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who is commonly regarded as a democracy icon, has apparently been none to active regarding solving the problem facing the community. Unlike the previous times, the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) this time seems to be very proactive about the rights of the beleaguered community in their homeland and has asked the authorities in Myanmar to stop violence and discrimination against this minority population.
The fact of the matter is that the Rohingya population was considered citizens until as recently as 1982 when their citizenship right was revoked by the military junta of Myanmar. After democratisation of Myanmar, it was generally assumed that under the new dispension, the plights of this marginalized community will be addressed. Far from it, in an official note, the government of Myanmar went even such far to urge governments to stop calling these people Rohingya denying their very fundamental right to identity.
According to the Myanmar government, they are Bengali and should be called so, with blatant denial of the history of this population in Myanmar. As Bangladesh shares border with Myanmar, this problem of Myanmar always spilled over the border. This time Bangladesh has accepted more than 65,000 Rohingya refugees fleeing the scenes of torture and killing, despite the fact that Bangladesh already has lakhs of Rohingya who came to the country during the past episodes of violence. Some days ago Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina herself urged the government of Myanmar to solve the problem and take back the displaced ones now living in Bangladesh. The 57-member OIC, must stand beside the Rohingya community who has been suffering under the yoke of oppression for too long. Only a meeting at Kuala Lumpur of the foreign ministers and issuing a 10-pointy communiqu may not bring the desired result. For achieving a durable solution to solve the crisis, the international community, if necessary, must take strong measures so that the government in Myanmar is compelled to give back Rohingya their citizenship and ensure their basic rights.
