The genocide of Rohingya Muslims

The Muslim world has no harmony in thoughts and lacks strategic understanding of issues facing the Muslim Ummah

The genocide of Rohingya Muslims

Two thousand and five hundred years ago, at the time of his birth, Buddha would certainly have not imagined that his true followers would go against his teachings to the extent that they would want to wipe out the people of another faith. The recent brutal genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar has conveyed a message that the countries on this planet have their own interest even when it comes to serving the human cause.

Although the rhymes of humanism are sung on a very big scale by all nations, in essence these rhymes are superficial and shallow and deep down all their actions are driven by their very own interests and ulterior motives. Even the Myanmar leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, being a Nobel Peace prize winner is not very fair in dealing with this mass massacre of Rohingya Muslims. She is helpless in front of her country’s establishment and law-enforcing agencies.

The Rohingya Muslims are not even granted the basic rights of citizenship. They lag behind in all walks of life and are facing severe problems in their daily life for decades. When the British rule was over, since that time they were genuine citizens of Burma, i.e., the present Myanmar, but the establishment and other population of the country didn’t consider their basic rights. They are sandwiched in a region between Myanmar and Bangladesh -- neither are they rebels, nor are they asking for any autonomous region or independence.

It is high time the Muslim countries analyse their own issues and critically examine the role of the United Nations regarding countries like Syria, Iraq and Libya. If we look into the present scenario of the Middle East and other Muslim countries, the graph of enthusiasm and commitment of the Muslim world has gone down.

If we look into the recent past, the United Nations, NATO and European Union have very loudly spoken for some oppressed communities. This world sometimes becomes a hell for a community that has no nuisance or otherwise not beneficial to these so-called champions of humanity.

It is tragic that most of the Indian channels and print media are telling the world that Rohingya Muslims are terrorists and the Myanmar establishment’s dealing of them is justified. Can India go back to see her face in the mirror of the past? What inspired it to open its boundaries for the rebels of former east Pakistan and instigated them to come to India? The days are over when India was playing a vital role on international forums for the rights of the miserable. And the present day India is very much fascist and Machiavellian in its thoughts.

The present India has forgotten the lessons of non-violence by its leader Gandhi. Instead of raising voice for the genuine rights of Rohingya, they are being charged with terrorism. The Indian channels and print media are painting Rohingya immigrants as a threat to their national security.

How can people striving so hard for survival themselves become a threat to the national security of a country? It is ironical that even the UN is not asking the neighbouring countries to accept these suffering immigrants according to the UN charter.

The role of the West in East Timor, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Syria and Yugoslavia has multiple faces with special reference to their vested interests and political priorities. Rohingya Muslims have their own culture, traditions and way of life. If we analyse today’s social structure of the world, hundreds of people change their faith according to their own will and aspirations.

The followers of Buddhism in Myanmar take refuge behind this charge that Rohingyas are converting Buddha’s followers to Islam. This is a baseless charge and changing of faith at any point of time is a universal phenomenon and Rohingyas should not be penalised for such baseless charges. They are the most ignored and oppressed people of Myanmar and are hardly pulling their lives with the miseries around them.

If we very fairly analyse the role of the Muslim world with special reference to this issue, neither is it encouraging nor appreciable. Fifty six Muslim countries, OIC and twenty one countries of Gulf Cooperation Council have not yet performed their duties according to the wishes of their people. One can rightly call OIC a factory of resolutions. For the last few months, we are listening to the songs of United Muslim Army under the leadership of Saudi Arabia. Does this force exist on this planet or is it in the skies as yet?

Since decades, it is observed that the world has not a unanimous and approved standard for voicing the troubles of a restricted community. Faith, language, region and other ethnic considerations were normally observed in helping the downtrodden communities.

The UN charter regarding relief to refugees needs to be amended and the new phenomenon arising in such issues needs to be properly addressed. In most of the issues, the UN has not played its role very judiciously and some conscientious people fear that the fate of the UN will be like that of the League of the Nations.

It is high time the Muslim countries analyse their own issues and critically examine the role of the United Nations regarding countries like Syria, Iraq and Libya. If we look into the present scenario of the Middle East and other Muslim countries, the graph of enthusiasm and commitment of the Muslim world has gone down.

The present Muslim world has no harmony in thoughts and it lacks strategic understanding of issues facing the Muslim Ummah.

The genocide of Rohingya Muslims