Rohingya Crisis & Threat to India , Specially North - East

Imran Hussain Al Ameen , MA , LL.B 

Jorhat 

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have been forced to flee from their homes in Myanmar.

But who are the Rohingya? What is happening to them? Is it genocide and what can be done about it?

We answer all of your questions below.

Amnesty International describes the Rohingya as "one of the most persecuted minorities in the world".

More than one million people from the mainly-Muslim minority group lived in Myanmar at the start of 2017, with the majority in Rakhine State.

The government of Myanmar, a predominately Buddhist country, claims the Rohingya people are illegal immigrants from neighbouring Bangladesh and has denied them citizenship, leaving them stateless.

The Rohingya - who have their own language and culture - say they are descendants of Muslim traders who have lived in the region for generations.
The systematic discrimination against the Rohingya people has left them living in deplorable conditions and segregated, with limited access to schools, healthcare and jobs, according to Amnesty.

Tensions between the minority group and the mainly Buddhist Rakhine population erupted into rioting in 2012, driving tens of thousands from their homes and into displacement camps.

:: What's happening?

The UN has described the latest mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar as "the world's fastest growing refugee crisis" and "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing".

A wave of refugees began fleeing the country in late August after Myanmar's response to an attack by Rohingya militants on more than 20 police posts that the government said left 12 members of the security forces dead.

There were reports of sexual violence against Rohingya women and entire villages being burned to the ground.

More than 600,000 people have fled the violence, bringing the total number of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to around 900,000.

The Myanmar government said at least 400 people have been killed, describing most of them as "terrorists".

But UN estimates in September put the death toll at least 1,000.

Many Rohingya have died making the journey from Myanmar to Bangladesh. Some have been attacked. Others have stepped on landmines. Hundreds have drowned.

My youngest boy was swallowing water. We got separated. After a while, his dead body floated up in front of me.
Told Assam Academy by a Rohingya refugee

Those that survive have given harrowing accounts of death and violence, including hundreds of cases of rape, which is sometimes used as a military strategy.

:: Is it genocide?

Analysis by Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor

The Rohingya situation "seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing", according to the United Nations' human rights chief.

But it's not yet officially genocide. One can only wonder why not given the definition of the crime in Article II of the Genocide Convention.
It states that "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

The Rohingya Threat

2005, the Supreme Court had ruled that the Centre had not done its duty to protect Assam from “external aggression” due to the IMDT Act, which encouraged rampant illegal migration from Bangladesh. In a recent interview, Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was quoted as saying: “Our experience in the Northeast with immigrants has been very bad. Over 30 per cent people are immigrants and as a result, the indigenous people are fast losing their identity… Our monasteries and temples have been encroached upon. We are in very serious trouble when it comes to immigration. So, drawing from my experience in the Northeast, I don’t think anymore people should be given asylum or refugee status in India.”
The clamour for granting refugee status to the Rohingya also does not stand on legal grounds as India is neither a signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees nor the 1967 Protocol Relating to Status of Refugees. Moreover, Article 19 of the Indian Constitution states that the right to reside and settle in, or move freely throughout, any part of the territory of India is only available to the citizens of India.From a purely economic point of view, with its challenges of population and meeting their basic requirements, the country would be hard-pressed to handle such a major influx of illegal immigrants. Pumping in more resources to cater to the illegal immigrants would only serve to deprive legitimate Indian citizens, which could result in social tensions. From the strategic point of view, Myanmar has been extending cooperation to India in dealing with insurgent groups operating in the Northeast and combating drug smuggling and gun-running. With China gradually expanding its interests in the region, it would be naïve on New Delhi’s part to alienate Yangon by providing refuge to Rohingya terrorists on the run, who have clearly infiltrated among the illegal immigrants in large numbers.
Notwithstanding its reservation on allowing large-scale influx of illegal immigrants, India has gone out of its way to extend all possible humanitarian assistance by rushing emergency relief material to its friendly neighbour Bangladesh under Operation Insaniyat.
The country just cannot afford to turn more of its states into Assam. India may not build a wall along its borders but its first and foremost duty is to protect the rights of its bonafide citizens and insulate them against any form of external aggression. It needs to strike that delicate balance between humanitarian aid and national interests.