Rakhines on their Way to Cover Up their Crimes | M.S Anwar
It is known to the world that there has been a state-sponsored violence going on against Rohingyas with the cooperation of Rakhine extremists in Arakan of Burma. Rohingyas, old, young, children, educated, uneducated, religious leaders all alike, are being arrested and subsequently killed. Their women including under-aged girls are being raped. Their properties are being looted and torched. Mosques were locked and destroyed using bulldozers and there have been no five times prayer and Juma’at prayer in the mosques for more than two months. In short, they all are physically crippled and mentally demoralized.
Though Rakhines are the main culprits of the crimes against Rohingyas, the involvement of Burmese government in the crimes is equally undeniable. When the Human Rights Watch (HRW) had rightly pointed out that the government did not stop but fuel the riot despite being able to stop it, the international community started to pressure the Burmese regime to accept international investigation teams. The regime well knows that if they allow the international investigation teams into Arakan, their crimes against Rohingyas in particular and against humanity in general will be exposed.
Therefore, with the fear of being exposed, now President Thein Sein himself has set up an inquiry commission to investigate the ongoing crises in Arakan. Though one cannot expect impartial investigations when the culprits (Rakhines and the government) who started this ugly racism and committed all these crimes themselves have also taken charge of the investigation, yet investigation is an investigation and it needs to be carried out formally. In the investigation team, there are some neutral and good people who also are given the charge.
Therefore, with a view to hiding the actual situation and deceiving the visiting investigation team, Rakhines in Maung Daw been rushing to set up temporary camps (tents) in rural areas all over Maung Daw. According to Rohingyas in Maung Daw, there are 100-200 tents that have already been built at almost every village. The few affected Rakhines during the riot are kept safe and sound in the monasteries in Maung Daw. Now, it is said that all Rakhines in Maung Daw will move to the temporary camps irrespective to rich, poor, affected or unaffected ones before the investigation team arrives to the region. Hence, they will stay there as long as there is the investigation team.
Therefore, it is a clear move of Rakhines to deceive the world and investigation team so as to be able to cover up their crimes. “They are trying to portray a situation or condition in which they actually are not. They are trying to portray a situation to force people think that they all have become displaced. And it is all done according to the direction of Rakhine National Development Party (RNDP) in cooperation with local Rakhine authorities. The victimized Rohingyas in the region hope that the conspiracies and deceptions of the Rakhine extremists led by RNDP will become transparent and clearer to the international community as well as Burmese community” said A. Faiz, a victimized Rohingya, from Maung Daw.
Sunday, 2nd September 2012
Mohammed Sheikh Anwar is an activist studying Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies at Westminster International College Malaysia
