Rohingya Muslims : Is it an Ethenic Cleansing?

Rohingya Muslim’s issue has been a lot in news where Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi was criticised heavily for her silence in international media as if she was alone responsible for violence. Though her silence is not appreciated, however till when the world will keep on overburdening the responsible and ignore the real trouble maker? The world always gets one sided when it comes to justice. To understand deeply about the issue, first have an understanding about the Rohingya People.

Who are Rohingya People?

Rohingya people are people from Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Internationally Rohingya seems synonym of being Muslim. However Rohingya people have three religious backgrounds. The major portion is from Muslim communities. Hindus and Buddhist are in Minorities.

International Criticism Vs. Myanmar’s Government

International Media has some satellite images of villages being burnt where Rohingya resides. There were some viral videos of Myanmar’s army beating Rohingya Muslims. However when asked from the Myanmar’s Government, the government responded that they there had been acts of terrorism in the country like attacking on Police stations. A violent mob of Rohingyas even fired at Hindu labourers who had no connection with Military. Government is still on the way of registering the population of Myanmar. Aung San Suu Kyi responded that there were certain fake photos in circulation so were the fake news.   

A look inside: Causes

History witnesses universal rule of war and hate. It is often done in religious hatred, for land and power. These issues do not remain untouched here. The democracy is an infant and people do not have access to basic facilities yet which newly form government has been trying to provide since its establishment.

The Buddhism which itself has non violence principles and source of wisdom could not remain isolated from radicalism. Perhaps this is the universal truth. Even though my generation does not agree with it, or turn a blind eye to see this but religious radicalism is an outcome of religion.

Buddhism vs. Muslims and this was enough to hate the other human being who shared the same genetic evolution like one and another.  People are scared to speak when it comes to religious extremism. The truth is sometimes not spoken because it may offend a major portion of crowd.  There is deep routed hate towards other religions, and it exists even if the whole world turns a blind eye to it.

 Second, Myanmar is an infant democracy. It has been under army rules for decades. New country faces various challenges and political stability takes time in evolution. Due to political efforts, the hard won partial democracy has arrived in which military fills 25% place of the Parliament as well as it controls the matter such as defence and communication. The country has problems like electricity supply, infrastructure and other facilities. These may be reason the government to be stuck in such issue while Rohingya issue stays at arm’s length.

Suu Kyi has been an advocate of human rights. She played a major role in Myanmar’s Politics and played a crucial role in turning Myanmar democracy. Her silence about Rohingya issue has been criticised widely.

My thoughts as a conclusion- Criticising Aung San Suu Kyi does not lead to any solution. Though, no doubt it had been appreciated if she had spoken loud about it.  However, it is human nature that sometimes leaders also get silent about certain things. The major emphasize should be on the restricting the Army from creating such havocs. As well as helping the government in handling issues like terrorism.

Many would not agree with it, but that does not make it lesser important. The way media has made it Muslim Crisis, I think in long run, it will be misused by communal leaders to mislead the youth.

It is a human right crisis, and crises are at both side. Weighting it to one side is not going to help.

Religion should not exist in public, if someone believes that should be utterly personal. So when media or any other segment represents such delicate issues, I just hope they refrain from attaching is with religious tags because Muslims are not lone sufferers. There are others as well, who are into graves unaddressed.