Protect Rohingya Mothers and Sisters

Frequently, stories on Rohingya victims in Arakan under the racist Rakhines and Bamas are heard or read and forgotten taking a long sigh as if it is a solution for the oppressed. People tend to write long stories on the inhumane sufferings of Rohingya men and women that get trapped under the siege of the barbarians. Their stories are rather being written without exact interpretations of their actual sufferings considering the privacy of their mothers and sisters. Therefore, there are countless tragedies of theirs that remain untold. After all, Rohingyas, too, are human beings, who follow Islamic faith. Regardless of the one’s religion, whether it is Buddhism or Christianity or others, a human being deserves his/her honor and dignity of being human at the place where he/she exists.

Today, every Rohingya has his/her own tragedy concerning their relatives or friends in the lawless Arakan where killing and torturing of Rohingyas, burning of their properties and raping their women including under-aged girls are no longer secrets. Burmese racist regime and Rakhine Extremists have been committing grave crimes against this small Muslims minority in every means. Whenever these devils in human form enter a Rohingya village, innocent Rohingya villagers feel half dead and have to run for their lives wherever possible. Moreover, Rakhine Extremists’ latest resort of their enmity against Rohingyas is poisoning the ponds of their villages.

Secret Cells

The secret concentration jails in Arakan are full of Rohingya men and women arrested for no reasons. The tortures inflicting to these innocents are not interpretative. It was reported that men and women are put in one small room keeping their modesty out of question. The cells that they are locked in are like a hell and like the plight of slave-age. Their swollen faces and heads resulting from the tortures and uncured injuries frighten their visitors. The kinds of food provided to them and their health condition are like the tales of horror and unbelievable stuffs. Besides, no one is allowed to visit such cells except those who give a lot of money to visit their loved-one. It was reported that an innocent prisoner told his brother who could not repress his tears not to spend money for their release as they can’t live for long due to the injuries they are suffering. At least a Son, a Father, a Mother or a Husband from almost every family from every village in Maungdaw South is missing and their whereabouts are not known. One said that his nephew might be dead as nothing had been heard from him since the time he was arrested. If one dies in these secret cells, the jailers in charge never notice or hand over his/her corpse to his/her relatives, but bury in unknown locations. Later, the jailers secretly pass the dead reports of Rohingyas to their respective relatives. Thus, frequently, dead bodies are found around the area where the notorious jail of Buthidaung is located.

Dishonouring Women

Rohingyas in Southern Maungdaw have been counting days of the live horrors for months and are extremely worried whether a worse terrible situation might visit them tomorrow. Rohingyas women are not safe from Burmese Fascist trained Rapist Barbaric Military either. The honour, dignity and life of Rohingya women are MENACED. Hluntin (Security Forces) and NaSaKa (Border Security Force) never seem to think of the fact that they, too, have mothers and sisters while assaulting Rohingya women and some day KARMA could turn against their own mothers and sisters. In an unpleasant incident at Lambaaguna in Southern Maung Daw, a father was shot dead as he tried to save his daughter from being assaulted by a Police Officer. Many villages, especially Bagonna and Nurullah, have the tales of such assaults to Rohingya women. The Rohingya women are not safe from Thein Sein’s Regime that clearly lacks Humanity and Justice.

Suu Kyi's Silent Plots

Despite being a woman herself and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Daw Suu Kyi ignores the plight of Rohingya women. Besides, she exaggerated and fueled the violence wrongfully accusing Rohingyas to be cross-border migrants instead of a protective and humane speech. Instead, President Obama, a foreigner, had to become a man to preach justice and humanity in Burma. His remark on the oppressed Rohingyas was historic and his warning to the racists in Burma was an extraordinary example ever spoken by a President of United States of America. Most importantly, President Obama’s warning “Reconciliation will take time but first stop violence and incitement of violence against the innocent people and the Rohingya hold within themselves the same dignity as you do and I do” is something that Burmese need to take lessons from for the development of their country. Yet, it is unfortunate to see the ruling party and opposition NLD’s Suu Kyi having a common view on the issue of Rohingyas who have just become political scapegoats. In this matter, Suu Kyi seems worse than Thein Sein does and I think Rohingyas had better be vigilant to tame Thein Sein who has guns and bullets in his hands. Many Army Generals seem better than ONE Suu Kyi does. Suu Kyi is like a beggar and hungry for VOTES but many Generals have two choices, WIN or COUP.

Rohingya was recognized and first declared by army Generals like Brigadier General Than Pe, and Brigadier General Aung Gyi and Saw Myint in 1961. Army Generals have many reasons to revive the old laws of their seniors. Without the constitutional support and for strategic reason, the army Generals recognized the Kokant Chinese as Citizens of Myanmar.

Thein Sein's Four-Point-Plan

President Obama's remarks on Rohingya in Rangoon Speech led Thein Sein to seemingly change his mind to declare a Four-Point-Plan regarding Rohingya issue in Phenom Penh ASEAN conference recently. But his plans Prejudice, Education, Employments and Family Planning are neither the major factors that caused the violence against Rohingyas and subsequent displacements nor the solutions to the conflicts. Thein Sein seems totally lost control over Hluntin and NASAKA as in Kachin state where looting, shooting and rapes have become normal habits for the Burmese military.

Rohingya Leaders, Politicians and all the concerned quarters have every right and responsibility to immediately respond to the declaration of Thein Sein. The most important and necessary options are to immediately take action on IDP(Internal Displaced People) to rehabilitate them to their own places with the security for life and property and together give access to UNCHR and AID workers. And at the same time, all the innocent prisoners have to be released and the dead bodies should be handed over to their respective relatives.

Faroque Shah M. Yusoof is graduated on the History of Burma and from Rangoon University.