World’s Most Persecuted Community Still Waiting for Justice

By: Kayhan Int’l 

The massive rallies day before yesterday in the refugee camps on the outskirts of the city of Cox Bazar in Bangladesh on the first anniversary of the mass massacre and en masse expulsion of a million men, women, and children from their ancestral lands, once again reminded uninterested world powers and an indifferent Islamic Ummah of the plight of Rohingya Muslims – the world’s most persecuted community, according to the UN, which seems powerless to resolve the crisis.

The genocide thus continues, since the government in Myanmar led by Aung San Suu Kyi – that "cruel lady” to quote the words of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei – is adamant the ethnic cleansing should persist, perhaps as vengeance for being jilted by her Pakistani Muslim boyfriend while she was studying at Britain’s Oxford University in her youthful days.

Unfortunately, she is being feted by western leaders who had supported her during her detention by the military junta and continue to do so despite the fact that contrary to her commitments she has not just thrown cold water on the aspirations of the Rohingya on taking power through democratic means, but cold-bloodedly supports their repression.

The crisis, however, began in 1962 when the military Junta started systematic deprivation of the political privileges of the Rohingya people, which until then had enjoyed all democratic rights including election as MPs to the Burmese national parliament in Rangoon.

The first major assault by the military rulers against the Rohingya Muslims was in 1978 when thousands were driven into neighbouring Bangladesh. In 1982 the junta passed laws effectively denying the entire Rohingya nation of its birthrights as citizens by alleging them to be of Bengali origin and excluding them from the "eight recognized national indigenous groups of Myanmar”, despite the fact that Rohingya history has been traced by international organisations to the 8th century.

It means, Muslims have been living in Arakan, or Rakhine as it is known these days, for over a millennium since Islam made its advent in this land to enlighten local people with the message of monotheism.

In other words, long before the arrival of the ethnic Burmese in 1785 and the annexation of Arakan, Muslims, along with other groups like the Hindu minority and the local Buddhists, had led a peaceful life, developing agriculture, contributing to a thriving industry, enjoying trade ties with neighbouring states, and evolving a unique culture rooted in the soil of Arakan.

Even the Empire of Burma acknowledged the rights of the Rohingyas, who thrived during British rule, fought the Japanese invaders, and participated in the political process of the Republic of Burma after World War 2 through the National Democratic Party, as elected representatives in the parliament, as well as ministers, secretaries, and other high-ranking government officials.

All this changed with the coming to power of the military Junta which stripped them of their citizenship in violation of the UN Charter, and systematically drove them into exile through genocide, rape, and razing of their entire townships.

This was a brief history confirming the roots of the Rohingya in Rakhine, a people who have every right to return to their occupied homeland, and it is the duty of the UN to guarantee their save repatriation.

Because of international pressure, Myanmar has agreed in principle to take them back under the repatriation pact signed with Bangladesh, but the World Body and big powers as well as the Muslim countries, should make sure that practical steps are taken in regard with full guarantee to protect them from the bloodthirsty Buddhists settlers that have seized the Rohingya similar to the usurpation of Palestinian lands by illegal Jewish migrants from other parts of the world.

The August 25 rallies in Cox Bazar should not be allowed to pass as a mere commemoration of an anniversary of mass atrocities, but as indicated by the huge placards reading: "We are Rohingya, we want justice”, and "Genocide Never Again”, the international community should mobilize effective efforts for the return home of the world’s most persecuted community.