The Rohingya Crisis

Who are Rohingyas?

Why are they in the news?

Image source - The New York Times

Rohingya crisis in simple words -

Rohingya Muslims are the refugees sheltering in India. Refugees are the people who flee from one country to another seeking escape from either a war or political oppression, religious persecution (torturing) or maybe because of a natural disaster.

Rohingyas basically are a Muslim minority who reside in the Rakhine state, which is also called Arakan in Myanmar/Burma. They are considered as “stateless entities” as the Myanmar government says that they do not ethically belong to their country so they do not have any legal protection.  

Also, there’s violence against them from the native communities who are not ready to accept them as co-citizens. 

In Myanmar, these people are considered refugees from Bangladesh. So they are fleeing Myanmar for safety.

Rohingyas are considered to be living in the Arakan since time immemorial. Since hundreds of years.

Earlier during British rule when laborers migrated from Myanmar, which was then Burma to India and Bangladesh, it was considered as internal migration as the British considered Burma as a province of India and even Bangladesh was then a part of India. So the migration was legal.

But Myanmar became independent in 1948, the migration was no more legal. So the troops started attacking the Rohingyas living in Rakhine and other villages of Myanmar. They wanted them out of the country. They were asked to produce documents as a proof of the fact that they have been living here even before 1948.

 The Citizenship Law of 1982 of Myanmar denies  citizenship to Rohingyas. There are restrictions in marriage, employment, religious choice etc.

And because even before 1948 they were denied citizenship, they failed to reproduce these documents to the newly formed government and their troops.

And they face persecution in the most inhuman ways. The Buddhists regarded them as illegal immigrants.

They have been the victims of human trafficking and were sneaked into Malaysia. Such incidents have been rife since 2015. 

Poverty is another reason for the conflict between this community and the native citizens. There’s a scarcity of resources.

The conflict began in 2012 when a group of Rohingya men were accused of raping and killing a Buddhist woman. The Buddhists retaliated by burning homes of Rohingyas.

The persecution this community is facing is considered to be the worst of its kinds on religious grounds. 

Many Rohingyas have been fleeing to India since. India has been a shelter to refugees for decades. It saw the 1947 partition and has been accommodative. But as the government claims, the community has some notorious members with militant backgrounds. However this claim has no concrete evidence in its support. 

Also, so far somewhere around 40,000 Rohingyas have entered India illegally. So for security reasons the government wants them out.

Government says that it can provide aid to Bangladesh for its support and would also appeal to Myanmar to end the persecution.

The International community including UNHCR (community defending human rights in the world) is however asking India to reconsider its decision.

The problem with refugees in India is that it does not have a refugee specific law. Our constitution only defines who is a citizen of India.

It can’t send them back to Myanmar, as there they are illegal Bengalis. It can’t also extend their stay as it poses a security threat especially in Jammu.

Another reason for unacceptability of this community cited by the government is that some members have fraudulently acquired important documents like Aadhar, PAN card, voter ID etc. meant only for the citizens. If they get the opportunity to vote, they might soon be categorized as a minority and might claim their reservations.

Also, there’s no law to deal with them.

 

Some claim that the ‘jehadi’ terror outfits have been utilizing the community’s vulnerability, posing themselves as members and causing nuisance.